Small Empires · Album · Track 3
9 Aug 2026 · 3:27 · Synth-pop · 148 plays
Click the waveform to start anywhere.
Lyrics
Click a line to jump near it in the song.
A man told me at the end,
with the machines doing his breathing,
that the thing he'd meant to make
was still exactly where he left it.
He wasn't scared of dying.
He was furious about the waiting.
Sixty years of nearly ready.
Nobody ever said go.
No committee. No letter.
No envelope with your name —
Nobody's coming! (nobody's coming!)
Nobody's got a form to sign! (no one's got it!)
The gate you're standing at so politely
was never locked at all.
Go.
And the waiting's not from laziness,
that's the thing they get wrong —
we wait because if they choose us
then the failing isn't ours.
Very safe. Very clean.
Very much an unlived life,
and the churchyard's absolutely full
of people who were nearly ready.
Just an evening and a hand —
Nobody's holding up a light! (no one's holding!)
The ones you're waiting on are waiting
on somebody just like you.
Three! (go!)
Two! (go!)
One! (GO!)
So I did the thing. Did it badly. (did it badly!)
Hands shaking, wrong hour, no permission —
and the sky stayed where it was.
Nobody was ever coming.
That's the worst news and the best news
and they are the same news.
Go. (go!) Go. (go!)
From the album
Now playing
Small EmpiresSynth-popSynth-pop1794:43