[Intro]
(restless piano, 808s building underneath)
[Verse 1]
Keep it moving that’s the only thing I knew to do
Colorado, Breckenridge, Minnesota and back through
Construction sites and college courses I would never finish
Looking for a version of a life I couldn’t envision
The loneliness was quiet that was always the worst part
Not the kind that makes you scream just the kind that cuts the heart
Right beneath the surface where nobody ever gets to look
So I traded all of that for the party and the hook
Kept the noise up loud enough to drown whatever tried to surface
Kept myself so busy that I never had to sit with any of it
[Hook]
If you keep the noise up loud enough
You can’t hear what’s underneath
If you keep on moving fast enough
The quiet never catches up
That’s the only trick I had
Keep running, keep the music up
[Verse 2]
Two AM was better than the silence of the room
Fill it up with anything so nothing has to loom
Worked a rig that could end you on a random Tuesday morning
Metal under pressure and it never gives a warning
Suited up and showed up knowing any day could be
The last one so at night I made sure I couldn’t see
Anything too clearly couldn’t let it settle in
Couldn’t let the stillness be the place where it begins
Nowhere to go home to when the shift was finally done
No family to call no place to land when the day was done
Just the noise and the movement and whatever kept me running
Just the next place and the next shift and the next thing coming
[Bridge]
(stripped back — piano only)
Holidays on the rig
Clock hit midnight
Nobody calling
Nowhere to be
Just the sound of the equipment
And a man who should be somewhere
But doesn’t have a somewhere
That was the quietest I’ve ever been
And the loudest thing I’ve ever felt
Right there
[Chorus]
I was running from the quiet
Colorado didn’t have it
Breckenridge was loud enough
Minnesota almost had it
But it found me in December
On a rig in the middle of nowhere
When the noise stopped for a second
And I had nothing left to put there
Nothing left to put there
[Verse 3]
Dropped out more than once failed more than I can count
Kept the tab running high kept the party going out
It wasn’t who I was it was just what I needed then
The only way I knew to make it to the next end
Of a chapter of a year of a version of my life
That was lonely in the quiet so I kept it buried right
Under everything I was doing everything I touched
Until the day I finally ran out of places far enough
[Final Bridge]
(strings swell)
I don’t judge who I was then
I just understand him now
He was twenty two and alone
Figuring out how
To carry it without breaking
To move without completely shaking loose
He kept going
That’s enough
He kept going
[Outro]
(piano fading)
The quiet always finds you
No matter how loud you make it
Eventually it finds you
And you either face it or you don’t
I faced it
Eventually
I faced it
And I’m still here
