Falling Knife

[Intro: reversed choir, vinyl hiss] (don't make me... don't make me...) [Detuned keys, sliding 808] [Verse 1: syncopated melodic rap] I keep a different sunrise in each room A different flower fighting through the gloom They all grew roots around a piece of me Now someone's asking which one gets the tree (oh-oh-oh) [Pre-Chorus: accelerating, layered] One little word, one little name And nothing ever stays the same (same-same-same) [Chorus: soaring falsetto, heavy 808] Don't make me be the falling knife That cuts the color from somebody's life I know the walls are paper thin But every heart is living in them (hold-hold-hold) One card pulled, the ceiling breaks How many loves can one choice take? [Drop: cowbell melody, vocal chops] (stay-stay, go-go) (fall-fall, no-no) (boom-ka-tss, bmm-tss-ka) [808 glide, chopped scream] [Verse 2: double-time, distorted doubles] I see the future in a shattered frame A dozen faces learning how to hate my name And one beside me trying not to see The empty chairs that used to comfort me (used to, used to) [Bridge: stripped beat, intimate whisper] Maybe mercy isn't keeping everyone Maybe waiting does what choosing would have done But every road has someone left behind And every exit lives inside my mind [Final Chorus: stacked harmonies, halftime] Don't make me be the falling knife That cuts the color from somebody's life If I choose one, the others fade And I must own the mess I've made (oh-oh-oh) The house comes down, the echoes call Who gets my hand when the last cards fall? [Outro: tape decay, whispered] (stay... go...) [One card hits the floor]