Ink Between the Measures – Original Song by Nikki Sings (Baroque-Horror Ragtime)

Описание: What happens when the music you’re playing starts… playing you?

“Ink Between the Measures” tells the story of a ragtime pianist in 1899 who realizes his sheet music is alive. Each measure rearranges itself mid-song. Ledger lines twist. Notes shuffle. His fingers obey patterns he never learned. With every chorus, the music pulls him further from his parlor and deeper into the inked world forming beneath his hands.

Is he composing the rag…
or is the rag composing him?

This was one of my more experimental pieces, blending baroque horror, ragtime energy, and a narrative that slowly slips out of reality. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed creating it.

—Nikki

Lyrics

Ink Between The Measures
(Baroque-Horror Ragtime)

[Verse 1]
Gaslight hiss
Cracked-ivory grin
He straightens his cuffs
Lets the ghosts walk in
Title page flickers
Ink still wet
Name on the corner
Spelling out his death (shh)

[Chorus]
The rag writes the man
Bar lines bend and laugh
Every measure moves his hands
Like a marionette in black
Is he the author
Or only the pen?
Each chorus cuts him
Looser from the room he’s in
The rag writes the man
And starts again

[Verse 2]
He plays the first strain
Jagged but grand
Then the ledger lines split
Crawl over his hand
Notes trade places
Keys turn cold
The melody smirks
Leads him where it’s told (oh)

[Chorus]
The rag writes the man
Bar lines bend and laugh
Every measure moves his hands
Like a marionette in black
Is he the author
Or only the pen?
Each chorus cuts him
Looser from the room he’s in
The rag writes the man
And starts again

[Bridge]
[tempo lurches
Harmony darkens]
Triplet run
That he never learned
Finger bones burn
As the pages turn
Ledger-ink voice
Whispers his name
“You thought you wrote me
But we’re the same” (we’re the same)

[Chorus]
The rag writes the man
Staves curl
Spiral wide
Every cadence claws him out
Of the parlor
Of his life
Is he composing
Or composed by the tune?
Paper swallows up his breath
Like a second
Silent room
The rag writes the man
Till he’s on the page too

[Outro]
Last chord hanging
Room gone thin
Only the piano
And the ink he’s in