[Intro: ticking clock, piano stabs] Tap the clock One minute each Twenty in the cup Your move [Hook: chanted, group shouts] Flag fall (tick tock) Sixty seconds on the clock Flag fall (tick tock) Slap it, slap it, never stop Concrete table, park bench throne Your flag drops first and you're walking home [Verse 1] Stone table by the fountain, squares worn thin Pigeon on the corner wants to get in Twenty in a coffee cup, a clock with a crack One minute games and I never look back Here comes a fleece vest, app on his phone Says he's eighteen hundred, plays at home Sits down heavy, asks me the bet Twenty a game, you'll owe me by sunset I let him win the first and I act like I'm hurt Shake my head slow, wipe the board on my shirt Double or nothing, I said if you insist Oldest move in the park and he missed it [Hook: chanted, group shouts] Flag fall (tick tock) Sixty seconds on the clock Flag fall (tick tock) Slap it, slap it, never stop Concrete table, park bench throne Your flag drops first and you're walking home [Verse 2] Game two and the crowd's coming in off the path Nanny with a stroller doing the math Cop on his lunch break, kid on a scooter Old man on a cane calling moves like a tutor Fleece vest opens with a line from a book I answer with a pawn and he takes a long look He thinks, he sweats, he's down to the wire I slap it so fast that the button's on fire You think it's speed, it's twenty years on this stone Pops played this fountain and he left me the throne Every winter, every lunch, every bet I saw the ending and he hasn't seen it yet [Double-Time Switch: stacked, no commas] Knight to the rim and the bishop on the long diagonal sharp as a cut Rook on the open file and the pawns in a chain that he can never shut Slap it on the left and he slaps it on the right and it's tick and it's tock Nanny on the phone and the cop with a pretzel and the pigeon on the rock [Hook: chanted, group shouts] Flag fall (tick tock) Sixty seconds on the clock Flag fall (tick tock) Slap it, slap it, never stop [Breakdown: breaks drop out, clock ticks only] Ten seconds (tick) He's got mate in two (tick) I got mate in time (tick) Watch (tick) [Chopper Burst: triplet bounce, flow switch] Trade it then I take it and I tuck it by the clock and I am already gone Pin it then he panics and he lifts it and he drops it and the touch move rule is on Check it and I check it and I check it till the king is in the corner of the square Two seconds on my side and he is reaching for the mate but the mate is never there Red flag tipping on his side before his fingers ever get to make the trade Hand hanging in the air and the fountain going off like a Saturday parade [Verse 3] Little red flag drops and the park goes loud Nanny high fives the cop in the crowd He had mate in two but he ran out of clock Smart don't matter when the flag gets dropped He pays me forty, asks how I play that fast I played it slow for twenty years so the fast would last Rematch tomorrow, the board's always set I don't play long and I don't play regret Street lights on and the fountain goes gold Kid on the scooter, he's ten years old Asks me can you teach me, so I give him the seat Tap the clock, little man, your move, your street [Final Hook: chanted, group shouts] Flag fall (tick tock) Sixty seconds on the clock Flag fall (tick tock) Slap it, slap it, never stop Concrete table, park bench throne Your flag drops first and you're walking home [Outro: clock ticks, piano stabs fade] Tap the clock Your move
