Hold Onto the Melody

Verse 1

Your keys still sit on the kitchen tray

Your cup's gone cold on the windowsill

Five a.m. and the radio's off

But the room keeps humming still

You'd stand at the sink with your sleeves pushed back

Humming a tune with no name

Round and round like a porch swing's creak

Four little bars, always the same

Pre-Chorus

The tap still drips in the empty sink

Like it's counting out the time

And I catch myself before I think

Humming your half of the line

Chorus

So I'll hold onto the melody

The one you hummed at the sink for me

I don't need the words, I don't need the key

I'll just hold onto the melody

Verse 2

Six months on, I boxed your things

Your sweater and your books

Drove them over to your sister's

Didn't take a second look

Then at the light on Second Street

With the window rolled down low

There it was on my own breath

That tune I swore I'd let go

Pre-Chorus

The tap still drips in the empty sink

Like it's counting out the time

And I catch myself before I think

Humming your half of the line

Chorus

So I'll hold onto the melody

The one you hummed at the sink for me

I don't need the words, I don't need the key

I'll just hold onto the melody

Bridge

I found your old guitar out back

Behind the winter coats

Put new strings on, tuned it slow

And played your four small notes

Then I kept on past the spot

Where you'd always let it fall

And the rest came easy, plain as bread

Like it was mine after all

Final Chorus

So I'll hold onto the melody

The one you hummed at the sink for me

I don't need the words, I don't need the key

I'll just hold onto the melody

Outro

Four bars yours, and the rest is me

I'll just hold onto the melody