Reverse Thread

[Verse 1]
The '48 Elgin DeLuxe stopped dead at 9:03.
The chill of the case back is burning a ring on my knee.
There's a Tuesday in March settling in with the dust,
A mainspring of memory coiled up in the rust.
Just a twist of the crown 'til the hands start to climb,
But I'm twisting against more than just time.

[Chorus]
It's that reverse thread, the thing Nonno said,
Leaves a ghost in the gear-train, a cold in your bed.
Just a gear-setter's tale, a Sicilian design,
But his hand's on my hand, stopping mine.

[Verse 2]
I can still smell the Solv-Ex and cheap cigar smoke.
He'd tap the glass, 'Questa è l'anima,' a voice like broke stone.
Said a watch holds the beat of the man who was last,
And you don't run the film of a life in reverse, and go fast.
You just clean it and set it and let the thing run,
Same as you do for a daughter or son.

[Bridge]
And my boy's in the back room, asleep on the chair,
With the freight train from Dearborn shaking the air.
And I see the fine wire that holds him to me,
And to a man with his hands stained from factory grease.

[Outro]
The ticking I hear ain't the Elgin's embrace.
It's the Waltham I'm wearing, just keeping its pace.