Matthew Ryan Brooksher
Outlive Me (Single)
“A song about the selfish prayer that sounds like love and the harder promise hiding underneath it.”
Out now — stream everywhere
A song about the kind of love that makes you hope you never have to live without someone and the uncomfortable realization of what that wish actually asks of them. What begins as a seemingly romantic prayer becomes something harder: a promise to stay, carry the grief, and fight the war if you’re the one left behind.
Tracklist
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We’re driving home in silence
Both staring at the road
She stood there in that doorway
Like a soldier holding post
Four hours thanking strangers
For casseroles and cards
And somewhere around Main Street
The worst thought hit me hardIt dressed up like devotion
Till I heard what it was askingI hope you outlive me
God, what a thing to pray
You take the empty morning
I’ll just slip away
It sounds like I adore you
It sounds like something pure
But whispered like a love song
It’s a draft-dodge from a warThe odds are on my side here
Men usually go first
I caught myself relieved once
That’s when it got worse
‘Cause what kind of love runs numbers
On who serves and who goes free?
You’d soldier through the decades
I’d fold inside a weekI hope you outlive me
God, what a thing to pray
You take the empty morning
I’ll just slip away
It sounds like I adore you
It sounds like something pure
But whispered like a love song
It’s a draft-dodge from a warSo here’s the braver version
The vow that costs me more
If the odds turn out to be liars
And the morning picks your door
I’ll stand and thank the strangers
For every dish they made
I’ll do the hardest part of loving
I’ll be the one who stayedI take it back
Half of itI still hope you outlive me
I’m too honest now to lie
But if love means someone’s standing
When the other says goodbye
Then I’m signing up for after
I’ll rehearse the quiet floors
‘Cause whichever of us goes first
The other fights the war -
We’re driving home in silence
Both staring at the road
She stood there in that doorway
Like a soldier holding post
Four hours thanking strangers
For casseroles and cards
And somewhere around Main Street
The worst thought hit me hardIt dressed up like devotion
I hope you outlive me
God, what a thing to pray
You take the empty morning
I’ll just slip away
It sounds like I adore you
It sounds like something pure
But whispered like a love song
It’s a draft-dodge from a warThe odds are on my side here
Men usually go first
I caught myself relieved once
That’s when it got worse
‘Cause what kind of love runs numbers
On who serves and who goes free?
You’d soldier through the decades
I’d fold inside a weekI hope you outlive me
God, what a thing to pray
You take the empty morning
I’ll just slip away
It sounds like I adore you
It sounds like something pure
But whispered like a love song
It’s a draft-dodge from a warSo here’s the braver version
The vow that costs me more
If the odds turn out to be liars
And the morning picks your door
I’ll stand and thank the strangers
For every dish they made
I’ll do the hardest part of loving
I’ll be the one who stayedI take it back
Half of itI still hope you outlive me
I’m too honest now to lie
But if love means someone’s standing
When the other says goodbye
Then I’m signing up for after
I’ll rehearse the quiet floors
‘Cause whichever of us goes first
The other fights the war
