Just the Drum that Beats Us On

Instrumental Intro only drums

Instrumental Layer a mournful Duduk melody in a Phrygian or Dorian mode. Double it an octave higher with a distorted Electric Violin to give it an aggressive edge.

Verse 1

Twelve colonies burning in the void

A single ship slips past the wire

Cylons wore our faces for years

Now they hunt what's left of us

Old commanders keep their silence

Counting jumps on a broken wall

Pre-Chorus

Every star we leave behind

Every friend we left to die

Forty thousand souls and falling

Still the drum keeps calling

Chorus

We run we run we run tonight

Past the dark between the stars

We run we run we run tonight

Carry all our scars so far

No home no shore no guiding light

Just the drum that beats us on

Verse 2

A pilot with a picture in her hand

Buries names she'll never say aloud

Machines that pray and love and grieve

Standing shoulder to shoulder with the crowd

Someone whispered home is just a word

We answer back with everything we've got

Pre-Chorus

Every jump could be the last

Every future every past

Something human still surviving

Still the drum keeps driving

Chorus

We run we run we run tonight

Past the dark between the stars

We run we run we run tonight

Carry all our scars so far

No home no shore no guiding light

Just the drum that beats us on

Bridge

Rise and fall and rise

We are not afraid to die

Rise and fall and rise

We are not afraid to try

Chorus

We run we run we run tonight

Past the dark between the stars

We run we run

Instrumental Break only frame drum and taiko steady pulse

Instrumental a lone Bansuri line over a cold electric bass figure in a minor mode the Duduk answers it an octave down

Verse 3

Fifteen thousand lights went out at once

A wall of fire where the garden was

She kept the logbook open in her lap

Wrote a name for every one we lost

The machine beside her learned to cry

And none of us knew what to say to that

Pre-Chorus

Every signal fades to grey

Every jump we make we pay

Counting air and counting hours

Still the drum outruns the fire

Chorus

We run we run we run tonight

Past the dark between the stars

We run we run we run tonight

Carry all our scars so far

No home no shore no guiding light

Just the drum that beats us on

Instrumental Layer the Duduk and Bansuri trade a slow descending phrase over tom-tom and industrial percussion

Verse 4

A young one asks me what a planet feels like

I tell her grass and rain and standing still

She says that sounds like something people made up

I say maybe that is why we're running still

An old man tends a garden in the hold

Green things growing where no sun could go

Pre-Chorus

Every seed a stubborn prayer

Every breath a borrowed share

Something tender keeps on holding

Still the drum keeps us going

Chorus

We run we run we run tonight

Past the dark between the stars

We run we run we run tonight

Carry all our scars so far

No home no shore no guiding light

Just the drum that beats us on

Bridge

Hold the line hold the line

We are not afraid to stay

Hold the line hold the line

We will not be thrown away

Hold the line hold the line

Let the cold come let it come

Hold the line hold the line

Till the drum and we are one

Instrumental the Duduk wails over metallic hardcore percussion and a distorted electric violin answering every phrase

Chorus

We run we run we run tonight

Past the dark between the stars

We run we run we run tonight

Carry all our scars so far

No home no shore no guiding light

Just the drum that beats us on

Outro

Just the drum

Just the drum

Beats us on

Just the drum

Just the drum

Beats us on

Instrumental Bansuri and Duduk slowly dissolve into dark ambient drift, taiko fading to a single heartbeat frame drum