(Verse 1) All around me are the grayest echoes Of things I thought I’d finally left behind I walk the halls of every quiet morning To see what kind of sorrow I can find The coffee’s cold, the sky is even colder The neighbors hide behind their heavy blinds And every face is just a faded copy Of a better version no one seems to mind. (Chorus) And I find it kind of heavy, I find it kind of deep The way the world is falling while the city is asleep I’m digging for a treasure that I know I’ll never keep And it’s a long way down, yeah, it’s a long way down. And I find it kind of hollow, I find it kind of strange That everything is moving but nothing ever changes The dreams in which I’m winning are the ones where I’m deranged And it’s a long way down, a long way down. (Verse 2) The children wait for buses in the drizzle They’re learning how to sit and how to stay They’re filling up their heads with ancient puzzles That won’t help them when the sky turns dark and gray I want to tell them that the sun is lying That the light is just a debt they’ll have to pay But I just turn my collar to the wind now And watch the little shadows walk away. (Verse 3) I see a million faces in the gutters With palms held open to the freezing rain They’re whispering for bread beneath their stutters But no one stops to listen to the strain A thousand eyes are begging for a swallow Of water just to wash away the dust But every heart passing them is hollow And every silver coin is thick with rust. (Verse 4) They’re standing on the corners of the system The ghosts that we’ve decided not to see We speak of life as if we’re going to miss them While locking up the doors and turning keys Hunger is a ghost that’s never quiet Thirst is just a fire in the throat The wealthy are all sleeping through the riot While the sinking men are reaching for the boat. (Verse 5) I see the people rushing to their stations With empty briefcases and tired eyes They’re trading in their hours for a pittance Beneath the weight of plastic-colored skies They say the future’s bright if you just follow The lines they drew before you were a child But every path is paved with something hollow And every heart is broken or defiled. (Bridge) In the dark I build a kingdom made of static Where the people treat me kinder than they do I invent a fake horizon in the attic Just to feel a version of the world that’s true I paint the sky a color I remember Before the atmosphere turned black and blue But the morning is a hammer on the ceiling And the fake reality is breaking through. (Verse 6) So I’ll retreat back to the velvet curtain Where I can be a king within my head Where every word I speak is loud and certain And all the ghosts are living and not dead It’s safer in the places I’ve invented Than walking through the ruins of the day I’ll stay right here, exhausted and contented And watch the real world slowly rot away. (Outro) It’s always sad. It’s always sad. A million hungry faces in the deep. The better lives are only when I’m sleeping. They’re asking for a drop they’ll never keep. It’s always sad. A fake world. A fake life. Always sad. Always sad. Close your eyes... It’s better this way. Always sad.
