There’s a noise underneath the floorboards There’s a horse in the telephone wire There’s a little red bird in my ribcage And it’s learning to start a fire [Verse 1, fast fingerpicked guitar, dry intimate vocal] I left my coat in a stranger’s car Took the wrong road past the reservoir Had a pocketful of sensible plans Now they’re blowing like leaves from my hands There’s a bend in the road where the trees lean low Like they’ve heard something I don’t know And my feet keep time with a thing unseen Like the whole damn earth has a pulse in me [Pre-Chorus, kick drum and stomping percussion enter] I don’t know what I’m running from I don’t know what I’m running to But the sky just split like a broken drum And I’ve got nothing left to prove [Chorus, explosive full band, fierce female vocal, loud raw emotional explosive expression] **Take me where the wild things turn** Where the black rivers twist and burn Where the map gives up and the wires come loose Where I’ve got no name and nothing to lose Oh, my blood’s got a runaway beat There’s a strange new animal under my feet I was born to the rules, but I’m breaking through I don’t know the way But I’m coming through [Post-Chorus, gang harmonies, fiddle riff, breathless] Hey! Hey! What have I become? Hey! Hey! I can hear it come! [Verse 2, driving acoustic guitar, bass and clattering percussion] I saw a fox with a face like mine At a crossroads eating up the signs It looked at me like an old best friend Then it laughed and disappeared round the bend Now the hills are leaning, the fences sway And the miles fall off in a crooked parade I’m laughing so hard that my eyes turn wet At a life I haven’t even lived yet [Pre-Chorus, rising fiddle, vocal growing rawer] I don’t need a reason now I don’t need to make it make sense There’s a door in the air and it’s opening wide And I’m tired of standing against it [Chorus, full band, urgent harmonies] **Take me where the wild things turn** Where the black rivers twist and burn Where the map gives up and the wires come loose Where I’ve got no name and nothing to lose Oh, my blood’s got a runaway beat There’s a strange new animal under my feet I was born to the rules, but I’m breaking through I don’t know the way But I’m coming through [Instrumental Break, frantic fiddle, distorted banjo, stomps, irregular drum fills] [Bridge, sudden drop to voice and a single plucked string] And if I come back different If I come back strange If I look at the sun Like I know its other name Don’t ask me where I’ve been Don’t ask what I became Somewhere out there in the unruly green Something called me And it knew my name [Build, handclaps, rising bass, layered vocals] Oh, I tried to be reasonable Tried to be good Tried to fit my heart In a house made of wood But the walls grew roots And the roots grew teeth And the wild came up Through the ground beneath me! [Final Chorus, maximum energy, raw lead vocal and wild group harmonies] **Take me where the wild things turn!** Let the whole world watch me unlearn! Let the map fall apart, let the old roads break Let me be the mistake I was born to make! Oh, my blood’s got a runaway beat There’s a strange new animal under my feet I was born to the rules, but I’m breaking through I don’t know the way! I DON’T WANT TO! I DON’T NEED TO! I’M COMING THROUGH! [Outro, instruments cut out one by one, breathless laughter in the vocal] There’s a noise underneath the floorboards… I think… It’s me.
