[INTRO: low tape hiss] [distant diesel engine idling] [AM radio tuning: krrr—shhh—krrr] [bus door folds shut: PSSSH—CLACK] [warm bass + electric organ fade in] VERSE I Half past ten, the final ride, driver smoking, silent-eyed. Pines beyond the window glass, a red “STOP” sign as we pass. [something lightly scratches the roof: skrrr… skrrr…] Ticket soft in my nervous hand, radio plays some cheerful band. Someone’s sleeping, someone stares, black woods running everywhere. [wah-wah guitar enters] [turn signal: tick… tick… tick…] CHORUS Just one more stop, just one more wood, just one more minute that never moves. Drive, driver, drive, don’t look behind. The last bus knows where we’re going tonight. [small gang choir: “DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE!”] [a fourth voice answers faintly from far away: “…drive…”] VERSE II Deep in the forest, a bus stop stood, under one yellow light in the wood. A girl, a suitcase, a coat of red, the driver passed her straight ahead. [BRAKES SQUEAL DISTANTLY, although the bus does not slow] Five minutes later, the same old sign, the same empty bench, the same road line. But underneath the light she was gone, only the suitcase. [ALL MUSIC STOPS] [THREE KNOCKS ON THE WINDOW: TOK… TOK… TOK…] [single organ note] ...and the radio: “Hey!” [RADIO STATIC: KRRRSHHH!] CHORUS Just one more stop, just one more wood, just one more minute running backwards now. Drive, driver, drive, don’t look behind. The last bus knows where we’re going tonight. [choir, quieter: “Drive… drive… drive…”] [from the rear of the bus: one slow FOOTSTEP] THUMP. [another, closer] THUMP. BREAK [bass begins pulsing harder] [analog synth slowly detunes] [turn signal locks into the beat: tick… tock… tick… tock…] The radio says: “Ten forty p.m.” [static] “Ten thirty-nine.” [CASSETTE WARBLE] “Ten thirty-eight…” [whisper buried beneath the radio signal: “…don’t stop…”] [engine revs by itself] VERSE III Another corner. The same old sign. The yellow light cuts through the pines. [branches scrape both sides of the bus] SKRRRRRRAAAATCH… I look through the window... [ALL INSTRUMENTS STOP] ...and standing there are the driver, the girl, me, and everyone from the bus. [2 SECONDS OF SILENCE] But we’re all still sitting here. [FROM OUTSIDE: the gang choir whispers the chorus backwards, unintelligible] [FULL BAND CRASHES BACK: FUNK / PSYCH ROCK] FINAL CHORUS Just one more stop! Just one more wood! Just one more minute that no longer belongs to us! [CHOIR: “NOT TO US!”] Drive, driver, drive! Don’t you ever stop! The last bus won’t be taking me home! [wah-wah guitar spirals] [organ overload] [female vocalizations become increasingly tape-warped] [WINDOW KNOCKS RETURN IN RHYTHM: TOK-TOK-TOK / TOK-TOK-TOK] OUTRO [music gradually slows like an overheating cassette] [bass drops lower and lower] [radio suddenly becomes perfectly clear] “Next stop…” [long silence] [BUS BELL: DING.] “…in the middle of the forest.” [PSSSHHHH… bus doors open] [no footsteps] [from somewhere outside, very softly:] “…drive…” [CLICK] [engine dies] [tape continues spinning for three seconds] krrrrrrrr… [STOP] ...
