About the song
When the crowd goes home, I get small.
About these notes
AI-assisted song notes, based on the sources shown here. Not yet human-reviewed.
Words from the artist’s archive
WHEN THE CROWD GOES HOME lyrics
Artist-supplied lyric sheet, matched by title. The sheet may differ from this released performance. Production notes and alternate promotional cuts are omitted.
Read the lyric sheet
Intro
Door shuts. Name gone. My ears keep ringing after the room moves on.
Verse 1
Two hours ago I could lift one hand, and ten thousand mouths would rise on command. Now the hall has a broom and a cable coil, black tape peeled from the edge of the floor. My face on a shirt in a trash-can fold, my name on a wristband going out in the cold. I hear one road case roll down the ramp, then the lock clicks shut on the loading dock.
Pre-chorus
I was ten feet tall when they gave me the sound. Now my hotel key won't look around. I can make a roof shake, make a dead phone ring, but I cannot stop them from leaving.
Chorus
When the crowd goes home, I get small. All that noise can't follow me past the service hall. When the crowd goes home, my name comes off the wall. The bigger they make me, the less of me to recall.
Verse 2
Car ride back and the glass shows one face, street signs slide through the window like tape. Phone has clips of the night on repeat, me with both arms high, them under my feet. I turn it face down. The room gets wide. One lamp by the bed. One coat on a chair. I know how to leave them wanting one more. I don't know what to do when there is no one there.
Chorus
When the crowd goes home, I get small. All that noise can't follow me past the service hall. When the crowd goes home, my name comes off the wall. The bigger they make me, the less of me to recall.
Bridge
Maybe the roar was never mine. Maybe I only stood where it hit. If ten thousand people shout your name, who are you when they take it with them? I hear the synth bend past the note, grow teeth, grow strings, grow hands. Then one real guitar says what I can't: you can fill a room and still be empty.
Chorus
When the crowd goes home, I get small. Live drums hit like doors downstairs, guitars climb the wall. When the crowd goes home, and my voice has nowhere to fall. The bigger that this room becomes, the less there is at all.
Outro
Door shuts. Name gone. My ears keep ringing. I turn the phone face down.
Inside the recording
Door shuts. Name gone.
I was ten feet tall when they gave me the sound. Now my hotel key won't look around.
Door shuts. Name gone.
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.