[Verse 1] You built a clock to boil an egg It rang at dawn and shook the tent A paper horse with copper legs Ran backward till the hinges bent You called it useless, packed it up But every wheel kept turning still The ticket booth began to hum A tune no blueprint could fulfill [Pre-Chorus] So let the crooked parts stay crooked Let the loose bolts catch the light What missed the mark can move the whole thing When the pieces turn just right [Chorus] I’m the bright mistake in the middle of the fair A little out of measure, still I’m going somewhere Every wrong-way engine pulls a new horizon near I don’t have to fix the shape to let the road appear I take the whole odd machine, the sparks and all its seams And roll toward what I haven’t been [Verse 2] A teacup plane could barely rise It carried postcards round the room A compass pointed at your hands And drew a map through every tune The crowd leaned in, the canvas shook The broken gears began to sing No one designed this kind of flight But look how far the scraps can swing [Bridge] Tomorrow’s not a polished model On a shelf behind the glass It’s one more bolt, one open doorway And the nerve to let it pass [Chorus] I’m the bright mistake in the middle of the fair A little out of measure, still I’m going somewhere Every wrong-way engine pulls a new horizon near I don’t have to fix the shape to let the road appear I take the whole odd machine, the sparks and all its seams And roll toward what I haven’t been [Outro] Keep the crooked parts in motion Let them carry me ahead
