Like a shadow on a shadow
A phantom in a film strip
Faint glimmer of the past
Trapped in mother’s old slides

Sits still in the apartment
While sifting through some pictures
Of the child that he once was
And the sense of hope they framed

"It’s a shame"
And I fear that fate
While the humming from the street
Keeps me awake

He says, "I let life get twisted
Get worn out, torn up
And late with the rent
And now nothing makes sense

Except the bench and that piano
A feeling nearing order when I’m
Pressing down the chords"
And he plays

And it swells and breaks
But what’ll it take to make
My life sound like that

And brings a fever
A dream of sweat and ecstasy
A kiss on every hammer hit
That follows as the keys fall

Down and bring an order first
Then chaos, then a calm
That paints every shift in
Murals on the wall

And it presses to your neck
It clutches to your hips
Softly sings to you of fireworks
And God and art and sex

And it’s strange
That it feels so right
When nothing else does

But all the while he’s playing
There’s a humming coming up
And through the window from outside

And even he has to admit
A certain melody in it
But then, why can’t he harmonize?

It’s like the city’s got its own song
But he can’t play along
He sees the notes as they fly by
But always plays them wrong

And in the bathroom, it gets blurry
Gets warm and distorted
Like light pushed through the orange
Of the pillbox he poured in his palm

It falls to the floor
He smiles as it hits
Sounds a little like an instrument

Like a voice in the choir
That hum and that drumbeat
Of life as an art-form
And fire through the streets

That keep moving us in silence
To phantom baton sweeps
Keep tapping to the tempo of our feet

And all the ones
Who seem to fit
The best into the chorus
Never notice there’s a song

And the ones who seem to hear it
End up tortured by the chords
When they fail to find
A way to sing along

And when you sing the wrong thing
It all starts collapsing
Starts to ring out and feedback
Starts lapsing and crashing

On notes that don’t clash
But that never quite feel like they match
And I never quite feel like mine match

There’s a melody in everything
I’m trying to find a harmony
But nothing seems to work
Nothing seems to fit

There’s a melody in everything
I’m trying to find a harmony
But nothing seems to work
Nothing seems to fit

There’s a melody in everything
I’m trying to find a harmony
But nothing seems to work
Nothing fits