The Fever and the Sound

This portrait of reality, the fever and the sound
Our place in this gravity is nowhere 'til we hit the ground
Electrical and alkaline, rhetorical and less divine
Impulses activate, receptors drawn to stimulate

As the girls walk by then fade away
As an old man dies a little everyday
The lonely poor and arrogant all make their graves

So stand up brave and kiss goodbye any chance we'll live forever
My sweet black Maria surrender
Never let this place go without a fight
Before we all go down forever
Hold on tight now dance with me

The stories of these empires, they echo through these halls
And the shadows that used to play along these lonely streets won't save you now

As the girls walk by then fade away
As an old man dies a little everyday
The lonely poor and arrogant all make their graves

So stand up brave and kiss goodbye any chance we'll live forever
My sweet black Maria surrender
Never let this place go without a fight
Before we all go down forever
Hold on tight now dance with me

Charlatans and the kings of men and the songs that we sing
Holy watchtowers and skin machines, vacant minds and lucid dreams
Collisions of a life in story, make believe and allegory
So dance with me just one more time
Dance with me and don't look down

So stand up brave and kiss goodbye any chance we'll live forever
My sweet black Maria surrender
Never let this place go without a fight
Before we all go down forever
Hold on tight now dance with me