This song made its first documented appearance at the soundcheck in Mansfield on august 13th 2008. Its actual title was unknown at that point, so it was nicknamed "Like A Weapon" as this phrase is repeated many times in the Mansfield version. The transcribed lyrics (thanks to hoserama) come from an unavailable recording of excellent quality. The audio quality of the only available recording is faint, but the song is recognizable. In the first clip the band rehearses the first part of the song:
In the second clip they continue working on the music of the first part and also try the transition into the middle section:
In this third clip they work on the middle section:
There is also a video recording of the middle section, which sounds slightly clearer than the audio clip:
Work on the last section of the song is not documented for Mansfield. This is the full transcript from the high quality recording of the full soundcheck of this song as typed out by hoserama:
[first section]
well it comes
well it comes
it's like a weapon
like a weapon
like a weapon
you're in it
when we dance
like a weapon
like a walking
like a walking cop
here it comes
here it...
oh oh
oh oh
oh
you're in it
you're in it
oh oh
oh oh oh oh
when we dance
when we dance
it's like a weapon
like a weapon
like a weapon
you're in it
you're in it
oh oh
oh oh
in it
oh oh oh oh
The first available full recording of the song, a video taped by Conejo, revealed that the parts from Mansfield and Toronto were indeed from the same song. It was captured during the soundcheck on march 16th 2009 in Mexico City:
The song had its live debut when Thom performed it during his solo set at the Latitude Festival on july 19th 2009. A setlist caught by fans revealed the song title to be 'The Present Tense', which had been unknown up to that point: