Timbers

Intro

(Single fingerpicked acoustic guitar, low ambient drone, 6/8)

Verse 1

The Lord said build a ship

I said I do not know how

The Lord said go up the mountain

I will show you how to make the tools

So I went up the mountain

And I came down with my hands full

And I stood on the shore

And I started

My brothers laughed

My brothers said the desert made me lose my mind

And I picked up the first piece of wood

And I started

Chorus

Timbers

One on top of another

Timbers

One on top of another

The Lord said build a ship

And I am building a ship

Verse 2

(Bass enters)

The rains came

The rains went

I worked in the sun

I worked in the wet

My hands cracked open in the cold

My hands hardened in the heat

My wife brought me bread

My wife brought me water

My wife said keep going

And I kept going

My brothers came down to the shore

My brothers said we will not lift a hand for this

And I picked up the next piece of wood

And I kept going

Chorus

Timbers

One on top of another

Timbers

One on top of another

The Lord said build a ship

And I am building a ship

Verse 3

(Kick and floor tom enter — slow, like hammer strokes)

The keel was the first year

The ribs were the second

The deck was the third

I do not remember when I started counting backwards

My sons were small when I began

My sons are taller than me now

They hand me the wood I cannot reach

They hand me the wood and they ask me when

When will it float

When will it be done

When will the Lord come back for us

And I say I do not know

And I keep going

Bridge

(Strings enter — long bowed notes, no melody)

The Lord did not come down to help

The Lord did not send an angel with a hammer

The Lord said go up the mountain

And He sent me back down

With my hands full

And a job to do

And I have done it

With my hands

With my back

With my wife

With my sons

With the mountain in my head

And the sea in my ears

I have done it

Final Chorus

(Full ensemble swell — layered electric guitars, full kit, strings climbing)

(Listeners, low and steady underneath: "timbers, timbers, timbers")

Timbers

One on top of another

Timbers

One on top of another

The Lord said build a ship

And I have built a ship

The Lord said build a ship

And I have built a ship

Outro

(Ensemble sustains, then fades to single guitar and drone — same as intro)

She is on the water now

And my brothers are quiet

And my hands are still

For the first time

In a long time