🎁 Present Tense 😬

[INTRO – repeating pizzicato strings, warm pulse] Every day is a gift. … Hope you kept the receipt. [VERSE 1] Living in a memory Long after closing time Walking through old neighborhoods That only exist in mine Past is sitting vacant Windows boarded, letters gone Everybody who was living there Has already moved along I keep knocking anyway Like somebody might appear Say the thing they didn’t say Do the thing we didn’t do that year But yesterday’s forwarding address Just says: NOT HERE ANYMORE Funny how I keep a key To every house That lost its door [LIFT] Where’d everybody go? Forward. Forward where? Present tense. … Shit. I’m late. [CHORUS] PRESENT TENSE EVERY DAY’S A GIFT HOPE YOU KEPT THE RECEIPT FOR IT PRESENT TENSE RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW ONLY PLACE THAT’S OPEN ANYHOW PAST MOVED OUT FUTURE AIN’T IN SO I GUESS THIS IS WHERE WE BEGIN PRESENT TENSE OPEN IT UP MIGHT NOT BE WHAT YOU WANTED BUT LOOK— HERE IT IS [VERSE 2] Went looking into tomorrow But the landscape hadn’t arrived yet Everything was bright white Everywhere was deep dark Couldn’t tell the ins from outs Couldn’t find the up from down Couldn’t see myself at all Couldn’t tell What the plot was about Road ended halfway Through a road Buildings stopped At empty frames Street signs pointed Everywhere But none of them Had any names Asked a man What happens next He said: “I haven’t happened yet.” Fair enough. Turned around Found today Right where I left it [LIFT] Future’s got A lot of promise Mostly because It isn’t here Hard to disappoint somebody When you haven’t Been built yet [CHORUS] PRESENT TENSE EVERY DAY’S A GIFT HOPE YOU KEPT THE RECEIPT FOR IT PRESENT TENSE RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW ONLY PLACE THAT’S OPEN ANYHOW PAST MOVED OUT FUTURE AIN’T IN SO I GUESS THIS IS WHERE WE BEGIN PRESENT TENSE OPEN IT UP MIGHT NOT BE WHAT YOU WANTED BUT LOOK— THERE IT IS [INSTRUMENTAL – cellos pulse forward; violins repeat fragments from earlier sections, guitar and organ gradually interlock] [BRIDGE – beat disappears] Present’s strange. By the time You notice it It’s already leaving. Maybe that’s why They call it a gift. You don’t get To keep it. You just get To open it. [brief silence] No returns? Apparently not. That’s bullshit. Probably. [VERSE 3] So I stopped by yesterday Picked up a couple things Left the furniture Left the dust Kept what memory brings Tried tomorrow One more time Still under construction Fine. I’ll quit demanding Directions From a place Without instructions Today is loud Today is weird Today showed up Without rehearsing Half assembled Slightly damaged Wrong size Still worth wearing Maybe being here Isn’t wisdom Maybe presence Isn’t deep Maybe now Is simply all the time That time Agreed to let me keep [FINAL CHORUS] PRESENT TENSE EVERY DAY’S A GIFT NO I DIDN’T KEEP THE RECEIPT FOR IT PRESENT TENSE RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW DON’T NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AFTER NOW PAST MOVED OUT FUTURE CAN WAIT I KEEP SHOWING UP A LITTLE LATE PRESENT TENSE OPEN IT UP MIGHT NOT BE WHAT I ORDERED BUT FUCK— IT IS WHAT IT IS [OUTRO – opening figure continues] Where are you going? Nowhere. Good. Stay here. … Working on it.