[Intro — radio static, kalimba, mbira, distant breath] One seventeen The room is blue Nobody calling But something comes through [Verse 1] Eight minutes moving through the wire A little rhythm, a little fire A wooden pulse beneath the air A broken melody going nowhere I turn the dial It follows me Eighty-eight point seven Then eighty-eight point three Every night A little lower Every night A little closer [Pre-Chorus] Who are you Inside the noise? Why do I know The shape of your voice? [Chorus] Send me the long wave Over the dark Carry the old songs Carry the spark Send me the long wave Slow through the night Something is falling Out of the light I don’t know where you are I don’t know when But if you keep calling I’ll listen again [Verse 2] Tonight I heard a violin From a reel nobody ever played Then an old hand striking skin From a tape that should have stayed Locked away Without a name Different years But here the same One by one They cross the air Things that never travelled Are suddenly there [Radio Voice — distant] Are you there? [Lead] I’m here. [Radio Voice] Keep listening. [Lead] I am. [Instrumental passage — veena, koto, tremolo guitar, analogue arpeggio] [Verse 3] Eighty-seven point nine tonight The numbers thinning in the light Eighty-seven point seven comes With someone’s breathing underneath the drums I write it down I count the days One more step And nowhere remains At the bottom of the dial What waits for me? A voice says softly— [Radio Voice] Almost home. [Chorus] Send me the long wave Over the dark Carry the old songs Carry the spark Send me the long wave Before they disappear All of those voices Still breathing here I don’t know where you are I don’t know when But if you keep calling I’ll listen again [Reveal — drums disappear; static, udu heartbeat, one sustained chord] Eighty-seven point five. Nothing. Then— [Older Voice] Can you hear me? [Lead] Yes. [Older Voice] You know my voice. [Lead] Why? [Older Voice] Because it is yours. [Lead] Where are you? [Older Voice] Not where. When. [Pause] Years from tonight These rooms will be empty The reels will be gone The names will be dust So I sent what I could Not the tapes Not the words The feeling. [Lead — almost whispered] Why send it to me? [Older Voice] Because you were the last person Who still listened. [Final Build] Then send me the long wave I’ll carry it through Every small heartbeat Every voice I never knew Send me the long wave Whatever remains The breath before singing The hands keeping time again Across every distance Across every year If something was loved once Let something stay here [Outro — percussion gradually disappears] One seventeen Morning arrives The frequency empty The red light still shines I reach for the tape But before I press play That little wooden rhythm Begins again [Whisper] This time— It’s going away from me. [Radio static slowly drifts into silence]
