[Intro: clean guitar arpeggio, slow tom groove, feedback swell] Twelve years up these stairs and the rent came back doubled A letter on the door in a font that tried to sound polite [Verse 1: low, close, murmured] The couch won't take the turn on four, it never really did We cut the legs off moving in, I was a broke and happy kid Now I'm dragging it alone at one so nobody can see A brand new keypad on the door downstairs that doesn't know me I wrapped the plates in sweatshirts and the mirror in a sheet The radiator knocking out the only song it keeps I left the nail holes in the plaster like a map of where I hung Every picture, every calendar, every year that I was young [Pre-Chorus: guitars creep in] Every landing's got a ghost on it Every step remembers what I owe [Chorus: heavy, open, belted] Five flights down And every one of them knows my name Five flights down I'm leaving lighter but I'm leaving just the same You can paint it white, you can call it new But the stairs remember I was here before you Five flights down [Verse 2: low again] Fourth floor's where I sat the night she packed and caught the train Back against the radiator counting cars out in the rain Third floor's Mr. Okafor, who fed my cat in June When I pulled the double shifts and slept through afternoons He's gone to his daughter's now, his door is painted gray They sanded off the number like he never had a say I set the lamp down on his mat and I don't know what for Just to tell the hallway someone used to knock on that door [Pre-Chorus: guitars creep in] Every landing's got a ghost on it Every step remembers what I owe [Chorus: heavy, open, belted] Five flights down And every one of them knows my name Five flights down I'm leaving lighter but I'm leaving just the same You can paint it white, you can call it new But the stairs remember I was here before you Five flights down [Bridge: half time, guitars crush in, raw] I paid on time, I paid on time Twelve years of the first of the month I paid on time, I paid on time And a building never loves you back [Verse 3: quiet, then building] Second floor, the kid from 2B sitting on the step Six foot now in a work vest with sawdust on his neck I taught him how to ride a bike out front when he was six He stands up, grabs the heavy end, and says I owe you this We take the turn together and the couch slides through like air Twelve years I fought that corner and it only needed two on the stair And we're laughing on the landing like the rent was never due Two grown men and a couch with no legs coming through [Final Chorus: heavy, open, belted, double tracked] Five flights down And the kid's got the end that hurts Five flights down And the van is waiting at the curb You can paint it white, you can call it new But the stairs remember I was here before you Five flights down [Outro: clean guitar alone, feedback fades] I leave my key up on the door frame where I always hid the spare For the next broke and happy kid who finds it there
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