(Intro - jangly guitars building) (Verse 1 - poetic swagger) I'm a lighthouse standing in a parking lot Guiding ships that never dock Swimming through the city streets like they're the sea Drowning in humanity I'm a photograph that's burning at the edges Fading into yesterday's confessions You're a thunderstorm inside a jam jar Beautiful and trapped, a fallen star (Pre-Chorus - building) We're all just actors Playing ourselves badly Wearing masks of who We thought we'd be (Chorus - anthemic, metaphor-heavy) We've got paper wings and concrete dreams Nothing's ever quite what it seems Flying through the underground Kings and queens without a crown We're cigarette smoke and neon signs Temporary and bright, burning our time Living like we're bulletproof Paper wings and concrete truth (La-la-la, la-la-la-la) Paper wings! (La-la-la, la-la-la-la) (Verse 2 - more metaphors) You're a revolution wrapped in sellophane Beautiful resistance but you won't make change I'm a broken compass pointing at the sun Running in circles thinking that I've won We're hotel rooms that nobody remembers Temporary homes for temporary lovers Graffiti on the walls of history Leaving marks but no legacy The city's just a cage made out of gold We're canaries singing 'til our lungs grow old Traffic lights are telling us to wait But we're colour-blind and running late (Pre-Chorus) We're all just poets With nothing left to say Writing verses On receipts we throw away (Chorus - bigger) We've got paper wings and concrete dreams Swimming upstream in polluted streams Building castles out of sand Holding water in our hands We're matchstick men in timber towns Playing Russian roulette, spinning round Dancing on a razor's edge tonight Paper wings attempting flight (Bridge - slower, poetic) And maybe we're just echoes Of something that was real Maybe we're just shadows Learning how to feel We're flowers growing through the cracks In pavements made of broken backs We're yesterday's tomorrow We're borrowed time on borrowed sorrow (Instrumental break - soaring guitars) (Verse 3 - spoken word style, building) I'm a question mark in a world of full stops A whisper in a room that never shuts up You're an exclamation point that lost its voice We're all just making noise We're fireworks reflected in puddles Momentarily magnificent then trouble Shooting stars that never leave the ground Lost but hoping to be found (Final Chorus - triumphant) WE'VE GOT PAPER WINGS AND CONCRETE DREAMS SHOUTING INTO VOIDS, WAITING FOR THE SCREAMS TO ECHO BACK AND PROVE WE'RE HERE PAPER WINGS BUT NO FEAR WE'RE YESTERDAY'S HEROES, TOMORROW'S GHOSTS LIVING ON THE EDGE, GIVING IT THE MOST WE'RE BEAUTIFUL DISASTERS, PERFECT MESS PAPER WINGS IN SUNDAY DRESS WE'VE GOT PAPER WINGS AND CONCRETE SOULS FILLING UP THE SPACES, FILLING UP THE HOLES WITH DREAMS THAT MIGHT JUST TAKE US HIGH PAPER WINGS LEARNING HOW TO FLY! (Outro - anthemic fade) (La-la-la, la-la-la-la) We're flying now! (La-la-la, la-la-la-la) Paper wings! (La-la-la, la-la-la-la) Yeah!
