Room for the Impossible / Track 08
The Museum of Almost
A reflection on unfinished work, memory, and the private meaning of the things we choose to keep.
The words / 08
Lyrics.
Instrumental Intro - four bars, ticking percussion
Verse 1
A crooked shelf, a coffee ring
A friend who knew a stranger thing
We passed the problem round till two
And left our fingerprints in glue
Now every edge is smooth as glass
The finished things arrive so fast
The room is clean, the chairs are straight
Nobody has to stay up late
Pre-Chorus
The clever little engine
Can tell us what it's worth
Who keeps the bent and broken bits
That never worked?
Chorus
In the museum of almost
Nothing is allowed to fail
They kept the silver scissors
And threw away the paper whale
All the lovely useless hours
All the names beneath the dust
In the museum of almost
There's no room for us
Verse 2
A penciled map inside a book
The extra turn we used to take
A little game that wouldn't load
A long wet walk to find the joke
The new machine can draw the sea
Before the kettle starts to scream
I miss the mess across the floor
I miss you knocking at the door
Chorus
In the museum of almost
Nothing is allowed to fail
They kept the silver scissors
And threw away the paper whale
All the lovely useless hours
All the names beneath the dust
In the museum of almost
There's no room for us
Bridge - quiet, drums keep ticking
Let the engine do the lifting
Let it take the heavy load
Leave a little room for getting lost
On the way back home
Final Chorus
In the museum of almost
Nothing is allowed to fail
They kept the silver scissors
And threw away the paper whale
All the lovely useless hours
All the names beneath the dust
In the museum of almost
Leave a little room for us
Outro - four bars, gentle decaying synth chord
Leave a little room
Leave a little dust
End
From the writing room
Making the song.
The Museum of Almost builds a whole argument out of small, unfinished things: a crooked shelf, a penciled map, a game that would not load and a paper whale. The museum keeps the impressive tools but throws away the imperfect thing somebody made with them. That image gives the lyric a way to ask what gets lost when finished results arrive so quickly that the hours of trial, company and discovery stop looking valuable.
The musical directions leave space around those objects. A four-bar introduction uses ticking percussion; even in the quiet bridge, the drums keep ticking. The bridge makes the song’s position clear by welcoming the engine’s help with heavy work while asking to preserve the freedom to wander. The final chorus changes the museum’s exclusion into a request: leave room for us. A gentle, decaying synth chord carries the short outro. The paper whale also connects this track to the album’s closer, where making another strange little thing becomes an act of hope. Here, the focus is on preserving the mess and the people inside it.
From the supplied lyrics and arrangement directions.
The complete album