There's a vacant billboard sign
Out on mile forty-nine
I was sure by now somebody would've bought
'Cause it's a magnet to the eyes of anybody going by
And every time I get a glimpse I get the thought
That I ought to test my luck and finally sell my sister's truck
It's just been sitting in the driveway since she died
More that life keeps wearing thin
The more her dreams start creeping in
The image just gets brighter in my mind
Sayin' "Come to Patty's Diner
Where the coffee's fine and the comp'ny's finer"
And that picture of her grinning while the oven's catching fire
I can see it now
There's a spot I'm looking at used to be a laundromat
But it's all been boarded up since early May
Bill can't stomach the idea
Says "Holly, you're not thinking clear
And you haven't done since Patty passed away"
Well it might be that he's right
'Cause I keep sitting up at night
With her talkin' at our table late last year
And when the radio comes on
There's an ad between the songs
It don't take all that long until I hear
Her pitching "Come to Patty's Diner
Where the food is fine and the folks are finer"
And she's laughing while she says it but she's serious as hell
I can hear it now
I never did much dreaming on my own
Patty did the scheming for us both
And her eyes would get lit up
They would glow right through the walls
But now everybody's living like she never lived at all
She was already pretty sick
And the treatment wouldn't stick
You could tell by then what everybody knew
And I couldn't understand
Why she would keep on making plans
She'd say "Holly what else am I supposed to do?"
It was hard to overlook that she was such a lousy cook
Man, she couldn't fry an egg to save her life
But if you harbored any doubts, she knew how to talk 'em out
Make you certain that it all would go alright
And that we'd open Patty's Diner
Where the coffee's fine and the company's finer
And the kids could wait the tables, me and Bill pick up the slack
I can see it now
I can see it now
I can see it now