[Intro] [market crowd, steam hiss, distant starship hum, a ledger page turning, wordless choir wide] [no drums] [Vendor Chant] [old man at his cart, dry and close, drums follow every syllable] Kuiper whiskey, watermelon coconut lemon banana, banana Ellery lemon [Verse 1] [quiet close croon, conversational] Asked him for the tab he took a book from the cart licked his thumb and turned it found the page by heart [short silence] Name across the top written small and neat not the name I carry the one I sing to sleep [Key Line] [full voice, no whisper now, everything else pulls back] Everybody's looking for me and the old man always knows [Chorus] [stacked hook harmonies, sidechain bass breathing, choir wide] On the tab (that's my boy) every crate I bring every coin he weighs I will pay it down to nothing all my nights and days he won't owe a thing not a single crate I will pay it down to nothing I don't care how late [Verse 2] [distortion on the word still] Said the still came with it coil and moon and flame everything I cook on signed in Ellery's name [short silence] Said nothing on a dead moon ever comes for free said he kept it open patient as can be [Bridge] [everything drops out except the chant drums and the choir] Ellery [silence] [Tal, barely a breath] (that's my boy) [silence] [Vendor Chant] [old man at his cart, drums follow every syllable] Kuiper whiskey, watermelon coconut lemon banana, banana Ellery lemon [Chorus] [stacked hook harmonies, full choir wide behind] On the tab (that's my boy) every crate I bring every coin he weighs I will pay it down to nothing all my nights and days he won't owe a thing not a single crate I will pay it down to nothing I don't care how late [Outro] [market crowd, steam, chant fading to one word] Ellery [hard cut, no fade]
