Track 4 of the album Small Kindnesses · 2020
The Trunk in the Attic Hums a Tune
“An attic trunk that seems to hum if you stand still long enough. It's my cheerfullest memory of dust.”
acoustic · heirloom folk · nostalgic acoustic · 3:27
Lyrics
Up the narrow attic stairs where the dust hangs thick as cream There's a leather-cornered trunk beneath a skylight's silver beam I lift the lid, it gives a sigh, a hundred years of air And a music-box begins to hum like someone's waiting there There's a bonnet and a ribbon and a sheaf of faded lace A photograph of strangers with my grandmother's own face A tin of buttons rattles like a small and distant rain And I find myself still smiling at the things that still remain Oh, the trunk in the attic hums a tune Soft as a lullaby, bright as the moon Every old thing has a song to give If you open the lid and let it live The trunk in the attic hums a tune I try the coat of faded plaid, it fits me like a glove It smells of cedar, tea and rain and someone's quiet love I dance a slow step round the beams, my shadow tall and thin And the music-box keeps turning as the afternoon draws in Oh, the trunk in the attic hums a tune Soft as a lullaby, bright as the moon Every old thing has a song to give If you open the lid and let it live The trunk in the attic hums a tune I won't carry it all down Some things are happy where they are But I'll take the tune with me And hum it in the car Oh, the trunk in the attic hums a tune Soft as a lullaby, bright as the moon Every old thing has a song to give If you open the lid and let it live The trunk in the attic hums a tune Hum it low, hum it slow The trunk in the attic hums a tune