[Verse 1]
Rooftop rain on the Hudson, marigold coat on the stair,
Blue vinyl booth at midnight, your laugh braided in the air.
Fingerprints on a trumpet, warm from yesterday’s ember,
You trace a map across my wrist — a route I still remember.
(vocal: breathy, legato; keep tempo steady)
[Pre-Chorus]
City glass and subway hum, the world a soft-lit drum,
We lean into the rhythm — two shadows becoming one. (build, push toward chorus)
[Chorus]
Neon heartbeat — (Ne-on heart-beat) (syncopate: hold "ne-on" across two beats)
Neon heartbeat — (call-and-response: backing vocals echo)
Take me higher on the night, higher than the skyline glow,
Neon heartbeat — keep me close, don’t ever let me go. (short, singable hook)
[Verse 2]
Sax leans into your shoulder, lacquered notes like rain on tin,
Lipstick left on the bell, a memory pressed under skin.
You hum a crooked melody, a ticket stub between your teeth,
The bartender counts the hours while we rewrite the streets. (tighten syllables for groove)
[Pre-Chorus]
Hear the bassline in the gutters, a steady heartbeat under lights,
We trade small honest sins in whispers, painting color into nights. (steady cadence)
[Chorus]
Neon heartbeat — (Ne-on heart-beat) (lead: hold last "beat" for two counts)
Neon heartbeat — (backing: layered oohs, light harmonies)
Spin me through the alleys where the jazz and neon flow,
Neon heartbeat — keep me close, don’t ever let me go.
[Instrumental Break]
[8-bar sax solo — sultry, then bright]
(call-and-response: sax answers vocal riff)
[Bridge] (turning point)
You fold a photograph — the skyline with a missing star,
Says you ran for better weather, but the weather followed hard.
(spoken, then sung) "I kept your ticket, you kept the night," — small truths on big display,
Now we stand beneath the marquee where the music learned our names.
(scatted spoken line: "ba-doo-wah, doo-bee-dee" — playful, syncopated; let it breathe)
Reveal: I left a light on at your window; you came back anyway.
(raise intensity; let voice climb on the last word: "anyway")
[Final Chorus] (lifted harmony, altered lyric)
Neon heartbeat — (Ne-on heart-beat) (more open vowels, higher harmony)
Neon heartbeat — (backing: full choir backing on second repeat)
We ride the pulse beyond the skyline, where the midnight rivers flow,
Neon heartbeat — hold me higher now, don’t ever let me go.
[Outro]
Sax fades into the morning, a cigarette moon dissolves to blue,
Neon heartbeat keeps its echo — a small electric truth.
(final line: sustain on "truth"; let backing hum resolve)
