ZIGGIE

NO. 01 / 13TURN THE RECORD ↻THE OLD VIC STATE · LYRIC SHEET01Good Morning, Frankston[Distant voices] Morning, Frankston... Morning again... [Verse 1] Shutters up at half-past eight, Broom on brick and rust on gate, Same old gull upon the sign, Same old bloke who's never on time. Mrs. Kelly takes her chair, Swears that building wasn't there. Kids cut through the morning rain— Different day, the same old game. [Lift] Paint gets covered, names come down, Someone leaves, someone comes around. Years go missing, quick and slow— Funny what a street can know. [Chorus] Good morning, Frankston, how've you been? Same old bones in a changing skin. Raise the shutters, sweep the floor, Someone's opening one more door. Morning, Frankston, passing through— Half remembers, half is new. Everything changes... mostly. [Instrumental — three notes: CLINK, CLINK, CLINK] [Kid] Mum... who's the monkey? [Mum] That's ZIGGIE. [Kid] What's he do? [Silence] [ZIGGIE] Morning. [FULL BAND] [Final Chorus] GOOD MORNING, FRANKSTON! UP YOU GET! NOTHING'S FINISHED WITH US YET! Raise the curtain! Sweep the slate! Another morning— another fate! CLINK.FOR REASONS PRESENTLY UNDER REVIEW · CLINK

The whole machine begins with shutters, rain and one ordinary greeting.

NO. 02 / 13TURN THE RECORD ↻THE OLD VIC STATE · LYRIC SHEET02The Old Vic State[Brass — CLINK! CLINK! CLINK!] [ZIGGIE] Step right up, don't mind the queue, There's always someone processing you. Every door has seventeen keys— Sixteen lost, one's overseas. [Clerks] Name? [Citizen] It's there. [Clerks] Date? [Citizen] Right there. [Clerks] Purpose of visit? [Citizen] You sent me here! [Clerks] Excellent. Take a chair. [Pre-Chorus] One desk! Two stamps! Four hands! Eight dates! [ALL] Everybody knows somebody who can make you bloody wait! [CHORUS] SIGN IT! STAMP IT! PASS THE PLATE! Everybody's somebody in the OLD VIC STATE! NAME IT! BLAME IT! RUN TOO LATE! God save whoever's running the OLD VIC STATE! [ZIGGIE] We've got boards overseeing boards, Lords who report to lesser lords, Plans for plans and schemes for schemes, Minutes recording previous meetings. If nothing works, don't be distressed— We'll form a panel to reassess. And if the panel disagrees— [CHOIR] A PANEL FOR THE PANEL, PLEASE! [Build] One voice! Two voices! Four! Then eight! [ALL] SING IT! SWING IT! LEGISLATE! Round and round and round we go, magnificently late! [Bridge — suddenly elegant] Red tape makes a lovely bow when nobody remembers where it's meant to go. [ZIGGIE, spoken] Very distinguished. [FINAL CHORUS] SIGN IT! STAMP IT! PASS THE PLATE! Build another doorway then debate about the gate! MAKE IT! BREAK IT! RENOVATE! [ALL] LONG MAY NOBODY QUITE CONTROL THE OLD VIC STATE! CLINK! CLINK! CLINK! [Clerk, alone] Next. [Citizen] Finally. [Clerk] Wrong form.FOR REASONS PRESENTLY UNDER REVIEW · CLINK

The first big grin: civic machinery as brass-band theatre.

