[INSTRUMENTAL — twang guitar riff, bongos and muted brass entering] [VERSE 1 — agile melodic phrasing, strings curling underneath] The pump took cash, the coffee tasted like the bottom of a pot Mara bought two cups and asked the kid to keep the change we'd got He looked at her, he looked at me, he looked down at the till The little TV by the cigarettes said my name, and the room went still [VERSE 2 — playful phrasing with tension, bongos rolling underneath] I paid for fuel, I paid for bread, I paid for his silence too He said, "For fifty I saw nobody, for sixty I never saw you" Mara smiled and gave him sixty; I gave him twenty more He said, "For that you were never born", then locked the door [PRE-CHORUS — rising melody, brass swelling] Outside the road kept shining Inside our faces sold [CHORUS — open melodic hook, brass blooming behind the vocal] Cash, coffee, no questions Cash, coffee, no questions One more mile One less direction [VERSE 3 — quicker vocal, strings tightening] The news said I had threatened staff; it said she feared for her life It called her my accomplice first, then called her my wife Mara watched without expression, then she tore the paper down She said, "At least they got your good side", with a little crooked grin I took her shaking hand and put the paper in the bin [CHORUS — open melodic hook, brass blooming behind the vocal] Cash, coffee, no questions Cash, coffee, no questions One more mile One less direction [BRIDGE — urgent melody, brass pulsing beneath] The kid came out and gave us back the sixty and the twenty too He said, "My brother works at Voss's, I know what he can do" He pointed us toward the water where the old ferries used to go Then he took his twenty back and waved us toward the road [CHORUS — fullest hook, twang guitar and brass together] Cash, coffee, no questions Cash, coffee, no questions One more mile One less direction [OUTRO — twang riff returning, vocal echoing over bongos] Cash, coffee, no questions Cash, coffee, no questions He sold us one kindness We took it
