Cobalt Starstrong and His Winning Smile

Aaah, aaah, aaah (oooh, oooh)
Mmmmm, aaah (aaah, aaah)
Oooh, aaah, oooh (mmmmm)
Aaah (aaah)

Doo doo, doo doo doo (ba ba, ba ba)
Aaah, oooh (doo doo doo)
Doo doo, doo doo doo (aaah, aaah)
Mmmmm (ba ba ba)

Smile (smile, smile)
Ex machina (aaah, oooh)
Smile (smile, smile)
Ex machina (oooh, aaah)

A masterpiece (or trash)
A masterpiece (or trash)
The line is thin (aaah, aaah)
We're walking it (oooh)

Come walk with (walk with) me
Here we go-woah (here we go-oh-o-oh-o)
On a walkabout among the stars (aaah, aaah)
Oooh
Aaah
Oooh
Smile

The king is dead, long live the king
The bells are tolling, the people sing
A cry of pain, a cry of joy
The same sound from the same throat

I cruised into the harbor on the morning star-tide
Banners half at mourning, half at pride
They told me in the market, told me in the square
The old king gave his everything and vanished in the ringing air

The king is dead (the king is dead)
Long live the king (long live the king)
How can we grieve him (how can we sing)
While we're singing (while we grieve)

Doo doo doo, doo doo doo
Ba ba, ba ba ba
Doo doo doo, doo doo doo
Aaah, aaah

They say he saw the darkness coming for the gate
They say he didn't waver, didn't hesitate
The sacrifice you can't imagine making in your dreams
Is easy in the morning when it's right there and it's real

It wasn't brave, he would have told you
It wasn't grand, it wasn't wise
It was the only thing left standing
Between the darkness and the light
And he was grateful (he was grateful)
For the chance (for the chance)
To do anything at all

The king is dead (the king is dead)
Long live the king (long live the king)
A cry of pain (a cry of joy)
The same sound (the same song)
The same king
Immortally (immortally, immortal-lee-hee-hee-hee) young

Doo doo doo, doo doo doo
Ba ba, ba ba ba
Mmmmm, aaah

Now there's a child on the throne
A clone with the crown slipping down
Too small for the chair, too big for the town
And the people keep singing 'cause they don't know what else
You laugh or you cry or you sing, and the singing is both

The king is dead, long live the king
The wave goes out, the tide comes in
A cry of pain, a cry of joy
Long live, long live, long live the king

(This has happened before, and it will happen again)
(The merry-go-round will spin
And the stars will spin
And spin and spin)
This has happened before, and it will happen again

The king is dead (long live)
The king is dead (long live)
Long live the king

In my space opera universe (sail, sail)
Everything's a little more than it needs to be (sail on)
In my space opera universe (sail, sail)
That's exactly how I like it, come and see

There's a nebula shaped like a pipe organ
Playing solar wind hymns to the void
There's a market moon where they'll sell you anything
And a junk moon made of everything they sold

In my space opera universe (sail, sail)
Every sunrise is a triple feature show (sail on)
In my space opera universe (sail, sail)
There's always one more wonder down the road

Doo doo doo, doo doo (sail, sail)
Ba ba ba, doo doo (sail on)

There's an empire rising, there's an empire falling
There's a king who's young again, I heard the bells
There are pirates with a code and monks who broke one
And a little stowaway who handles vacuum well

In my space opera universe (sail, sail)
The impossible is an quietly normal Tuesday afternoon (sail on)
In my space opera universe (sail, sail)
Waxing poetic underneath a waning moon

And they ask me, isn't all of it too much
The lasers and the chrome, the purple skies
And I tell them, friend, you're standing in a miracle
Too much is just enough if it's alive

In my space opera universe (sail, sail)
There's a shift in the air, can you feel it too (sail on)
In my space opera universe (sail, sail)
Somewhere out there is an oasis built for you

Sail, sail, sail on (in my universe)
Sail, sail, sail on (in my universe)
There's always one more wonder (sail on)
There's always one more wonder (sail on)
There's always one more wonder down the road
(Sail on, sail on)

We were one for a while, then we were two
Same hands, same eyes, same point of view
We laughed at the same heartbeat, finished every thought
Now he likes his coffee black and I do not

Doo doo, doo doo, mmmmm
Doo doo, doo doo, aaah

He stayed on the home moon, I took to the sky
He planted a garden, I learned how to fly
We write when the relay's up, the letters getting short
Same hand, same words, different ports

