[Intro — Male, close and intimate] One seventeen, the telephone rings Nobody calls this late Eight little lights on the switchboard sleeping Then one appears marked nine [Female, distant] You took your time [Male] Who is this? [Female] You know my voice You just don’t know it yet [Verse 1 — Male] Night clerk counting empty rooms Coffee going cold City burning underneath A sky the colour of gold She said, “Your tie is hanging loose There’s a stain upon your sleeve” I turned around to find the eyes That somehow seemed to see [Female] Don’t look behind you I’m not there [Male] Then where are you? [Female] Everywhere [Pre-Chorus — Call and Response] [Male] Tell me your name [Female] You already did [Male] Tell me your room [Female] It doesn’t exist [Male] How do you know me? [Female] Better than you do [Both] Somewhere after midnight I keep finding you [Chorus — Both] Every version of you Comes back through the blue Different eyes, different years Same little things that you do Every version of you Forgets what we knew But somewhere between hello and goodbye I make you love me too [Instrumental — Rhodes, Moog bass, muted guitar, tenor sax] [Verse 2 — Male] She talked about the ballroom The tables dressed in white A singer underneath the stairs A band that played all night I said, “That room’s been locked for years” She laughed and answered low [Female] Not from where I’m calling, baby They’re dancing here right now [Male] I heard the glasses Heard the band Someone called her name Celeste And something underneath my skin Knew it before she said [Pre-Chorus — Male/Female] [Male] Tell me your name [Female] You just heard it [Male] Tell me the year [Female] Don’t spoil it [Male] Why does your voice Feel like a room I’ve been through? [Female] Because I’ve spent forever Waiting here for you [Chorus — Both] Every version of you Comes back through the blue Different clothes, different years Same way you say, “Who are you?” Every version of you Forgets what we knew And somewhere between hello and goodbye I make you love me too [Instrumental Passage — saxophone, analogue strings, percussion] [Verse 3 — Male] Down beneath the service stairs Behind a painted door Dust lay thick on numbered lines That hadn’t rung before One through eight were hanging dead Then underneath the grime EXTENSION 9 — THE BLUE HOUR Closed 1966 There were photographs in boxes Champagne, smoke and light Celeste beneath a silver moon On the final Saturday night And standing with his arm around her Smiling like he knew Was a man with my face Twenty years before I was due [Breakdown — drums disappear] [Male] Celeste… [Female] Yes? [Male] What happened to me? [Long pause] [Female] Nothing happened to you. [Pause] You happened again. [Instrumental Reveal — single Rhodes chord, tape hiss, distant sax] [Bridge — Female Lead] Every twenty years I hear Your footsteps in the hall Every twenty years you answer Like you never came at all I get seven nights to find you Seven nights to make you see Then morning takes you somewhere That has no place for me [Male] Why don’t I remember? [Female] Maybe that’s the mercy. [Male] And you remember everything? [Female] Everything. [Final Chorus — Both, restrained but full] Every version of you Comes back through the blue Different life, different name Same heart coming through Every version of you Leaves me here with the truth That somewhere between hello and goodbye I fall in love with you Every version of you Every impossible you If time gives me one more night I’ll spend it dancing with you [Outro — groove gradually empties] [Male] Will you call tomorrow? [Female, almost whispering] I always do. [Telephone click] [Male, distant] Celeste? [Female, barely audible] One seventeen.
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