The Writing on the Wall

Lyrics [Intro — low pulsing drums, ominous strings] (Drink... drink... the night is ours) (Drink... drink...) [Verse 1] Bring out the cups they stole from the holy place Fill them up, let the empire toast its own face The king is laughing, the wine is running like a flood (Pour it out, pour it out) He calls for the singer, he wants a sacred song For a drunken table where everything's gone wrong She stands before the gold with the temple in her blood (Sing for us, sing for us) [Pre-Chorus — building] But she lifts her head and she will not play the clown She opens up her mouth and she brings the heavens down— [Chorus] There's a writing on the wall (mene... mene...) And the gold can't stop the fall (tekel... upharsin...) Every empire thinks it's forever Till the hand begins to scrawl (On the wall, on the wall) You can count it, you can weigh it (mene, mene, tekel, upharsin) You can watch your kingdom crawl There's a writing, there's a writing There's a writing on the wall (On the wall) [Verse 2] The music turns to terror as the fingers start to trace Letters made of fire on the marble of the place The king goes white as ashes, all his thousand lamps go dim (What is this, what is this) The wise men cannot read it, all their wisdom is a lie Only the exile's God can tell the reason why The numbers have been counted and they've all run out on him (Run out, run out) [Pre-Chorus — building] And the singer's voice rings out above the falling hall She always knew that gold was never going to stand at all— [Chorus] There's a writing on the wall (mene... mene...) And the gold can't stop the fall (tekel... upharsin...) Every empire thinks it's forever Till the hand begins to scrawl (On the wall, on the wall) You can count it, you can weigh it (mene, mene, tekel, upharsin) You can watch your kingdom crawl There's a writing, there's a writing There's a writing on the wall (On the wall) [Bridge — half-time, ominous, then accelerating] Weighed in the balance, found wanting tonight Numbered and finished before the morning light The river girl was right, the river girl was right (The river girl was right) The walls they thought could never fall Are falling, falling, falling, falling— (Falling, falling, falling, falling) [Final Chorus — full power, driving] There's a writing on the wall (MENE... MENE...) And the gold can't stop the fall (TEKEL... UPHARSIN...) Every empire thinks it's forever Till the hand begins to scrawl (On the wall, on the wall) You can count it, you can weigh it (mene, mene, tekel, upharsin) You can watch your kingdom crawl There's a writing, there's a writing There's a writing on the wall (On the wall) [Outro — sudden, everything cuts to near-silence] (On the wall...) And in one night... it was over