# The Clockmaker’s Daughter **[Intro]** [Four dry clock clicks.] *(click — click — click — click)* [Harpsichord riff. Bass and drums enter.] **[Verse 1]** High over the market, behind painted glass She counts every minute and lets each one pass A brass little key and a wheel painted green Keep noon from arriving where morning has been She winds up the window, she winds up the square The bell finds its hour when she puts it there And everyone moves when the little wheels start The clockmaker’s daughter keeps colours apart **[Chorus]** Clockmaker’s daughter, clockmaker’s daughter Keeping the colours apart Clockmaker’s daughter, clockmaker’s daughter Turning the day in the dark One for the morning, one for the night One for the yellow, one for the white Clockmaker’s daughter, clockmaker’s daughter Keeping the colours apart *(apart... apart...)* --- **[Verse 2]** She looked at my shoes, then the wall, then the floor As though something ought to be following more She looked at the red ribbon hung from my sleeve And watched where the colour went after I’d leave It ran to the carpet, it climbed up the chair It coloured the sunlight that waited in there She followed it once with the turn of her head Then wound up the clock and went back to the red *(back to the red...)* **[Chorus]** Clockmaker’s daughter, clockmaker’s daughter Keeping the colours apart Clockmaker’s daughter, clockmaker’s daughter Turning the day in the dark One for the morning, one for the night One for the yellow, one for the white Clockmaker’s daughter, clockmaker’s daughter Keeping the colours apart *(apart... apart...)* --- **[Verse 3]** A grey little stone and a cup made of clay A newspaper yellow from yesterday A key with no doorway, a nail bent in two She keeps them like colours she never quite knew She turns them in sunlight, then puts them away She likes what stays put when the eyes turn away A crack in a saucer, a name on a wall The dull little things that don't vanish at all *(don't vanish at all...)* --- **[Middle Eight]** [Drums drop out. String trio enters under harpsichord.] I held up the ribbon She held up the key The red fell between us And neither could see The wheel gave a shiver The pendulum swayed A minute came early— [One shortened bar.] —and one minute stayed. *(stayed...)* [Drums return.] --- **[Chorus]** Clockmaker’s daughter, clockmaker’s daughter Keeping the colours apart Clockmaker’s daughter, clockmaker’s daughter Turning the day in the dark One for the morning, one for the night One for the yellow, one for the white Clockmaker’s daughter, clockmaker’s daughter Keeping the colours apart *(apart... apart...)* --- **[Instrumental Break]** [Harpsichord riff doubled by bass clarinet. The clock clicks fall progressively behind the drums.] --- **[Verse 4]** The bell should have sounded at quarter past four The hand reached the number and waited for more The sun on the houses grew heavy and slow And everything yellow turned deeper than gold She wound it once harder; the afternoon stayed She wound it twice harder; it would not obey Then looked at the ribbon still red on my chair— And left it there. [One beat of silence.] --- **[Final Chorus: male harmonies enter]** Clockmaker’s daughter, clockmaker’s daughter Keeping the colours apart Clockmaker’s daughter, clockmaker’s daughter Turning the day in the dark One for the morning, one for the night One for the yellow, one for the white Clockmaker’s daughter, clockmaker’s daughter Keeping the colours apart *(apart...)* *(apart...)* **[Tag]** Almost apart. --- **[Outro]** [Drums stop. Harpsichord and bass continue.] The clock says four. The light says three. Gold on the window. Gold on me. *(almost apart...)* The clock says four. The light says three. [French horn holds one warm note.] [Cut.]
