::intro:: Ninety-seven and sixteen years old Summer coming through the window Gateway humming in the living room And everything was getting bigger Then there was you. ::verse 1:: March brought AOL into the house April brought an old world back Dracula’s Curse inside my hands again Five years disappeared like that By May I had a Page online MSPaint monsters, handmade art Turning everything I loved into something Before I knew that was my heart Then school let out—but not for me Junior year had one more round Cardinal Hayes in the summer heat And you’d be waiting when I came down ::pre-chorus:: You looked like nineteen-ninety-seven But something never fit quite right Like everybody else was standing still And you were half a year ahead of time ::chorus:: Gal Out of Time Where the hell did you come from? I was digging up yesterday You were staring down tomorrow’s sun Gal Out of Time On the Grand Concourse next to me I thought I knew what summer was Before you walked into ninety-seven with me ::verse 2:: BX1 Limited, heading Uptown Cookies ’n’ Creme split two ways Your shoulder close, the windows open Bronx heat rolling through the day I told you Molly was kinda cute You laughed like you’d caught me in a crime Then you said, “You mean Naru?” Like you’d known her the whole damn time I said, “How the hell do you know that?” You just smiled and looked away Another little thing about you That didn’t quite belong that day ::pre-chorus 2:: I knew the dub You knew the name I knew the year You knew the game And every time I thought I caught you You were three steps down the line ::chorus:: Gal Out of Time Where the hell did you come from? I was digging up yesterday You were staring down tomorrow’s sun Gal Out of Time Sitting right there next to me Somehow you made the future feel Like something I could almost see ::verse 3:: Then the emulators hit that summer Old Nintendo came alive Games I thought were gone forever Running right there in ninety-seven-five— No— Ninety-seven. You laughed. “Nice try.” I was living in NES’talgia While Symphony drew near Old CastleVania behind me A whole new castle almost here Then Vampire Savior at the arcade My Jedah versus B.B. Hood You gave me that look across the cabinet Like, come on, boy—make it good. Life bars falling Last hit flying Both of us refusing to go— DOUBLE K.O.! Two bodies drop. You laughed like you won though. Of course you did. ::verse 4:: The Lost World was in the theaters Dinosaurs owned the summer again I had monsters, games and webpages A million worlds inside my head You wore WHO IS SLOGRA? Like the joke was made for two And somehow every strange obsession Got a little stranger next to you I kept reaching back to childhood Trying to find what I had missed You kept dropping little pieces Of a world that didn’t exist— Not yet. ::bridge:: Maybe that’s what I remember most. I was sixteen Already missing being younger Pulling old games through a glowing screen Trying to bring yesterday home And there you were Some impossible girl beside me Looking like you knew exactly where The whole damn thing was going I thought you came from tomorrow. I didn’t know I was going there too. ::final chorus:: Gal Out of Time Where the hell did you come from? I was bringing back yesterday You were carrying tomorrow’s sun Gal Out of Time Summer burning down the line From Hayes to home, from old games to new For a little while, your time crossed mine Gal Out of Time Maybe I never needed to know You were there in ninety-seven And ninety-seven wouldn’t let me go ::outro:: Gateway humming in the living room Sailor Moon on TV Dracula waiting in the cartridge Symphony still somewhere ahead And you— Sitting there beside me Like you already knew What came next. Gal Out of Time.
