Spalling Litany

[Verse 1]
The valet fob for a black Maybach feelin' cold in my pocket
It's August-hot, the air is thick enough to stop a rocket
See your ghost by the ironwork gate on the US Customs House lawn
The straight-backed kid from the Fall of '19, before the focus was gone
You're still clutching the sheet music, rosin dust on your cuff
I'm counting tips in the humid dark, wonderin' if I've gilded enough
of the rot in the floor joists, the silence that you left in the frame
Every tourist I serve the door to, I hear 'em whispering your name.

[Chorus]
Old ghost in the Talmadge fog
Did I kill a savior or shoot a dog?
Left your bow to splinter on the stage
Did I build a coffin or just turn a page?

[Verse 2]
Remember the echo in the recital hall, the sweat on the scroll?
That German professor took my soul, said, "Kai, the intonation's a cathedral with a cracked support beam."
And I felt the whole damn ceiling fall, a slow-motion bad dream
Now the only deep G I can stand is an 808 with the tremble
A foundation shaker, a memory dissembler, yeah
Traded the concert black for this polyester vest, a different kind of formal
Smell of pluff mud and exhaust fumes, my beautiful, sick new normal.

[Chorus]
Old ghost in the Talmadge fog
Did I kill a savior or shoot a dog?
Left your bow to splinter on the stage
Did I build a coffin or just turn a page?

[Bridge]
(Beat tempo slows to ~70 BPM)
Slow down now... listen... that low note's still in the air
Same pitch, same ache, just hung on a different snare
You can hate me for the hi-hats that fill your empty concert hall
Or you could take my hand and we can watch the whole damn marble facade fall.

[Chorus]
(Beat returns to original tempo)
Old ghost in the Talmadge fog
Did I kill a savior or shoot a dog?
Left your bow to splinter on the stage
Did I build a coffin or just turn a page?

[Outro]
(Beat cuts out completely)
Yeah, the book was boring anyway.