[Intro] (One bulb... iron shelves... one bulb...) [Verse 1] Down the stairs where the cold gets in, A copied key and a crooked grin. Forty winters stacked in rows, Every name the system knows. [Pre-Chorus - Female, spoken] Hold the light. Don't breathe. Turn the page. [Chorus - Male, shouted] Basement light! Basement light! Dust and ink and the dead of night! Basement light! Basement light! Somebody tore the truth from sight! [Verse 2] November, nineteen eighty-seven, Room two-one-seven, one night given. Same careful hand, same steady line, The next page gone, a missing sign. [Pre-Chorus - Female, spoken] Footsteps. Stairs. "Give it to me." [Chorus - Male, shouted] Basement light! Basement light! Dust and ink and the dead of night! Basement light! Basement light! Somebody tore the truth from sight! [Breakdown] Locked in a drawer, the key turned twice, She didn't sound angry, she sounded like ice. (Some books should stay closed... some books should stay closed...) [Bridge - Female, spoken] Two seventeen. He's at the desk. "Have you found the page yet?" There's no one in the glass. [Final Chorus - Male, shouted] Basement light! Basement light! Dust and ink and the dead of night! Basement light! Basement light! Find the page before the light! [Outro] (One bulb... one name... one page...) [End]
