[Intro] (a tanpura drone hums under a searching sitar line and swarmandal shimmer, tabla settling in, warm Rhodes and mellotron, tape echo, spacious) [Verse 1] (loping tabla and glitter-rock drums, sitar filigree and phaser guitar under a hushed vocal, spring reverb) Don't know if it means a thing, don't know where the dog goes when it's gone Don't know why I said that in eighth grade, still turning it over at dawn Don't know if she thinks about me, don't know how the whole thing ends Got a filing cabinet in my chest marked "ask again" [Pre-Chorus] (bansuri flute and pedal steel rising over the drone, the groove leaning forward) And I used to need the answers like a drowning man needs shore Now I just kind of carry them, and I don't reach for more [Chorus] (mellotron and pedal steel bloom over the drone, warm and floating, sitar soaring) Known unknowns, known unknowns The questions I keep folded up and take with me like stones I don't know, I don't know, and I've made my peace with that A whole life in the maybe, and I'm learning how to sit Known unknowns, known unknowns [Verse 2] (back to the hypnotic tabla-and-drone groove, swarmandal glinting, sitar answering the vocal) Don't know if there's a plan up there or just a lot of pretty weather Don't know if the ones I lost are somewhere, or just scattered light forever Don't know if I'm a good man, don't know if I picked right Don't know why the smallest kindness can undo me late at night [Pre-Chorus] (bansuri and mellotron climbing again) And I quit demanding certainty, quit banging on the door Turns out the not-knowing is the thing I came here for [Chorus] (full and floating, the drone opening wide) Known unknowns, known unknowns The questions I keep folded up and take with me like stones I don't know, I don't know, and I've made my peace with that A whole life in the maybe, and I'm learning how to sit Known unknowns, known unknowns [Bridge] (drops to sitar, tanpura and hushed vocal, tabla soft, then a slow hypnotic build) 'Cause the ones who swear they've got it figured, they scare me most of all So sure they never wonder, so loud they never fall Give me the trembling maybe, give me the honest "I don't know" Give me a couple good questions and a quiet place to go [Instrumental solo] (a searing sitar-and-pedal-steel raga solo trading microtonal runs with bansuri over the churning tabla, mellotron swelling, building to a peak) [Final Chorus] (biggest lift, everything blazing but serene) Known unknowns, known unknowns I'll die with a pocket full of them and I'll call it a life well-known I don't know, I don't know, and it's the truest thing I've got A whole sky full of question marks, and I wouldn't trade the lot Known unknowns, known unknowns [Outro] (the sitar line returns over the tanpura drone, tabla and mellotron fading, bansuri exhaling, tape echo trailing off)
