[Intro - hard country, weeping pedal steel, mid-tempo weary shuffle]

[Verse 1 - the pulpit attack, plainspoken, steady]
There was a man who took my article up into his pulpit
He never spoke my name, a careful man, he did not need my name
He read the title of the thing I wrote, and the people knew the man
And he preached against it hard
He preached against it hard

[Chorus]
But he never called
He never called
He had my number, it was sitting right there in his hand
He could have tapped it any night, and I would have answered him
But my phone stayed dark and quiet
And he never called

[Verse 2 - what a brother does]
A brother takes his phone out and he finds your name and calls
A brother writes the letter, and a brother drives the road
A brother sits you down and opens up the Book to where you erred
And says now show me, brother, let us reason it through

[Chorus]
But he never called
He never called
He had my number, it was sitting right there in his hand
He could have tapped it any night, and I would have answered him
But my phone stayed dark and quiet
And he never called

[Verse 3 - the real wound]
I never needed him to tell me I was right
I have been wrong before, and I will be wrong again
I needed him to come, I needed him to face me like a man
You can pin a word on a man from a hundred miles away
But you cannot call him brother from that far
No, you cannot call him brother from that far

[Bridge - the turn]
And he was not the only one, there was a row of them
A row of men who had my number and would never make the call
But the silence was an answer, and the silence told me plain
A man who will not come to you was never going to call you brother
So I stopped waiting for his call
I stopped waiting for his call

[Final Chorus - low harmony entering]
He never called
He never called
And I have quit watching the screen for his name
He never called
And I am not waiting anymore

[Outro - pedal steel, fading]
My phone stayed dark and quiet
And he never called