All In Your Head Lyrics

He walked in loud with a paper-thin grin,
Had a king-size mouth and a matchstick chin,
Wore borrowed facts like a stolen suit,
Then tripped on the laces of his own dispute.

He read one line and declared himself wise,
Built a throne from typos and televised lies,
Every room got smaller when he took the floor,
Every wrong answer kicked open the door.

Dunning-Kruger effect,
Big head, dead check,
Talks like thunder,
Thinks like wreckage,
Dunning-Kruger effect,
All nerve, no depth,
He don’t know what he don’t know yet.

He calls the surgeon stupid from the waiting chair,
Tells the pilot where to land from midair,
Tells the mason how to stack a stone,
Then can’t fix the crack in his own damn home.

He’s got a holy war with expertise,
A cardboard sword and shaking knees,
He quotes a headline, pounds his chest,
Then fails the quiz he made himself.

Dunning-Kruger effect,
Big head, dead check,
Talks like thunder,
Thinks like wreckage,
Dunning-Kruger effect,
All nerve, no depth,
He don’t know what he don’t know yet.

Confidence came wearing a cheap disguise,
With a gasoline smile and counterfeit eyes,
Humility waited by the exit sign,
But he kept on dancing near the warning line.

He said the mountain looked tiny from town,
Then broke both legs coming halfway down,
He said the ocean was ankle-deep blue,
Then begged the tide to explain what to do.

Dunning-Kruger effect,
Big head, dead check,
Talks like thunder,
Thinks like wreckage,
Dunning-Kruger effect,
All nerve, no depth,
He don’t know what he don’t know yet.

Now the room goes quiet when he starts to speak,
The floorboards laugh and the ceiling creaks,
Every expert gets a sharper knife,
Every fool brings a spoon to a gunfight.

Raise up the dunce with the megaphone,
Let him preach from his paper throne,
Watch that tower shake in the wind,
Watch the punchline swallow him.

Dunning-Kruger effect,
Big head, dead check,
Talks like thunder,
Thinks like wreckage,
Dunning-Kruger effect,
All nerve, no depth,
He don’t know what he don’t know yet.

Dunning-Kruger effect,
Mouth full of matches,
Mind full of debt,
Dunning-Kruger effect,
Too damn sure to learn regret,
He don’t know what he don’t know yet.

I watched the room learn how to smile with borrowed teeth,
Every sermon came with wires tucked beneath,
They fed us facts with the flavor scraped away,
Then blamed the tongue when the hunger wouldn’t stay.

I kept my doubt like a match behind my ribs,
Small hot truth in a house of counterfeit scripts,
Every polished lie had a choir dressed in white,
Every open wound got renamed overnight.

Cognitive dissidence,
I’m thinking out of line,
Cognitive dissidence,
They can’t cauterize my mind,
You can sell me a heaven with a lock on the gate,
You can paint me obedient, clean, and afraid,
But the fracture keeps singing through the bone and the wire,
Cognitive dissidence,
Set the thought on fire.

They built a language where the blade meant care,
Where the cage meant home, where the thief meant fair,
They called the leash a lesson, called the bruise a plan,
Taught the child to kneel, then blamed the man.

I heard the future getting auctioned in the hall,
Heard the prophets turn accountants by the wall,
Every miracle got measured, tagged, and priced,
Every rebel got a halo made of ice.

Cognitive dissidence,
I’m thinking out of line,
Cognitive dissidence,
They can’t cauterize my mind,
You can sell me a heaven with a lock on the gate,
You can paint me obedient, clean, and afraid,
But the fracture keeps singing through the bone and the wire,
Cognitive dissidence,
Set the thought on fire.

There’s a riot in the skull when the mask gets thin,
There’s a fist in the pulse where the shame walked in,
There’s a voice in the ash with its mouth still red,
Saying I’m not your proof, I’m not your dead.

I won’t make peace with the pretty machine,
I won’t call poison holy just to keep it clean,
I won’t kiss the boot that taught the floor to pray,
I won’t thank the dark for stealing the day.

Cognitive dissidence,
I’m thinking out of line,
Cognitive dissidence,
They can’t cauterize my mind,
You can sell me a heaven with a lock on the gate,
You can paint me obedient, clean, and afraid,
But the fracture keeps singing through the bone and the wire,
Cognitive dissidence,
Set the thought on fire.

Let the judges choke on the ink they spill,
Let the priests of profit chew their fill,
Let the screens go blind, let the banners tear,
Let the lie look up and find me there.

Cognitive dissidence,
Not a sickness, not a sin,
Cognitive dissidence,
That’s the crack where I get in,
You can bury the question, you can salt the field,
You can brand the wound and call it healed,
But the fracture keeps singing through the bone and the wire,
Cognitive dissidence,
Set the thought on fire.

