[Intro][Power returns as a low hum. Bass begins alone; fingertips tap the backstage wall. The crowd settles after track eight.]

[Spoken Word: Lead Vocal]

Before walls come down, hear who lives in them.

[Verse 1]

Behind the beer fridge, under peeling grey,
A marker from 93 refuses to fade.
A surname in silver, a date written wrong,
A phone number missing one number at the end.
Someone drew lightning around their first band;
Someone wrote SORRY in a different hand.

[Chorus]

Names in the plaster, dates in the grain,
Some filled the papers; some boarded a train.
Roll on new colour; the letters push through.
Names in the plaster come back into view.
Crooked, unfinished, written too fast:
The wall never asks who deserves to last.

[Verse 2]

A drummer left music for warehouse nights;
A singer went missing from everyone's sight.
One band made one single the whole town knew;
One bassist now teaches what three chords can do.
A bold black signature circles a stain,
Beside an unknown hand twice as loud in paint.

[Chorus]

Names in the plaster, dates in the grain,
Some filled the papers; some boarded a train.
Roll on new colour; the letters push through.
Names in the plaster come back into view.
Crooked, unfinished, written too fast:
The wall never asks who deserves to last.

[Instrumental Break][The drummer and audience speak fragments of names in rhythm. Bass and guitar keep a spare groove.]

[Audience: Spoken]

Anna. Riz. The Strays. June.
Marlow. Saints. No address. No fame.

[Verse 3]

The survey says "surface unsound; strip to brick."
Repair by the metre, demolition made quick.
It misses the marker behind speaker three,
The wrong date corrected in blue underneath.
Moe numbers the negatives, row after row;
A volunteer maps the names before they go.

[Verse 4]

Each spelling is checked by whoever still knows
The nicknames, old lineups and long-vanished shows.
One tag has no band; one band lost its name.
Moe leaves both blanks on the map just the same.

[Bridge]

Memory is work: copy, label, spell.
Carry the box down the narrow stairwell.
We cannot take plaster or save every scar;
We can take down the names and say whose they are.

[Final Chorus]

Names in the plaster, dates in the grain,
Some filled the papers; some boarded a train.
Roll on new colour; the letters push through.
Names in the plaster come back into view.
Copy each letter and carry it outside;
Nobody leaves here without leaving a sign.

[Audience]

Write it straight!
Spell it right!

[Outro][The singer writes tonight's date on a bare strip beside Door 47.]