Cooling Towers

[Verse 1] Cold steel and iron skies Dad's calloused hands would synthesize The threads of life we knew back then Before the grinding gears gave in Smoke stacks reaching to the clouds Where dreams got lost and time ran out [Chorus] Manchester's ghost is calling me Through broken windows, can't you see? The towers fall in slow decay While memories start to fade away Like static on an old TV The hum of what we used to be [Verse 2] Rusty chains and oil-stained floors The day they carried him through those doors His fingers crushed in textile dreams Now everything's not what it seems The factory's heart stopped beating slow Like winter's first industrial snow [Bridge] Waves of static wash me clean In spaces where machines have been The cooling towers stand so still Like tombstones on a concrete hill And in my head, the sounds remain Of metal singing through the pain [Chorus] Manchester's ghost is calling me Through broken windows, can't you see? The towers fall in slow decay While memories start to fade away Like static on an old TV The hum of what we used to be [Outro] Now I drift through empty halls Where shadows dance on crumbling walls The pulse of progress left behind Like echoes in my fucking mind These broken pieces make me whole As cities sleep and take their toll