Keep Playing Anyway"

🎵 "Keep Playing Anyway"
by REA

[Verse 1]
I saw the board from the back of the bar,
Queen laid down, King ain't gettin' far.
Smoke curled up like a white flag wave,
But they smile like there’s still somethin’ to save.

[Verse 2]
Every move just shufflin’ pain,
Playin’ out roles in a rigged old game.
Hearts ain't pieces you can slide around,
But they pretend it ain’t all burned down.

[Chorus]
Check Mate happened long ago,
But they keep playin' anyway, real slow.
Like truth don’t matter, like loss don’t sting,
Just keepin’ time with a broken string.
The king fell, but they raise the glass,
Tellin' lies ‘bout a future that’s passed.
Check Mate happened long ago...
But they keep playin’ anyway.

[Verse 3]
Dust don't lie and neither does fate,
You can bluff, but you can't re-mate.
She left the table, took the wind,
He stayed, pretendin' the game could still win.

[Bridge]
Old jukebox hummin' tales too true,
About wars lost in red, white, and blue.
But still they move like there’s more to gain—
Just kings and pawns in the pourin’ rain.

[Final Chorus]
Check Mate happened long ago,
But they keep playin' anyway, you know.
Buildin' castles outta ghost-town clay,
Swearin’ check ain’t the final say.
The board’s worn thin, the pieces cracked,
But they can’t face that the past won’t come back.
Check Mate happened long ago...
But they keep playin’ anyway.

🔦 [Stage Performance Concept – “Keep Playin’ Anyway”]

Setting:
The stage is dark. A single acoustic guitar begins—low, aching notes, like footsteps on dry earth. Then, a large screen fades in with the infamous image you provided. The Twin Towers. The plane, mid-air, frozen in time.

Johnny Cash voice-over, low and haunting:

"The sky split wide one morning...
And lies rained down dressed up like truth."

The gravel of Chris Stapleton-style vocals enters—rising from the dust:

---

🎵 [Verse 1]
I saw the frame freeze behind my eyes,
Aluminum bird, steel tower, blue sky lies.
They told us gravity did tricks that day,
But steel don’t bend no matter what they say.

[Chorus]
Check Mate happened long ago,
But they keep playin’ anyway, for show.
Cards marked, hands shook, deals made—
Truth buried in a jet-fueled blaze.
We watched it fall, we watched it sway,
But they keep playin’ anyway.

---

Visual overlay:
The screen begins layering alternate camera angles, questions rising—frames of building blueprints, molten beams, and suddenly the chessboard.
A King tipped. Pawn frozen mid-step.

---

🎵 [Verse 2] (Cash low, grave)
You ever see a shadow cast guilt so wide,
That it haunts every flag they try to fly?
They staged the game with smoke and flame,
But the echoes still whisper the real names.

[Bridge – Stapleton cry, strained edge]
Tower falls in silent scream,
Truth don't burn in kerosene.
We sang the anthem, played along,
But even ghosts get tired of the same ol’ song.

---

🎵 [Final Chorus]
Check Mate happened long ago,
But they keep playin’ anyway, you know.
Movin' pawns while the Queen’s been sold,
Tellin' kids it’s freedom while their futures fold.
Yeah the stage is set, but the crowd don’t stay—
Check Mate happened...
but they keep playin’ anyway.

---

Stage ends in silence. Just the ticking of a clock.
Then:
A final flash on screen—the chessboard again. All black.
But one white pawn… slowly glowing.