“The Lost Summer”

[INTRO — DREAMY ELECTRONIC / CINEMATIC] [Warm cassette hiss, distant seagulls, distant ocean waves, soft electric piano, gentle tape wobble, subtle ambient synth] [DEEP NARRATOR — SPOKEN] File Number 08-17. Subject One summer. Reported missing Twenty-three years ago. Last seen Somewhere between June and September. [VERSE: warm acoustic guitar, mellow bass, soft brushed percussion, dreamy electric piano, intimate close-mic vocal] There was a summer in a cardboard box With a faded Polaroid Three postcards and a movie stub From a night I can’t avoid There’s a seashell with a crack in it A bracelet turning green And a receipt from a little café That closed in ’93 I found a note in my own handwriting Said, “Don’t forget this day” But I don’t remember writing it And somehow that’s the strange part [PRE-CHORUS: shimmering synth pads, delicate vocal harmonies, subtle strings, gradually rising rhythm] The clerk said, “You were there.” I said, “I know.” She said, “No, you don’t.” [CHORUS: warm full drums, lush strings, melodic bass, shimmering synth layers, soulful backing vocals, nostalgic uplifting hook] I lost a summer While I was waiting for my life to begin Counting every tomorrow Never noticing the sun I was in I lost a summer Somewhere between then and now I thought I was watching the future But the future was watching me somehow And all those golden afternoons I thought would always stay Are sitting in a drawer somewhere With a label that says: “Lost Summer. Please don’t throw away.” [VERSE: warm acoustic guitar, mellow bass, soft brushed percussion, dreamy electric piano, intimate close-mic vocal] There was a bicycle by the ocean With sand inside the chain A radio playing something I can’t remember the name There was a friend I haven’t spoken to In twenty-something years A photograph where we’re laughing Before we understood fear We thought we’d have forever So we never said goodbye Funny how the years disappear When you’re busy asking why [PRE-CHORUS: shimmering synth pads, delicate vocal harmonies, subtle strings, gradually rising rhythm] The clerk slid the photograph Across the desk to me. “You don’t miss the summer,” she said. “You miss who you were when you didn’t know it would end.” [CHORUS: warm full drums, lush strings, melodic bass, shimmering synth layers, soulful backing vocals, nostalgic uplifting hook] I lost a summer While I was waiting for my life to begin Counting every tomorrow Never noticing the sun I was in I lost a summer Somewhere between then and now I thought I was watching the future But the future was watching me somehow And all those golden afternoons I thought would always stay Are sitting in a drawer somewhere With a label that says: “Lost Summer. Please don’t throw away.” [BRIDGE: strip back to piano/soulful, ocean ambience and whispered vocals, then slowly rebuild] Maybe that’s the cruelest thing about time It doesn’t steal the moments It steals our attention We keep looking for the next door The next year The next version of ourselves While the moment we’re standing in Quietly becomes a memory [BUILD] [Soft kick enters, shimmering synth arpeggio, swelling strings] [FINAL CHORUS/WARM, expansive cinematic arrangement, layered harmonies, glowing synth arpeggios, emotional strings, warm rhythmic pulse] I found that summer It was never really gone It was hiding in the smell of rain And an old familiar song It was hiding in the laughter Of the person I became In every reckless little moment I thought I’d never get again I can’t go back there And I wouldn’t want to stay But I can finally understand What that summer came to say [FINAL HOOK] Stop waiting for your life To begin someday The sun is already shining You’re already on your way [OUTRO - DREAMY, ocean ambience returns, ocean waves, cassette slowing down and rewind, distant laughter, fading electric piano] [DEEP NARRATOR — SPOKEN] File Number 08-17. Status: Recovered. [PAUSE] Recommendation: Use immediately. [Soft laughter in the distance] [FADE OUT]