Show Notes
This release contains only the music track from Base by Base Episode 120.
Song title: When the Clock Misfires
Original Base by Base episode: 120: When the Clock Breaks: BMAL1 Variants and a Neurodevelopmental Syndrome
Article metadata:
Article title: Rare variants in BMAL1 are associated with a neurodevelopmental syndrome
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2427085122
Reference: Cuddapah VA, Chen D, Cho B, et al. Rare variants in BMAL1 are associated with a neurodevelopmental syndrome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025;122(31):e2427085122. doi:10.1073/pnas.2427085122
Lyrics:
Verse 1
In a quiet code written deep in our cells,
A midnight metronome stutters and swells,
A tiny change where the timing belongs,
Can bend the day into out-of-phase songs.
Pre-Chorus
Not the hands on the wall, but the gears underneath,
Turning too fast or too slow in their teeth,
If the signal drifts, the body can’t rest,
So we listen for rhythm and follow the test.
Chorus
Hold on—let the light come through,
Set the beat where it’s meant to move,
If the cycle breaks, we can still restore,
Find the pattern, hear the core.
We rise when the clock misfires.
Verse 2
One allele whispers, the other replies,
Loss or a surge in the wake of the ties,
PER2 keeps speaking in pulses of glow,
While sleep runs crooked and thoughts overflow.
Bridge
In small-winged nights the same story appears,
Steps in the dark and the weight of lost years,
Memory flickers, then falls out of tune,
But every trace draws a map to the moon.
Final Chorus
Hold on—let the light come through,
Set the beat where it’s meant to move,
Name the fault line, treat what it distorts,
Help the restless find their ports.
We rise when the clock misfires,
We rise—when the clock rewires.
