[Instrumental Intro]
[Pulsing Bass]
[Electric Guitar Swells]
[Distant Train Sounds]
[Building Percussion]
[Chorus]
How do we know
(How this can go)
Wow! Watch that momentum grow…
(Maybe we should slow)
[Refrain]
Whiplash!
(To and fro)
Whiplash!
(High and low)
Whiplash!
(Faster we go)
Whiplash!
(Maybe we should know)
[Verse 1]
What was a five-hundred-year flood
(Just a century ago)
Became a one-hundred-year flood
(Then the numbers began to flow)
Then a ten-year flood arrived
(Showing up once again)
Now the maps keep changing
(And the odds refuse to bend)
The storm was not the thing that changed
(The system changed instead)
The atmosphere gained energy
(And the warnings slowly spread)
[Pre-Chorus]
Seven percent more moisture
(For every degree we climb)
A little more heat each decade
(A little less remaining time)
[Chorus]
How do we know
(How this can go)
Wow! Watch that momentum grow…
(Maybe we should slow)
How do we know
(What’s down below)
The ocean keeps the score you know…
(Maybe we should slow)
[Verse 2]
Forests burn and oceans warm
(The signals intertwine)
Species move and coastlines shift
(Along the fault lines of time)
Markets shake and crops decline
(Supply chains feel the strain)
One disturbance joins another
(And amplifies the pain)
Cause and effect get tangled
(In loops we barely see)
A web of coupled systems
(From the soil to the sea)
[Refrain]
Whiplash!
(To and fro)
Whiplash!
(Fast and slow)
Whiplash!
(The pressure grows)
Whiplash!
(Everybody knows)
[Bridge]
No, it isn’t science fiction
(No sudden fireball sky)
The danger is commitment
(To pathways we can’t unwind)
Not a runaway tomorrow
(Not next week or next year)
But decisions made this century
(That echo far from here)
The inertia keeps on building
(The oceans hold the heat)
Future generations inherit
(The momentum we repeat)
[Instrumental Break]
[Lead Guitar Solo]
[Organ Swell]
[Rising Synth Arpeggios]
[Verse 3]
Some say everything is normal
(Just another passing phase)
Others see the fracture lines
(Beneath familiar days)
Invisible stress accumulates
(Like cracks beneath the glass)
Then one day the pieces connect
(And thresholds come to pass)
The question isn’t whether
(The system can still change)
The question is how much remains
(Within a manageable range)
[Final Chorus]
How do we know
(How this can go)
Wow! Watch that momentum grow…
(Maybe we should slow)
How do we know
(What futures we bestow)
The train is still upon the tracks…
(Maybe we should slow)
How do we know
(How far before the bend)
We still have time to brake the wheels…
(But not time without end)
[Extended Refrain]
Whiplash!
(To and fro)
Whiplash!
(The signals show)
Whiplash!
(The numbers grow)
Whiplash!
(Maybe we should slow)
Whiplash!
(Watch momentum flow)
Whiplash!
(Maybe we should know)
[Outro]
[Spoken Vocal]
A system can absorb stress for a very long time… (until.)
The challenge is recognizing the transition before the cracks connect… (fulfil.)
[Instrumental Fade]
[Guitar Harmonics]
[Low Synth Drone]
[Train Sound Dissolves Into Wind]
From the album “Cracked Windshield“