Blackout
Attica! Attica! Lyrics

Twilight sharpened as I put my hood up and walked into town
As the sun set and the sky darkened, I covered my head and began to walk into town.

All the streets were empty, like my stomach,
The roads were deserted, just like my own belly, which was empty.

So I had to see what I could scrounge
I had no other choice but to go look for anything I could find.

Just like....Every town before.
It was the same as every town I had visited before.

'Knock Knock' at every door, no answer
I knocked on every door, but there was no response.

I snuck up to their windows for a peak
I quietly approached their windows and tried to peek inside.

Inside each house I saw silhouettes against the blue lights of their television screens
From outside, I could see shadows of people on the television screen's blue light glowing through their windows.

And so I climbed the hill where power stations overlooked the town
I went up the hill to where the power stations were, where I could see the entire town.

I found the generators, threw the switch, and shut the whole thing down
I located the power generators, turned them off, and shut down the electricity grid.

I turned to see hundreds of flickering blue lights die in the night
I witnessed many glowing blue lights flicker and fade in the darkness.

The darkness that followed was broken by a single candle light
The single candle in the darkness was the only light that shone after the power went off.

So, I descended into town
I made my way back down the hill and into the town again.

The candlelight was multiplying now, and the silent streets were filling up with townspeople, laughing.
As the candles were lit, the streets filled up with more and more people who were laughing and chatting.

I asked a smiling woman if she had something we could eat
I approached a friendly looking woman and asked if she had any food to share.

She thanked me for the great idea, and dashed to her home down the street
She acknowledged my request and hurried back to her home to fetch food.

She soon returned, her arms full with a bounty of bread, wine, and cheese
She came back carrying plenty of food; bread, wine, and cheese.

Her neighbor winked and organized a group, to bring tables and seats
Her neighbor helped to bring tables and chairs for everyone to sit on as we ate.

And so we all sat down, and I raised a glass of wine
We all took our seats and I held up a glass of wine.

And declared a toast, to meeting these old friends for the first time
I made a toast to our newfound friendship despite it being our first meeting.

And someone played guitar
Someone in the group started playing guitar.

And kids banged pots and pans
The children started drumming on pots and pans, adding to the festive atmosphere.

And we all sang old songs
Together, we sang old songs that nobody could forget.

The kind that no one can forget
These were the kinds of songs that one never forgets.

And then we all took turns, telling our best tales
We shared our most memorable stories with each other, taking turns to speak.

The kind that start out true, but end up taller than 10 whales
The stories started out as true tales but grew in scale to become larger than life itself.

That's when someone spoke up and said 'This here gathering Is a neighborhood, the kind I always hoped this town would be!'
One person spoke up and declared that this party was a neighborhood, the kind that they had always hoped this town would have.

Right then the power came back on.
At that moment, the power was restored.

And then the man next to me checked his watch
The man sitting next to me checked his watch to see if his television shows had resumed.

And said 'Thank god, my shows are on!'
He breathed a sigh of relief that his TV shows had resumed playing.

And so they blew their candles out
Everyone blew out their candles.

And hurried back to be inside each house
They all rushed back to their respective homes.

Where glowing blue lights had come back to reclaim the night.
The blue light from the TV screens inside the houses shone through the windows again, taking claim of the night sky.

The smoke hung in the air, but everyone had gone
The smell of smoke lingered in the air as everyone had left to go back to their homes.

That was the best I'd get from this town, so I ventured on
That was the best experience I had in that town, so I left to move on to my next destination.

Now with my belly full, I walked the empty streets Between the rows of houses who's blue lights lit up my feet
With a full stomach, I walked past the rows of houses where the blue light from the televisions shone through the windows, lighting up the path for me.

But much to my surprise, one house stood alone
To my surprise, only one house was left standing all by itself.

It was completely dark, save one candle in the window
The house was in complete darkness except for one candle that was lit and placed in the window.

I stopped, and then I smiled, but I had no time to rest,
I stopped and smiled, but I couldn't rest for too long as I had to keep moving.

I knew that pretty soon, I'd be hungry again.
I was aware that soon I would feel hungry again, compelling me to leave and continue my journey.