[Verse 1: Alternative-rock male lead, driving floor-tom drums, big chorused guitars] Every spring along the Tanana there's a single bet in town Spruce tripod on the river with a wire runnin' down To a clock up on the bank, and the minute that it falls That's the minute that the winter takes its hand off of us all I been guessin' nineteen years, got the paper in my coat Wrote a time down every April and I never once came close And I never cried at nothin', not the hard years, not the cold Not the day we laid my father down, I did what I was told Folks say I'm like the river in the middle of the freeze Solid all the way across, you could drive on me with ease [Pre-Hook: Alternative-rock male lead, drums building, guitars rising] Then I heard it, way out past the bend Somethin' deep inside the river startin' to give in [Hook: Alternative-rock male lead, full band, huge alternative-rock hook] Here comes the breakup, hear the river groan Nineteen springs I held it like a stone Here comes the breakup, let the whole thing go I'm crackin' wide open on the bank below [Verse 2: Alternative-rock male lead, deep bass guitar, big chorused guitars] Whole town along the bank with their coffee and their cold Every sourdough who's seen it fifty times and still it's gold And the ice starts talkin', groanin' like a door Like a house that's settlin' its weight one last time on the floor And somethin' in my chest is makin' that same sound Nineteen winters stacked up and all of 'em comin' down I can feel it in my jaw, I can feel it in my hands Every word I never said is shiftin' where it stands [Pre-Hook: Alternative-rock male lead, drums building, guitars rising] And it's movin', way out past the bend Somethin' deep inside of me is startin' to give in [Hook: Alternative-rock male lead, full band, huge alternative-rock hook] Here comes the breakup, hear the river groan Nineteen springs I held it like a stone Here comes the breakup, let the whole thing go I'm crackin' wide open on the bank below [Bridge: Alternative-rock male lead, ice shear, a thunder-low grinding rumble and a high ringing guitar harmonic enter together] Then the tripod tips and the whole bank roars Clock stops on a minute that was never mine before And the ice goes groanin', goin' grey and goin' wide And it's comin' up my throat, everything I kept inside I'm cryin' on the bank like a kid in front of the town Nineteen years of winter and it's finally comin' down Nobody says a word, just a hand on my back River's runnin' open and so am I, and that's that [Final Hook: Alternative-rock male lead, full band, biggest alternative-rock hook] Here comes the breakup, hear the river groan Nineteen springs I held it like a stone Here comes the breakup, let the whole thing go I'm crackin' wide open on the bank below [End]
