Poetry Corner I

Since there's little to change musically in "Days to Midnight", I'll dive straight into the lyrics for this one.  Originally, this song was vaguely apocalyptic in tone, with "midnight" referring to the iconic Doomsday Clock.  (I don't think I was familiar, at the time, with the Iron Maiden song that does this reference so much better.)

It's honestly one of the (relatively!) less embarrassing offerings, I think.  If it were to be buried in the middle of Chronicles, I might even consider leaving it unaltered.  The fact that it is going to be the opener this time, however, gives the song bigger shoes to fill.  An opener usually sets the scene for the whole album, and if I do it wrong, it's just going to bog the proceedings down in the same way that "March for the Age" did.

So rather than having it be a refined version of an apocalyptic vision, I'm instead going to frame this as a put-down of those who incessantly spout alarmist rhetoric in situations where it accomplishes nothing besides spreading feelings of hopeless futility.  On a meta level, it was those same terrible feelings that found their way into the Escapades, and I really don't want Chronicles falling into the same trap.  Hopefully, this will nip that issue in the bud.

When the clock is ticking every day,
So, you always say,
And the people, they could never care,
No, you say beware.
I hear it's closing in,
The day there'll be no more.

I hear you on the phone,
The signal's breaking down,
And the flames are flying out of town.
So I'm stuck with you alone,
With nowhere to run or hide,
You leave me feeling dead inside.

As I hear you more, I can't contain
Those clouds in my brain,
And I watch the people walking out,
So, who'll hear you now?

I hear you on the phone...

Now you've got me right here in the room
Where you'll speak my doom,
If you won't let me answer your call,
Why bring me here at all?
I feel it closing in,
The day I lose my mind.

I hear you on the phone...

I've chosen not to include, in the above transcription, the backing vocals that sing the title during the call-and-response refrain.  As much as I'm not a fan of post-production gimmickry, I think it might be worth experimenting with heavier vocal encoding for those (there's some light phasing in the Escapade version and nothing of the sort in the Escapade 2 version).  This should further emphasize that it's not ME being a generic prophet of doom this time!

Also note that the revised lyrics are quite a bit more dense and tongue-twisting.  Using a slightly slower tempo (because it doesn't have to be exactly 4 minutes anymore) makes that practicable.