(Who's the original, who's the copy now)
(Does it matter, does it matter)
(Who's the original, who's the copy now)
(We both remember mama, only one of us was born)

Over and over
The orbit goes over
And under the same old sun
We grew from one

I visited last winter, he stood at the door
And I saw how I'd look if I'd stayed there before
We talked about the weather on a moon with no weather to speak of
And we laughed the same laugh, and it almost was enough

Doo doo, doo doo, mmmmm
Doo doo, doo doo, aaah

(Who's the original, who's the copy now)
(Does it matter, does it matter)
(Who waved goodbye and who watched from the ground)
(We both remember mama, only one of us was born)

Over and over
The orbit goes over
And under the same old sun
We grew from one
Over and over
The seasons roll over
He's me and I'm him and we're gone
We grew apart and we grew on
Over and over
Over and over
We grew from one

Why does the light bend low at the edge of everything
Where does a signal go when no one's listening
Who did the stars belong to before there was an eye
Some questions don't have an answer
And the asking's still worthwhile

Aaah, aaah (oooh)
Mmmmm (aaah)

What was the first wave thinking when it reached the shore
What does the vacuum dream of, nothing or much more
Why did I get to be here, why now, why me, why this
Some questions don't have an answer
And the answer isn't missed

When I was small I asked my mother
Where the comets go to rest
She said, darling, I don't know
And that not-knowing was a gift
She could have made an answer up
A pretty one, a kind one too
But she let the question stay a question
And it stayed with me like you

Doo doo, doo doo (aaah)
Mmmmm, oooh (doo doo doo)

Why does a chord in minor feel like coming home
How can I be lonely with a universe to roam
How can I be certain that I'm never certain, friend
Some questions don't have an answer
Some songs don't want to end

Some questions don't have an answer (aaah, aaah)
Some questions don't have an answer (oooh, mmmmm)
And I hold them like a seashell to my ear
And what I hear
Is wonderful

Trust the process (trust the process)
Just let go (just let go)
You don't steer the river (no, no)
The river knows (the river knows)

Doo doo doo, doo doo (let go, let go)
Ba ba ba, ba ba (let go, let go)
Doo doo doo, doo doo (trust, trust)
Aaah (oooh)

Plant the seed, forget the seed
The seed does not forget
Throw the line out on the water
Something's swimming toward it yet

Trust the process (trust the process)
Just let go (just let go)
You don't push the orbit (no, no)
The orbit goes (the orbit goes)

Hands open (hands open)
Eyes closed (eyes closed)
Heart steady (heart steady)
Here we go (here we go, here we go)

Doo doo doo, doo doo (let go, let go)
Ba ba ba, ba ba (let go, let go)

I spent a long time gripping
The wheel of every day
Funny thing about the gripping
It was always in the way

Trust the process (trust the process)
Just let go (just let go)
The wave will find the shore, friend
The wave already knows

Let go (let go)
Let go (let go)
Let
Go

The shift is coming (the shift, the shift)
The shift is coming (the shift, the shift)
I can feel it in the air
I can feel it in the air

The birds went quiet on the market moon
The tide came in an hour soon
The old monk smiled and locked the gate
Said, nothing now to do but wait

The shift is coming (the shift, the shift)
The shift is coming (the shift, the shift)
I can feel it in the air
I can feel it everywhere

A confluence of small events
None of them means anything alone
A coin, a comet, a late train
A king reborn, a seed full-grown

Mmmmm (the shift, the shift)
Aaah (the shift, the shift)
Oooh (it's coming, it's coming)
Aaah (the shift)

Is it an ending (is it an ending)
Is it a door (is it a door)
I let go of knowing
I don't grip the wheel anymore
But my hands are open
And my hands can feel
Something humming in the floorboards
Something turning, something real

The shift is coming (the shift, the shift)
The shift is coming (the shift, the shift)
Everything points one direction
Like iron filings finding north

The shift is coming (the shift, the shift)
The shift is coming (the shift, the shift)
I can feel it in the air
I can feel it in the air
The shift (the shift)
The shift (the shift)
It's here

The music stopped mid-phrase, the painted horses froze
The carnival exhaled and folded up its rows
The lights went down the boulevard like dominoes of gold
And I stepped off the platform with my ticket still unsold

And oh, the ground
The ground was spinning
The ride was done
But I was still beginning

