5. Velvet Antennae

[Verse 1] He came down in glitter boots, From the static side of Mars With a halo full of feedback And a suitcase full of scars His tongue was made of silver But his breath smelled just like gin He kissed the crowd in technicolor And invited them all in [Pre-Chorus] Oh, he sang through velvet antennae Beamed his love across the gloom Told the children of the circuit “There’s no heaven in this room” [Chorus] Velvet antennae, tune me in, tune me out Dancing with the comets in his sequined self-doubt Oh, the radio’s a prophet and the mirror’s just a thief And he’s strung out on a signal he mistook for belief [Verse 2] He sold dreams in plastic bottles To the rats beneath the stage Spoke fluent paranoia With a voice beyond his age His heart was made of tinfoil But it beat in 7/4 And every song he whispered Turned to prophecy and war [Pre-Chorus] He said, “Don’t trust all your heroes— They’ve all gone off the grid” Then winked at a reporter And flew off the pyramid [Chorus] Velvet antennae, static soul, cosmic wire Humming low like a lover at the edge of the fire Oh, the signal’s getting stranger, but the beat still survives And he’s moonwalking backward through the fall of our lives [Bridge] Fell in love with a hologram, married a ghost Played chess with a spider on a star-crusted coast He cried for Earth with glitter in his eye Then laughed so hard, he cracked the sky [Outro] Velvet antennae, still humming above Ghosts in the static, and echoes of love Transmitting forever through shimmer and dust From the heart of a star that remembers us