[Intro]

Gong.

No one turns around.

Gong.

Someone changes channel.

[Verse]

The first time that the gong was struck,
A thousand kitchens stopped at once.
People leaned towards glowing screens.
Children asked what had begun.

By number fifty nobody
Put down the fork or raised the sound.
The red banner crossed the TV.
A man kept vacuuming the ground.

[Pre-Chorus]

Once meant danger.
Once meant change.
Now the alarm
sounds ordinary and strange.

[Chorus]

The gong has lost its meaning.
It rings, but nobody is leaning
Towards the screen, or even believing—
The gong has lost its meaning.

Strike it loud or strike it low—
When something real comes through the ceiling.

[Verse]

The fifth time brought a traffic queue.
The tenth announced unusual heat.
The twentieth concerned a shoe
Discovered near a council seat.

Leo lowered voice and brow:
"Something serious may unfold."
A viewer looked up briefly:
"Oh. Is this the one about the cold?"

[Chorus]

The gong has lost its meaning.
It rings, but nobody is leaning
Towards the screen, or even believing—
The gong has lost its meaning.

Strike it hard, add brighter red—
Raise the volume overhead.

[Instrumental Break]

[Bridge]

A grandmother tells her grandson: "That sound once meant something happened."
He asks, "What does it mean now?" She watches Leo announce
A DEVELOPING SITUATION involving a delayed council vote.
She says: "It means they want us to keep watching."

[Breakdown]

Gong for weather. Gong for trains.
Gong for traffic. Gong for drains.
Gong for someone saying "may."
Gong for nothing yet today.

[Build-up]

One day a warning will be true.
One day the words will matter too.
One day the sound must make us move—
But what if no one hears the cue?

[Final Chorus]

The gong has lost its meaning.
Every false alarm was teaching
Us to stop believing.
Because when real danger starts speaking,

The gong must have

a meaning.

[Outro]

Gong.

Nobody turns.

The red lamp flashes.

Nobody learns.