Silvio Vinci

The city breathes through silver lungs, Its windows never open. I keep a forest on my tongue, A word I haven’t spoken. Above the roofs, a pale sun turns Behind a veil of wire. I touch the glass until it burns And dream the sky is fire. Let the air come rolling in, Break the seal and touch my skin. I have been away so long— I have been away so long— Give me breath to carry on. The planets turn like...

HOLD YOUR BREATH AND PRAY (reworking of instrumental track by Silvio Vinci) We took the seeds, we took the rain, We left the bells to ring. A thousand years inside a grain, And no returning spring. The windows filled with violet fire, The coast slipped out of sight. I watched the last cathedral spire Dissolve into the night. Carry me beyond the blue, Past the reach of yesterday. If there’s nothing...

reworking

KAYLA CALLS SETH & JESSI TO SING A BALLAD IN G (by Silvio Vinci) Kayla called at half past nine, “Come on over, stay a while.” Seth came in with his guitar, Jessi with a weary smile. Coats were draped across the chairs, There were things we couldn’t say. Then a chord broke through the quiet, And we let it lead the way. Leave a little light for me, Let your voice come close to mine. If the words wo...

THE SPARE KEY by Silvio Vinci Your spare key’s lying By the kitchen phone. Funny how this old place Feels bigger on my own. Pale patch on the wallpaper Where our picture used to hang. This room’s got an echo— I taught the walls to sing. Let it roll, let it ride, Let that old floor shake. I gave you all my good years— That’s all you’re gonna take. Your headlights crossed my window, Then they slippe...

ANXIETY (reworking) [Verse 1 — tense, half-spoken] My shoes know the distance From the bed to the door. I’ve done a hundred miles On a ten-foot floor. TV talking To an empty chair. I kill the sound— But it’s still in the air. [Chorus — shouted] WHO LET YOU IN? WHO GAVE YOU A KEY? You wear my face, But you don’t speak for me! [Verse 2 — clipped, restless] I laugh too soon. I talk too fast. I answer...

LOOSE CHANGE (reworking of original instrumental track, February Blues, By Silvio Vinci) Change in the lining Of a second-hand coat. A man by the station Bending one blue note. Rain on the pavement, Nobody stops. I drop a little silver In his paper cup. Play a little longer, Let the whole street sway. All the things I thought I needed Sound so far away. (So far away…) He says, “Pick a number.” I s...

CANDLE BIT (reworking of original instrumental track by Silvio Vinci) Wax upon the windowsill, Your shoes beneath my chair. The record’s down to one last groove, We leave it turning there. A little less forever, A little more tonight. You don’t have to promise— Just lean into the light. You laugh about the coat I wore The night we missed the train. I say it wasn’t half that bad; You laugh at me ag...

BLACK DIRT & BORROWED TIME (reworking of original instrumental track by Silvio Vinci) [Verse 1] Daddy left a tractor And a note he couldn’t pay. I can get that motor talking, Can’t make the bank go away. [Chorus] Roll on, muddy water, Go on, have your say. You can take another acre, But you won’t take me away. [Verse 2] Her dress behind the kitchen door Still smells of last July. She said she’d le...

BODAL (reworking of instrumental track, Bodales, by Silvio Vinci) He wears his Sunday shoes on Tuesday Takes the long way home Reads the news without believing Anything at all Cheap perfume A plastic chair Someone laughing Nobody there Come on, come on You know the game Change your face Forget your name Bodal! Where you gonna go? Bodal! Everybody knows You can paint it black You can paint it gold...

EVERYBODY’S FINE (reworking of original instrumental track, Blur Like, by Silvio Vinci) Billy bought another car Never gets him very far Jenny’s standing in the rain Waiting for the world to change Monday morning Half past nine Nothing’s wrong Everybody’s fine Here we are Here we go Everybody knows But nobody knows… [Chorus] Everybody’s fine Everybody’s alright Living for the weekend Sleeping thro...

WHEN THE MORNING FINDS ME (reworking from instrumental track By Silvio Vinci) I’ve been walking with the shadows, I’ve been talking to the rain, trying to find a little meaning in the middle of the pain. There were nights I kept on running with nowhere left to go, but something in the distance kept saying, take it slow. And I don’t need an answer, I don’t need to understand, I just need a little m...

DEFINITELY TWO CHORDS Verse 1 You came in talking like you knew the score, I played one chord then I gave you one more. No complications, nothing to explain, just a little fire running through the vein. Chorus Two chords — that’s all I need. One for the hunger, one for the speed. Round and round, let the rhythm decide. No destination, just enjoy the ride. Verse 2 Some people need a thousand ways t...

