We Were Cities - Hollow Atlas - Rock/Alternative
[Intro]
(full band from the first beat — drums, bass, rhythm guitar, a horn line, building for eight bars before the vocal enters)
[Verse 1]
We had a language only we could speak
Street names for feelings, seasons of the week
A downtown made of every fight we won
A harbour district where we watched the sun
We had a government of two, no laws
Just customs built from all our little flaws
You knocked three times before you said my name
I saved the window seat, you always came
[Pre-Chorus]
And people lived there
In the life we made
Younger versions of us
Who weren't afraid
They're still there somewhere
In the avenues
A city breathing
Me and you
[Chorus]
We were cities
We were whole civilisations
We were cities
Built on impossible foundations
Every street a year, every light a night we kept
Every bridge a promise, every river something wept
We were not just people — we were geography
We were cities
And now I'm standing in the ruins of us
We were cities
[Verse 2]
We had a calendar of private days
The third of June, the autumn's amber haze
A monument to the first time you stayed
A square named after everything we made
We had embassies in other people's homes
Friends who'd visit but we'd always be alone
A population of our memories
Still walking streets that only we could see
[Pre-Chorus]
And people lived there
In the life we made
Younger versions of us
Who weren't afraid
They're still there somewhere
In the avenues
A city breathing
Me and you
[Chorus]
We were cities
We were whole civilisations
We were cities
Built on impossible foundations
Every street a year, every light a night we kept
Every bridge a promise, every river something wept
We were not just people — we were geography
We were cities
And now I'm standing in the ruins of us
We were cities
[Bridge]
(tempo doubles briefly, urgent and almost panicked — multiple voices layering)
What do you do with a city when it falls
Do you walk the streets or board up all the halls
Do you mark it on a map or let it fade
Do you mourn the life or just the life you made
What do you do with a city in your chest
Do you gut it out or build on what is left
Do you leave or do you stay inside the wreck
A hollow atlas with a city on its neck
(tempo returns, single voice, raw)
I stayed
God help me
I stayed
[Final Chorus]
(key change up, every instrument, voices stacked in harmonies, the biggest moment on the album)
We were cities
We were whole civilisations
We were cities
Built on impossible foundations
Every street a year, every light a night we kept
Every bridge a promise, every river something wept
We were not just people — we were geography
We were cities
(last lines, harmonies drop away, single voice)
And now I'm standing in the ruins of us
(full band one final chord, then cut to silence)
We were cities
[Outro]
(full band from the first beat — drums, bass, rhythm guitar, a horn line, building for eight bars before the vocal enters)
[Verse 1]
We had a language only we could speak
Street names for feelings, seasons of the week
A downtown made of every fight we won
A harbour district where we watched the sun
We had a government of two, no laws
Just customs built from all our little flaws
You knocked three times before you said my name
I saved the window seat, you always came
[Pre-Chorus]
And people lived there
In the life we made
Younger versions of us
Who weren't afraid
They're still there somewhere
In the avenues
A city breathing
Me and you
[Chorus]
We were cities
We were whole civilisations
We were cities
Built on impossible foundations
Every street a year, every light a night we kept
Every bridge a promise, every river something wept
We were not just people — we were geography
We were cities
And now I'm standing in the ruins of us
We were cities
[Verse 2]
We had a calendar of private days
The third of June, the autumn's amber haze
A monument to the first time you stayed
A square named after everything we made
We had embassies in other people's homes
Friends who'd visit but we'd always be alone
A population of our memories
Still walking streets that only we could see
[Pre-Chorus]
And people lived there
In the life we made
Younger versions of us
Who weren't afraid
They're still there somewhere
In the avenues
A city breathing
Me and you
[Chorus]
We were cities
We were whole civilisations
We were cities
Built on impossible foundations
Every street a year, every light a night we kept
Every bridge a promise, every river something wept
We were not just people — we were geography
We were cities
And now I'm standing in the ruins of us
We were cities
[Bridge]
(tempo doubles briefly, urgent and almost panicked — multiple voices layering)
What do you do with a city when it falls
Do you walk the streets or board up all the halls
Do you mark it on a map or let it fade
Do you mourn the life or just the life you made
What do you do with a city in your chest
Do you gut it out or build on what is left
Do you leave or do you stay inside the wreck
A hollow atlas with a city on its neck
(tempo returns, single voice, raw)
I stayed
God help me
I stayed
[Final Chorus]
(key change up, every instrument, voices stacked in harmonies, the biggest moment on the album)
We were cities
We were whole civilisations
We were cities
Built on impossible foundations
Every street a year, every light a night we kept
Every bridge a promise, every river something wept
We were not just people — we were geography
We were cities
(last lines, harmonies drop away, single voice)
And now I'm standing in the ruins of us
(full band one final chord, then cut to silence)
We were cities
[Outro]
