[Intro: smoky upright piano, brushed snare, muted trumpet, slow 1920s swing feel] [Male Soloist Only: wounded, painful, intimate vocal] I want you safe You want me dead You say these things As I’m drowning in my head A guided truth A vacant stare It’s like I was Never really there [Pre-Chorus: walking bass enters, brushed drums tighten] Run, run I was forever your ghost [Chorus: muted trumpet answers the vocal, male backing vocals hum softly] I’m a mirage Your hands Full of sand Can you catch me? Call me Gingerbread Man I’ll be in Neverland [Verse 2: upright piano and bass, smoky cabaret restraint] I thought this was real I began to heal That spell you cast Thank God it didn’t last [Verse 3: darker swing groove, clarinet curls around the vocal] This was stranger Escaped your danger You called it adventure Sweetheart, take your tincture [Pre-Chorus 2: brushed drums grow, muted brass swells] Run, run I was forever your ghost [Chorus 2: fuller jazz band, male backing vocals hum low] I’m a mirage Your hands Full of sand Can you catch me? I’m a mirage Made of sand Glass slipper in my hand Rabbit hole where I land [Bridge: stripped to piano, bass, distant trumpet] I’m glad to know That this was fiction I learned slow Now here’s the friction [Verse 4: dramatic piano stabs, low strings, wounded restraint] You frown In your crown I see it now— The conviction You don’t have To take my head When you already hold My heart instead [Verse 5: band swells, vocal sharper and more bitter] You wanted an end I called you friend No remorse That’s right You wanted a corpse [Final Chorus: full jazz-cabaret swell, trumpet and clarinet counterlines] I’m a mirage Your hands Full of sand Can you catch me? I’m a mirage Made of sand Breadcrumbs past the bark A wolf in the dark Call me Gingerbread Man I’ll be in Neverland [Outro: piano and voice only, muted trumpet fading behind] Can you catch me? Not anymore Your hands On the floor Look Nothing more Finally Nothing more [End: long reverb tail, soft piano and muted horn fade]
