[Tempo: 108 BPM] [Time Signature: Odd] [Arrangement: Romantic classical grand piano, elastic singing fretless bass with fluid slides and double-stops, highly precise acoustic drums featuring complex syncopated subdivisions and ghost notes, dramatic male tenor] [Intro] [Key: A Minor] [Am7] (Delicate classical piano arpeggios over a warm, sliding fretless bass swell and quiet, precise rimshots) (Spoken) We... we build our walls... and then... we paint over the cracks... [Verse 1] [Key: A Minor] [Am] Down... in the basement. Past... past the [F#m] old furnace hum, [Fmaj7] I-I-I'm tracing the outline... of [D] who... who I've become. [Esus4] Locked... away from neighbors... [E7] the lawnmower's... drone, [Fmaj7] Breathing... in sawdust... and drafting... alone. (Chant: "Drafting alone... drafting... alone...") [Verse 2] [Key: C Major] [Cmaj7] A quick... stroke of latex. A [G] smear... of off-white, [Bbmaj7] To cover... the water damage... [Ebmaj7] hidden... hidden from sight. [Abmaj7] Digging... through cardboard boxes... [Dbmaj7] left on the floor, [Fm] Finding... the things... that I don't [G7] use anymore. [Chorus 1] [Key: F Major] [Fmaj7] I'm a self... made curator... of [C] local folklore, [D7] Nailing down floorboards... [Ab] sweeping... sweeping the floor. [Dbmaj7] To the folks... at the grocery... I'm [Gbmaj7] doing... just fine, [Bmaj7] A portrait of balance... a [E7] straight... steady line. [Am] But the cracks... in the drywall... are [G] starting... starting to show, [Fmaj7] Whispering... secrets... I don't [E7] want... to know. [Transition] [Key: D Minor] [Dm] (Precise, disciplined rhythmic shift. The drums lock into a highly syncopated 5/8 pattern with complex ghost notes on the snare, trading lines with expressive, sliding fretless bass melodies) [Verse 3] [Key: D Minor] [D7] Scratch... scratch at the drywall! Scrape... [Bbmaj7] at the... [C7] seam! [A7] [Chorus 2] [Key: G Minor] [Gm] But the weather... is shifting. The [Ebmaj7] plaster... is thin, [F7] Revealing... the framing... we're [D7] mortgaged... mortgaged within! [Gm] Take a rusted... old putty knife... [Ebmaj7] dig it... dig it deep in, [F7] And strip back... the coats... of the [D7] promise... the promise we spin! [Bridge] [Key: C Minor] [Cm] Peel... peel the gloss from the woodwork... the [Abmaj7] years... of pretend, [Fm] And stare... at the splinters... that refuse... refuse to bend. [Cm] The polite... conversation... we [Abmaj7] wore... like a coat, [Fm] Is a tightening collar... that [G7] chokes... at the throat. (Tenor harmonies rise in a beautifully controlled, classical counterpoint structure) [Verse 4] [Key: D Minor] [Dm] The nails... are all rusted. The [C] timber... is dry, [Bbmaj7] The foundations... shudder... as the [A7] sirens... go by. [Dm] The family man... the [C] suburban... design, [Bbmaj7] Hiding... the fracture... right [A7] down... the spine. [Outro] [Key: D Minor] [Dm] For all of our flower beds... [C] gardens... and tea, [Bbmaj7] We can't... sweep away... what we refuse... refuse to see. [Dm] Beneath... the fresh coat... of the [C] latex... and pride, [Bbmaj7] The wild... un-renovated... [A7] anger... resides. [Dm] (Piano, fretless bass, and drums perform a tightly coordinated, intricate polyrhythmic decrescendo, resolving to a final, quiet, and unresolved low piano note) [STOP]
