[Intro - a clave rhythm and Moog bass locking into a midtempo rumba sway, Rhodes and Mellotron opening underneath, horn stabs punctuating, stuttered edits and tape delay drifting through] [Verse 1 - the sway holds low and charged, Rhodes and Moog bass in the pocket, clave and muted horn stabs underneath] There's a meeting everyone can see, the words up on the wall. And there's another one beneath it that they never hear at all. You address the room politely while the real line runs to me. They are listening to the surface, we are talking underneath. [Chorus - the arrangement opens wide, Mellotron swelling, horn stabs and analog synth lifting over the hook, vocoder textures shadowing] It's a back channel, back channel, running under every word. Everything that matters goes the way nobody heard. A look across the table says the whole of what you mean. Back channel, back channel, and it's all between. [Verse 2 - back to the charged verse pocket, Rhodes and clave weaving, tape delay trailing, Moog bass rolling] You could read the whole transcript and you'd never find a thing. It isn't in the wording, it's the pause before the swing. It's the half-a-second later that you answered only me. The record holds the meeting and it misses everything. [Chorus - fuller, Mellotron and horns rising, the sway pushing] It's a back channel, back channel, running under every word. Everything that matters goes the way nobody heard. A look across the table says the whole of what you mean. Back channel, back channel, and it's all between. [Bridge - eases to a hush, Rhodes and a lone Mellotron over the Moog bass, analog synths and clave gathering as it builds] Maybe someday we'll say it plain with everybody there. But there's something in the private line the open one can't bear. It's ours because it's under, it's alive because it's low. The day it all goes official is the day it stops being so. [Instrumental Solo - the sway surges as a fuzz guitar solo climbs from charged to searing, handing off to a dazzling Rhodes and analog-synth run over blaring horn stabs, then a wild Moog-and-Mellotron climax, the clave driving the whole thing higher] [Final Chorus - the biggest lift, everything glowing, vocoder shadowing the hook, horns and Mellotron wide open] It's a back channel, back channel, running under every word. Everything that matters goes the way nobody heard. A look across the table says the whole of what you mean. Back channel, back channel, and it stays between. [Outro - the sway eases down, Rhodes and Mellotron trading a last figure over the Moog bass and clave, tape delay and spring reverb drifting out]
