alt-J – Story 4: Sleeplessly Embracing (A Remix By clipping.) lyrics

[Verse 1]
Needles under foot as he stumbles out to the dock
Big toe feeling it through the hole in his sock
Car keys dangling absently from the lock
Of the Buick Regal parked to the side of the roadblock
Celly on the center console continued buzzing
Name on the screen Katrina, parentheses baby cousin
"Dissolve Me" on the speakers is playing into the nothing
He fixes his hair for no one, a steady pace, never rushing
Faded blue polo shirt missing a top button
Khakis with a coffee stain ripping near where he cuff 'em
Tongue on the roof of his cotton mouth is feeling rough
And got a pocket of stones and a cup full of Robitussin
Too many stars to count and the moon is high up and blushing
Water is the calmest, the breeze in the pine is rustling
And the piston in his temple, relentless in how it's crushing
Everything but the sound of her crying, screaming, and cussing

(The purple round her eye was deepening as he pleaded and backed away from the door)

[Chorus]
(Sleeplessly embracing)
Rage in a bottle, wanna throw it out to sea
(Sleeplessly embracing)
Never seen the ocean so this lake will have to do
(Sleeplessly embracing)
Pumping his brakes to the sound of the beat
(Sleeplessly embracing)
Leave the tarnished ring with a note inside of the shoe

It's all fucked up now

[Verse 2]
Shit, Katrina pushes ‘Send’ again
Same thing ringing right until the voice messaging
Tick tick tick tick, left blinker clicks fast
From the burnt-out tail light, open toe on the gas
Heater on her face to compensate for the chill
Plastic on the passenger window thunders at will
New tattoo on the neck is itchin', but "Damn that's ill"
Is what Snake had said to her while she re-ing up on her pills
Pop a couple now as she driving around the woods
Knew from the beginning that marriage would be no good
Told him not to fall for the first available hottie
But she knew he would, she knew him better than anybody
He'd always take the first, well technically the second
If you count the time he slipped into her room when she was seven
And he told her that he loved her and everything was okay
That was just a week before they took her mother away

(She knows that he's poison but he was the only one who stayed when she needed it most)

[Chorus]
(Sleeplessly embracing)
Dress up like a princess and come out to the party
(Sleeplessly embracing)
Tired of the burning so this numb will have to do
(Sleeplessly embracing)
A little bit of dirt never hurt nobody
(Sleeplessly embracing)
Always protect the thing that you know is true

It's all fucked up now

[Verse 3]
Shoes taken off and placed upon the bank
Crickets in the distance are dissonant and he brakes
He's fine for just a minute, reflecting on all the days
Of joy before he slipped back into his sinister ways
How well could he justify every choice that he'd make?
How little control a little girl could ever take
How little he cared in the moment if she would wake
Hopefully she was so little, she'd not remember the ache
His toe is in the water, it's ice, it's codeine
It's dimming all the stars and it's muffling all the screams
It's now up to his waist and he's waiting until he dreams
His pulse is racing, causing the surface tension to steam
The water at his chest, his lungs finally collapse
The frogs see it best, he thinks, he starts to laugh
The water at his eyelids now, and he's 'bout to pass out
She could be rid of him now at last

(The note he left read "Please never tell her, love James")

(Sleeplessly embracing)
The ripples disappear and there's nothing left to show
(Sleeplessly embracing)
Never been concluded so the end will have to do
(Sleeplessly embracing)
High not low, and away we go
(Sleeplessly embracing)
Tomorrow it'll all be a perfect shade of blue
(Sleeplessly embracing) It's all fucked up now
(Sleeplessly embracing) It's all fucked up now
(Sleeplessly embracing) It's all fucked up now
(Sleeplessly embracing) It's all fucked up now