[Intro — 4 bars] [Dry electronic kick, clipped muted synth chords] [No bass yet, no pads] [Lean, metropolitan, controlled] [Verse 1] [Solo warm low-mid baritone only] [Close-mic, narrow melodic range, speech-shaped and near-spoken but pitched] [No doubles, no backing vocals, no ensemble] [Melodic synth bass enters at line 2] [Long lines may stretch across two bars; leave air between phrases] There's a shop. It's four in the afternoon. I'm holding a pair of sneakers I don't need. I know the size. I know exactly where they'll go. [Groove stays lean] [No added percussion] I've done this so many times it isn't even a decision anymore. It's a reflex with a receipt. [Chorus 1] [Deadpan arithmetic delivery, but clearly melodic] [Lead baritone + ONE close low-baritone double only] [NO male ensemble] [Warm sustained pads open underneath] [Drums stay dry and unchanged] [Wider harmonically, not louder] Six and a half thousand for a coat. Worn zero times. Sold for less. Eight closets. I counted them. One thousand regrets. One thousand regrets. [Instrumental — 2 bars] [Single restrained synth hook] [No build] [Verse 2] [Return to solo baritone only] [Quieter and slightly more withdrawn than Verse 1] [No backing vocals] I wrote to my stylist from the shop floor. He knows. He sorts it out in silence. That's the part I'd rather you didn't hear. [Pre-Chorus] [Movement increases through bass and subtle metallic percussion only] [No dramatic vocal lift] [Still controlled and rhythmic] It's always the same move. I see it, something lights up, I don't think, I pay. [Half-bar of space] That move gave me the other things too. The city. The work. The room I walked into once and stayed in. [Chorus 2] [Fullest moment of the song] [Lead + close low-baritone double on first three lines] [Small 3–4 voice low male ensemble enters ONLY on the two repeats of “One thousand regrets”] [Ensemble close, soft, warm and low] [Wider, never louder] [No gospel character] Numbered headphones. Too tight to wear. A size I knew before I looked. Eight closets. I counted them. One thousand regrets. One thousand regrets. [Bridge] [SUBTRACT] [Drums drop to kick and one dry electronic element] [No strings, no swell, no climax] [Solo baritone only, no doubles, no ensemble] [Keep Bern deliberately matter-of-fact] Once I thought it through. Bern. I was twenty-four. I could have gone. I weighed it properly. I was careful. I didn't go. [Short pause] [Let the bar breathe] That's the one I still think about. [Bass drops out] I can return the sneakers. Not that. [Clear empty space] Not separately. [Outro] [SMALLER than Chorus 2] [Bare solo baritone] [No doubles, no ensemble] [One sustained pad and dry kick only] They're a nine and a half. I'm taking them. [Arrangement almost disappears] [One timbre, speech-shaped but pitched] [No final chorus] Eight closets. I counted them. [Clean end] [No fade]
