[Opening — coin drop; low lead close, two distant voices answer] Put in a pound Nothing came down Machine kept the change Nobody made a sound [First Movement — clipped lead; short, hard phrases] Blue coat taps twice Lady checks the screen Little red light blinking Like it knows what we mean One drink behind the glass One number out of place The whole queue breathing quietly Around an empty space Man says, “Leave it” Lady says, “It’s fine” The machine has taken less than us A hundred times [First Refrain — three voices enter one at a time] Kept the change Kept the change Feed it a coin It learns your face Kept the change Kept the change Small little theft In a public place [Second Movement — lead tightens; higher voice interrupts final words] I put my shoulder to the metal Not enough to make it move Just enough to feel the answer Travel through the screws No receipt No refund No reason to complain A person can be trained to call A missing piece a gain There’s a child behind me counting There’s a couple splitting fries There’s a man who keeps pretending He didn’t see my eyes The red light keeps on blinking The drink stays where it is Everybody has a number Everybody misses his [Refrain — shorter, more physical] Kept the change Kept the change Nothing comes Nothing changes Kept the change Kept the change Put your hand in Lose your place [Break — bass and hand percussion; voices trade fragments] Take it Leave it Pay again Tap it Shake it Try the bend Not mine Not yours Not worth the fight One small loss All night [Third Movement — low lead becomes rougher; upper voice turns melodic] I know a woman with a drawer Full of coins that never bought her out Every little silver promise Saved for when the lights go out I know a man who feeds the meter Long after the parking’s paid Says the numbers look more honest When they’re moving on the screen Nobody calls it taking If the taking has a rule Nobody calls it hunger If the hunger takes a coin [Collective Lift — voices overlap, not clean harmony] Who gets the change? Who gets the change? Who gets the part That falls away? Who gets the change? Who gets the change? Feed it your hand It keeps the day [Final Movement — full groove; lead and countervoice collide] Put in a pound Nothing came down Machine kept the change I made a sound Not a shout Not a prayer Just my knuckles on the frame The whole queue turned together Like they knew the shape of shame Blue coat taps twice Lady looks away Child counts out the silence One coin at a time [Final Refrain — larger, altered meaning] Kept the change Kept the change Now the whole room knows the taste Kept the change Kept the change Nothing small stays in its place Kept the change Kept the change Feed it a coin It learns your face [Outro — voices fall away unevenly] Put in a pound Nothing came down Machine kept the change Nobody made a sound
