Last Honky-Tonk - Lady Red fea Graven

+ Show full styles

[INTRO — SYSTEM BOOT | MONOTONE ROBOT]
SYSTEM ONLINE.
LOCATION: LAST HONKY-TONK.
HUMAN LIFE SIGNS: ZERO.
AUTOMATED ENTERTAINMENT: ACTIVE.
ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.

[LEAD — SPOKEN, DRY]
Well, the world's gone to hell.
And we're still on the clock.

[SERVO CLICKS — STEEL GUITAR STARTS]
[ROBOT CHANT: ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR.]

[VERSE 1 — TWANGY LEAD, GLITCHED ENDS]
There's a Chevy sticking through the barroom wall,
Last customer parked it when the missiles fell.
Green stuff dripping from a busted beer tap,
Robot bartender's still saying, "Be right back."

My left hand's chrome, my right one's rust,
Got a motherboard heart and a mouth full of dust.
Drummer's got pistons where his elbows oughta be,
He counts off six and the computer says three.

We played Brian O'Neill till the circuits ran hot,
Then Steven Garmon for the ghosts we forgot.
No boots on the floor, not a soul at the bar,
Just four metal fools and a beat-up guitar.

[PRE-CHORUS — DIGITAL STUTTER BUILD]
NO. CROWD.
NO. TIPS.
JUST. CIRCUITS.
AND. CHIPS.
The OPEN sign blinks in radioactive snow—
[ROBOT: COMMAND NOT FOUND]
So here we go!

[CHORUS — BIG TWANG, VOCODER ANSWERS]
WE AIN'T CLOSED! [ROBOT: NOT CLOSED]
WE AIN'T DONE! [ROBOT: NOT DONE]
Still playing hell out of a world with no one!
Turn that steel up, make the generators blow,
We're the last damn band on a radioactive road!

[ROBOT CHANT — CHOPPED]
PLAY / REPEAT / PLAY / REPEAT!
KICK THAT DUST OFF THE DEAD MAIN STREET!

[DROP — 808s, INDUSTRIAL BASS, STEEL RIFF]
[GLITCH: WE-WE-WE AIN'T CLOSED]
[METAL STOMPS / SYNTH SIRENS / POWER SURGE]

[VERSE 2 — HALF-SPOKEN, MECHANICAL RHYTHM]
Salt City Lens on the cracked hard drive,
CaseyJane's old tracks kept the room alive.
At three seventeen, the alarm lit red:
[ROBOT: MOVEMENT DETECTED. SHOULD BE DEAD.]

Something knocked three times on the reinforced door,
First new sound in a hundred years or more.
A stranger walked in with a sparking glass eye,
One silver arm and a coat burned dry.

I said, "You here for whiskey or a wiring repair?"
She said, "I brought you something they hid down there."
I said, "Lady, if it's a bill, get back outside."
Her jaw clicked twice, then the lights all died.

[HARD SILENCE]

[STRANGER — BROKEN SYNTH VOICE]
YOU... HAVE... BEEN... PLAYING...
FOR... NO... ONE?

[LEAD — SPOKEN]
That's what the headcount says.

[STRANGER — VOICE GLITCHES]
INCORRECT.
THEY HAVE BEEN LISTENING.

[BUILD — HEARTBEAT KICK / SERVO WHINE]

[VERSE 3 — SUSPENSE, THEN WARMTH]
She said, "Twenty miles down where the old mines run,
They locked away the children when the war begun.
I was built to guard the gate and never let them roam,
But they heard your music through the wires in their home."

She rolled up her sleeve, showed a speaker in her wrist,
Played back our songs through the crackle and hiss.
Then the door swung wide and my circuits near fried—
Twenty little faces standing there outside.

One had a snare made out of an old tin can,
One held a fiddle patched with rubber bands.
A little girl asked, "Can you teach us what you play?"
And my whole damn system had nothing to say.

[BRIDGE — POWER DOWN, BARE ACOUSTIC]
[ROBOT: PROCESSING... PROCESSING...]

I stared at my fingers, all bolts and steel,
I'd forgotten that a song was something you could feel.
I handed her the guitar, let her take my chair.
For the first time in a century,
There was somebody there.

[STRANGER — SOFTLY, HUMAN-LIKE]
MISSION... CHANGED.

[FINAL CHORUS — LIVE COUNTRY + MASSIVE EDM]
WE AIN'T CLOSED! [ROBOT: NOT CLOSED]
WE AIN'T DONE! [ROBOT: NOT DONE]
The world's got a heartbeat, hear the little feet run!
Turn that steel up, let the low end roll,
Those kids got tomorrow and we gave 'em rock and roll!

[FINAL DROP — HUMAN CLAPS AGAINST ROBOT BEAT]
[ROBOT CHANT: PLAY / LEARN / LIVE / REPEAT]
[CHILDREN CLAP OUT OF TIME, DRUMMER FOLLOWS]

[OUTRO — GUITAR, SYSTEM VOICE]
[ROBOT: HUMAN LIFE SIGNS... TWENTY.]
[ROBOT: AUDIENCE DETECTED.]
[ROBOT: ERROR RESOLVED.]

[CHILD — SPOKEN]
Can we play another?

[LEAD — SPOKEN, SMILING]
Honey... we ain't closed.

