Last Slow Dance in the Doorway

[Intro]
[saxophone, low and lonely, over sparse guitar and brushed snare]
[Verse 1]
Car lights on the gravel
Your shadow hits the wall
My hand on the doorknob
Didn’t think I’d feel this small
You laugh in slow motion
Through that dusty café glass
His hand at your shoulder
Like I used to in the past
[Chorus]
This is how the story ends
In a quiet frame I can’t defend
Just a last slow dance in the doorway
All alone with what I know
You don’t see my heart let go
Watching you belong to someone always
(last slow dance in the doorway)
Watching you belong to someone always
[Verse 2]
Coffee cups between you
Two straws in one old drink
He leans in, you lean closer
Than you ever leaned to me, I think
Your smile has a freedom
I never learned to hold
Guess I loved the promise
You’ve already outgrown
[Chorus]
This is how the story ends
In a quiet frame I can’t defend
Just a last slow dance in the doorway
All alone with what I know
You don’t see my heart let go
Watching you belong to someone always
(last slow dance in the doorway)
Watching you belong to someone always
[Bridge]
Maybe I was just a season
You were summer, I was rain
Now the sky above that window
Doesn’t even know my name
I turn back from the sidewalk
Let the key slip from my hand
If you ask me what happened
I’ll just say, “I understand” (yeah)
[Chorus]
This is how the story ends
In a quiet frame I can’t defend
Just a last slow dance in the doorway
All alone with what I know
You don’t see my heart let go
Watching you belong to someone always
(last slow dance in the doorway)
Watching you belong to someone always
[Outro]
[saxophone rises, echoing the chorus melody, then trails off into a soft, aching fade]

jazz, Smoky jazz-blues country soul ballad with raspy male vocals; brushed kit, upright bass, and soft tremolo guitar under a sorrowful solo sax that opens, weaves mid-song, and closes. Verses stay hushed and conversational; chorus swells with aching gospel-tinged harmonies and organ pads, sax doubling the vocal hook between lines. Intimate room reverb, close-mic’d vocal grit and tender backing choir answering key phrases., blues, soul, rich, country, male vocals