The Engine Remembers

[Instrumental Intro — 12 bars: felt piano motif, cello harmonics, distant analog pulse] [Verse 1 — close, restrained male baritone] There’s a coffee ring on the dashboard From a winter I can’t place I know every turn by memory But the days have lost their names The radio speaks in fragments Through a veil of white noise Then four notes come through the static Like a half-forgotten voice [Pre-Chorus — bass enters] I haven’t sung in months And hadn’t noticed that Till my fingers find the steering wheel And tap the answer back [Chorus — warm, unforced] Still here, still here Something under all this iron Still here, still here Keeping time when I went quiet I mistook the miles for living I mistook the hum for peace But the engine remembers The engine remembers me [Instrumental Interlude — 8 bars: muted trumpet takes the piano motif; cello counterpoint] [Verse 2 — a little more light] At the bridge beside the river Rain was tapping on the roof I rolled the window halfway down And let the cold come through I missed the turn I always take Didn’t hurry to go back I heard myself begin to hum And had to laugh at that [Pre-Chorus — gentle lift] No lightning split the heavens No sign above the street Just a sound I’d known forever Coming back to sit with me [Chorus — fuller drums, restrained guitar] Still here, still here Something under all this iron Still here, still here Keeping time when I went quiet I mistook the miles for living I mistook the hum for peace But the engine remembers The engine remembers me [Breakdown — drums vanish; low heartbeat sub, near-whisper] When I was small, I played four notes On our kitchen table’s edge My mother said, “You’ll wear it out” I’d start them up again I thought those days had vanished Beneath the years between But my hands had kept the music Waiting where I couldn’t see [Extended Instrumental Climax — 16 bars: live breakbeat, soaring strings, muted trumpet and tremolo guitar trade the four-note motif; no vocals] [Final Chorus — emotionally open, never belted] Still here, still here Something under all this iron Still here, still here I can hear it when I’m quiet I mistook the miles for living I mistook the hum for peace But the engine remembers The engine remembers me [Outro — strip to felt piano; final chord Dmaj(add9)] Still here I hear it now Still here [End]