Luke Combs has made a career off beer drinking songs and songs that tell stories, some sad and some happy. This is a song about a man named Joe, overcoming his demons. In the below video you can see Combs singing this at the Opry with nothing but him and his guitar…. It sounds heavenly.
The first verse goes like this:
“I gotta job and my name's Joe
Spend my days at the Texaco
Never show up late
Never show up drunk
When I get half-lit, I'm a loaded gun
Made a couple wrong turns
Did county time
I do everything I can to stay between the lines”
This first verse paints the picture for Joe’s life, the listener learns so much about him in just these first few lines. Joe is a clerk at the Texaco who does his best to stay in between the lines, unfortunately he had a serious drinking problem and made some bad decisions which landed him in jail.
The chorus then comes in:
“Got a couple good buddies that all drop-in
Say, “It’s good to see you brother, man, how you been?”
I can’t complain
I’m doing alright
Sleeping pretty good, staying dry
I thank the Lord every morning with a sweet amen
For how far I come from, where I’ve been
So here’s to good days and better tomorrows
And a light at the end of the bottle”
The chorus is the first time the listener hears that Joe thanks the Lord every morning, insinuating that he has been saved by the grace of God.
The second verse goes like this:
“Some battlеs are fought on foreign shores
Somе are fought behind closed doors
Some fall from grace
Some lose their wings
Some find the peace salvation brings”
That last line hits hard! “Some find the peace salvation brings” My definition of salvation is a person accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior, this forgives them of their sins and guarantees them a spot in Heaven when they die. Luckily our boy Joe found salvation!
The chorus plays again then Luke slips these three lines in:
Here’s to good days
And here’s to living
And here’s to old sins, being forgiven
Amen! Oll Joe’s worst days are behind him. He’s now having good days, living life, and can rest easy knowing his sins have been forgiven.
Luke then belts out the chorus again and ends the song repeating the last lyric of the chorus - At the end of the bottle.
I’d like to think that this song gives hope to those out there struggling with alcohol and drug addiction. I have a lot of buddies who have struggled with this; some still do. Some of them have found their way out of it and some haven’t…. The good news is there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that light is Jesus.
Thanks for reading,
JW