I Wear Black

[Intro] [4 bars. Felt piano alone, low acoustic enters bar 3. Distant room tone. Tiny reverse swell into verse. Keep low-end empty until pre-chorus.] [Verse 1] [Low mezzo, close mic, smoky, restrained. Sparse. Keep breaths. Light vocal double on lines 5-6 only. On “say,” leave a little space after. On “fold their fear away,” sing a slight downward tail. On “light,” let tremolo guitar bloom.] I wear black for the names they never say For children taught to fold their fear away For chapel smoke that covered up the grief For polished mouths that called the wound belief I wear black for the ones pushed out of sight For every truth that never reached the light [Pre-Chorus] [Add brushed drums + bowed bass. Small lift. On “bleach,” thin the instruments. On “sing,” let the note tighten, not soar. On “white,” add cold organ swell. Last word trails into a 1-bar breath before chorus.] I will not bleach the ache to make it sing Or dress a grave in resurrection white [Chorus] [Open wider, not brighter. Add distant organ, warm sub bass. Low harmony a 3rd below on lines 1-2. Ghost octave on “shaking” and “black.” Reverb bloom on each “black.” Slight swell under “justice learns to walk.” On “walk,” let the melody step downward. Double lead quietly on line 6.] I wear black for the used and cast aside For borrowed beds where mercy was denied For back-row saints still shaking in their pews For all the bruised the bright room looked clean through Till love has hands and justice learns to walk I will keep on arriving dressed in black [Turnaround] [2 bars. Piano + tremolo electric answer each other. Haunted. Small tape-warp texture. No vocal.] [Verse 2] [Same intimacy, more ache. Clear diction. Let “buzzing lights” feel tense with subtle high shimmer. Slight crack allowed on “grin.” No harmony yet except whisper double on line 6. Lean into “county-lockup nights” with clipped rhythm.] I wear black for the tired and working poor For bodies bent beneath a faithless load For hospital and county-lockup nights For mothers praying under buzzing lights I wear black for the faithful taught to grin And call it grace when no one let them in [Pre-Chorus] [Bring bass forward. Build pressure, not volume. On “holy,” add soft choir pad. On “aches,” let vocal fray slightly. Tiny pause before chorus.] I will not gild the bruise or bless the blame The truth is holy even when it aches [Chorus] [Fuller than first. Keep low 3rd harmony on lines 1-2. Add soft high ghost harmony on “pews,” “walk,” and “black.” Slight tom pulse under last 2 lines. On final “black,” brief choir lift. Let “clean through” feel cutting and dry before the warmth returns.] I wear black for the used and cast aside For borrowed beds where mercy was denied For back-row saints still shaking in their pews For all the bruised the bright room looked clean through Till love has hands and justice learns to walk I will keep on arriving dressed in black [Bridge] [Drop brushed kit. Floor tom pulse + organ drone + choir pad. Calm conviction. Unison first 2 lines, soft upper harmony last 2. On “door,” let instruments open wider. On “spoken for,” let the melody fall with ache. Add a faint low harmony on “mercy.”] Not for a costume, not to play severe I wear the color of what’s buried here Till pulpits learn to open like a door Till mercy reaches who it’s spoken for [Final Chorus] [Biggest section. Layered low + high harmonies. Keep dark, not glossy. Extra weight on “cast aside,” “pews,” “walk,” and final “black.” Last “black” held with choir + strings + octave double. Optional soft ad-lib under last 2 lines: “let it walk,” “still in black.”] I wear black for the used and cast aside For borrowed beds where mercy was denied For back-row saints still shaking in their pews For all the bruised the bright room looked clean through Till love has hands and justice learns to walk I will keep on arriving dressed in black [Outro] [Strip to piano, organ, breath. Nearly whispered. First line single voice. Final line intimate, no harmony, long reverb tail. Let “see” fade alone. No hard ending.] So if I come like mourning, let me be I’m wearing what this world refuses to see