When the merry-go-round stops spinning
And the stars keep spinning on
And you're dizzy, dizzy, dizzy
With the carnival gone
Which spinning was the real one
The horses or the sky
I rode so long I can't recall
And the stars don't say goodbye

I thought I'd have to give up everything I am
The chrome, the noise, the wonder, the spectacular program
I braced for amputation, I braced for the great cost
And found my open hands were holding everything I'd lost

It wasn't a surrender
It wasn't a defeat
When the only door left open
Is the one beneath your feet
You don't call it falling
You don't call it brave
You call it the next step
And you're grateful that it's paved

When the merry-go-round stops spinning
And the stars keep spinning on
And you're dizzy, dizzy, dizzy
And the dizziness is dawn
I gave what I'd been clutching
And the giving gave me back
The hardest thing I ever did
Was easy, in fact

Aaah, aaah (oooh)
Mmmmm (aaah, aaah)

A child on a carousel
Thinks the horses run the sky
A child steps off the carousel
And the sky goes spinning by
Spin on, stars
Spin on without my hands
I'm standing still at last
And at last I understand

The stars keep spinning
The stars keep spinning
I'm still
I'm still
I'm still here

Morning came up slow across the landing field
Amber on the hulls, gold on the wheel
I didn't move a muscle, I just let it land
Sunlight pooling like honey in my open hand

Sun-drenched (sun-drenched)
Soaking in the glow (aaah, oooh)
Sun-drenched (sun-drenched)
A little bit is the right amount, you know

I used to chase the supernovas, brightest of the bright
Stood too close to glory, came home blind from light
Now I take my photons one warm cup at a time
The sun's been pouring out forever, and a sip of it is mine

Sun-drenched (sun-drenched)
(Drenched in the sun)
Steeping in the gold (aaah, oooh)
Sun-drenched (sun-drenched)
(Drenched in the sun)
You can't hold the daylight, so you just let it go

Doo doo doo, doo doo (sun, sun)
Ba ba ba, ba ba (drenched in the sun)
Doo doo doo, doo doo (sun, sun)
Mmmmm (aaah)

A lizard on a launchpad's got the whole thing figured out
Flat against the warm side, zero things to do or doubt
I'm learning from the master, I'm flat against the day
Some light is for the seeing
And some is just for laying

Sun-drenched (sun-drenched)
Golden to the bone (aaah, oooh)
Sun-drenched (sun-drenched)
A little bit is the right amount
A little bit is the right amount
A little bit, a little bit
And the little bit is home

Me and my pet tardigrade (doot doo, doot doo)
Toughest little buddy ever made (doot doo, doot doo)
Eight stubby legs and a face like a dream (well, a nightmare, maybe)
We're the galaxy's most indestructible team

He don't need a spacesuit (no helmet, no boots)
He don't need a heater (he's cool, he's cute)
Hull breach on Tuesday, alarms all wailed
I grabbed for my helmet, he just chilled on the rail

Vacuum, schmacuum (that's what he'd say)
If he could say things (but he can't, that's okay)
He curled up tight in his little dry ball
Woke up next Thursday like nothing at all

Me and my pet tardigrade (doot doo, doot doo)
Champion of the cosmic grade (doot doo, doot doo)
Irradiated, frozen, boiled, or dried
He's been through it all and he's still by my side

Doo doo doo, doo doo (tar-di-grade)
Ba ba ba, ba ba (tiny but unafraid)
Doo doo doo, doo doo (tar-di-grade)
Aaah (the moss piglet brigade)

I've seen mighty warriors with armor ten feet thick
Seen battle stations bristling with every kind of trick
They huff and puff and posture, and honey, it's a show
The toughest thing in all the stars is half a millimeter, so

When the universe gets heavy and I'm feeling small and frail
I look down at my buddy riding shotgun on the rail
He's survived the void already, sixty million years of night
If something that small can make it
Then I figure I'll be alright

Me and my pet tardigrade (doot doo, doot doo)
Little king of the great unmade (doot doo, doot doo)
The void rolled in and the void got played
Nothing out there scares my tardigrade
(Doot doo, doot doo)
Me and my tardigrade
(Doot doo, doot doo)
Water bear serenade
(Doot doo)
Tar-di-grade

A sliver in the evening like a clipping from the sun
A parenthesis of silver saying something's just begun
And I'm waxing, waxing poetic
On the patio alone
Every month the sky starts over
Every month the moon comes home

