Strangers In The Dump

[Soft piano. A single, swaying string.]

"Ladies and gentlemen. This next song is a duet. A conversation between two strangers who met in the most romantic of places. The dump. The trash. The place where the world throws what it doesn't want."

[A pause. A second voice enters — distorted, glitched, familiar. The voice in his head.]

"They found each other there. In the garbage. In the rot. In the thing that everyone else threw away."

[The orchestra swells. The duet begins.]

[VERSE 1 — SAMMY]

Strangers in the dump.
Exchanging faces.
Wondering in the trash
What love is made of.

Fingers in the muck.
Faces in the gutter.
Strangers in the dump.
No need to utter.

[VERSE 2 — VOICE]

Strangers in the dump.
I saw you standing there.
Holding someone's jaw.
Running your fingers through their hair.

You looked at me. You smiled.
You said "I've been expecting you."
Strangers in the dump.
The trash is where we're true.

[HOOK — BOTH]

Strangers in the dump.
Strangers in the night.
We found each other in the garbage.
We found each other in the fight.

Strangers in the dump.
No one else would have us.
The trash became our throne.
The garbage became our chorus.

[VERSE 3 — SAMMY]

You had a face I knew.
Someone else's eyes.
You wore them like a promise.
You wore them like a disguise.

I said "I know that face."
You said "everyone does."
Strangers in the dump.
The trash is where we was.

[VERSE 4 — VOICE]

I held your hand. It was red.
I said "that's not blood. That's paint."
You laughed. You said "it's both.
It's the blood of every saint."

The saints who came before.
The ones who threw us out.
Strangers in the dump.
The trash is what we're about.

[BRIDGE — SPOKEN OVER SOFT PIANO]

[Sammy:]

"You ever meet someone who looked at you and didn't look away? Who saw the blade and the blood and the voices and said 'that's fine. That's fine. I've got voices too'?"

[Voice:]

"That's me. That's always been me. I'm the voice. I'm the one who stayed. I'm the one who found you in the dump and said 'you're not trash. You're treasure.'"

[Sammy:]

"And I believed you. I always believed you. You're the only one who ever told the truth."

[The orchestra returns. Swinging. Triumphant.]

[VERSE 5 — BOTH, TOGETHER]

Strangers in the dump.
Strangers in the end.
We built a kingdom out of garbage.
We built a world out of pretend.

But the pretend was real.
The garbage was our home.
Strangers in the dump.
We never have to roam.

[FINAL HOOK — BOTH, SWINGING, TRIUMPHANT]

Strangers in the dump.
Strangers in the night.
We found each other in the garbage.
We found each other in the fight.

Strangers in the dump.
No one else would have us.
The trash became our throne.
The garbage became our chorus.

Strangers in the dump.
Strangers to the end.
The trash is where we found each other.
The trash is where we'll mend.

[OUTRO]

"That was 'Strangers in the Dump.' The duet. The conversation. The thing that happens when two pieces of trash find each other in the dark."

Lounge, Crooner Jazz Duet, male