[ BORDERLAND CORRIDO × OUTLAW VOODOO BLUES | warm 6/8 ~92 BPM, NYLON guitar + DREADNOUGHT | five-string bass | soft late snare] [TRUMPET 1–♭3–4→5→6] [FEMALE ALTO] Verse 1 Victor finally pushed too hard. Called Mateo bought and tame. Said the riders owed him blood Because he'd given him a Veyne. Mateo warned him once. Then twice. Victor reached down for his gun. [TELECASTER — ♭5] Mateo's was already drawn. [ONE SHOT] Victor hit the dust. I waited for the grief to come. [PAUSE] It didn't. I hated myself for that awhile. Mateo said, “Don't.” Verse 2 [WARM 6/8 | nylon guitar forward] After Victor, mornings softened. Nobody talked about the Chair. Mateo raced me to the river. Cheated twice and called it fair. I learned every horse he favored. He learned coffee shouldn't burn. He taught me words I shouldn't say. I taught him some in turn. [small female laugh] Three black stones stayed by our bedside. Storms still walked the mountain line. For the first time I could remember— [TRUMPET — 5→6] My life felt like mine. If the storm knows my name, Let it call another day. I've got warm hands beside me And no wish to ride away. Let old men fight for iron. Let seven counties stake their claim. I had everything I wanted— [softly] And it knew my name. Verse 3 [6/8 brightens | hoofbeat percussion] Sunday brought the summer races. Mateo grinned and took the bay. Called, “Try and keep up, Stormborn.” I called something back his way. Four horses cleared the arroyo. Mateo's took the turn too wide. One foreleg found a prairie hole— [ONE BAR 5/8] Horse went down. Mateo flew. [ALL STOP] No omen. No lightning. No voice upon the air. Just one bad step in ordinary ground— And Mateo lying there. Verse 5 — Sky Burial [FREE TIME | low wind | NO drums] Their dead don't sleep beneath the earth. They give them back to open sky. High upon a wooden scaffold, Wrapped in white, Mateo lay. His riders gathered underneath. Nobody spoke of who came next— Not loudly. But I heard them. I knew what morning would expect. So after dark I took three stones And climbed the scaffold alone. “Take these too,” I whispered. “They were never really mine.” [The Storm] [ABSOLUTE SILENCE] First stone beside his left hand. Second by his right. Third upon his chest. [LOW ELECTRICAL HUM] Hair rose along my arms. Every horse below screamed once. [TRUMPET — distant ♭5] Wind hit from every direction. Clouds swallowed every star. I reached for Mateo— [ALL HARMONY LOCKS ♭5] [Lightning] [SUSTAINED LIGHTNING ARC — SEVERAL SECONDS] [Thunder Thunder Thunder] [TRUMPET slowly ♭5→5→6] [TELECASTER contrary-motion VOODOO] [ELECTRICAL DISTORTION SWALLOWS BAND] [FEMALE VOCAL — WORDLESS, NOT SCREAMING] [LIGHTNING CUTS] [COMPLETE SILENCE] Verse 6 — Three [FEMALE VOICE — almost whispered] Mateo was gone. Not body. Not bone. Ash moving through my fingers. My clothes were gone too. I stood beneath the dying rain— Unburned. Unashamed. Something moved inside my left hand. [SMALL ELECTRICAL CRACK] Black. Wet. Silver-veined. It opened two pale eyes. Another unfolded in my right. Claws caught gently on my skin. Then something climbed my back— Settled on my shoulder— And spread its wings. [Ascension] [METER ERUPTS INTO HUGE 4/4 ~92 BPM] [THREE STORMCROW CRIES — distinct, strange, electrical] [TRUMPETS — FULL VOODOO 1–♭3–4–♭5–5–6] [TELECASTER + TRUMPETS — CONTRARY MOTION] [DRUMS — huge low thunder pulse] I looked down. Mateo's riders stared back. One man removed his hat. Then knelt. Another followed. Then another. A hundred knees hit earth. Nobody gave an order. Nobody asked who led them now. Final Chorus [FEMALE ALTO — fierce, full, NEVER pop belt] The storm knows my name. Now I know why. I walked naked through its fire And came out still alive. It took the man I loved from me. Left three heartbeats in the flame. I never asked to lead these people— [STORMCROW CRY] But the storm knows my name. Outro [4/4 falls away to nylon guitar + trumpet] At sunrise riders started coming. Twenty first. Then forty more. By noon another banner Appeared beyond the southern road. Someone asked me what I'd promised. “Land?” “No.” “Silver?” “No.” “Then why are they coming?” I looked at three black shadows Circling underneath the clouds. [PAUSE] “Ask them.” [TRUMPET — ♭5→5→6] [THREE STORMCROW CRIES] [THUNDER] [CUT]