First quarter on the water, half a coin upon the tide
Half of everything is hidden, and the hidden half's alright
And I'm waxing, waxing poetic
'Bout the half I cannot see
The moon keeps her own counsel
And she's still got half of me

Aaah, aaah (waxing, waxing)
Oooh, mmmmm (brighter, brighter)
Aaah (almost, almost)

Full moon on the launchpad, every shadow paid in white
The whole face finally showing, not a secret left tonight
And there's nothing more to wax for
This is all the moon there is
And it's plenty, oh it's plenty
For a little while, it's
Waning, waning gibbous
The fullness slipping slow
A little less each evening
Of that borrowed silver glow
And I'm waning, waning poetic
My metaphors gone soft
I just sit and watch her dwindle
Like a lantern carried off

Last quarter, then a sliver, then the dark before the new
The sky goes black and patient like it's got nothing to prove
But I've been around the cycle
Enough times now to know
The dark is not an ending

It's the waxing's overture
And the tide still moves the water
And the months still turn the year
Waxing, waning, waxing, waning
Every phase already here

A sliver in the evening
Like a clipping from the sun
Saying something's just begun
Saying something's just begun

(Gravi-gravitation)
(Sweet, sweet sensation)
(Gravi-gravitation)
(Sweet, sweet sensation)

She's an interstellar star (as if there were another kind)
Pulling every wandering heart (out of the lonely night)
I was drifting like a comet, cold and on my own
One pass across her gravity and honey, I was home

Doot doot, aaah (doot doot, aaah)
Gravitation (sweet sensation)
Doot doot, aaah (doot doot, aaah)
Falling, falling

They taught me in the academy that gravity's a curve
Space itself just bending 'round the masses it observes
Well, baby, that explains it, the geometry is clear
The universe bends toward you, that's why everything is here

She's an interstellar star (as if there were another kind)
Bending all the light that passes (making straight lines wind)
I could fight the field forever, fire engines, pull away
But an orbit is a falling that you choose to make a stay

Mmmmm (aaah, aaah)
Oooh (the pull, the pull)
Mmmmm (closer, closer)

Some stars are only distance
A shine with no address
A point upon a chart somewhere
A cold and far caress
But some stars give you seasons
Some stars give you shores
Some stars hold your mornings up
And hers is one of yours

(Gravi-gravitation)
(Sweet, sweet sensation)
(Gravi-gravitation)
(Sweet, sweet sensation)

And I'm not falling down (I'm falling toward)
There is no down in space (just what you're heading for)
Every fall's a falling-to (every drop a door)
I picked my star, I picked my fall
And I don't fight it anymore

She's an interstellar star (as if there were another kind)
The center of a system (that she didn't know was mine)
Gravitation (sweet sensation)
Gravitation (no escaping)
Doot doot, aaah (doot doot, aaah)
Falling, falling
Falling home
Falling home
(Interstellar star)
Falling home

There's a place where the songs go when they're done
Past the last quarter moon, past the chrome and the sun
Where every wave that ever broke is breaking soft and slow
I heard it in the distance my whole life
And now I know

Sonic oasis (aaah, aaah)
Lay your echoes down (oooh, mmmmm)
Sonic oasis (aaah, aaah)
Every wandering sound comes 'round

The bells that rang the king out, they're ringing gentle here
The merry-go-round music, slowed to a sphere
My brother's distant letters hum like wires in the sun
And the shift that shook the heavens
Is a ripple when it's done

Sonic oasis (sail on, sail on)
Lay your travels down (the wave, the wave)
Sonic oasis (here we go, here we are)
Every harbor that you sailed for was a sound

Doo doo doo, doo doo (aaah)
Mmmmm, oooh (doot doo, doot doo)
Aaah, aaah (the shift, the shift, so soft)
Mmmmm (long live, long live)

I came in with a smile, ex machina, switched on
Walked the line from trash to masterpiece, and look — the line is gone
It was never on a tightrope
It was floating all along
The water holds whatever
Holds the asking and the song

And I don't need every answer (some questions, some questions)
And I don't grip the wheel (hands open, hands open)
And the little bit I'm holding (a little bit, a little bit)
Is the realest thing I feel

Sonic oasis (aaah, aaah)
The tide is coming in (the tide, the tide)
Sonic oasis (oooh, mmmmm)
Where the ending and the water and the singing all begin

Wade in slow
Wade in slow
The water's warm
The water's song
Wade in slow
(Sail on, sail on)
(Sail on)
Mmmmm