autopsy

Lyrics

[Intro - sparse piano, brushed drums, distant vinyl crackle, trembling female spoken-sung]
I can still hear the front door
I can still hear your keys
I can still hear you laughing
Like you never had to leave

[Verse 1 - soulful female vocals over muted bass, soft electric guitar swells, intimate and raw]
They said it plain, in a room too white
With a voice too calm and a light too bright
Autopsy lines on a paper sheet
But all I saw was your two bare feet

Eighteen years, and you were just getting free
Coming home from work on the 101 to me
Hellyer lights and a drunk man’s lie
Turned my whole world into "why, why, why"

[Pre-Chorus - drums creeping in, layered harmonies, pain rising]
You were my morning, my mercy, my prayer
Now I’m talking to shadows in a plastic chair
And every word they read, every fact they state
Just keeps breaking the shape of your name

[Chorus - full band, driving drums, gritty guitar, powerful belted vocals]
Oh, my baby girl, don’t go quiet on me
I’m still reaching for the girl that you used to be
In the cold report, in the fluorescent glow
They can name the damage, but they don’t know
You were my heart, you were my home
Taken too fast on that road alone
And I scream your name to the open air
Like love could find you anywhere

[Verse 2 - alt-rock edge, distorted guitar, heavy kick, aching rap-sung cadence]
I hate that road, I hate that hour
I hate that phone call, I hate that sound
I hate the man who chose to drive
While my whole damn universe died

I keep seeing your jacket on the back of a chair
Your unfinished coffee, your split-end hair
I keep hearing the nurse say "I’m sorry, ma’am"
Like sorry could ever hold my hand

And I’m mad at the moon, mad at the walls
Mad at the silence after it all
Mad at the way the world moves on
When my little girl is gone, gone, gone

[Bridge - stripped back piano and lone vocal, then slow-building strings, devastated and pleading]
If I could fold time, I’d take that night
Wrap you in my arms, turn off those lights
I’d stand on Hellyer, bare hands to the sky
And stop that car with my own two cries

But all I have is this fractured breath
This mother’s love that outlives death
So I’ll carry you in every scar
In every dark, in every star

[Final Chorus - biggest lift, full band, choir-like harmonies, soaring and cathartic]
Oh, my baby girl, don’t go quiet on me
I’m still reaching for the girl that you used to be
In the cold report, in the fluorescent glow
They can name the damage, but they don’t know
You were my heart, you were my home
Taken too fast on that road alone
And I’ll say your name until the end
My beautiful girl, my best friend

[Outro - fading piano, reverb-drenched vocals, soft ambient guitar]
Eighteen forever
On a road I can’t forgive
My baby girl
In me, you live