The Moon I Knew

Lyrics

[Intro — Fingerpicked acoustic guitar, faint room noise, one distant cello note]
Verse 1 — Quiet, weary, almost spoken
The nights have settled back in place,
The house has learned my silence.
I still leave the curtains open
To the sky beyond the blinds.
There's a moon above the rooftops,
There's a blue across the floor.
I've spent so many nights beside her
I don't question it anymore.
Then I met you on an evening
I would probably have forgotten,
Just another passing face
In a world that keeps on moving.
But something made me turn around,
Something I can't quite explain.
And for reasons I don't understand,
I thought of you again.
Pre-Chorus — Cello slowly enters
I'd seen that silver all my life,
A thousand times before.
But there was something in your eyes
I'd never noticed on the moon before.
[Chorus — Low, aching melody; restrained harmonies]
The night is still the night I knew,
A thousand nights ago.
But there's silver on the window,
And the room is changing blue.
I thought I'd lost the whole world,
As I wait to see the moon again.
The moon I knew is the one in the sky,
Until I saw you.
[Verse 2 — Guitar and cello, slightly warmer]
I don't even know your story,
I don't know where you've been.
I just remember how the streetlights
Found the quiet in your skin.
And I hate that I remember
Little things I shouldn't know,
Like the way you turned your head away
Just before you had to go.
I came home and drew the curtains,
Then I opened them again.
There she was above the rooftops,
Like she'd always been.
But tonight I watched her differently,
Though the sky had never changed.
I was thinking of a stranger
And the silver in her face.
[Pre-Chorus — Faint backing vocals, a little tension]
I don't know if it means something.
I don't know if it means a thing.
But I've never looked at moonlight
And remembered someone's eyes.
[Chorus — Fuller bass, distant backing vocals]
The night is still the night I knew,
A thousand nights ago.
But there's silver on the window,
And the room is changing blue.
I thought I'd lost the whole world,
As I wait to see the moon again.
The moon I knew is the one in the sky,
Until I saw you.
[Bridge — Everything falls away except one guitar]
Maybe it was just the lighting,
Maybe nothing more than chance.
Maybe I had spent so long looking up
I'd forgotten how to look at someone.
You weren't standing in the heavens.
You weren't some impossible dream.
You were just a girl I happened to meet,
Who somehow looked like something I had seen
On every night I couldn't sleep,
On every night I couldn't stay
Inside the noise of my own mind,
And needed something far away.
I don't know you well enough
To say what you might mean.
I only know the moon was there
Before you entered the scene.
[Final Chorus — Cello swells; restrained drums enter]
The night is still the night I knew,
A thousand nights ago.
But there's silver on the window,
And somewhere else it glows.
I thought I'd lost the whole world,
As I waited for the moon again.
The moon I knew was in the sky,
Until I saw you standing there.
And she's still above the rooftops,
Still the same old shade of blue.
But now, when I look up at her,
I see a little bit of you.
I don't know what this will become.
I don't know what I should do.
I only know that something changed
The night I looked at you.
[Outro — Guitar slows naturally; cello fades into room tone]
The curtains are still open.
The moon is still the same.
I don't even know you well yet.
I don't even know your name.
But tonight, for the first time,
When I look up at the moon,
I wonder if she's looking down
At someone looking like her, too.