[Intro] [Extended Guitar solo, isolated riff, slow and crushing, dragging behind the beat, instrumental only] [Verse 1] [low, weary delivery, close-mic'd, every word an effort, like a man talking from the floor] [full doom riff at half-time, slow and heavy, organ humming low underneath] Curtains drawn at two in the afternoon Coffee gone cold on the kitchen chair Phone face-down, buzzing into the rug I let it ring, I let it go nowhere Mail stacked up like a paper wall Boots by the door I never lace Something moved in and took the couch It learned my voice and it wears my face [Pre-Chorus] [breath getting shorter, strained and tightening, pressure building in the chest] [riff drops to single sustained power chords, drums pounding slow and heavy on every beat] It sits on my ribs when I try to breathe Presses me flat to the floor It never shouts, it never has to It just leans a little more [Chorus] [straining into a raw, cracking belt, exhausted rather than defiant, pushing against something too big to move] [full band at crushing weight, organ swelling, cymbals crashing on every downbeat] Like an anvil laid across my sleep I push and it leans, I lift and it stays Holds me to the floor for days And it's all I can do just to breathe It's got the keys, it's got the lease And it's heavier than me [Verse 2] [quieter and more hollowed-out, arguing with a voice that sounds too calm, too reasonable] [same slow doom groove, bass heavier, guitars thicker and lower] It talks real low when the house goes still Calm as a friend with a steady hand Says the ones I love would be lighter without me Says it's the only one who understands I watch the fan go round and round Counting the turns till the gray comes in I argue back with a mouth full of sand Every night, and it never gives in [Pre-Chorus] [worn thin, voice nearly giving out, the exhaustion of fighting every single night] [single sustained power chords again, drums slower and heavier than before] It sits on my ribs when I try to breathe Presses me flat to the floor I'm worn so thin from the arguing I can barely say no anymore [Chorus] [harder raw cracking belt than the first chorus, the strain audible, close to breaking] [full band even heavier, organ louder, cymbals crashing harder] Like an anvil laid across my sleep I push and it leans, I lift and it stays Holds me to the floor for days And it's all I can do just to breathe It's got the keys, it's got the lease And it's heavier than me [Solo] [slow, anguished blues-doom guitar solo, long aching bends that drag and cry over the half-time pound, instrumental only] [Bridge] [turning to face the voice directly, raw and shaking, quiet at first, rising into a hoarse, stubborn refusal] [music pulls back to one low droning chord and a slow heartbeat kick, building back under the last four lines] You learned my voice and you wear my face But you're not me, you never were You tell it soft, you tell it kind And every word of it's a lie I can't get up off this kitchen floor I can't win it, not tonight But I can hold on till the window grays And call that holding on a fight [Final Chorus] [full raw belt, cracking, everything left thrown at it, exhausted and unbroken] [full band at maximum weight, organ roaring, every hit landing like a dropped weight] Like an anvil laid across my sleep I push and it leans, I lift and it stays Holds me to the floor for days It's got the keys, it's got the lease And it's heavier than me [Break] [all instruments cut, one unaccompanied line, quiet and hoarse, stubborn, dead silence behind the voice] But not tonight [Final Chorus] [full weight slams back in on the downbeat, the belt tired but still standing, holding the last note] [full band returns crushing and slow, organ swelling, ringing out into a long final chord] It's heavier than me And I'm still breathing underneath [End]
