///*****/// [Intro - Drum Showcase] (Lone floor tom pulse, building, gong crash, crowd stomping in time) On the drums tonight! Let him hear you! [Verse 1] Behind the wall of chrome and hide he sits up on his throne The only man in this whole band who never plays alone He counts the world in four and holds the ceiling on his back He's the engine and the earthquake and the hammer on the track He learned it on a biscuit tin at seven years of age Beating out a rhythm that would carry him to every stage His mother said, that racket's gonna drive us all insane He just smiled and hit it harder and he never once explained [Pre-Chorus] Every heart in here is beating on his time Every single one of us is his [Chorus] Thunder in the skins, rolling through the hall Feel it in the concrete, feel it in the wall He is the storm, he is the drum He is the reason that we all became one Thunder in the skins tonight! [Drum Solo] (Tribal toms, thundering double kick, cowbell breakdown) (Crowd clapping in unison, band gone, one man against the arena) (Rototom cascade, gong strike, cymbal wash, silence) (Then everything at once) [Verse 2] Twenty-two pieces of hand-hammered brass and steel A kit like a battleship, a fortress that he built to feel Nobody puts his picture on the front of magazines Nobody buys the poster of the guy behind the screens But take him out for one night and this whole thing falls apart 'Cause a song is just a rumour till it's married to a heart So while the singers preen and the guitars scream and shine Remember there's a man back there who's holding back the tide [Pre-Chorus] Every heart in here is beating on his time Every single one of us is his [Chorus] Thunder in the skins, rolling through the hall Feel it in the concrete, feel it in the wall He is the storm, he is the drum He is the reason that we all became one Thunder in the skins tonight! [Guitar Solo] (Short, aggressive, riding the toms, trading fours with the kit) [Breakdown - Everybody Clap] Clap! Clap! Clap-clap-clap! Come on, twenty thousand hands! Keep it going, don't you drop it! Yeah! [Bridge] There is nothing in this world more human than a beat It's the first thing that you hear before you ever learn to speak So when he brings that hammer down and shakes you to the bone That's the oldest song there is, and it is calling you home [Final Chorus] Thunder in the skins, rolling through the hall Feel it in the concrete, feel it in the wall He is the storm, he is the drum He is the reason that we all became one Thunder in the skins! Thunder in the skins tonight! [Verse 3] He counts us in, he counts us out, he holds the whole thing straight He is the only one back there who cannot make mistakes And when the guitars go missing and the singer loses key He just keeps that hammer falling and he carries all of three [Outro] (Final gong, cymbals ringing out for eight bars, crowd roaring) Take a bow, brother. They love you.
