When All Fails

[Verse 1] Dust on the shelf Dust on the frame But that old radio still calls our names Dial a little crooked Light a little weak Yet it finds a song when the wires all sleep [Chorus] When all fails The old things stay Click of the TV in a power-gray day Bent cardboard Kings in a rubber band Whole world fitting in a living room hand When all fails What doesn’t drift Are the first feelings I ever had to give If anything survives the crash and the mist Maybe the first ones They’re the ones that still exist [Verse 2] Grandma’s laugh over scattered cards Candle on the table chasing back the dark Rules half-forgotten Score never kept But we played ’til the little ones finally slept [Chorus] When all fails The old things stay Voices around you The long-night sway Soft arguments over which suit is high Someone cheating just to hear you sigh When all fails What doesn’t drift Are the first feelings I ever had to give Before the patches Before the twists Maybe the first ones They’re the ones that still exist [Bridge] We build it faster We call it new (oh) But does it really hold like I held you? Upgrades breaking in our hands Yet your first touch I still understand [Chorus] When all fails The old things stay Faded screens humming in their stubborn way Hearts got versions Hearts got lists But mine keeps going back to that first kiss When all fails What doesn’t drift Are the first feelings I ever had to give If everything I added falls through the abyss Those early sparks Are all that’s left And they still exist