THE WHISKEY AIN’T TO BLAME

Intro Bartender looked at my hands and said, “You might wanna slow down.” I told him... I ain’t started.

Verse 1 There’s a bottle sitting by me But it hasn’t touched my lips Still my fingers shake like winter Every time I light a match My eyes ain’t red from bourbon I just haven’t slept too well There are nights a man remembers That no whiskey ever tells You can blame that chair for creaking Blame the cold for these old bones But don’t give liquor credit For the weight I carry home

Pre-Chorus Some wounds don’t need a bottle To make a strong man sway

Chorus The whiskey ain’t to blame tonight I shake when I’m sober too It ain’t the bottle bending my back It’s everything I’ve lived through It ain’t the drink that slows my step Or puts that grey upon my name Time did what the liquor couldn’t— The whiskey ain’t to blame

Verse 2 I buried my old father In a suit he never wore Buried two good friends before him Then the woman I adored I watched my boy leave westward Said he’d call when he got home That was twenty-seven years ago Some roads just swallow souls So pour one if you’re pouring But don’t pity what you see I ain’t drowning any sorrow Sorrow learned to swim in me

Chorus The whiskey ain’t to blame tonight I shake when I’m sober too It ain’t the bottle bending my back It’s everything I’ve lived through It ain’t the drink that slows my step Or puts that grey upon my name Life did what the liquor couldn’t— The whiskey ain’t to blame

Bridge I drank harder when I was younger Back when pain still had a cure Funny thing about getting older— You learn what you can’t pour. The whiskey ain’t to blame tonight These hands remember what they knew Every tremble, every scar Belongs to something I lived through So leave the bottle where it stands I don’t need it for the pain Time already did the damage— The whiskey ain’t to blame

Outro Keep the change. And keep the bottle.

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