NO. 03 / 13TURN THE RECORD ↻THE OLD VIC STATE · LYRIC SHEET03Wrong Form[CLERK] Wrong form. [Beat kicks in] [CITIZEN] I only want to plant a tree. [CLERK] Then Form Eleven-B. [CITIZEN] They sent me here. [CLERK] Who? [CITIZEN] Eleven-B. [CLERK] ...Form Twenty-Three. [Groove] Up one floor! Down two flights! Take three copies— black, not white! Initial here! Print your name! Different office— mostly same! [CHORUS] WRONG FORM! RIGHT DESK! WRONG LINE! NEXT! Stamp it, stack it, send it back, lose it somewhere in the rack! WRONG DOOR! RIGHT FLOOR! NOT OUR DEPARTMENT ANYMORE! [CITIZEN] It's just a tree! [ENSEMBLE] THEN WHY'S IT SO COMPLICATED?! [CITIZEN] That's what I'm asking! [ENSEMBLE] QUESTION NOT RELATED! [Verse 2] Planning says Environment, Environment says Trees, Trees referred to Heritage, Heritage says “Please— provide a documented history of proposed botanical use.” [CITIZEN] It's a shrub. [CLERK] Then you've no excuse. [BUILD — overlapping] Sign here! Not there! Blue pen! Square four! Wrong date! New fee! Form B! ID! [ALL] PLEASE HOLD! [Music freezes] Footsteps. [ZIGGIE] Morning. SCRAPE. DIG. PAT-PAT. [CITIZEN] Did you just plant it? [ZIGGIE] Apparently. [CLERK] YOU CAN'T DO THAT! [ZIGGIE] Bit late. [Tiny reprise] Wrong form... right tree... [CLERK] We'll need a committee. CLINK.FOR REASONS PRESENTLY UNDER REVIEW · CLINK

Recursion becomes rhythm; ZIGGIE solves the system by ignoring it.

NO. 04 / 13TURN THE RECORD ↻THE OLD VIC STATE · LYRIC SHEET04There Is Another Procedure[CLINK... CLINK... CLINK...] [PREMIER] The trains? [MINISTER] Stopped. [PREMIER] The House? [MINISTER] Locked. [TREASURER] The numbers don't add up. [SECRETARY] They never did. [Low strings enter] [PREMIER] Then follow procedure. [ALL] We did. [PREMIER] Again. [ALL] We did. [PREMIER] Then follow the procedure for when procedure fails! [Silence] [SECRETARY] ...Sir. There is another procedure. [VERSE] When rule contradicts rule, when law devours law, when every perfect answer finds another fatal flaw— When the left hand signs the order that the right hand must refuse, when every road is lawful but there's no road left to choose— [CHOIR — whisper] There is another procedure. [Build] Under dust, under seal, under things we don't reveal, Past the minutes, past the names, past the governments and games— [SECRETARY] There's a book beneath the book beneath the book beneath the floor. [PREMIER] And what's it say? [SECRETARY] I don't know. [PREMIER] You've never looked? [SECRETARY] We never needed to before. [CHOIR] OPEN IT. [Pages turning] [SECRETARY] “When every avenue is closed, when every remedy has failed, when those entrusted with the wheel discover no one's steering—” [PREMIER] Yes?! [SECRETARY] There's one line. [Music drops to heartbeat] [SECRETARY] “Consult... the Gentleman.” [PREMIER] What gentleman? [Faraway child's melody from Track 1] [SECRETARY] Frankston. CLINK.FOR REASONS PRESENTLY UNDER REVIEW · CLINK

The jokes go cold. Procedure reveals an older ritual beneath procedure.

NO. 05 / 13TURN THE RECORD ↻THE OLD VIC STATE · LYRIC SHEET05Nine Sharp[Distant choir] Frankston... [PREMIER] Bring the seal. [MINISTER] Bring the books. [SECRETARY] Bring the words no living minister has looked. [Procession begins] Through sleeping streets and silver rain, past shuttered shops and midnight trains, carry the question no law could name— south through the dark from whence we came. [CHOIR] Carry the seal! Carry the flame! Carry the burden nobody can name! Step after step, heart after heart, when reason has ended— where does faith start? [PREMIER] If one hand remains when all others withdraw, if one voice stands higher than custom or law— Tonight let him answer. Tonight let him speak. [SECRETARY] Sir... [PREMIER] What? [SECRETARY] I think that's the street. [Music swells enormously] There! Beneath one tired lamp. A silhouette. Top hat. Tray. [ALL — whispered] The Gentleman. [PREMIER] Guardian unseen! Last hand of the State! Victoria stands trembling before your gate! We come without party, without rank, without pride— [ZIGGIE] We're closed. [Everything stops] [PREMIER] ...pardon? [ZIGGIE] Closed. [PREMIER] The State may collapse before sunrise. [ZIGGIE] Mmm. [Pocket watch opens] Tick. Tick. Tick. [ZIGGIE] Nine sharp. [One impossibly majestic orchestral chord] [CHOIR — reverently] Niiiiine... sharp. [ZIGGIE] Don't be late. CLICK.FOR REASONS PRESENTLY UNDER REVIEW · CLINK

A sacred procession toward the least sacred revelation possible: business hours.

