Knockers

Lyrics

[Intro]


[Verse 1]
I’ve got the catalog open to page forty-three,
Heavy brass fittings, as bold as can be.
Keep your voice down while the waitress walks past,
We’re talking of architecture built to last.
Four pounds of copper from the '46 run,
Catching the light of the afternoon sun.
I give you an elbow, I pour out my tea,
I tap on the paper for you just to see.

[Chorus]
We're pricing up knockers.
Solid and heavy, attached to the pine,
Announcing the presence right on the time.
We used to write sonnets of marble and grace,
Now it’s just hardware claiming the space.
There's nothing to study, and nothing to guess,
Just a pair of knockers to firmly impress.

[Verse 2]
No time for the parlor, no time for the court,
The jokes in the motor-pool always are short.
If the lady turns round, we are talking of doors,
Of hinges and handles and hardware and boards.
They swing on a pivot, they land with a smack,
You hear them arriving from over the path.

It isn’t a riddle that takes you a week,
It’s just blunt mechanics whenever we speak.

[Chorus]
We're pricing up knockers.
Solid and heavy, attached to the pine,
We all know the joke, but we don't cross the line.
We used to write sonnets of ivy and grace,
Now it’s just hardware claiming the space.
There's nothing to study, and nothing to guess,
Just a pair of knockers to firmly impress.

[Bridge]
It’s the simplest trick in the whole of the trade,
No velvet required, no poetry made.
Just physics and gravity doing the work,
You swallow the syllable, cover the smirk.
The filter is human, the company’s mixed,
So we stick to the numbers we have on the list.
We nod at the waitress who’s wiping the till,
And keep the illusion remarkably still.

[Outro]
Polished and bright.
Hanging right there in the middle of sight.
You rap on the wood and you hope it rings true.
I look at the catalog, looking at you.
Just the hardware.
The lack of a metaphor.
We just let them swing on the front of the door.