Datum Plate

[Verse 1]
The barman's wiping down the grain of the Admiral Benbow's oak
With a rag that smells of last week's bitter and damp fag smoke
The Guinness sign flickers on the sticky linoleum floor
And the band is playing Zeppelin too loud to ignore

[Chorus]
This is the datum plate
Where every hollow word evaporates
Every story I built up just shears apart against this weight

[Verse 2]
The January condensation ghosts across the glass
You said, “This place’ll outlast all of us, won’t it?” as a cheer went past
Your memory sits just below the waterline of the sound
A hairline crack in plating I thought was tightly bound

[Chorus]
This is the datum plate
Where every hollow word evaporates
Every story I built up just shears apart against this weight

[Bridge]
Ten years since the winch-chain snapped, a hair's breadth from my head
Some welds look true on the surface, but inside they’re dead

[Outro]
Holding fast
Against the weight