[INTRO – amplifier feedback, distant industrial noise, low sub-bass rumble. Single guitar scraping harmonics. Drums absent. Vocal delivered as a calm, ominous spoken-word monologue through a slightly distorted megaphone effect.] // Can it be done? // The question is how to stay stopped. [Drums count in with sticks. Guitar chugs enter.] [VERSE 1 (RAPPED) - Drop-D palm-muted guitar riff, syncopated kick pattern, bass follows guitar tightly. Vocals rhythmic and percussive, sitting between rap and hardcore shouting.] We thought we had plenty of character thought willpower was a barrier a tremendous urge to quit forever swore it off - still found it impossible whether serious or not don't matter when you've lost the power to choose the extent of that - it shatters every wall you thought you'd use [PRE-CHORUS (BUILDING) - Guitars widen, cymbals open, bass becomes more active. Vocal intensity rises with each line.] No matter how great the necessity No matter how strong the wish this utter inability - we cannot leave it alone [group vocal joins on "alone"] [CHORUS (FULL BAND / SCREAMED) - Massive wall of guitars, open chords, double-kick accents, layered hardcore gang vocals. Lead vocal screamed with conviction.] THIS IS THE BAFFLING FEATURE THIS IS THE CRUX OF THE PROBLEM we quit — we swear — we mean it [gang vocal repeats "mean it"] AND WALK RIGHT BACK IN CAN'T LEAVE IT ALONE CAN'T LEAVE IT ALONE no matter the cost — no matter the wish — this utter inability [2-bar guitar stabs and feedback swell.] [VERSE 2 (RAPPED, HARDER) - Heavier guitar tone, additional bass distortion. Vocal more aggressive and urgent than Verse 1.] What kind of thinking takes over the mind that repeats the desperate experiment every time? friends who reasoned with him after the spree — mystified — he walks back in — why does he? divorce papers — bankrupt — point of no return still he opens that door — what is he thinking? of what is he thinking? [Instruments briefly drop out except bass drone.] // Nobody knows. That's the point. [Drums slam back in.] [PRE-CHORUS - Building tension. Snare rolls underneath final line.] No matter how great the necessity No matter how strong the wish this utter inability — we cannot leave it alone [CHORUS - Bigger gang vocals. Additional octave guitar layer following vocal melody.] THIS IS THE BAFFLING FEATURE THIS IS THE CRUX OF THE PROBLEM we quit — we swear — we mean it AND WALK RIGHT BACK IN CAN'T LEAVE IT ALONE CAN'T LEAVE IT ALONE no matter the cost — no matter the wish — this utter inability [BREAKDOWN - Tempo feel cuts in half. Drums shift to crushing halftime groove. Bass heavily distorted. Guitar chugs leave large spaces between hits.] ALONE ALONE CAN'T LEAVE IT — [Single guitar sustains. Everything else drops.] // (half-time, single guitar, spoken:) [Spoken voice close-mic'd, tense and introspective.] // describe the mental states before the fall // that's the crux — that's the crux of it all // can you quit for a period of time? // but does the first drink repeat every time? [Drums re-enter gradually.] EVERY TIME EVERY SINGLE TIME [Last line shouted by full band and gang vocals.] [FINAL CHORUS (FULL-BAND EXPLOSION) - Maximum intensity. Layered screams, octave harmonies, open cymbals, guitars at full width.] THIS IS THE BAFFLING FEATURE THIS IS THE CRUX OF THE PROBLEM we quit — we swear — we mean it AND WALK RIGHT BACK IN CAN'T LEAVE IT ALONE CAN'T LEAVE IT ALONE no matter the cost — no matter the wish — this utter inability [Repeat final line twice with escalating screams.] [OUTRO (FEEDBACK DECAY, SPOKEN) - Guitars feeding back naturally. Drums stop. Bass sustains low note. Ambient noise slowly fades.] // Of what is he thinking? // Of what is he thinking? [Long pause.] // We don't know. // We still don't know. [Feedback slowly disappears into silence.]
