Medical Center

Lyrics

[Intro — instrumental only, no vocals]
[a pill bottle rattles like a shaker and a heartbeat monitor blips; the beat builds]
[Instrumental build — still no singing, let the groove settle in]
[Instrumental — the rattle and the strings carry it alone]

[Verse 1 — vocals enter at last]
Up on the hill where they call it the Pill,
three big hospitals and time standing still;
rattle the bottle, shake out the day,
Medical Center keeping the dark away.

[Chorus]
Medical Center, rattle and shake,
the pill-bottle beat for the heart's own sake;
shake, shake, shake out the fear and the hope,
Pill Hill humming at the end of a rope.

[Verse 2]
A heartbeat blips on a glowing screen,
the most anxious-hopeful place you've seen;
they patch you up and they send you down the line,
the hill of healing where you wait for a sign.

[Chorus]
Medical Center, rattle and shake,
the pill-bottle beat for the heart's own sake;
shake, shake, shake out the fear and the hope,
Pill Hill humming at the end of a rope.

[Outro — vocals stop here]
[Instrumental — the pill-bottle shaker rides out alone, no more singing]
[Long instrumental outro — the groove fades slowly all the way down to silence]