Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
There’s a fire escape outside of one of the dressing rooms at Seattle’s historic Paramount Theater where after a show many of us would crawl through the window to get some fresh air, smoke some cigarettes and watch as the audience filed out of the doors below. Those moments felt like exclamation points after a passage from an ecstatic poem. You never fully know the shape of the story until, to your surprise, it’s planted its image firmly in the rearview mirror. From that point on it’s just fragments of magic, joy, hope, pain, love and loss and you’re lucky if you can hang on to a little piece of it. This is a love song to those early days, re-imagined here in stark instrumentation. Hopefully it carries with it some that old feeling you can never seem to find, but keep searching for nonetheless.
"Fire Escape" (Ghost No. 4)” is out everywhere now: TheHeadAndTheHeart.lnk.to/GhostsInTheMachinery
Ghosts In The Machinery will be available across all streaming platforms on February 27
Limited copies are still available on vinyl: recordstoreday.com/UPC/602478714269
- Matty
Upcoming tour dates: theheadandtheheart.com/tour
FOLLOW THE HEAD AND THE HEART:
Website: theheadandtheheart.com
TikTok: tiktok.com/@theheadandtheheart
Instagram: instagram.com/theheadandtheheart
Facebook: facebook.com/theheadandtheheart
Twitter: https://x.com/headandtheheart
Text Us: my.community.com/theheadandtheheart
LYRICS
I woke up in the alley by the ashtray
In the pink glow of the neon exit sign
When I looked up to see you leaning over me with eyes wide
I must have just been sifting through the twilight
For that feeling I could never seem to find
When you came out to find me here exactly at the right time
I didn’t know it then, but it was destiny in hindsight
We went out for a smoke on the fire escape
So sure of ourselves in those early days
I thought I had my head on straight
But I’m not so sure of that now
How many years stretch out like rubber bands behind us?
Now you’re standing in the doorway like a ghost
There’s still time enough to talk of all the memories we piled high
It’s so damn good to see you
Ain’t it strange the way the time flies?
We went out for a smoke on the fire escape
With that feeling you get when the night’s getting late
I swear I had my head on straight
But I’m not so sure of that now
We settled in for the long dark night
And faded like the Stars and Stripes
We watched it all go up in flames
That morning on the fire escape
And I can’t find the words I’ve been wanting to say
But my friend rest assured it’ll all be okay
I’ve finally got my head on straight
Let it all drift away
And let’s climb to the top of the fire escape
All this time that we spent wasn’t all just a waste
I swear I had my head on straight
But I’m not so sure of that now
#TheHeadAndTheHeart #GhostsInTheMachinery #FireEscape
There’s a fire escape outside of one of the dressing rooms at Seattle’s historic Paramount Theater where after a show many of us would crawl through the window to get some fresh air, smoke some cigarettes and watch as the audience filed out of the doors below. Those moments felt like exclamation points after a passage from an ecstatic poem. You never fully know the shape of the story until, to your surprise, it’s planted its image firmly in the rearview mirror. From that point on it’s just fragments of magic, joy, hope, pain, love and loss and you’re lucky if you can hang on to a little piece of it. This is a love song to those early days, re-imagined here in stark instrumentation. Hopefully it carries with it some that old feeling you can never seem to find, but keep searching for nonetheless.
"Fire Escape" (Ghost No. 4)” is out everywhere now: TheHeadAndTheHeart.lnk.to/GhostsInTheMachinery
Ghosts In The Machinery will be available across all streaming platforms on February 27
Limited copies are still available on vinyl: recordstoreday.com/UPC/602478714269
- Matty
Upcoming tour dates: theheadandtheheart.com/tour
FOLLOW THE HEAD AND THE HEART:
Website: theheadandtheheart.com
TikTok: tiktok.com/@theheadandtheheart
Instagram: instagram.com/theheadandtheheart
Facebook: facebook.com/theheadandtheheart
Twitter: https://x.com/headandtheheart
Text Us: my.community.com/theheadandtheheart
LYRICS
I woke up in the alley by the ashtray
In the pink glow of the neon exit sign
When I looked up to see you leaning over me with eyes wide
I must have just been sifting through the twilight
For that feeling I could never seem to find
When you came out to find me here exactly at the right time
I didn’t know it then, but it was destiny in hindsight
We went out for a smoke on the fire escape
So sure of ourselves in those early days
I thought I had my head on straight
But I’m not so sure of that now
How many years stretch out like rubber bands behind us?
Now you’re standing in the doorway like a ghost
There’s still time enough to talk of all the memories we piled high
It’s so damn good to see you
Ain’t it strange the way the time flies?
We went out for a smoke on the fire escape
With that feeling you get when the night’s getting late
I swear I had my head on straight
But I’m not so sure of that now
We settled in for the long dark night
And faded like the Stars and Stripes
We watched it all go up in flames
That morning on the fire escape
And I can’t find the words I’ve been wanting to say
But my friend rest assured it’ll all be okay
I’ve finally got my head on straight
Let it all drift away
And let’s climb to the top of the fire escape
All this time that we spent wasn’t all just a waste
I swear I had my head on straight
But I’m not so sure of that now
#TheHeadAndTheHeart #GhostsInTheMachinery #FireEscape
