Track 2 of the album Small Hours, Slow Light · 2021
Quarter to Three and the Radiator Ticks
by Wren Hallett
“Quarter to three and the radiator ticks like a small clock counting out the night. I recorded it in one take, in the dark.”
indie folk · night folk · hushed acoustic · 3:22
Lyrics
Quarter to three and the radiator ticks Like a small clock counting out the night I've got a blanket round my shoulders And one pale lamp, the only light The tea has gone cold in the chipped blue cup But I don't mind, I'm not giving up Three in the morning, the world is slow Nobody asking where I'll go Just the tick and the tock and the hush of the street And a heart that keeps its steady beat Three in the morning, I'm not alone The quiet is a kind of home A fox goes by on the frosted lawn A window opens, then shuts again I write a line and I rub it out I let the paper hold the pen All the worries that were loud at noon Are soft as moths around the moon Three in the morning, the world is slow Nobody asking where I'll go Just the tick and the tock and the hush of the street And a heart that keeps its steady beat Three in the morning, I'm not alone The quiet is a kind of home Morning will come with its buses and bread With its voices and plans and its busy head But for now there's a ticking, a warmth in the wall And I'm learning to love it, the nothing at all The radiator sighs, the sky turns grey Along the roofs a bird begins I fold the blanket, rinse the cup And let the day come walking in I carry the hush in my coat like a stone Smooth and warm, and all my own Three in the morning, the world is slow Nobody asking where I'll go Just the tick and the tock and the hush of the street And a heart that keeps its steady beat Three in the morning, I'm not alone The quiet is a kind of home Tick, tock, soft and slow The quiet is a kind of home