I left the window open, just to hear the rain, falling on the rooftops and disappearing again. Your book is on the table, your coat is on the chair, funny how an empty room can still believe you’re there. And all the things we never said are somewhere in between, the life we thought we’d live and the life we’ve really seen. Morning finds the curtains, light moves on the floor, I don’t ask the old...

AUSSIE (reworking of instrumental track by Silvio Vinci) Red dust on the window, sun melting on the road, a radio keeps talking in a language no one knows. Black birds draw a circle, high above the plain, I swear I saw the mountains slowly breathing in the rain. Ride where the sky bends, far beyond the line, leave your name behind you, leave your hands in mine. Stars fall through the dashboard, th...

NASSA GROOVE (reworking of original jam session with Stefano Muzzu at Guitar) Down by the water, quarter past two, moon on the harbor, nothing was true. Bass from a doorway, smoke in the air, I followed the rhythm and nobody cared. One way in, no way back, feet on the sand, heart off the track. Boats in the darkness, lights moving slow, somewhere beneath me the deep waters flow. I came for the mus...

BUT THEY WILL BE ANTIBODIES? (reworking of instrumental original track by Silvio Vinci) We crossed the line of Saturn with a whisper in the wire, the stars were turning backwards, the moon was breathing fire. Something moved between us, something without a name, a pulse beneath the silence, a shadow in the frame. But they will be antibodies? When we enter through the blue? Will the universe rememb...

BENEATH THE KEEP (reworking of Instrumental track , Barbacane, by Silvio Vinci) We came with picks and lanterns, where the northern wall had died, forty feet of earth and silence, seven centuries inside. Then my hammer struck the stonework, and the hollow answered back— a doorway under nowhere, a passage running black. Beneath the keep, beneath the ground, I heard the stones give back a sound. No...

DUST ON THE KEYS (reworking of instrumental track by Silvio Vinci ) There’s dust on the keys, and smoke in the room, midnight hanging like an old perfume. I hit a low note, let the high one slide, there’s a whole lot of trouble on the other side. Dust on the keys, whiskey in the sound, play it a little dirty, turn that rhythm around. Dust on the keys, nothing left to say— just give me that groove...

WHERE THE ROAD GETS QUIET I spent my years beneath the city lights, running through the days and losing nights. But every time the traffic faded low, I heard a distant voice saying, “Go.” Take me where the road gets quiet, where the fields are open wide, where the evening falls like fire on the other side. I had everything I wanted, but nothing felt like home. So take me where the road gets quiet,...

OCTOBER The light came down across the room, a quiet gold in the afternoon. October moved along the street, through open doors and fallen leaves. I heard your voice somewhere behind, or maybe it was only mine. Stay until the light is gone, stay until the evening comes. We don’t need to understand what we couldn’t hold inside our hands. The river carried another sky, clouds went slowly drifting by....

AQUA Down where the daylight loses its name, the water turns black and the silence remains. A silver light cuts through the blue, something is moving — but I’m moving too. Deeper… take me deeper. Where no one knows what waits below. Pressure is rising, cold on the glass, shadows are watching the slow hours pass. A shape in the distance, a flash in the night, fear in my bloodstream — but God, what...

BLOOMY TOM DISTORTED (reworking of instrumental track by Silvio Vinci) Tom came down on a Saturday night, boots full of dust and his head too light, radio screaming from a Chevrolet, he said, “Don’t ask questions — just get outta my way.” He had a black coat, a crooked smile, a broken watch running backwards all the while. Bloooomy Tom — distorted! Shake it till the walls come down. Bloooomy Tom —...

BEHIND THE DRY STONE Dust on my shoes, sun on the wall, nothing is moving, nothing at all. I hear a sound under the ground, something is waiting where no one’s around. Behind the dry stone, where the wild roots grow, behind the dry stone, there’s a place I know. No road to follow, no sign to show, just turn the corner and let yourself go. Old twisted branches lean to the sky, black birds are watch...

The road was quiet after rain, dust sleeping by the tracks, I carried nothing in my hands, just shadows on my back. An old man by the river said, “Son, don’t chase the years.” Then he threw a stone into the dark and watched it disappear. I’ve been walking slow, where the cold wind blows, with a heart that learned what nobody knows. Some things leave, some things stay, some things follow you all th...