You Are Like Stardust [Tuning: Low C Standard (C-G-C-F-A-D). The guitar is a chambered, low-tuned Ovation acoustic with a heavy, buzzing bottom string drone. A cold, mechanical music box winds up and chimes a brittle, repeating motif. A weeping cello swells underneath.] [Intro] [Mechanical music box chimes softly in 3/4 time] [Low-tuned Ovation guitar enters: rhythmic, heavy thumb-slap on a buzzy low C-string] [Cello enters: long, mournful, bowed low notes] [Verse 1] [Low, resonant chest voice — gravelly and intimate] In the furnace of this iron town Where the soot lies thick and cold, I found a splinter in the slag, A fire that won't grow old. You walk through grease and heavy steam, Unbroken by the wheel, A blinding, ancient silver thread Woven through the steel. [Pre-Chorus] [Low drone, voice rising slightly] The factory eats the light of day, The pistons crush the earth to rust, But when I hold you in the dark… You drop your heavy dust. [Chorus] [Massive vocal dynamic: Starting at a deep bass/baritone, leaping sudden 4.5 octaves into an aching, operatic soprano/whistle-head register] [Deep Low] Oh, they say we're made of iron… [Massive Soaring Leap to Extreme High] …BUT YOU SHINE LIKE STARDUST IN THE DARK! [High, sustained] Caught in the teeth of a clockwork world, You are the quiet, burning spark. [Gliding back down to Low] From the ash of a dead exploding sky To the dirt beneath my fingernails, [High Leap] You are stardust, my love… Where the anvil fails. [Verse 2] [Music box chimes faster, slightly out-of-tune like a rusted toy; Cello weeping in a minor key] [Low chest voice] Clockwork ribs and a brass-bound heart, Ticking down our mortal stay. I was built from oil and bone, Forged from bitter clay. Then you lay your head upon my chest, And the cold machines grow still— Ten billion years of glowing light Resting on the windowsill. [Pre-Chorus] [Low drone, voice building with raw grit] The factory eats the light of day, The pistons crush the earth to rust, But when I touch your glowing skin… We are more than dust. [Chorus] [Deep Low] Oh, they say we're made of iron… [Massive Soaring Leap to Extreme High] …BUT YOU SHINE LIKE STARDUST IN THE DARK! [High, sustained] Caught in the teeth of a clockwork world, You are the quiet, burning spark. [Gliding back down to Low] From the ash of a dead exploding sky To the dirt beneath my fingernails, [High Leap] You are stardust, my love… Where the anvil fails. [Bridge] [Guitar rhythm becomes intense, percussive, buzzing violently] [Cello shrieks with high, trembling vibrato] [Vocal glides rapidly up and down huge pitch intervals, from guttural whisper to soaring cry] [Whisper] Before the coal was in the ground… (Mid register) Before the iron pressed the mold… [High register] You were floating in the vast unknown, [Full power, screaming soaring high] A MILLION MILLION YEARS AGO! [Guttural Low] And now you're mine to hold. [Guitar & Cello Breakdown] [Heavy, drone-folk acoustic solo. The Ovation guitar's low C buzzes violently against the frets while the cello plays a high, heartbroken melody. The music box struggles to keep tempo, clicking and slipping gears.] [Chorus] [Maximum emotional intensity — full vocal power, octave-doubled effect] [Deep Low] Oh, they say we're made of iron… [Massive Soaring Leap to Extreme High] …BUT YOU SHINE LIKE STARDUST IN THE DARK! [High, sustained] Caught in the teeth of a clockwork world, You are the quiet, burning spark. [Low] From the ash of a dead exploding sky [High] To the dirt beneath my fingernails, [Full, soaring high voice] You are stardust, my love… Oh, my stardust, my love… Where the anvil fails. [Outro] [Instruments strip back] [Cello holds a single, fading, trembling low C note] [The music box slows down drastically... click... click... thud ... it stops.] [Acoustic guitar gives one last heavy thumb-slap on the low C string, letting the metal buzz ring out] [Soft, ultra-close microphone whisper] The world is made of iron... And you... are stardust. [Silence] [END]
