Track Insight / Lyrics
Rain slicks the chrome and copper wire
My glass face catches cold blue fire
The boy's hands shake on winding key
He hides from eyes that hunt for me
Salt air once cleaned my brass gears clean
Now oil-slick rain falls on the scene
I kept the light for ships at sea
Now tick for him, tick wild and free
Brass and neon, brass and neon
Two worlds welded, not undone
One keeps time, one burns it bright
Both survive the longest night
His master gone, the shop burned down
Only gears remain in this town
He winds me slow, he winds me fast
Prays each tick might be the last
Brass and neon, brass and neon
Two worlds welded, not undone
One keeps time, one burns it bright
Both survive the longest night
I felt the swell, I knew the shoal
I guided hulls through gale and coal
This alleyway is just a strait
Same dark water, different gate
Dawn cracks the sky to pale bone white
The hunters sleep, the alley quiet
His fingers find the winding crown
He breathes me up, he winds me down
No lantern glass, no Fresnel lens
Just springs and jewels, tense and dense
But light is light where'er it gleams
In midnight oil or phosphor dreams
Brass and neon, brass and neon
Two worlds welded, not undone
One keeps time, one burns it bright
Both survive the longest night
Brass and neon, brass and neon
Two worlds welded, not undone
One keeps time, one burns it bright
Both survive the longest night
Brass and neon, brass and neon
The tide turns slow, the dawn comes on
Tick on, lad. Tick on.
