[Intro 4] [Serrated bass loop, ratchet-click percussion, clipped guitar] [Processed task-list vocal flickers across the stereo field] Fix that Move this Check that Don’t sit [Verse 1 12] Saturday, no alarm set I’m up at six-oh-three You say, “Come back, you’ve got nowhere” That lands differently in me I hear the loose hinge in the kitchen See a mark along the wall By the time you make it downstairs I’ve got half the hallway gone Patch a hole behind a picture Tighten chairs that never shake You lean against the doorway “What are you trying to fix today?” [Pre-Chorus 4] [Beat adds one extra hit each bar] I say, “Nothing, just a few things” You say, “That’s what you always say” Every finished job goes quiet So I start another one [Chorus 8] [Groove snaps into heavy straight time; processed voice keeps counting underneath] Idle threat Nothing wrong, nothing due Whole day sitting wide open I don’t know what to do So I turn rest into labor Turn a minute into proof I don’t know how to be here Unless I’m being useful [Verse 2 12] You put a movie on at noon I sit down beside you both Make it through the opening credits Then remember clothes to fold Phone lights up with no emergency Still I check the thing twice Answer something for a coworker Who never asked my advice Come back halfway through the ending Ask my son what did I miss He keeps looking at the screen Says, “You always miss the middle” [Pre-Chorus 4] [Drums become crowded; bass phrase restarts before resolving] Every finished thing goes quiet Then the quiet starts again So I give it one more problem Before it can ask me anything [Chorus 8] [Lead begins rushing; processed task-list vocal grows louder] Idle threat Nothing wrong, nothing due Whole day sitting wide open I don’t know what to do So I turn rest into labor Turn a minute into proof I don’t know how to be here Unless I’m being useful [Break 4] [The groove repeatedly attempts to stop] [Each silence is interrupted by another mechanical hit] One more thing One more thing One more— [Verse 3 12] [Drums fragment; bass reduces to one repeating note] Sunday evening at the table He is building something small I reach over, square the pieces Show him how to brace the wall He pulls the whole thing closer Keeps my hands outside the frame Says, “Dad, I didn’t ask you to fix it I was asking you to play” I laugh like he is joking He keeps looking back at me “Do you know how to sit here When I don’t need anything?” [Bridge 8] [Every mechanical sound stops] [Dry centered lead; no pulse] I know how to change a tire How to stay up when you’re sick How to carry every hard thing How to make the numbers fit But love without an assignment Leaves me reaching for my tools I don’t know how to be here Unless I’m being useful [Silence: 2s] [Final Chorus 12] [Ungated drums enter slowly; bass completes its phrase for the first time] [Processed task-list voice loses one word each bar, then disappears] Idle threat Maybe quiet isn’t one Maybe nothing needs repairing Maybe nothing has gone wrong Let the hallway stay half-painted Let the loose chair have its shake Maybe rest ain’t something waiting At the bottom of the day I sit down beside my son Keep my hands out of the way He keeps building, starts explaining I’m still there when he looks up [Outro 4] [Beat withdraws; unfinished guitar chord remains] He says, “You wanna see what this does?” Yeah Show me [Chair creaks] Leave that [End][End][End]
