Friday night, little roadside diner

Coffee steam and neon light

I was balancing trays and daydreams

Trying to make it through another night

Then you walked through that front door laughing

Short hair underneath that faded cap

Old blue jeans, boots worn down from miles

And a t-shirt with “Marines” on the back

I tried to write down your order

But my hands forgot what to do

And when you smiled across that counter

Lord, it went right through

I still hear the sound of your keys

Swinging from that old Ford seat

Radio playing some old country song

Your hand wrapped around me

Every memory still lives and breathes

Like your boots still echo down our street

And every time our little boy smiles at me

Baby, it feels just like

The sound of your keys

Tailgate nights by the river bank

Bare feet dangling in the air

You’d sing every word to George Strait

Like there wasn’t a worry anywhere

Then a white dress and church bells ringing

My daddy crying in the pew

But all I saw was that crooked smile

The same one I fell into

Then a hospital room at sunrise

Tiny hands and sleepy blue eyes

You held our baby boy against your chest

And I watched forever in your eyes

And when you looked at me so softly

Like I was still your whole world somehow

That smile moved through my body

Just like it’s moving now

I still hear the sound of your keys

Swinging from that old Ford seat

Radio playing some old country song

Your hand wrapped around me

Every memory still lives and breathes

Like your boots still echo down our street

And every time our little boy smiles at me

Baby, it feels just like

The sound of your keys

Then one cold morning came knocking

Harder than my heart could take

Two uniforms standing silent

And the whole world started to shake

They said there’d been an accident

During some training overseas

And I swear the last thing I heard

Was your keys hitting the kitchen sink

Now every year when autumn comes

Me and your boy drive out alone

He places a little flag beside you

And brushes leaves off your stone

Then he turns around and grins at me

Same eyes, same heart, same light

And for a second I see you standing there

In the golden afternoon sky

That same smile steals my breath away

Like the first night we met

And I know that young Marine I loved

Ain’t really left us yet

I still hear the sound of your keys

Somewhere between heaven and me

In an old Ford truck and a slow country song

Where your memory still breathes

And our little boy, he carries you

In every laugh and every dream

Yeah, every time he smiles at me

I still feel you rushing through me

Like a screen door opening softly

Like boots walking back to me

Like love that never really leaves

Baby…

You’ll always be

The sound of your keys