[Verse 1] I didn’t know the red light stayed alive when I told the dark you were right to leave strings squeak like the floor I pace at 3 a.m. and the room inhales every time I breathe [Pre-Chorus] I said your name like a question mark then swallowed the hook before it hit the tape [Chorus] Mic still on, mic still on hear the silence learn the words I never gave Mic still on, mic still on every pop and crack’s the truth I couldn’t say [Verse 2] I counted cars by the headlights on the wall till the chorus came like sirens down the street voice breaks, but the compressor holds me up pretty wreck, cracked paint, still complete [Pre-Chorus] I never hit stop [just let it spin] [like the nights we’d leave the porch light trembling] [Chorus] Mic still on, mic still on hear the silence learn the words I never gave Mic still on, mic still on every pop and crack’s the truth I couldn’t say [Bridge – spoken, barely above whisper] [You’ll hear me stand, hear the chair give up, hear the phone light up and die, hear the tear that never quite falls, it’s all here, forever, right at 2 kHz.] [Final Chorus – half-time, choir detuned] Mic still on, mic still on let the hum decide the price I pay Mic still on, mic still on when the tape runs out the guilt will stay [Outro] [One chord rings… stand up, cable creak, click of the switch— but the room keeps singing back at me]
