[Intro - distant room tone, faint wooden creaks] Dust on the cases Dust on the chairs ... Something moved. [Verse 1] A string begins to tremble Though no one touched the bow [Violin - one fragile phrase] One key sinks down beside it Then slowly rises Low The accordion takes a breath From somewhere by the wall [Accordion - brief, faded phrase] A wooden body answers [Double bass - two low plucked notes] Then nothing Nothing at all [Pre-Chorus] Was that the opening? No It came much later Wait I remember this part [Cello - short questioning phrase] [Chorus] When we were an orchestra We knew exactly when to start You carried four bars into mine And I could find my part When we were an orchestra Before the dust Before the dark Someone would lift a hand And all of us Would know [Verse 2] The cello remembers tuning [Cello - quiet sustained note, slightly unstable] The bass remembers heat [Double bass - low resonant answer] The drum recalls the footsteps Passing underneath the seats [Drum - three distant soft strikes] The old accordion insists The tempo wasn't slow [Accordion - quick impatient flourish] The violin disagrees [Violin - sharp two-note reply] ... It always did You know [Pre-Chorus] Try from the beginning Which beginning? The one before the lights No Not that one Listen ... There. [Violin - fragment] [Cello - answering fragment] [Accordion - brief reply] [Double bass - two notes] [Chorus] When we were an orchestra We knew exactly when to start You carried four bars into mine And I could find my part When we were an orchestra The room was never still A cough beyond the curtain Then silence Then the thrill [Instrumental Break - isolated instruments call and answer, never playing together] [Bridge] Three notes from the violin [Violin - three notes] Two from the bass [Double bass - two notes] A chord from somewhere Underneath a case [Accordion - one worn chord] The accordion breathes The drum remembers [Drum - distant pulse] Something almost fits ... Again. [Instrumental - violin begins the remembered phrase; cello joins, then double bass, accordion and percussion enter one by one; fragments gradually align] [Final Chorus - instruments finally playing together] When we were an orchestra For just a little while The missing bars return to us The fragments reconcile When we were an orchestra ... There. That's it. That's how it went. [Full ensemble - brief, imperfect remembered passage, then sudden stop] [Outro - empty room ambience] One string Still ringing [Single violin harmonic] ... Then another [Low cello resonance] ... Then none.
