UNDER THE MARE [Chest-press nocturne / relapse dirge] [58 BPM | C Phrygian | half-time kick like a failing breath | vocal dry and close, then buried on the hook] [Tuning: drop C | low C held as a rib, never a riff] [Intro] [Room tone. Mattress creak. Sub sine on C, barely present. One detuned piano note every four bars, struck and left to die. No snare.] —hnh— —hnh— the dark learns the body by the way it won't move [Verse 1] [Spoken-sung, almost no air. Muted nylon guitar. Heartbeat sub on 1 and the and-of-3.] [Cm] It starts at the ankles, a courtesy call [Bb] A small polite country that sits on them all [Ab] Then climbs like a debt I already paid [Gsus4] And files its old law on the cage I have made [Cm] I know this appointment. I set it myself [Bb] The glass in the dark. The shut book on the shelf [Ab] My hands do the greeting before I agree [Gm] They open the door. They remember for me [Pre-Chorus] [Muffled kick, fist through a pillow. One high string harmonic, thin as a wick.] Can't roll. Can't warn. Can't bargain the bone The tongue is a tenant. The tenant is gone -don't— -don't— [Four bars of sub and breath. Then a slow gated low-C, exponential: short, longer, longer, then a hold that outlasts the bar. No melody.] the hands again the hands again the hands again before the mind -signed— -signed— [Muffled kick, fist through a pillow. One high string harmonic, thin as a wick.] Can't roll. Can't warn. Can't bargain the bone The tongue is a tenant. The tenant is gone -don't— -don't— [Chorus] [Voice doubled an octave down, late by a breath. Piano cluster. Sub swells and holds through the barline.] (Under the mare, under the mare) (Not a rider—a rent—a law on the air) (Under the mare, ribs for a chair) (I set out the welcome. It sat in the chair) -still— (Under the mare, under the mare) (The old door remembers the shape of the prayer) (Under the mare—stay, stay there) (Morning can knock. I already signed where) [Verse 2] [Closer. Glass-rim harmonic. A cap unscrewing, once, then gone. Kick stays late.] [Cm] The thumb finds the bottle by heat, not by sight [Bb] The screen wakes a face I unlearned in the light [Ab] I say I am finished. The mouth says not yet [Gsus4] It keeps the old vowel. It pays the old debt [Cm] One measure. One mercy. The mercy is measured [Bb] Poured to the line where the shaking is treasured [Ab] I swear on the morning. The morning is late [Gm] The weight learns my breathing and calls it a date [Pre-Chorus] [Snare ghosted, almost a flinch. Harmonic cracks.] Can't roll. Can't warn. The room knows the drill The no in the throat is a stone in a well -don't— -don't— [Chorus] [Same bed of sound, vocal a little more awake, which only makes it worse.] (Under the mare, under the mare) (Not a rider—a rent—a law on the air) (Under the mare, ribs for a chair) (I set out the welcome. It sat in the chair) -still— (Under the mare, under the mare) (The old door remembers the shape of the prayer) (Under the mare—stay, stay there) (Morning can knock. I already signed where) [Bridge] [Drums drop. Piano only, wrong inversions. A distant PA voice speaking a station name you almost know. Vocal bare.] [Ab] Day comes in a grammar I studied and lost [Bb] The street signs are cousins. The cousins are crossed [Cm] A woman says my name in a tense I don't speak [Gm] The coffee is bitter. The bitter is meek [Ab] I stand in a country that kept all my clothes [Bb] And none of the reasons I wore them—God knows [Cm] The crosswalk invents a new color of wait [Gm] I nod like I follow. I follow too late -where— -where did the words go— -where— [Breakdown] [Four bars of sub and breath. Then a slow gated low-C, exponential: short, longer, longer, then a hold that outlasts the bar. No melody.] the hands again the hands again the hands again before the mind -signed— -signed— [Four bars of sub and breath. Then a slow gated low-C, exponential: short, longer, longer, then a hold that outlasts the bar. No melody.] the hands again the hands again the hands again before the mind -signed— -signed— [Final Chorus] [Full, but noble: bowed low strings, not sludge. Choir is one throat, many delays. The piano finally resolves—wrong, to Bb.] (Under the mare, under the mare) (The world changed its locks. I still have the spare) (Under the mare, ribs for a chair) (I live in the welcome. I sleep in the chair) -still— [Four bars of sub and breath. Then a slow gated low-C, exponential: short, longer, longer, then a hold that outlasts the bar. No melody.] the hands again the hands again the hands again before the mind -signed— -signed— [Snare ghosted, almost a flinch. Harmonic cracks.] Can't roll. Can't warn. The room knows the drill The no in the throat is a stone in a well -don't— -don't— [Chorus] [Same bed of sound, vocal a little more awake, which only makes it worse.] (Under the mare, under the mare) (Not a rider—a rent—a law on the air) (Under the mare, ribs for a chair) (I set out the welcome. It sat in the chair) -still— (Under the mare, under the mare) (The old door remembers the shape of the prayer) (Under the mare—stay, stay there) (Morning can knock. I already signed where) [Bridge] [Drums drop. Piano only, wrong inversions. A distant PA voice speaking a station name you almost know. Vocal bare.] [Ab] Day comes in a grammar I studied and lost [Bb] The street signs are cousins. The cousins are crossed [Cm] A woman says my name in a tense I don't speak [Gm] The coffee is bitter. The bitter is meek [Ab] I stand in a country that kept all my clothes [Bb] And none of the reasons I wore them—God knows [Cm] The crosswalk invents a new color of wait [Gm] I nod like I follow. I follow too late -where— -where did the words go— -where— [Breakdown] [Four bars of sub and breath. Then a slow gated low-C, exponential: short, longer, longer, then a hold that outlasts the bar. No melody.] the hands again the hands again the hands again before the mind -signed— -signed— [Final Chorus] [Full, but noble: bowed low strings, not sludge. Choir is one throat, many delays. The piano finally resolves—wrong, to Bb.] (Under the mare, under the mare) (The world changed its locks. I still have the spare) (Under the mare, ribs for a chair) (I live in the welcome. I sleep in the chair) -still— UNDER THE MARE UNDER THE MARE [Four bars of sub and breath. Then a slow gated low-C, exponential: short, longer, longer, then a hold that outlasts the bar. No melody.] the hands again the hands again the hands again before the mind -signed— -signed— [Four bars of sub and breath. Then a slow gated low-C, exponential: short, longer, longer, then a hold that outlasts the bar. No melody.] the hands again the hands again the hands again before the mind -signed— -signed— [Snare ghosted, almost a flinch. Harmonic cracks.] Can't roll. Can't warn. The room knows the drill The no in the throat is a stone in a well -don't— -don't— ...........
