He sits on the front porch
To watch the sun go down
A pile of cigarette butts
Gathering on the ground
He'd been a chain smoker for sixty years
Both his fingers were stained and brown
But what the hell
You only die once

Then he lights up a cigarette
Remembers a Great War
Except that now he can't remember
What they was dying for
It was the one to end 'em all
But he knew there'd be more
Then he lit up another cigarette

And in the glow of the match he recalled his wedding day
He smiles as he thinks about the things she used to say
She was his reason for living
But he went on anyway
With his memories and a pack of cigarettes

He's a chain smoker toking on the best years of his life
And tomorrow don't hold nothing that he ain't already seen
And while the habit just might be killing him
Least that's what the Surgeon General warns
These words of encouragement are the last thing that he needs

And he lights up a cigarette, thinking back to what the doctor said
At the rate he's going, in a month he will be dead
And so he lights up another
As an old memory comes to his head
And as the sun goes down he puts out his last cigarette

He's a chain smoker toking on the best years of his life
And tomorrow don't hold nothing that he ain't already seen
And while his habit just might be killing him
Least that's what the Surgeon General warns
These words of encouragement are the last thing that he needs
These words of encouragement are the last thing he needs