[Intro - a lone duduk opens over a warm bed of analog synths and fender rhodes, a kanun figure shimmering in, pedal steel bending underneath as vintage synth bass and glitter-rock drums settle into an easy rolling groove] [Verse 1 - the groove rolls warm and unhurried, Rhodes and synth bass in the pocket, pedal steel and duduk trading long lines above] The whole country gets in the car And drives four hours north to see A hillside handing back its green In every color there can be Nobody calls it what it is Nobody says the word It's a hundred thousand living things Deciding they have done enough [Chorus - the band opens wide and golden, lush strings rising with hammond b3, fuzz guitar hooking over the top, arpeggiator glittering, dhol lifting the backbeat] American autumn Every hillside burning gold And the color isn't holding on The color's letting go American autumn Half the country on the road Driving out to watch surrender And we call it beautiful [Verse 2 - back to the rolling verse pocket, kanun and duduk weaving, tape echo trailing off the pedal steel] The green was only working clothes The green was only how A summer does its business And there's no more business now Nobody mourns a maple Nobody wears the black It just pulls the whole year inward And it isn't coming back [Chorus - fuller, strings and b3 swelling, dhol and drums pushing] American autumn Every hillside burning gold And the color isn't holding on The color's letting go American autumn Half the country on the road Driving out to watch surrender And we call it beautiful [Bridge - drops to a hush, a lone duduk over fender rhodes and a held synth pad, strings and kanun gathering underneath as it climbs] Maybe that is why we drive Maybe that's the reason why Something in us needs to see A beautiful goodbye Every gold thing on that hill Is a thing that let it fall And we drive four hours to be shown How to do it well [Instrumental Solo - a soaring fuzz guitar solo climbs from warm to blazing, hands off to a dazzling duduk and pedal steel trade over racing dhol and kanun, then a wild hammond b3 and lush string climax, the whole band lifting into gold together] [Final Chorus - the biggest golden lift, strings and b3 wide open, fuzz guitar and pedal steel soaring, dhol and drums roaring under the hook] American autumn Every hillside burning gold And the color isn't holding on The color's letting go American autumn Half the country on the road Come to learn it from a maple How to let it go [Outro - the hook dissolves into a last duduk line over the synth pad, pedal steel and kanun fading under tape echo and spring reverb]
