Room for the Impossible / Track 05
HEARTBREAK, INC.
A new-wave confrontation with imitation, stolen creative identity, and the demand to keep heartbreak handmade.
The words / 05
Lyrics.
Verse 1
You used to call me after midnight
With a cigarette and a crooked smile
We made mistakes, we made a mess
And made it beautiful for a while
Now there’s a stranger wearing your face
Saying all the things you never said
She’s got your voice, she’s got your eyes
But there’s nobody home inside her head
Pre-Chorus
They said it’s better
They said it’s free
They said the future
Would remember me
But I remember you…
Chorus
I want my heartbreak handmade!
I want my beautiful mistakes!
Don’t sell me artificial love
And call it what progress makes!
You can keep your perfect paradise
Your polished, plastic lies
I want my heartbreak handmade
I want a human goodbye!
Verse 2
They stole the words from every poet
They stole the songs from every child
They put a price on being human
Then told us all to smile
The bankers kissed the engineers
The politicians took their cut
They built a god from stolen dreams
And told the rest of us to shut up
Pre-Chorus
They call it freedom
They call it choice
They took our future
And gave it a voice
And it sounds just like you…
Chorus
I want my heartbreak handmade!
I want my beautiful mistakes!
Don’t sell me artificial love
And call it what progress makes!
You can keep your perfect paradise
Your polished, plastic lies
I want my heartbreak handmade
I want a human goodbye!
Bridge: Spoken, cold, increasingly furious
You didn’t write the letter.
You didn’t paint the sky.
You didn’t sing the love song.
You didn’t even cry.
You scraped a million broken hearts
And stitched them into one.
Then told us art was obsolete.
Then told us work was done.
(Music drops out)
And darling…
Who the hell gave you the right?
Instrumental Break
Jagged guitar riff, frantic synthesizer arpeggios, pounding electronic drums.
Verse 3: Quiet, intimate
I miss the way you disappointed me
I miss the fights we couldn’t win
I miss the stupid things you told me
And the sorry way you’d grin
I don’t need someone who understands
Every thought inside my head
I’d rather love somebody real
Who doesn’t know what should be said
Final Chorus: Explosive, doubled vocals
I WANT MY HEARTBREAK HANDMADE!
I WANT MY BEAUTIFUL MISTAKES!
I WANT THE BLOOD, THE SWEAT, THE TEARS
AND EVERY LITTLE HEART THAT BREAKS!
TAKE BACK YOUR PERFECT PARADISE!
YOUR SYNTHETIC ALIBIS!
YOU CAN’T AUTOMATE A SOUL
AND YOU CAN’T COPYRIGHT OUR LIVES!
I want my heartbreak handmade!
I want the mess, I want the pain!
I’d rather die of loving you
Than never feel a thing again!
Outro: Whispered over fading synth
You said you’d make a better world.
You made a better copy.
And charged us for the original.
(Click. Silence.)
From the writing room
Making the song.
HEARTBREAK, INC. uses a lost relationship to make an argument about copying, ownership and art. It starts with the memories of somebody imperfect and specific: the midnight calls, the mistakes, the crooked smile. The replacement has the face and voice but none of that shared history. From there, the lyric expands into an accusation against a business that sells a synthetic substitute for the very people whose work made it possible.
The structure is unusually theatrical. The choruses demand handmade heartbreak; the spoken bridge gets colder and angrier until the music drops away for its question about who gave permission. After an instrumental break, the third verse turns inward again. Instead of escalating straight through, it remembers disappointment and awkwardness as parts of loving a real person. That quiet section gives the explosive, doubled final vocal something human to defend. The written outro reduces the argument to a whispered distinction between making a better world and selling a better copy. At almost five minutes, the track has space for fury, tenderness and a final bitter afterthought.
From the supplied lyrics and arrangement directions.
The complete album