NO. 06 / 13TURN THE RECORD ↻THE OLD VIC STATE · LYRIC SHEET06One Penny[Pocket watch] Tick. Tick. Tick. [Door opens] [ZIGGIE] Nine sharp. [PREMIER] Nine sharp. [ZIGGIE] Penny. [PREMIER] ...one? [ZIGGIE] One. [CLINK.] [Verse 1] One little circle, two little sides, all of our certainty balanced inside. Heads for the promise, tails for the cost, funny how choices look holy when lost. [MINISTERS — entering one by one] For the trains— For the courts— For the books— For the ports— For the debts— For the Crown— For the ones looking up while we're looking down— [PREMIER] Tell us the answer. [ZIGGIE] I haven't flipped it. [Silence] [Coin flicks upward] [CHOIR] Round and around and around and around— What goes up must answer the ground. Call it fortune! Call it fate! Call it anything that carries the weight! [BUILD] Heads, we're remembered! Tails, we're condemned! Heads, we begin it! Tails— [ZIGGIE] It'll land in the end. [ALL] ONE PENNY! ONE MOMENT! ONE TURN OF THE SKY! Give us a reason! Give us a sign! If nobody knows where tomorrow should lie— Let something decide! [Coin falls] ting... [Silence] [ZIGGIE] Tails. [PREMIER — barely breathing] Dear God. [ZIGGIE] Steady on. [PREMIER] What do we do? [ZIGGIE] Try left. [Three-beat pause] CLINK. CLINK. CLINK. [Brass detonates into Track 7]FOR REASONS PRESENTLY UNDER REVIEW · CLINK

The penny stops being a prop and becomes the absurd centre of gravity.

NO. 07 / 13TURN THE RECORD ↻THE OLD VIC STATE · LYRIC SHEET07Puppet Master[CLINK! CLINK! CLINK!] [FULL BAND] [ENSEMBLE] LEFT! [MINISTER] He said left! [ALL] THEN TURN THE BLOODY STATE LEFT! [Verse 1] Raise the curtain! Ring the bell! Someone finally knows us well! Courts awaken! Engines start! Every cog remembers its part! Pull one thread— a chamber sings! Pull another— hear the bells ring! [Officials] It cannot be chance! [Choir] IT MUST BE DESIGN! [ZIGGIE] I said “try left.” [ALL] A SIGN! A SIGN! [Pre-Chorus] Who knew the answer? Who knew the way? Who turned tomorrow with one word today? [ALL] WHO PULLS THE LEVER? ZIGGIE! WHO HOLDS THE STRING? ZIGGIE! WHO MAKES THE MEN WHO THINK THEY'RE KINGS GET UP AND FUCKING SING? ZIGGIE! [ZIGGIE] Now hang about— [ENSEMBLE] PUPPET MASTER! GENTLEMAN! HIDDEN HAND BEHIND THE PLAN! MASTER OF THE TURNING GATE! SECRET HEART OF THE OLD VIC STATE! [ZIGGIE — music shifts] You built your towers, wrote your laws, polished every marble floor. Made a thousand little keys... [Band drops] Then lost the fucking door. [MASSIVE RIFF] Don't make me master! Don't make me king! Don't build a bloody religion from an ordinary thing! You begged for someone above everything— I'm just the bastard holding the— [He looks down] ...string. [Silence] Why is there a string on my tray? [Tiny tug] [Distant choir] PARLIAMENT ADJOURNED! [ZIGGIE] Oh. [Another tug] [Choir] TRAINS TERMINATED! [ZIGGIE] ...bloody things.FOR REASONS PRESENTLY UNDER REVIEW · CLINK

The false finale: maximum theatre, maximum certainty, one badly tangled tray.

