Whiskey Don't Ask Questions

Pull that stool up, son, I've seen that look beforeTwistin' on your wedding ring, eyes fixed on the doorI sat right where you're sittin' back in nineteen eighty-oneWith a pretty wife named Carol and a baby girl and a son

Whiskey don't ask questionsIt don't ask where you've beenIt don't ask why you're cryin'Or why you're back againIt just holds you like a woman, says, "Stay a little while"Then it steals your wife, your kids, your years, and does it with a smile

Plant cut my hours that winter, so I stopped in here for oneJust to take the edge off, just till the worst was doneBut one turned into closin' time, and closin' time to dawnTill I came home one mornin', and the porch light was gone

She left a note on the kitchen table, "We waited long as we could"I read it twice, then I drove right back here, like she knew I would

Whiskey don't ask questionsIt don't ask where you've beenIt don't ask why you're cryin'Or why you're back againIt just holds you like a woman, says, "Stay a little while"Then it steals your wife, your kids, your years, and does it with a smile

My boy's got kids I've never held somewhere in TennesseeLast June my girl walked down the aisle on anybody's arm but meEvery Sunday I drive past that old white church and tell myself, "Next week"Forty years of next weeks, son, and now my knees are just too weak

So hear me, son, before that barkeep pours you number threeTake a good long look at this old man, 'cause this is what you'll beNow I'm slidin' that glass away from you, the one good thing I'll doGo home, son, while there's someone there, while the light's still on for you

Whiskey don't ask questionsIt don't ask where you've beenIt don't ask why you're cryin'Or why you're back againWatched that young man walk out in the rain, Lord, don't let him come back throughThen I ordered one more for myself, 'cause what else is an old man gonna do

Whiskey don't ask questionsNo, it never does