• Audio
• Photos
• Posts

Lyrics

(The music was written as accompaniment for a play by that name, done by the Vermont Reperatory Theatre. I later added lyrics)
(circa 1988, lyrics 1996)

Quarter to nine
The flight is called, it's time to go
They walk to the jetway door, and stand in their row
The flight lifts off
And corkscrews from the sky
It's gone from the radar screens at half past nine

When we get to the scene, the crews are arriving
there are fire crews, and rescue crews and news crews
And there are clothes in the trees and bits of plastic and metal
all the flotsam and jetsam of an air age shipwreck
The crews are in place, invading the space
and they're bringing their unholy noises to this unholy place

There, at my feet amidst the mud and the blood
and bits of broken glass, what do I see
but a small open pocketbook
Part of a former life with a picture smiling up at me
On the back of the photograph, torn and waterlogged,
she had written so small, and it said
"In case of accident, please call..."

It's getting late
It's getting time to go home
Pack the kids in the car and let's get on the road
He pushed too far
Maybe he fell asleep
All alone in the dark, him and his family

And when we get to the scene, the lights are all flashing
There are red lights and white lights and blue lights
And there is blood on the snow and bits of plastic and metal
and the sounds of the jaws of life in use. Oh!
It breaks the silence of the dead
And it's breaking what already has been broken

And there, in the glare of the bright handlights
Incongruously brown against the grey and the black of the dash
Lies an open wallet, leaking some credit cards and cash
Oh I slipped out of my dream, fell back into reality
with a card in my hand and I recall it said
"In case of accident, please call..."