one more dance before they take away the light / one more spin around the line / one more step, and then we'll turn and face the debt / one more reason to forget
Alan's Notes:
started short and simple, quickly became the long, wall of noise song. sounds like many layers of guitar, but it's actually just one take from 2 amps. added some backwards piano and rolling cymbal. has become a popular request at shows. hard to justify sometimes - there are so many bands out there that do the "long, loud drone" better than we do. played it with godspeed you black emporor! in chicago in '98 for 30 minutes - probably the furthest it could ever be taken.
Personal Thoughts:
When this one starts, you know the thrusters are shot. There's no way to stop the inevitable descent of your spacecraft into the black hole, the menacing oblivion ahead of you. When Alan and Mimi start singing, it's like you're making peace and saying goodbye, before it all goes down. And then, right back to the void in front of you. It draws closer, pulling you in faster and faster, and making your craft rattle as it does. You can't escape it. You can't escape the dark that you're hurtling towards, and then... silence. The monolith of sound this song is... my god, it makes every hair on my body stand on end.
Live:
This beast has showed up sporadically on setlists throughout their live career, before taking a proper foothold in their Double Negative tour.
Often, the band made the song go longer than the studio version. One notable example, as mentioned in Alan's notes, was on October 10, 1998 with Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The performance is truly something epic to behold, but unfortunately it was recorded in rather poor sound quality.
Another notable case was on June 15, 2013 at the Rock the Garden festival. That set consisted solely of this song stretched out to 27 minutes, after which Alan stated "drone, not drones".
