[Intro] (a relentless dhol groove and driving four-on-the-floor, tumbi single-string riffing, algoza flute and brass stabs, funk bass, warm Rhodes, propulsive and forward-rushing) [Verse 1] (driving dhol and funk bass under a warm vocal, tumbi ticking, hand-claps, tape saturation) He's eating dinner Tuesday but he's tasting Friday night Half a mind on where he's going, never any on the light He plans the trip while he's still packing, plans the next one on the plane Livs about three weeks ahead of everybody in his lane [Pre-Chorus] (brass and pedal steel lifting, the drive tightening) And the now goes by like scenery from a window on a train He's always almost somewhere better, always chasing down the frame [Chorus] (full brass and close harmonies bloom over the driving groove, urgent and bright) He's on fast forward, always fast forward Skipping through the ordinary trying to reach the good part quick But the tape just plays the ordinary, and the good part's in the mix He fast forwards, fast forwards Right past the only life he's got, and he can't work out the trick He's on fast forward still [Verse 2] (back to the relentless groove, tumbi and algoza answering the vocal, dhol pounding) His kid says "watch this" from the driveway and he's answering a text Already gone to some tomorrow, already three towns to the next His wife says "look, the light's incredible" and he says "yeah, one sec" And the incredible light just leaves without him, and he never checks [Pre-Chorus] (brass and steel climbing again, the rush building) He thinks the real stuff's coming later, thinks it's up around the bend But it was happening the whole time, in the parts he tried to spend [Chorus] (fuller, harmonies and brass wide, driving hard) He's on fast forward, always fast forward Skipping through the ordinary trying to reach the good part quick But the tape just plays the ordinary, and the good part's in the mix He fast forwards, fast forwards Right past the only life he's got, and he can't work out the trick He's on fast forward still [Bridge] (the whole drive drops away to near-silence, just soft Rhodes and a hushed vocal, still and suspended) Then one plain Thursday something caught him, don't know why or what it was Maybe just the way she laughed, maybe just because And for a minute he was in it, wasn't three weeks up the road Just a man inside his Thursday with no next place to go [Instrumental solo] (the groove eases back in gently and swells, algoza flute and pedal steel trading a warm, unhurried solo over a settling dhol, building without rushing) [Final Chorus] (lands on the beat, warm and full, no longer frantic) And he hit play, just play, finally play Let the ordinary Thursday be the whole of what he had And it wasn't even special, and that's what made it grab He quit fast forward, fast forward Landed in his one plain life, and God, it wasn't sad He hit play, and he stayed [Outro] (the groove eases down to soft Rhodes and a last dhol pulse, algoza exhaling, settled and still, spring reverb trailing off)
