[Short Instrumental Intro] (jangly guitar strum, walking bass kicks in, brushed snare, then a bright trumpet fanfare with handclaps) [Verse 1: Male Vocal] Kenichi wakes the basement up at five-thirty in the morning He's the only one who likes the smell of coffee and formalin Twenty years a postdoc and he's never been bitter He says the microscope's the only thing that listens when he's tired [Verse 2: Female Vocal — light, slightly playful] Yui slept on the bench again, her seventh rejection letter Folded like a paper plane and floating down the corridor Two-forty a year and no insurance, but the centrifuge is humming And she's laughing at the ceiling 'cause the ceiling's always laughing back [Pre-Chorus: Duet] Oh, somebody left the fluorescent light on, Oh, look what they've gone and made — a sky for us to live in! [Chorus: Duet with Brass & Strings] We live in the fluorescent forest Where the lab coats throw the longest shadows in town It's easier to find a reason to keep going Than to find a reason to put the pipette down And the centrifuge is spinning, and the centrifuge is spinning And so are we, and so are we, oh so are we [Verse 3: Male Vocal — older, wry] Takeshi's been an assistant prof since nineteen-ninety-something The centrifuge he oils today is older than his marriage A letter came last Tuesday — "We'd love to have you back, part-time!" Twelve hundred yen an hour, and a handshake from the dean [Verse 4: Female Vocal] On a midnight bus from Sendai he was looking at his phone His daughter sent a sticker — "Mom and I are doing fine at home" At the conference station three of them walked past each other None of them looked up, none of them said hello, none of them knew [Instrumental Bridge] (big brass break — trumpet and trombone trading lines, soaring strings, hammond organ swell, handclaps drop in, joyful momentum, then guitar solo) [Bridge: Male Vocal] Yui's in Hungary now, on a one-year contract again She calls and laughs about the cafeteria food [Bridge: Female Vocal] Kenichi's signed a new short contract, lower pay but he's still got the key He says that's all a scientist could need [Bridge: Duet, building] And Takeshi told a reporter, with a shrug and half a smile, "It just so happens that we live somewhere a little dark" [Final Chorus: Full Arrangement — Duet, Strings, Horns, Handclaps, Tambourine] We live in the fluorescent forest And nobody outside has any idea how deep it goes But every shadow has a little lamp behind it Every lamp is shaking but you bet your life it glows And the centrifuge is spinning, and the centrifuge is spinning And so are we, and so are we And we're alive, and we're alive, oh we're alive today [Outro] (trumpet quotes the chorus melody, strings descend, jangly guitar f
