[Silence]
[Arrangement: Rolling piano-rock with surf-guitar tremolo, deep toms, swelling organ, and a chorus that hits like water breaching the wall]
[Intro]
Low tide lies
(For a while)
Stillness wears
(A crooked smile)
You can stand there
(And call it safe)
Till the water
(Changes shape)
[Verse 1]
Built your house
(Right near the edge)
Talked yourself
(Off the ledge)
Said the warnings
(Were overblown)
Till the shoreline
(Was in your home)
First the puddles
(Then the street)
Then the water
(At your feet)
Then the road
(Just disappears)
Dragged away
(By all your years)
[Refrain]
About to find out
(About the washout)
When the tide comes in
(You can’t win)
About to find out
(About the washout)
When the ground gives way
(It won’t stay)
[Chorus]
Washout
(Takes it all)
Washout
(Brick and wall)
Washout
(One hard shove)
Washout
(What were you thinking of?)
[Verse 2]
The dune gave in
(The pilings cracked)
No easy route
(To take it back)
Insurance gone
(Bank still calls)
Salt in the wires
(Mold in the walls)
A lifetime stacked
(In boxes high)
Photo albums
(Left to dry)
But some things don’t
(Come back again)
Not the land
(Not the den)
[Refrain]
About to find out
(About the washout)
When the tide comes in
(You can’t win)
About to find out
(About the washout)
When the bluff lets go
(Down below)
[Bridge]
It doesn’t bargain
(Doesn’t care)
Doesn’t stop
(For your repair)
You can curse the sea
(Or curse the rain)
But the water’s not
(Explaining pain)
It just keeps moving
(Where it must)
Through sand and stone
(And wood and rust)
And what you thought
(Would always last)
Gets folded under
(By the past)
[Instrumental]
[Surf guitar solo]
[Organ swell]
[Drum breakdown like crashing surf]
[Breakdown]
Can’t hold the line
(Can’t hold the slope)
Can’t nail it down
(Can’t float on hope)
One more storm
(One more shove)
One more thing
(To rise above)
[Final Chorus]
Washout
(Takes it all)
Washout
(Brick and wall)
Washout
(One hard shove)
Washout
(What were you thinking of?)
Washout
(There goes the drive)
Washout
(Still trying to survive)
[Final Refrain]
About to find out
(About the washout)
When the tide comes in
(You can’t win)
About to find out
(About the washout)
When the sea wants in
(It gets in)
[Outro]
Low tide lies
(For a while)
Stillness wears
(A crooked smile)
From the album “Displacement“