Pepper Pot

single

Pepper Pot

The drum solo that kicks off ‘Pepper Pot’ is a declaration of intent: this track means business from the first bar. At 112 BPM in B minor, the song locks into a tight, syncopated groove that carries PCBender’s sharpest lyrical work in recent memory, the kind of writing where a line like ‘every hand that learns to choose learns also how to overuse’ lands with the blunt force of a good John Hiatt verse. The chorus image, a pepper pot going round and round, indifferent to its own diminishment, is the sort of central metaphor that earns repeat listens. A confident highlight.

Lyrics

We crowned the spark with borrowed names Built thrones from breath and passing flames A miracle by sheer decree Until it begged for constancy We drank it dry, we called it ours Measured wonder out in hours What once could shake the firmament Now hums like background sentiment

We swear the loss is not our fault Blame time, the wheel, the fickle vault But every hand that learns to choose Learns also how to overuse

The pepper pot goes ’round again Unmoved by all it might have been As gilded things turn bare and wan The ember dies, the gleam is gone The pepper pot goes ’round again

Icons fade to interface A holy thing reduced to pace The rare repeats, the myth aligns With mass-produced, convenient signs We chase the heat we cannot hold Mistake the new for purest gold Each revolution leaves a scar On what we thought was who we are

We swear the loss is not our fault Blame time, the wheel, the fickle vault But every hand that learns to choose Learns also how to overuse

The pepper pot goes ’round again Unmoved by all it might have been As gilded things turn bare and wan The ember dies, the gleam is gone The pepper pot goes ’round again

The pepper pot goes ’round again Unmoved by all it might have been As gilded things turn bare and wan The ember dies, the gleam is gone The pepper pot goes ’round again

Written by Michael Anthony Rose

Lyrics © 2025 Maricopa Publishing. All rights reserved.

Published by Maricopa Publishing. Displayed by permission.

For licensing: maricoparecords.com/licensing

Credits

Songwriter: Michael Anthony Rose