Song
The Part I Rehearsed
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Words from the artist’s archive
The Part I Rehearsed lyrics
Artist-supplied lyric sheet, matched by title. The sheet may differ from this released performance. Production notes and alternate promotional cuts are omitted.
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Intro
I run it in the shower, I run it in the car, I got a version where you laugh and a version where you don't, I built you eleven rooms and you ain't walked in one, You ain't heard the part I rehearsed, and you never gon',
Verse 1
Call me Rehearsal. I arrive before the danger. I put a chair beneath each pause, a name beside each answer. I do the work so you don't freeze when the room turns toward us. In room one, she laughs on cue; in two, she says, "That's fair." In three, she waits until you're done; in four, she wants you there. Five dims the light; six forgives; seven lets you take it back. No one asked me for the favor. That is why I stay prepared. Green comes twice. You keep on talking to the empty passenger. I count that as protection. You call it missing traffic. I got eleven better landings waiting at the door.
Chorus
The part I rehearsed You ain't heard the part I rehearsed You came in talking like yourself I gave her lines; she brought her own You ain't heard the part I rehearsed
Verse 2
Call me Actual Thing. I don't borrow mouths before I speak. Rehearsal loves a clean reply. I like the one that lands. I don't need eleven rooms. One open door can hold me. I cut a speech down to one breath before it sounds rehearsed. He says he placed the chair. I say a chair was in the room. He says he taught me where to pause. I call that having ears. I throw his paper in the bin, then keep the commas in my lungs. I never say his sentence. I just know which word comes next. She needs the man who showed up, not the clerk behind his eyes. The last word lands with my fingerprints, not his ink.
Bridge
"How'd you know where the chair was?" "There was a chair."
Verse 3
Eleven hours later, her hand is on the handle. "I got forty seconds. Make it quick." "Good, I only need--" "Let me finish." Right, go ahead The chair stays empty. Both my opening words sit down. She says, "You make me easy when I'm not around." I say, "That ain't what I--" "Then why'd you answer me before I asked?" Rehearsal, under breath: Room four. She laughs right here. She doesn't. I search six seconds for a sentence with no furniture. "I came to say I was wrong." "About which part?" "The part where I--"
Chorus
The part I rehearsed You ain't heard the part I rehearsed You came in talking like yourself I gave her lines; she brought her own You ain't heard the part I rehearsed
Verse 4
Her last word hasn't reached the hall. I already copied the room. Room twelve begins with better air and nothing on the chair. I keep the first two seconds blank so Actual can call it instinct. I keep the snare. A mistake works once I tell it where to happen. One sentence, eleven doors; I only changed her answer. She laughed, she left, she leaned, she stayed; he never crossed the threshold. Actual says, "That was honest." Honest used my floor plan. He says, "We're done." I hear the words that open number twelve. The next red light is ten miles off. I can have the room dressed. She is still speaking down the hall. I test where she might breathe. If she says she needs a minute, I have three replies already. That's not delay. That's coverage. That's me keeping us from freezing. Room twelve, first line: "If she says--"
Pre-chorus
The part I rehearsed Room twelve already knows her answer.
Chorus
The part I rehearsed You ain't heard the part I rehearsed You came in talking like yourself I gave her lines; she brought her own You ain't heard the part I rehearsed
Outro
Room twelve. If she says--
Inside the recording
I run it in the shower, I run it in the car, I got a version where you laugh and a version where you don't,
The part I rehearsed You ain't heard the part I rehearsed
Room twelve. If she says--
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.