Falling Knife

[Intro: reversed choir, vinyl hiss]
(don't make me... don't make me...)
[Detuned keys, sliding 808]

[Verse 1: syncopated melodic rap]
I keep a different sunrise in each room
A different flower fighting through the gloom
They all grew roots around a piece of me
Now someone's asking which one gets the tree
(oh-oh-oh)

[Pre-Chorus: accelerating, layered]
One little word, one little name
And nothing ever stays the same
(same-same-same)

[Chorus: soaring falsetto, heavy 808]
Don't make me be the falling knife
That cuts the color from somebody's life
I know the walls are paper thin
But every heart is living in them
(hold-hold-hold)
One card pulled, the ceiling breaks
How many loves can one choice take?

[Drop: cowbell melody, vocal chops]
(stay-stay, go-go)
(fall-fall, no-no)
(boom-ka-tss, bmm-tss-ka)
[808 glide, chopped scream]

[Verse 2: double-time, distorted doubles]
I see the future in a shattered frame
A dozen faces learning how to hate my name
And one beside me trying not to see
The empty chairs that used to comfort me
(used to, used to)

[Bridge: stripped beat, intimate whisper]
Maybe mercy isn't keeping everyone
Maybe waiting does what choosing would have done
But every road has someone left behind
And every exit lives inside my mind

[Final Chorus: stacked harmonies, halftime]
Don't make me be the falling knife
That cuts the color from somebody's life
If I choose one, the others fade
And I must own the mess I've made
(oh-oh-oh)
The house comes down, the echoes call
Who gets my hand when the last cards fall?

[Outro: tape decay, whispered]
(stay... go...)
[One card hits the floor]