[Intro]<br />(full band from the first beat — drums, bass, rhythm guitar, a horn line, building for eight bars before the vocal enters)<br />[Verse 1]<br />We had a language only we could speak<br />Street names for feelings, seasons of the week<br />A downtown made of every fight we won<br />A harbour district where we watched the sun<br />We had a government of two, no laws<br />Just customs built from all our little flaws<br />You knocked three times before you said my name<br />I saved the window seat, you always came<br />[Pre-Chorus]<br />And people lived there<br />In the life we made<br />Younger versions of us<br />Who weren't afraid<br />They're still there somewhere<br />In the avenues<br />A city breathing<br />Me and you<br />[Chorus]<br />We were cities<br />We were whole civilisations<br />We were cities<br />Built on impossible foundations<br />Every street a year, every light a night we kept<br />Every bridge a promise, every river something wept<br />We were not just people — we were geography<br />We were cities<br />And now I'm standing in the ruins of us<br />We were cities<br />[Verse 2]<br />We had a calendar of private days<br />The third of June, the autumn's amber haze<br />A monument to the first time you stayed<br />A square named after everything we made<br />We had embassies in other people's homes<br />Friends who'd visit but we'd always be alone<br />A population of our memories<br />Still walking streets that only we could see<br />[Pre-Chorus]<br />And people lived there<br />In the life we made<br />Younger versions of us<br />Who weren't afraid<br />They're still there somewhere<br />In the avenues<br />A city breathing<br />Me and you<br />[Chorus]<br />We were cities<br />We were whole civilisations<br />We were cities<br />Built on impossible foundations<br />Every street a year, every light a night we kept<br />Every bridge a promise, every river something wept<br />We were not just people — we were geography<br />We were cities<br />And now I'm standing in the ruins of us<br />We were cities<br />[Bridge]<br />(tempo doubles briefly, urgent and almost panicked — multiple voices layering)<br />What do you do with a city when it falls<br />Do you walk the streets or board up all the halls<br />Do you mark it on a map or let it fade<br />Do you mourn the life or just the life you made<br />What do you do with a city in your chest<br />Do you gut it out or build on what is left<br />Do you leave or do you stay inside the wreck<br />A hollow atlas with a city on its neck<br />(tempo returns, single voice, raw)<br />I stayed<br />God help me<br />I stayed<br />[Final Chorus]<br />(key change up, every instrument, voices stacked in harmonies, the biggest moment on the album)<br />We were cities<br />We were whole civilisations<br />We were cities<br />Built on impossible foundations<br />Every street a year, every light a night we kept<br />Every bridge a promise, every river something wept<br />We were not just people — we were geography<br />We were cities<br />(last lines, harmonies drop away, single voice)<br />And now I'm standing in the ruins of us<br />(full band one final chord, then cut to silence)<br />We were cities<br />[Outro]<br />
