On The Bus (In)
A commuter observes a woman composing music on her phone, wonders about the creative act happening in public space, and catches her eye in a window reflection before disembarking.
Summary
A brief vignette set on a commuter bus: the narrator notices a woman silently composing music on her phone — stopping, rewinding, adjusting — and wonders what she is making in such a chaotic public space. The word scopaesthesia (the feeling of being watched) appears as a half-question, just as she turns and catches his reflection. He smiles and disembarks. The scat-sung frame ("do da do da") suggests the narrator is also making music from the observation.
Lyrics
(Do da do da, do de dooda)
(Do da do da, do de dooda)
(Do da do da, do de dooda)
(Do da do, do doo...)
I am sitting on a bench seat, commuting to the office.
Passengers consuming, staring at their phones.
Sitting right in front of me, I see her making music.
Tiny lyrics on the screen.
She stops, rewinds, listens again.
Adjusts something I can't hear.
I wonder what her song's about.
What can she create in such a jumbled place?
Is she writing about this moment.
Maybe scopaesthesia?
She turns slightly.
Catches my eyes in the reflection.
It's my stop now
So I smile and disembark.
[outro ]
(Do da do da, do de dooda)
(Do da do da, do de dooda)
(Do da do da, do de dooda)
(Do da do, do doo...)
Detail
The album's opening track frames the entire Future Lounge project: music made in fragments, in transit, in the noise of ordinary life. The woman on the bus is a mirror — she too is composing quietly, alone in a crowd. The narrator's scat refrain implies he is turning the encounter into the very song we are hearing, collapsing observer and observed. Scopaesthesia — the psychic sense of being watched — is used here as a playful literalism: she really does turn and catch his eye. The track pairs with the closing On The Bus (Out), framing the album as a single commute.
Cross-references
- Background Music for busy People (album)