[PROLOGUE] [MILFRED]: (Modern acoustic drum kit alone; syncopated low toms and dry rim clicks, 102 BPM.) [ROXI]: (Speak over drums; smoky, amused, intimate.) Blue wristbands. Oh, there you are. You with the folded arms— that foot is telling a completely different story. And you, pointing at your friend? I wasn't looking at them until you did. Stay down there. I like this view. [INTRO] [JILL]: (Electric bass enters; gritty fingerstyle riff, octave jumps, muted pickups.) [SEPHYR-GLEN]: (Hammond organ enters; clipped ninth chords, slow rotary speaker.) [LIZ]: (Baritone saxophone enters; low syncopated honks and curling replies.) [ROXI]: (Overdriven electric guitar enters; wah chops between bass accents.) [MILFRED]: (Kick, snare and loose hi-hat sixteenths; crooked tom pickups.) [VERSE 1] [ROXI]: (Clean rap, smoky bite, elastic timing; guitar answers between lines.) Blue on the wrist, little shift in the shoulder, Playing it cool while the pocket gets bolder. You at the back with the elegant stare— Your heel's got a solo going under that chair. Your mouth says not me, but your elbow says bullshit. That innocent look's got a kick drum under it. I came with a song; you put a kink in the time. Jill stole that shoulder move and made it a bass line. [JILL]: (Shift the octave pickup a sixteenth late; repeat.) [CHORUS] [ROXI]: (Sing a broad, cheeky hook; guitar keeps wah rhythm.) Blue band, bad influence, Look what you've done to the groove! Trying to sit there all innocent— Baby, that chair's got moves. Blue band, bad influence, Don't give me that civilized grin. I was behaving for nearly a minute. Look at the state you've got us in! [THE MISSING BACKBEAT] [ROXI]: (Mute guitar; speak over groove.) Blue bands, give Milfred one clap on FOUR. One, two, three— [CROWD]: (Blue-band audience claps on four for eight bars, then stops. No voices.) [MILFRED]: (For those eight bars, snare on two only; quiet kick and hats. Leave four empty.) [JILL]: (Repeat displaced bass riff; leave beat four open.) [SEPHYR-GLEN]: (Hold low organ chords; upper stabs follow each clap on the upbeat.) [LIZ]: (Climbing sax lines cross bar lines; stop just before each clap.) [ROXI]: (Guitar bends land with the claps; shorten them into dirty two-note replies.) [VERSE 2] [MILFRED]: (Restore snare on two and four; toms answer the bass pickups.) [ROXI]: (Sing close and low; short guitar wah chops.) Blue isn't asking for a shoulder to cry on. Tonight it's a wrist with a rhythm to try on. You by the door with the perfectly straight face— That eyebrow just put a little filth in the place. Don't blame your friend; I saw who started it. One little shoulder and the whole row's part of it. I'm trying to keep this respectable, too. That plan had a future before I saw you. [FINAL CHORUS] [SEPHYR-GLEN]: (Full organ chords; faster rotary speaker.) [ROXI]: (Full smoky alto, rough and playful; guitar offbeats.) Blue band, bad influence, Look what you've done to the groove! Trying to sit there all innocent— Baby, that chair's got moves. Blue band, bad influence, Don't give me that civilized grin. I was behaving for nearly a minute. Look at the state you've got us in! [OUTRO] [JILL]: (Next bar, beat three: choke bass mid-riff.) [MILFRED]: (Same beat three: cymbal choke; stop drums.) [LIZ]: (Same beat three: cut sax mid-phrase.) [ROXI]: (Same beat three: mute guitar.) [SEPHYR-GLEN]: (Hold one soft Hammond chord through the cutoff and speech.) [ROXI]: (Speak slowly, teasing.) Keep that blue band. I'm blaming it for everything. [SEPHYR-GLEN]: (Release Hammond keys together; no final flourish.) [END]
