Track 12 of the album One More Verse Before the Lights Come Up · 2026
One More Verse Before the Lights Come Up
by Wren Hallett
“The chairs are going up on the tables and the glasses are clinking away, and I get one more verse. It's the closer because it always is.”
singer-songwriter · closing-time ballad · hushed folk · 4:21
Lyrics
The chairs are going up on the tables The glasses are clinking away Someone is sweeping the corner At the end of a long, golden day I'm sitting here, one stool, one guitar With my coat half on my arm They said play us one more, just one more And I didn't see any harm One more verse before the lights come up One more breath before we say goodnight Hold the last note like a cup Till the whole room is warm and quiet One more verse before the lights come up Sing it soft and let it fade We were strangers at the start of this evening And now we're something made The girl by the window is humming The old man is tapping his knee The bartender stops with a towel And leans a little to see I forget every word that I planned for I just sing what I feel in my chest The song knows the way to the ending And it carries me home to rest One more verse before the lights come up One more breath before we say goodnight Hold the last note like a cup Till the whole room is warm and quiet One more verse before the lights come up Sing it soft and let it fade We were strangers at the start of this evening And now we're something made Nobody wants to be first to leave Nobody wants to break the thread So we stay in the hush of a final chord And let all the things go unsaid One more verse before the lights come up One more breath before we say goodnight Hold the last note like a cup Till the whole room is warm and quiet One more verse before the lights come up Sing it soft and let it fade We were strangers at the start of this evening And now we're something made Goodnight, goodnight The lights come up Goodnight