NO. 08 / 13TURN THE RECORD ↻THE OLD VIC STATE · LYRIC SHEET08Bloody Things[ZIGGIE] ...bloody things. [Honky-tonk piano kicks in] [ZIGGIE] One round the tray, one round me shoe, one disappears up Bourke Street too. This one's marked COURTS, this one's marked TRAINS— Who tied government to my bloody remains? [YANK!] [CHOIR, distant] PARLIAMENT ADJOURNED! [ZIGGIE] Sorry! [YANK!] [CHOIR] MARKETS OVERTURNED! [ZIGGIE] Wasn't me! [YANK!] [CHOIR] SOMEBODY'S BEEN ELECTED! [ZIGGIE] Who? [CHOIR] NOBODY EXPECTED! [Band] HEY! [Chorus] BLOODY THINGS! STRINGS AND SPRINGS! WHO CONNECTED ME TO EVERYTHING? Pull it once— the bells all ring! Pull it twice— [CHOIR] WE'VE LOST THE KING! [ZIGGIE] We had a king? [CHOIR] FIGURE OF SPEECH! [ZIGGIE] Fair enough. [Verse 2 — faster] This one's tangled round a chair, this one goes to God-knows-where. TREASURY? PLANNING? WATER? RATES? Why's there one marked— [Squints] “OLD VIC STATE?” [ENSEMBLE] DON'T PULL THAT! [ZIGGIE] Which? [ENSEMBLE] THAT! [ZIGGIE] This? [ENSEMBLE] YES! [ZIGGIE] Right. [YAAAAANK.] [Music instantly stops] Nothing. No choir. No bells. No traffic. [ZIGGIE] ...hello? [Very distant voice] Hello? [ZIGGIE] Did I do that? [Silence] CLINK... No answer.FOR REASONS PRESENTLY UNDER REVIEW · CLINK

The grand conspiracy becomes a pub-floor knot of strings, springs and consequences.

NO. 09 / 13TURN THE RECORD ↻THE OLD VIC STATE · LYRIC SHEET09Everything Stops[Silence] [A distant tram bell.] ...nothing. [MINISTER] Hello? [SECRETARY] I'm here. [MINISTER] Are we sitting? [SECRETARY] I don't know. [MINISTER] Who's supposed to know? [SECRETARY] ...I don't know. [One piano note] [Verse 1] No wheel turning. No gavel falling. No clerk stamping. No number calling. No left. No right. No wrong. No right. Funny how loud nothing gets at night. [Premier] Issue an order. [Minister] To whom? [Premier] Everyone. [Minister] From whom? [Silence] [Low voices] We blamed the hand. We blamed the string. We blamed the fool. We blamed the king. We drew a line from everything... to something. Anything. Someone. [ZIGGIE] Wasn't me. [Verse 2] Maybe the lever was never attached. Maybe the lock never needed a latch. Maybe we danced because somebody moved— Or maybe we danced because everyone assumed. [Fragment of OLD VIC STATE melody] Sign it... dies. Stamp it... dies. Pass the— silence. [PREMIER] Someone finish it. [SECRETARY] Why? [PREMIER] Because that's how it goes. [SECRETARY] Is it? [Long pause] [ENSEMBLE — almost whispered] What if nobody was controlling anything? What if nobody ever had? What if all those hands were holding other hands because letting go felt worse? [ZIGGIE] I only pulled a string. [Voice from shop, very distant] ZIGGIE! [Everyone inhales] VOICE STOP MUCKING AROUND AND BRING THAT TRAY IN! [ZIGGIE] ...coming. Footsteps. Door opens. Door closes. [PREMIER] Now what? [SECRETARY] I suppose... [Tiny pulse begins] ...we work it out. [PREMIER] Ourselves? [SECRETARY] Terrifying, isn't it? [Two quiet notes seek the third.] They never find it.FOR REASONS PRESENTLY UNDER REVIEW · CLINK

Near-zero. The album finally asks whether anyone was steering at all.

