[Intro]
[Rolling floor toms like flight cases crossing the alley.]

[Male Vocal]
[Verse 1]
Lou hit the curb at ten-oh-three,
Van door tied with speaker cord.
Two Marshall cabs, one lighting tree,
A borrowed board with channel three dead.
Tommy stepped down from the bus,
Old four-string case filmed with silver dust.

[Pre-Chorus]
Check the mains, tape the floor,
Keep the fire lane by the door.

[Chorus]
Load-in before midnight,
Roll those cases, lock them right.
Plug the red cable, test the light,
Make this old room breathe tonight.
Monday's crane can wait outside;
We've got a stage to bring alive.

[Verse 2]
Jenny came with a box of lights,
Razor carried drums in workman's blue.
The kid swept broken glass aside,
Asked every roadie what to do.
We photographed the sticker wall,
Then heard old fans out on the walk.

[Pre-Chorus]
Check the snare, clear the floor,
Twenty people at the door.

[Chorus]
Load-in before midnight,
Roll those cases, lock them right.
Plug the red cable, test the light,
Make this old room breathe tonight.
Monday's crane can wait outside;
We've got a stage to bring alive.

[Instrumental Break]
[Bass and drums hold double-time; guitars enter in short bursts.]

[Bridge]
A room comes back by human hands:
A tightened bolt, a lifted stand.
No speech can do what tired backs do—
One friend takes the weight from you.

[Final Chorus]
Load-in before midnight,
Raise the curtain, kill the white.
Turn the red lamps warm and bright;
Let the first chord strike tonight.
Monday's crane can wait outside;
The room is full. The room's alive.

[Outro]
The doors swung wide; the crowd pressed in.
Then someone clean-cut walked in,
Contracts folded, magazine-neat.