Mmm, mmm

As long as I can remember, I have always lived in this elevator

Traveling floor to floor to floor to floor to floor to floor

Witnessing birth, death, fistfights, suicide

Heartbreak, revelation, the recitation of offertories

The Godhead skipping off to the rooftop bar

Oh, da da da da da da da

Da da dum da da dum

Philosophers fingering fistfuls of morphine

To snuff out their lives on the Franco-Spanish border

California novelists hauling typewriters

Half their size to the thirteenth floor

To record the progression of a breakdown

That began on the balcony of a room that looked

Over the blue of the the Baltic Sea

And from the waves they could dictate all varieties of wonder and grief and ecstasy

Oh, da da da da da da da

Da da dum da da dum

Oh, da da da da da da da

Da da dum da da dum

The construction of rumors about an airplane

That had ripped through the ribcage of Lower Manhattan

Black magic in the way those rumors hardened into fact

As details slowly were filled in

Bloodshed, bloodletting, bloodroot, blood sport

Neighbors maiming neighbors in an endless war

I believe that God is love, and love is peace

Someone bring me a bright green branch of an olive tree

Oh, da da da da da da da

Da da dum da da dum

Oh, da da da da da da da

Da da dum da da dum

Bodies clawing their way into the car

To cool themselves to try to survive

Attorneys in expensive suits headed to expansive suites

To prepare for the trial of the century:

Greed versus life

I am speaking of the 23rd century, the 27th century

The end of days, for which I vaguely prepare

When this elevator will be consumed

Gilded mirrors and iron twisted in flame

All that is solid will melt into air

Oh, da da da da da da da

Da da dum da da dum

All that is solid will melt into air

Oh, da da da da da da da

Da da dum da da dum