[Intro] Welcome to the cathedral. Mind the western side. The walls are taking their sweet time. But the drawbridge is down tonight. [Verse 1] I heard you at the gate and let the old chains fall. That doesn’t mean the towers have forgotten how to watch. They’ve had practice. Years of weather. Years of footsteps turning back. Every stone knows how to harden when it hears an old attack. Still... There’s wine breathing on the table. There’s cheese beneath a silver knife. There’s music wandering the rafters like it pays to live here every night. Come in. You don’t have to prove a thing. Just leave your armor where the shadows learn to sing. [Pre-Chorus] The walls come down slowly. The door knows your name. I’m not asking you to rescue me. I’m inviting you to stay. [Chorus] The drawbridge is down. Come on over. Mind the dust. Mind the sparks. I’m rebuilding half the kingdom while you’re standing in the dark. The drawbridge is down. Nothing promised. Nothing barred. There’s a place beside the fire and a little room inside my guard. Bring your wonder. Bring your doubt. You may yet bring the whole place down. But for tonight... the drawbridge is down. [Post-Hook] Come on over. Mind the mess. Wine upstairs. Secrets underneath it. Come on over. Take your time. The walls are slow. The welcome isn’t. [Verse 2] I redecorate the mystery every time I learn its shape. Move the mirrors. Change the curtains. Find another hidden staircase. Nothing stays where I first left it. Except downstairs. Down below the polished arches, past the velvet and the stone, there’s a bar built in the dungeon that I’ve never overthrown. Original iron. Original stain. A little smoke still living in the mortar when it rains. That part is honest. No restoration. No tasteful modern light. Just old chains above the bottles and the music after midnight. You should know what you’re entering. I don’t only keep the bright. [Pre-Chorus] The walls come down slowly. The door knows your name. You don’t have to love each chamber. You can tell me what should change. [Chorus] The drawbridge is down. Come on over. Mind the dust. Mind the sparks. I’m rebuilding half the kingdom while you’re standing in the dark. The drawbridge is down. Nothing promised. Nothing barred. There’s a place beside the fire and a little room inside my guard. Bring your wonder. Bring your doubt. You may yet bring the whole place down. But for tonight... the drawbridge is down. [Bridge] The west wing had to go. Too many rooms built for a version of me that doesn’t live here anymore. So I took a hammer to the beautiful lies. Pulled the wallpaper loose and found old weather underneath. There’s rubble in the ballroom. There are blueprints in the bed. There’s a portrait in the hallway that keeps changing when I turn my head. Throw your baggage with the others. Don’t label it. Don’t sort. Merlin runs the lost-and-found somewhere beneath the northern court. It disappears when no one needs it. Then returns on cue, somehow. Usually during dinner. Usually... right about now. [Breakdown] So this is what I’m offering. Not an empty house. Not an unlocked heart. A living place with unfinished rooms and very good acoustics. A cellar full of history. A roof that still lets starlight through. And one chair near the fire that I quietly kept for you. [Final Chorus] The drawbridge is down. Come on over. Bring the storm. Bring the strange. Help me move the heavy furniture. Tell me what you wouldn’t change. The drawbridge is down. Walls still standing. That’s all right. Trust is not the demolition. It’s letting someone hold the light. Bring your wonder. Bring your doubt. Maybe we will bring some walls down. Not all tonight. Not all at once. But the drawbridge... the drawbridge is down. [Final Post-Hook] Come on over. Mind the mess. Wine upstairs. Thunder underneath it. Come on over. Take your time. The walls are slow. The welcome isn’t. [Outro] Welcome to the cathedral. The western sky is showing through. And somewhere in the basement, the old bar saved a stool for you.
