Eight pints around the table Seven singers raise a glass As we toast the days that come no more But the single chair is vacant And the sorrow's in our eyes Tonight we sing for one who's gone before
CHORUS: Raise your voices, raise your glasses Sing your sorrows and your joys We will sing until they throw us out the door For the unclaimed pint is standing at his empty place No, he won't be singing with us anymore.
Good times we spent together As the years passed by And time and trials have bound us to each other; Wings of songs we sang together (Will) Carry him across, Where their echoes ring forevermore.
(CHORUS)
Yet sometimes in the pause From one verse to the next, We can almost hear soft laughter there once more And the echo of his voice is Sounding in the chord -- We know he's singing on the other shore.
LAST CHORUS: Raise your voices, raise your glasses Sing your sorrows and your joys We will sing until they throw us out the door For the unclaimed pint is standing at his empty place No, he won't be singing with us anymore.(either substitute the following line, or add it -- same tune.) Now he's singing on the other shore.
(Barbara Millikan, 2004)
Stuffy, I had trouble with starting the line with "There". Didn't work for me. But great suggestions. I appreciate the help. Right now I'm leaving the second verse without a pickup on the line that begins "Carry ..) If you want one, use "Will". I will probably know after I have sung this for a while which way I like it best.
I should probably say that my inspiration for this was also Merritt's version of "Who Will Sing for Me?", and especially his rewrite of the last verse: "When you're singing for your friends Whose lives on earth are through, They'll be gathered up above, Where they're singing songs for you."