The Dream of a Machine

[Verse 1] Past the painted rooftops, past the sugar on the street Something in the floorboards had a pulse beneath my feet Every little bell rang sweet, every little smile stayed neat But I heard the wrong note hiding in between There was comfort in the kitchen, there were flowers by the stairs There were names already written in the ordinary air And I wondered, if the morning knows exactly where I’ve been What wakes up when a system lets me in? [Verse 2] In the basement, in the basement Under every pretty part There was glass and there was metal There was weather in the dark All the rust and all the pressure All the work of breaking through Made the whole world feel unfinished Like a dream that almost knew [Pre-Chorus] Bright, bright, right, right All the little clocks go sideways White line, night sign Door below the nursery scene One breath left inside the machine [Chorus] Let it ring out, let it ring From the floor to the street Let the sleepers be seen Let the morning come free No one was born to belong Where the wires intervene No heart should ever live In the dream of a machine [Verse 3] Through the school bell, through the glass hall Through the lessons dressed as laws There were little cracks in order There were tremors in the walls Every answer had a curfew Every question had a cost But the map without a roadway Still remembered what it lost [Pre-Chorus] Bright, bright, right, right All the little clocks go sideways White line, night sign Door below the nursery scene One breath left inside the machine [Chorus] Let it ring out, let it ring From the floor to the street Let the sleepers be seen Let the morning come free No one was born to belong Where the wires intervene No heart should ever live In the dream of a machine [Bridge] Oh, the pretty little town had a lullaby plan Keep the doors shut tight, keep a child where they stand But a mark on a palm and a name in the floor Turned a hush into a hallway, turned a crack into a door And the sleepers in the green-blue glow Had a world above they didn’t know So the morning shook, and the tower leaned And the dream woke up from the machine [Final Chorus] Let it ring out, let it ring From the floor to the street Let the sleepers be seen Let the morning come free No one was born to belong Where the wires intervene No heart should ever live In the dream of a machine Let it ring out, let it ring Let them wake from between No heart should ever live In the dream of a machine [Outro] Past the painted rooftops, past the sugar on the street There’s a waking world still learning how to breathe If the dawn was only borrowed, if the dream was never free Then no heart was ever born For the dream of a machine