I can see him now so clear in my mind

Sat by the window looking out at the hill

A banjo standing by his side

And if I had one wish, he'd be sitting there still

A thousand stories danced in his shimmering eyes

And I'd hear them tomorrow, when the timing was right

So I asked no questions and he told no lies

Just started to play in the hazy summer light

He was never one to open up and I was never one to pry

It took him being gone for me to see

I just wish that I had told him how I loved to hear him play

His four chords and his simple melody

In the blink of an eye his time was gone

The chair by the window sitting empty and cold

The house frozen still while time rolled on

Stealing those stories that he'd never told

In the hollow glow of the winter sun

I sat in the stillness where he used to be

On his banjo I began to strum

Those four chords and that simple melody

But it only made me think of him and I couldn't stand the sound

So I walked with it out to that hilltop crest

And I buried it as best I could beneath the barren ground

Side by side where he was laid to rest

Now twenty years have passed us by

I'm on that hill again, coming up toward the brow

A single tree is piercing the sky

With a banjo hanging from every bough

So I take one down and turn away

Looking down at the window, from the shade of that tree

There's a shimmer there as I start to play

My four chords and my simple melody

I was never one to open up and he was never one to pry

It took him being gone for me to see

I just wish that I had told him how I loved to hear him play

His four chords and his simple melody