[Intro] [Vinyl crackle, lone theremin, distant radio static] [Verse 1] Spring of twenty-ten A handshake in the rain He kept the keys to every door And he never said your name Down the corridor at midnight Where the chancellor's papers sleep He folded them like letters That were never yours to keep [Pre-Chorus] And the money came in quiet Like the tide along the shore [Chorus] Two thousand pages Sixteen years of grey Whispers sold for silver To a stranger far away Who were you working for When you swore you'd never stray Two thousand pages And the truth gave you away [Verse 2] Out near the Dutch border Where the fields roll flat and wide An old man in his study With the whole state locked inside He wrote a little briefing For a friend in foreign grey Was it sent or was it buried Nobody can say [Pre-Chorus] And the ink was never drying On the secrets that he wore [Chorus] Two thousand pages Sixteen years of grey Whispers sold for silver To a stranger far away Who were you working for When you swore you'd never stray Two thousand pages And the truth gave you away [Bridge] [Beat drops out, strings and scratched vinyl only] They came looking for a different sin A different door, a different name But the drawers were full of whispers And the whispers all looked the same [Verse 3] [Half time, vocal close to the mic] Tuesday in the morning Masks and boots upon the stair Eighty years of loyal service Folded neatly on a chair [Final Chorus] Two thousand pages Sixteen years of grey Every friend across the water Wonders what you gave away Who were you working for Was it ever just for pay Two thousand pages And the truth gave you
