[Intro - distant static, barely audible] Something is counting. Something is close. [Verse 1, Hunting voice with sombre echos] The streetlights blink and forget your name Porch light dies in the same cold frame You lock the door, you check the chain The chain is warm. It wasn’t before A neighbor’s window goes black at nine No siren comes. No one asks why The mailbox stays full. The dog won’t cry It only stares at the end of the drive [Chorus - low voice, almost spoken, heavy and close] It doesn’t knock It doesn’t call It takes the quiet ones One by one It doesn’t run It doesn’t rush It stands where you were And waits for the hush One by one One by one One by one [Verse 2] You cross a name off the group chat thread “Moved away,” is all that gets said Their coat is still on the kitchen chair Their phone still rings in the empty air You sleep with the lamp. You sleep with the knife You wake to the sound of a second life Breathing slow on the other side Of a door you swore you locked last night [Chorus - low voice, almost spoken, heavy and close] It doesn’t knock It doesn’t call It takes the quiet ones One by one It doesn’t run It doesn’t rush It stands where you were And waits for the hush One by one One by one One by one [Bridge - thinner, higher, frightened] Count the houses. Count the lights Count the spaces between the nights Someone is missing from the line And the space is shaped a lot like mine [Final Chorus - low voice, doubled, closer, slower] It doesn’t knock It doesn’t call It takes the quiet ones One by one It doesn’t run It doesn’t rush It stands where you were And waits for the hush One by one One by one (You’re the one) One by one [Outro - low voice, fading under static] It doesn’t knock It doesn’t call One by one One by one
