Numbers on the Cars

Stopped by that house on Esmond Lake

He's sittin' in his easy chair, watchin' a Sunday evenin' race

Tells me my grandma's in the other room

Guess he forgot we laid her down, it'll be a year come June

Then he mumbles about Vietnam

He don't know who the hell I am

But the drivers, well, he tells me who they are

He still knows the numbers on the cars

We try to get him out like we used to

But now I load the truck and I drive the boat

'Cause there ain't much he can do, no

Cast him a line and watched it as it sank

Thinkin' how we'd used to talk for hours

Now he just stares at the bank

He used to know every stop in this fishin' hole

Though he probably thinks that we're in Mexico

But he knows his way around that boat, even in the dark

And he still knows the numbers on the cars

I know he ain't all there but I don't care

My mind's still full of memories with him

And he may not know all the words to the songs

But he still knows Merle Haggard's voice when he hears it

I stopped by that house on Esmond Lake

With a couple of tickets to go see a Sunday evenin' race

As we watched those cars fly around the track

I asked the Lord if just one more time

He'd bring my old friend back

Then somewhere around lap 23

That old man turned and smiled at me

And for a moment I know he knows where we are

'Cause he still knows the numbers

Yeah, he still knows the numbers

He still knows the numbers, numbers on the cars

Yeah, he still knows the numbers