[Intro – FEMALE VOCALIST ONLY] [Beautiful clear female voice, intimate and fragile, lonely clean electric guitar, no drums, no male voice] They drew an orange X Right across the number eight I stood there on the pavement While the workers took the gate You would think I'd have more to say Watching where we grew up disappear But I couldn't even move I just stood there [Sudden silence – One second] [Massive distorted guitar riff enters, pounding drums, gritty electronic bass] [Verse 1 – MALE RAPPER ONLY: Pure rhythmic spoken rap, low baritone, sharp consonants, aggressive precise flow from first syllable, NO melodic singing] Six thirty, boots on gravel, engines waiting by the road A man in a fluorescent jacket says the building's clear to go I tell him I was born here, he says, "That must be tough" Then looks down at his clipboard like he's said enough There's a mark behind the doorway where we measured how we'd grown Dad would write the date beside it when he finally made it home You were taller every summer, I was always just behind Now we're standing by the entrance with a measuring tape in mind I ask the man politely if we have another minute He says, "Make it quick. There's nothing really left in it." I nearly tell him everything that happened in that place Instead I ask if he can help us take the doorframe away [Refrain 1 – FEMALE ONLY: Soft restrained melodic singing, clean guitar and bass, NO heavy drums] You can take the roof You can take the floor But don't call it empty Not this door Not this door... [Instrumental – Heavy off-beat guitar riff, distorted bass, vinyl scratch, aggressive drums] [Verse 2 – MALE RAPPER ONLY: Fast articulate rhythmic rap, dry baritone, increasingly emotional but NEVER sung] There's a dent along the staircase from a chair we tried to move There's a nail above the fireplace where your picture always stood The neighbors had a dog that barked at everybody's car And we thought the world was waiting just beyond the garden wall You haven't called since Christmas, I don't know quite what to say We got good at being strangers living ninety miles away I could ask about your husband, you could ask about my job We could talk for fifteen minutes and not mention Dad at all But you touch the little pencil marks and start to laugh at mine "Remember how you cheated? Put your heels against the line." I tell you that was once, you say, "You did it every year." And suddenly we're laughing in a place that won't be here [Instrumental stop – Brief silence] [Refrain 2 – FEMALE ONLY: Warm melodic voice, restrained half-time groove, harmony enters on the final line] You can take the roof You can take the floor But don't call it empty Not this door I can hear us arguing About who got the bigger room [Bridge – Sparse atmospheric electronics, clean guitar, distant metallic percussion] [FEMALE VOCALIST – Soft emotional singing] I found a photograph Of us against that frame Your hair was such a mess You hated every picture that we made [MALE RAPPER – Low quiet spoken rap, precise rhythm] I thought I came to watch a building fall Didn't think I'd feel twelve years old at all Then you said, "Do you remember that December?" And for once I didn't change the conversation [FEMALE – Increasingly powerful sustained melodic singing] We spent so long getting older Trying to leave this place behind [Heavy guitars begin building] [FEMALE – Raw emotional belt] NOW THEY'RE TAKING IT AWAY! [MALE RAPPER – Aggressive shouted rhythmic rap] Orange paint! Yellow tape! Steel teeth at the garden gate! One more minute! One more look! They can't tell us what this place was worth! [Breakdown – Instrumental only] [Brutal half-time distorted guitar riff, industrial percussion, massive drums, stuttering electronic samples] [Final Refrain – FEMALE ONLY: First lines almost whispered, then powerful emotional melodic rock singing with full band] You can take the roof... You can take the floor... [Sudden full-band impact] BUT DON'T CALL IT EMPTY! There's a line behind the paint There's a name beside the date And a thousand ordinary things That no one thought to save [High emotional sustained note] You can tear it all apart... But you can't take where we came from [Outro – Heavy instruments stop, original clean guitar returns] [MALE – Quiet natural spoken voice] "Did we get the frame?" [FEMALE – Soft spoken voice] "Yeah. It's in the car." [Male – Small relieved laugh] "Good." [End – Distant construction engine starting, final clean guitar note]