NO. 10 / 13TURN THE RECORD ↻THE OLD VIC STATE · LYRIC SHEET10Who Controls the Controller?[Two unresolved notes from Track 9...] ...CLINK! [BAND ERUPTS] [PREMIER] WAIT! If ZIGGIE held the string— [MINISTER] Who handed him the string? [SECRETARY] And if somebody handed him the string— [ALL] WHO'S HANDLING THEM?! [Verse 1] Is it the Crown? NO! Is it the banks? NO! Judges in robes with mysterious ranks? NO! The press? NO! The Lodge? NO! [ZIGGIE] Have you tried asking God? [ALL] NOT YET! [Chorus] WHO CONTROLS THE CONTROLLER CONTROLLING CONTROL? WHO AUDITS THE AUDITOR AUDITING THE WHOLE? WHO WATCHES THE WATCHER WATCHING THE WATCH? WHO CHECKED WHO CHECKED IF THE CHECKING WAS BOTCHED? [Verse 2 — faster] Follow the money! WHICH MONEY? Follow the trail! WHICH TRAIL? Open the records! THE RECORDS ARE STALE! Question the witness! WHICH WITNESS? The man with the hat! [ZIGGIE] I'm literally standing right here, you twats. [Instrumental frenzy] [SECRETARY] I've drawn a diagram! [ALL] SHOW US! [SECRETARY] Government controls administration— Administration controls regulation— Regulation controls implementation— Implementation controls— [PREMIER] GET TO THE TOP! [SECRETARY] There isn't one. [Silence] [ALL] ...make one. [DOUBLE-TIME] Controller! Controller! Who controls the controller? Supervisor! Supervisor! Who's supervising the supervisor? Committee! Committee! Who appointed the committee? [CLERK] A committee! [ALL] WHICH COMMITTEE?! [CLERK] The Committee for Committee Accountability! [ALL] WHO WATCHES THEM?! [CLERK] ...we do. [ALL] WHO WATCHES US?! [Music spirals upward] [PREMIER] STOP! Haven't we sung this already? [CLERKS] YES! [PREMIER] Then why are we doing it again?! [CLERKS — enormous harmony] PROCEDUUUUURE! [Voice from shop] ZIGGIE! Lunch! [Everything stops] [ZIGGIE] Righto. [PREMIER] Where are you going?! [ZIGGIE] Lunch. [PREMIER] But who controls the State?! [ZIGGIE, walking away] Dunno. Try the shrub bloke. [Door closes.] [Shrub bloke] ...fuck off.FOR REASONS PRESENTLY UNDER REVIEW · CLINK

Humans survive uncertainty by immediately inventing a larger committee.

NO. 11 / 13TURN THE RECORD ↻THE OLD VIC STATE · LYRIC SHEET11Bit Ordinary[Evening street. Acoustic guitar.] [KID] ZIGGIE? [ZIGGIE] Mm? [KID] Are you important? [ZIGGIE] Not particularly. [Verse 1] Saw that corner change its name, three new signs, the bricks stayed same. Saw old shops close, new ones start, watched them paint right over someone's heart. Saw kids dragged in by Mum and Dad, swearing this was all they had. Then twenty years went wandering by— same kids return with one beside. [KID] You remember all that? [ZIGGIE] Some of it. Some gets better in the telling. [Chorus] Bit ordinary, bit worn through, nothing much that history'd choose. No grand palace, no parade, just little marks that people made. Bit ordinary, rain and sun, people leaving, people come. Funny thing, when years get long— ordinary starts feeling like belonging. [Verse 2] I didn't build it. Didn't save it. Never owned a bloody thing. Just stood somewhere long enough to see what staying brings. Names disappear from windows, faces disappear from streets. But someone always says “good morning.” Someone always sweeps. [KID] Doesn't it make you sad? [ZIGGIE] Sometimes. Wouldn't mean much if it couldn't. [Bridge] Nothing stays. [KID] You're still here. [ZIGGIE] For now. Nothing lasts. [KID] That's a bit shit. [ZIGGIE laughs] That's one way of putting it. [Final Chorus] Bit ordinary, slightly strange, holding still while all things change. No one notices the day something ordinary slips away. So mind the faces. Mind the names. Mind the silly little games. You don't know what you'll miss until you're missing it someday. [KID] Sounds important. [ZIGGIE] Bit ordinary. [Instrumental] [KID] Same time tomorrow? [ZIGGIE] Nine sharp. [Soft CLINK.]FOR REASONS PRESENTLY UNDER REVIEW · CLINK

The spectacle folds down to two figures, one street and the strange weight of staying.

