Track 9 of the album Horizon Songs · 2013
Sing It Loud in the Empty Seats
“We really did sneak in at dawn on the cleaners' shift to rehearse in an empty theatre. Singing to the seats taught us how to fill a room.”
operatic pop · operatic pop · gospel groove · 3:22
Lyrics
We came in on the cleaners' shift before the sun Twelve of us with coats on and a key to the run Concrete steps like a cathedral, wide and bare Let's find out what our voices do out there One of us taps out a beat on the rail One of us hums the line and starts to sail The echo comes back from the top of the stand Like ten thousand friends we never planned Clap your hands, the walls will clap along Every empty row is waiting for a song Sing it loud in the empty seats Let the rafters hear your heart Every voice is a stadium When you give it all, when you start Sing it loud, let the echo come Stomp it out on the stair We don't need a crowd to be a choir We were never alone up there The groundsman stops his mower, takes off his cap Swaying on the touchline to our tap, tap, tap A pigeon on the floodlight joins in with a coo There's no such thing as empty with a song to do Clap your hands, the walls will clap along Every empty row is waiting for a song Sing it loud in the empty seats Let the rafters hear your heart Every voice is a stadium When you give it all, when you start Sing it loud, let the echo come Stomp it out on the stair We don't need a crowd to be a choir We were never alone up there Hush now, listen, hear it ring The whole place humming back One voice, two voices, twelve voices, more The silence gives it back Sing it loud in the empty seats Let the rafters hear your heart Every voice is a stadium When you give it all, when you start Sing it loud, let the echo come Stomp it out on the stair We don't need a crowd to be a choir We were never alone up there Never alone up there Sing it loud