STILL HERE — Silent Avenue [Intro — room tone, soft amplifier hum] [Clean guitar, very slow] [Verse 1 — close, fragile vocal] I found your handwriting On the back of an old receipt Nothing worth remembering Just milk, cigarettes and something sweet I almost threw it away Then read it twice instead Funny what becomes important When everything else is dead [Soft bass enters] [Pre-Chorus] I thought losing you Would happen all at once [Pause] But you keep disappearing A little every month [Chorus — restrained, drums enter] And I'm still here In a life you don't belong to Still here Becoming someone you won't know I don't wait for you I don't think you're coming home [Voice cracks slightly] I'm just still here Learning how to be alone [Short instrumental] [Verse 2] I changed the way I wear my hair Moved the furniture around Took your number from my favorites But I couldn't delete it somehow There are days I don't remember you Until I notice that I don't [Quiet pause] And somehow that's much sadder Than remembering you was [Pre-Chorus] I thought getting better Would feel like being free But mostly it feels like There's less of you in me [Chorus — slightly larger] And I'm still here In a life you don't belong to Still here Becoming someone you won't know I don't wait for you I don't think you're coming home I'm just still here Learning how to be alone [Instrumental — clean guitar, distant feedback] [Bridge — almost whispered] Sometimes I wonder... If we met again would you recognize me? [Long pause] Would I recognize you? [Very soft tape hiss enters] Or would we smile like people who used to know everything about each other... [Voice breaks] and don't anymore? [Silence] [Old recording / distant female voice] Are you still there? [Tape click] [Male vocal, completely dry] Yeah. [Pause] I am. [Final Chorus — full band, emotional but not aggressive] I'm still here But I don't know what that means now Still here And maybe that's enough You took nothing I could ever ask you to give back [Backing vocals enter softly] Still here... [Lead] You just left me with a life I had to learn to have And I'm still here Not waiting anymore Still here Without knowing what comes next [Music gradually strips away] Maybe moving on Isn't leaving everything behind Maybe it's carrying it Without letting it decide [Outro — guitar only] Who you are. [Long instrumental decay] [Barely audible] I'm still here. [Amp hum → click]
