02 - queues

[Intro | bass pulse | footsteps and number clicks] Take a number. Hold it tight. Stand where the yellow line says right. Mouth shut. Eyes down. Welcome to the waiting town. [Verse 1 | clipped rhythmic vocal | mechanical riff bursts] One wants bread. Two wants heat. Three wants medicine. Four wants sleep. Five has papers. Six has none. Seven has a daughter. Eight has a gun. Nine keeps smiling. Ten looks sick. Eleven says the system’s quick. Twelve is late. Thirteen swears. Fourteen counts the empty chairs. [Hook | gang vocals | stomped no melodic lift] ONE BEHIND ANOTHER! ONE BEHIND ANOTHER! Move when the window opens! Stop when the window shuts! ONE BEHIND ANOTHER! ONE BEHIND ANOTHER! Hands in your pockets! Fire in your guts! [Verse 2 | faster delivery | guitar stabs answer lines] There’s a form for loss. There’s a stamp for shame. There’s a fee if they spell wrong your name. There’s a chair that breaks. There’s a screen that lies. There’s a man who never meets your eyes. There’s a child on the floor. There’s a cough in the wall. There’s a mother trying not to fall. There’s a guard at the door. There’s a clock with teeth. There’s a country learning how to breathe. [Hook 2 | harder gang vocals | bodies in the room] ONE BEHIND ANOTHER! ONE BEHIND ANOTHER! Move when the window opens! Stop when the window shuts! ONE BEHIND ANOTHER! ONE BEHIND ANOTHER! Hands in your pockets! Fire in your guts! [Bridge | sudden silence | clerk dialogue] [Clerk] Reason for visit? [Lead] Month got longer. [Clerk] Proof of damage? [Lead] Hands got colder. [Clerk] Place of birth? [Lead] Under the ceiling. [Clerk] Cause of fear? [Lead] You tell me. [Interlude | stop-start riff spiral | violent counting] Fifteen. Sixteen. Seventeen. Next. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty. Next. Twenty-one. Twenty-two. Twenty-three. Next. Who gets served? Who gets seen? Who gets named next? [Breakdown | shouted drum bursts | no harmony] Don’t push. Don’t ask. Don’t bleed on the glass. Don’t cough. Don’t kneel. Don’t make the waiting real. Don’t speak. Don’t stare. Don’t notice who is never there. Don’t turn. Don’t run. The line becomes the loaded gun. [Final Hook | full band | dangerous gang vocals] ONE BEHIND ANOTHER! ONE BEHIND ANOTHER! Move when the window opens! Stop when the window shuts! ONE BEHIND ANOTHER! ONE BEHIND ANOTHER! Hands in your pockets! Fire in your guts! [Outro | footsteps and number machine | abrupt drop] Take a number. Hold it tight. Someone’s coming to make this right. Take a number. Hold your place. Someone’s coming to give it a face. Next.