[Intro 4] [Distorted bass, metallic percussion and fractured drums] [Full groove cuts dead in the middle of the bar] [Close sung lead] I thought I knew What had to go [Verse 1 12] [Dry restrained vocal; tape edits interrupt selected lines] Bathroom fan turned up Water running in the sink Kept my sleeves below my hands So no one had to think Had a private way of hurting Where a question couldn’t reach Every mark was me translating What I couldn’t make a word Then I put the room together Put the ordinary back Walked out looking like tomorrow Was a promise that I had [Pre-Chorus 4] [Bass distorts; drums lose one beat] If the hurt became a shape I could point to where it lived I kept blaming the container For the weight it had to hold [Chorus 8] [Heavy fractured pocket; hard tape cut after the title] One last cut That’s what I told myself One more line between the feeling And the face I showed everybody else I kept trying to end the hurting By turning on the one it hurt One last cut Like I was the thing that had to go first [Verse 2 12] [Grinding guitar enters; groove becomes increasingly unstable] Morning came, I made a joke Got to work and punched the clock Nobody knew surviving Had become my second job I could make it through a meeting I could ask about your day I could carry every secret Like the weight would make me safe I wasn’t always trying to leave I was trying to make it stop But the quiet never lasted And the silence cost too much [Pre-Chorus 4] [Processed self-layers crowd the lead] Every time I pushed it under It came back with something new Pain will take the shape you give it Then convince you that shape is you [Chorus 8] [Drums fracture violently; guitar feedback swallows the final word] One last cut That’s what I told myself One more line between the feeling And the face I showed everybody else I kept trying to end the hurting By turning on the one it hurt One last cut Like I was the thing that had to go first [Break 4] [Repeated tape cuts reduce the groove to room tone] [Breathing remains unedited] [Verse 3 12] [One muted bass note; completely dry lead] Same room, same hour Same familiar kind of night Reached toward the same old answer Then I heard myself say, “Why?” Not why I couldn’t handle it Not why I’d gotten weak Why I kept making my own body Pay for what was hurting me I put down what I was holding Left the bathroom door unlocked Called my brother from the hallway At an hour no one calls [Bridge 8] [No drums; one sustained guitar harmonic] He said, “Tell me where you are” I said, “I don’t know right now” He said, “Start with where you’re standing” So I told him out loud I kept punishing my body Like my body caused the pain But I’m not what needs erasing I’m not what I need to change If there’s one last cut between us Pain, you’re getting cut loose I am not the thing that has to end I’m the one who gets to choose [Silence: 2s] [Final Chorus 12] [Steady drums return; each title phrase removes distortion instead of rhythm] [Complete bass line and restrained harmony enter gradually] One last cut But it won’t be through my skin I’m cutting through the silence That kept pulling me back in Cutting loose the lie that told me I was something to remove One last cut Between the life that hurt And the life I choose I don’t have to call it healing I just have to stay tonight There are people I can wake up There are doors I don’t have to lock [Outro 4] [Clean bass, steady kick and undistorted guitar] [Soft sung lead] He stayed until the morning I stayed too [End][End][End]
