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The Pin Drop Lyrics
Carried away by the river that passes through bulrushes on to the sea
Dragged by the current to rest on the stakes of the breakwater shaded by trees
Beginnings and endings, love intersecting a rift that will break us apart
Love learned
In turned
Dreams burned
I am tired of struggling
And the rain is beating down on me
I tried to be the way that he wanted me to be
I did not hear the pin drop down
I did not hear my heart
I have not lived and loved enough
Things are left unsaid, undone
It was not meant to be like this
Drifting off without a kiss
We built our love, we built our ark
Nothing ends before it starts
I cannot feel my arms and legs
I don’t deserve this bitter end
Dragged by the current to rest on the stakes of the breakwater shaded by trees
Beginnings and endings, love intersecting a rift that will break us apart
In turned
Dreams burned
And the rain is beating down on me
I tried to be the way that he wanted me to be
I did not hear the pin drop down
I did not hear my heart
Things are left unsaid, undone
It was not meant to be like this
Drifting off without a kiss
We built our love, we built our ark
Nothing ends before it starts
I cannot feel my arms and legs
I don’t deserve this bitter end
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In Steven Wilson's own words:
“In some ways, it’s one of the simplest pieces on the record, but it was also the hardest to get right. It’s all about the dynamics and sustained sense of tension and release. There’s really only one or two musical motifs in it, so it’s all about the way it’s layered and structured. We did the most takes of this song than any other.
“Lyrically, it’s one of two songs, consecutively on the record, about marriages or relationships gone wrong — The Watchmaker being the other one. They’re both songs about the idea of inertia or spaces within marriage; it's the concept that you can be with someone because it’s comfortable and convenient, not because there’s any love or empathy.
“The song is basically sung by the wife. She’s dead, she’s been thrown in the river by the husband, and she’s floating down in the river while singing this song — from beyond death, beyond the grave, as it were. It’s quite macabre.
“The idea is that sometimes in a relationship there can be so much tension, so much unspoken resentment and hatred, that the tiniest thing can set off a violent episode, and in this case, one that ends in tragedy. The sound of a pin dropping on a floor can be the thing that instigates the fury.
“With this band, I’ve been able to concentrate more on being a singer. I tried something a bit different: I opened up my throat and sang in a less contained, less controlled way. I was very inspired by a singer called Nick Harper — he's the son of Roy Harper. They both sing in a dramatic way that I love. I was thinking of Nick when I did the vocals.
“Guthrie plays another extraordinary solo towards the end. This time we fed it through a Leslie cabinet. I’m a big fan of Leslies. A lot of people associate them with the past, but I think it’s a timeless sound. I’ll put anything through a Leslie — guitars, keyboards, vocals. It’s such a wonderfully rich sound.”
Evokes the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and King Richard II.