Past Ten-Thirty

[Intro — vinyl crackle | distant Rhodes | whispered] Missed it by a minute... (yeah...) [Verse 1 — close-mic, dry, intimate] I missed the last train by a minute Stood under the deli sign Couple kids loud by the newsstand Two cops idling through the red at Pine Your text was glowing in my hand Like a screen door left ajar Read it once... Then let it close [Ad-lib — whispered] Mm... let it close [Break — fractured drums drop] [Vocal cut] close / close / close... [Low-tuned guitar — 4 bar solo] [Rhodes fragment | tape wobble] [Verse 2 — slightly more emotional] Coffee in my hand went bitter Truck hissed past the wet black curb Somebody laughed from the stairwell Like they knew exactly where it hurt I watched that window over the laundromat For longer than I should've stayed Thinking maybe you'd come down If I waited anyway [Ad-libs] Maybe... Maybe you would... [Dub-delay throw] waited... waited... [Bridge — drums thin out | half-spoken] Pulled my hood up Crossed Main alone Past the bodega Past the coin-op glow Air went thin Storefronts went blind No more replay No more waiting here [Pause] I kept walking till the block turned cold Till your side of town Fell out of reach [Vocal sample — distant] Out of reach... out of reach... [Chorus — wider, emotional but restrained] Street still buzzing past ten-thirty And I can't shake the look of that screen Static in the wire Bad idea I should've crossed Before it went clean [Beat cut] We kept going back to the same old corner Same excuse Same smoke Same cheap excuse [Ad-lib] Every time... [Chorus — final lines] Street still buzzing past ten-thirty And I'm the one who let it move On without you [Female vocal cut — rhythmic] move / move / move without you... [Instrumental Break] [Fractured breakbeat] [Jagged low-tuned guitar solo — 8 bars] [Rhodes swell] [Vinyl piano fragments] [Dub-delay guitar tail] [Outro — intimate, almost spoken] Street still buzzing... Past ten-thirty... I thought you'd come down. [Whisper] I really did. [Wordless female sample] Ahh... ooh... ah-ah... [Vocal chop] come down / come down... [Final guitar phrase] [Drums collapse into tape noise] [Final vocal — very low, restrained growl] ...without you. [Low female growl — soft, breathy, not shouted] Mmmrrr...