NO. 12 / 13TURN THE RECORD ↻THE OLD VIC STATE · LYRIC SHEET12My End[Soft CLINK.] [KID] Can I ask you something? [ZIGGIE] You've been doing that all day. [KID] Who runs the country? [ZIGGIE] Couldn't tell you. [KID] The State? [ZIGGIE] Changes Tuesdays. [KID] History? [ZIGGIE] Nobody. Everybody. Depends who writes it down. [Verse 1] Can't hold tomorrow, can't mend yesterday. Can't make another heart think the proper way. Can't stop the weather, can't bargain with time. Can't carry your end, kid— I can carry mine. [Refrain] My end of the table. My end of the street. My word when I give it. The ground at my feet. My hand on the handle. My choice when I choose. Not much to control— but enough left to lose. [KID] So all those strings... [ZIGGIE] Mostly tangled. [KID] And the government? [ZIGGIE] Mostly tangled. [KID] And people? [ZIGGIE] Terribly tangled. [KID] What aren't you tangled in? [ZIGGIE] Lunch, usually. [Small laugh] [Verse 2] You can spend your whole life looking high, looking wide, for somebody steering from somewhere outside. A master. A monster. A reason. A plan. Then morning arrives... and you do what you can. [Build] One step. One word. One promise you meant. One hand you held. One penny you spent. One little corner of all you can't mend— [KID] So what do you control? [Everything stops.] A passer-by approaches. CLINK. [ZIGGIE] My end. [KID] Is that enough? [ZIGGIE] Ask me tomorrow. [KID] Nine sharp? [ZIGGIE] Nine sharp. [Three-note motif, finally resolving.]FOR REASONS PRESENTLY UNDER REVIEW · CLINK

The entire mythology contracts to one manageable patch of ground.

NO. 13 / 13TURN THE RECORD ↻THE OLD VIC STATE · LYRIC SHEET13The Old Vic State Endures[Three resolved penny notes.] [Morning street ambience] [KID] Morning, Frankston. [One piano] Shutters rise. Kettles sing. Someone's lost the bloody string. Yesterday nearly ended the State— [ZIGGIE] Still opened nine sharp. [Brass enters] [ENSEMBLE] SIGN IT! STAMP IT! TEMPT YOUR FATE! Lose the paperwork— we'll generate it late! Paint it! Break it! Renovate! Somehow we're still standing in the OLD VIC STATE! [Verse] Different faces, same old street, different shoes on different feet. Names come down. New names appear. Someone says, “Remember when...?” Nobody quite remembers when. [Wrong Form Clerks] Form Eleven! [CITIZEN] WRONG FORM! [Clerks] ...fair. [Nine Sharp Choir] Carry the seal! Carry the flame! [ZIGGIE] Put those away. [Puppet Master Choir] WHO HOLDS THE STRING?! [ZIGGIE] Apparently nobody. [ALL] GOOD! [BUILD] One voice. Two voices. Four. Eight. The whole street. [ALL] Nothing stays, but something remains. Not in the buildings, not in the names. A joke somebody told you. A face at a gate. A shop on a corner. A habit running late. The hand that you offered. The promise you meant. The ordinary Tuesday you never thought you'd miss until it went. [Music softens] [KID] Is this the important bit? [ZIGGIE] Probably. [KID] What happens now? [ZIGGIE] Tomorrow. [FULL ORCHESTRA ERUPTS] [ALL] SIGN IT! STAMP IT! PASS THE PLATE! EVERYBODY'S NOBODY AND NOBODY'S TOO LATE! LOVE IT! LEAVE IT! COME HOME LATE! WE'RE STILL BLOODY STANDING IN THE OLD VIC STATE! [Counterpoint — every song collides] CLERKS: WRONG FORM! RIGHT DESK! CHOIR: THERE IS ANOTHER PROCEDURE! MINISTERS: WHO CONTROLS THE CONTROLLER?! STREET: GOOD MORNING, FRANKSTON! PUPPET CHOIR: WHO HOLDS THE STRING?! ZIGGIE: Mind your own end! [ALL — enormous] THE OLD VIC STATE— [Music cuts.] VOICE FROM SHOP ZIGGIE! [ZIGGIE] Righto! Footsteps. [CONDUCTOR] ...are we finished? [CLERK] Need Form Seventeen-B. [CITIZEN] Wrong form. [CLERK] Oh, fuck off. [One enormous final chord.] Ten seconds of ordinary street noise. A child approaches. CLINK. [CHILD] Morning, ZIGGIE. [ZIGGIE] Morning. [Tiny reprise] Good morning, Frankston... morning again... [Unresolved final chord.] THE OLD VIC STATE ENDURES. For reasons presently under review.FOR REASONS PRESENTLY UNDER REVIEW · CLINK

Everything returns, except certainty. Frankston simply opens again.