Malachy – One Last Song – Song Description
“I only wrote the ones that whispered, ‘I saw you.'” This single line quietly overturns how most people, myself included at various points, would instinctively rank a whole body of creative work — by the cleverest pieces, the ones that travelled furthest, reached the most people, got talked about the longest. Malachy, at the very end, near closing time in an empty pub, says the opposite, and I don’t think he’s simply being modest about it. What mattered, looking back over an entire career of songs, wasn’t the reach. It was whether any individual song managed to make one particular person feel genuinely, completely seen, even if nobody else who ever heard it felt anything at all. That’s a different unit of success than the one the music industry, or honestly most of culture, actually runs on and rewards. If I had to sum up everything I’ve been trying to do across seventy-two songs and one long book about all of it, I think that single whispered line would end up doing most of the honest work for me, better than anything else I could add to it.
Verse 1
The night’s grown old around us
The fire’s burning low
There’s rain upon the window
Like years we used to know
The landlord smiles across the bar
“One more before we close?”
I laugh…
Reach for the old guitar…
And let…
The story…
Go.
Verse 2
Funny where a song can find you
Long after dreams grow old
Hidden in the quiet moments
Waiting to be told
Just a line that keeps on calling
Like footsteps through the rain
Till you sit…
And write it down…
Before it’s gone…
Again.
Verse 3
Some are found in old photographs
Faded now with time
Some begin with someone’s laughter
Or a simple line
Some will stay for just a moment
Some refuse to go
You only know…
They’re meant to stay…
When they won’t…
Let go.
Refrain
Funny…
Who stays beside you…
Long after they’ve gone.
Some become memories…
Some become songs…
Some simply…
Live on.
Verse 4
Old Jimmy nursed the corner seat
Most Friday nights till ten
He’d nod before he spoke a word
Then nod his head again
One winter someone asked of him
We all looked toward the door
Funny…
How an empty chair…
Can say…
So much more.
Verse 5
There’s wisdom in a quiet room
When nobody needs to speak
A smile can cross a weathered face
For just a little peek
I’ve seen a song return someone
To days they almost knew
Not because…
The song was fine…
Because…
It carried you.
Refrain
Funny…
Who stays beside you…
Long after they’ve gone.
Some become memories…
Some become songs…
Some simply…
Live on.
Verse 6
So if you ask what keeps me here
When closing time draws near
It isn’t for the music
Or another pint of beer
It’s knowing every passing soul
Has something shining through
If you stop…
Long enough…
To say…
“I saw you.”
Finale
Some songs are only borrowed
From lives we’ve wandered through
I only wrote…
The ones that whispered…
“I saw you.”
Lyrics Michael Forty
Voice Michael Forty