[FINAL SERVO CLICK — END]

4811/7500

[LYRICAL DIRECTION — 108 BPM | ROBOTIC OUTLAW / INDUSTRIAL EDM] Outlaw country played by broken robots. FEMALE lead: low, gritty Southern country alto; dry, smart-mouth twang. Alternate her natural voice with hard vocoder doubles, stutters, bitcrushed words, sudden pitch drops and chopped syllables. Machine voices speak in flat synthetic tones, never sing the lead lines. Clockwork shuffle, metal stomps, hydraulic hisses, servo whines, chains, grimy Telecaster, pedal steel, 808s, industrial bass, laser arpeggios and festival EDM drops. Add alarms, boot-up noises and power cuts. Country rhythm must stay audible under the electronics. Stranger: eerie broken female android voice. Final chorus gains imperfect human timing. No smooth pop gloss. [INTRO — SYSTEM BOOT | MONOTONE ROBOT] SYSTEM ONLINE. LOCATION: LAST HONKY-TONK. HUMAN LIFE SIGNS: ZERO. AUTOMATED ENTERTAINMENT: ACTIVE. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. [LEAD — SPOKEN, DRY] Well, the world's gone to hell. And we're still on the clock. [SERVO CLICKS — STEEL GUITAR STARTS] [ROBOT CHANT: ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR.] [VERSE 1 — TWANGY LEAD, GLITCHED ENDS] There's a Chevy sticking through the barroom wall, Last customer parked it when the missiles fell. Green stuff dripping from a busted beer tap, Robot bartender's still saying, "Be right back." My left hand's chrome, my right one's rust, Got a motherboard heart and a mouth full of dust. Drummer's got pistons where his elbows oughta be, He counts off six and the computer says three. We played Brian O'Neill till the circuits ran hot, Then Steven Garmon for the ghosts we forgot. No boots on the floor, not a soul at the bar, Just four metal fools and a beat-up guitar. [PRE-CHORUS — DIGITAL STUTTER BUILD] NO. CROWD. NO. TIPS. JUST. CIRCUITS. AND. CHIPS. The OPEN sign blinks in radioactive snow— [ROBOT: COMMAND NOT FOUND] So here we go! [CHORUS — BIG TWANG, VOCODER ANSWERS] WE AIN'T CLOSED! [ROBOT: NOT CLOSED] WE AIN'T DONE! [ROBOT: NOT DONE] Still playing hell out of a world with no one! Turn that steel up, make the generators blow, We're the last damn band on a radioactive road! [ROBOT CHANT — CHOPPED] PLAY / REPEAT / PLAY / REPEAT! KICK THAT DUST OFF THE DEAD MAIN STREET! [DROP — 808s, INDUSTRIAL BASS, STEEL RIFF] [GLITCH: WE-WE-WE AIN'T CLOSED] [METAL STOMPS / SYNTH SIRENS / POWER SURGE] [VERSE 2 — HALF-SPOKEN, MECHANICAL RHYTHM] Salt City Lens on the cracked hard drive, CaseyJane's old tracks kept the room alive. At three seventeen, the alarm lit red: [ROBOT: MOVEMENT DETECTED. SHOULD BE DEAD.] Something knocked three times on the reinforced door, First new sound in a hundred years or more. A stranger walked in with a sparking glass eye, One silver arm and a coat burned dry. I said, "You here for whiskey or a wiring repair?" She said, "I brought you something they hid down there." I said, "Lady, if it's a bill, get back outside." Her jaw clicked twice, then the lights all died. [HARD SILENCE] [STRANGER — BROKEN SYNTH VOICE] YOU... HAVE... BEEN... PLAYING... FOR... NO... ONE? [LEAD — SPOKEN] That's what the headcount says. [STRANGER — VOICE GLITCHES] INCORRECT. THEY HAVE BEEN LISTENING. [BUILD — HEARTBEAT KICK / SERVO WHINE] [VERSE 3 — SUSPENSE, THEN WARMTH] She said, "Twenty miles down where the old mines run, They locked away the children when the war begun. I was built to guard the gate and never let them roam, But they heard your music through the wires in their home." She rolled up her sleeve, showed a speaker in her wrist, Played back our songs through the crackle and hiss. Then the door swung wide and my circuits near fried— Twenty little faces standing there outside. One had a snare made out of an old tin can, One held a fiddle patched with rubber bands. A little girl asked, "Can you teach us what you play?" And my whole damn system had nothing to say. [BRIDGE — POWER DOWN, BARE ACOUSTIC] [ROBOT: PROCESSING... PROCESSING...] I stared at my fingers, all bolts and steel, I'd forgotten that a song was something you could feel. I handed her the guitar, let her take my chair. For the first time in a century, There was somebody there. [STRANGER — SOFTLY, HUMAN-LIKE] MISSION... CHANGED. [FINAL CHORUS — LIVE COUNTRY + MASSIVE EDM] WE AIN'T CLOSED! [ROBOT: NOT CLOSED] WE AIN'T DONE! [ROBOT: NOT DONE] The world's got a heartbeat, hear the little feet run! Turn that steel up, let the low end roll, Those kids got tomorrow and we gave 'em rock and roll! [FINAL DROP — HUMAN CLAPS AGAINST ROBOT BEAT] [ROBOT CHANT: PLAY / LEARN / LIVE / REPEAT] [CHILDREN CLAP OUT OF TIME, DRUMMER FOLLOWS] [OUTRO — GUITAR, SYSTEM VOICE] [ROBOT: HUMAN LIFE SIGNS... TWENTY.] [ROBOT: AUDIENCE DETECTED.] [ROBOT: ERROR RESOLVED.] [CHILD — SPOKEN] Can we play another? [LEAD — SPOKEN, SMILING] Honey... we ain't closed. [FINAL SERVO CLICK — END]

0/500