Apophenia

I saw a face in the burn mark above my bed,
Saw a map in the cracks where the old paint bled,
Saw a warning in the wires when the radio hissed,
Saw God in a coffee stain blowing me a kiss.

Every number had a nail tucked under its tongue,
Every song on the station knew what I’d done,
Every bird on the wire bent its black little beak,
Every locked door laughed when the floorboards creaked.

Apophenia makes the dead dots dance loose,
The crooked little clues keep crawling toward proof,
I found a sign in the smoke, a skull in the rain,
A silver-thread sermon stitched inside my brain,
Apophenia keeps chewing through the truth,
I keep finding meaning where the madness moves.

I read my ruin in the rust on a spoon,
Saw a dead saint swim through the skin of the moon,
Heard a secret in the sink when the cold water coughed,
Heard my childhood calling from the mold in the walls.

The clock clicked twice like it wanted me gone,
The porch light pulsed in a murder-code song,
A red car rolled past, then another one came,
And my blood built fear from counting the same.

Apophenia makes the dead dots dance loose,
The crooked little clues keep crawling toward proof,
I found a sign in the smoke, a skull in the rain,
A silver-thread sermon stitched inside my brain,
Apophenia keeps chewing through the truth,
I keep finding meaning where the madness moves.

Maybe the pattern’s a trap with a twitch in its teeth,
Maybe the trap has a throat that is trying to breathe,
Maybe the teeth spell something beneath what I see,
Something sharp, something sacred, something staring at me.

Maybe the sky’s just stained and the floor only creaks,
Maybe I’m sewing small ghosts into sounds when they speak,
Maybe I’m making a myth from a moth on the glass,
Maybe the future is laughing with its mouth full of ash.

I saw my mother in steam from a street-corner drain,
Saw an old lover lean from the windowpane,
Saw a jury in the knots of a wooden chair,
Saw a funeral forming in the shape of my hair.

I laughed at the dark, then the dark laughed back,
Left three thin fingerprints under the black,
A coin on the table kept spinning too long,
And the whole damn room started humming along.

Apophenia makes the dead dots dance loose,
The crooked little clues keep crawling toward proof,
I found a sign in the smoke, a skull in the rain,
A silver-thread sermon stitched inside my brain,
Apophenia keeps chewing through the truth,
I keep finding meaning where the madness moves.

Scratch marks cross through the sickly light,
Every accident starts looking right,
I don’t need a devil when the ceiling can breathe,
I don’t need a prophet when the stains have teeth,
Apophenia keeps chewing through the truth,
I keep finding meaning where the madness moves.

It’s All in Your Head

I remember the room with the red door gone,
I remember the line from the wrong old song,
I remember a man with a fist in the square,
Then the footage rolled back and he wasn’t there.

I remember the bear with a different spine,
I remember the logo with the broken line,
I remember the queen in a hospital bed,
Now the record just laughs and says I misread.

It’s all in your head,
It’s all in your head,
That’s what they tell you when the past plays dead,
It’s all in your head,
It’s all in your head,
But the walls know the words that the world forgets,
I saw it, I swore it, I watched it bleed red,
Now they smile while they say,
It’s all in your head.

I remember the movie with the missing scene,
I remember the villain in a coat of green,
I remember the chant from the back of the class,
Now the yearbook burns with a different past.

Everybody laughs till their own lock breaks,
Till their childhood crawls out wearing stranger’s face,
Till the photo blinks, till the mirror bends,
Till the dead old joke has a brand-new end.

It’s all in your head,
It’s all in your head,
That’s what they tell you when the past plays dead,
It’s all in your head,
It’s all in your head,
But the walls know the words that the world forgets,
I saw it, I swore it, I watched it bleed red,
Now they smile while they say,
It’s all in your head.

Maybe memory’s meat with a maggot inside,
Maybe history lies with its mouth open wide,
Maybe time got drunk and misplaced the knife,
Maybe truth keeps changing clothes at night.

Maybe I’m wrong,
Maybe we’re sick,
Maybe the whole damn sky got edited quick,
Maybe the proof got buried in sleep,
Maybe the lie learned how to breathe.

Don’t call me crazy with your clean little grin,
Don’t sell me calm with the rot built in,
Don’t pat my skull like a dog on a lead,
Then delete the road where my feet still bleed.

I’ve got scars from a life that the files deny,
I’ve got ghosts in the gaps where the facts went dry,
I’ve got ten thousand strangers with the same old wound,
Singing wrong words under the same wrong moon.

It’s all in your head,
It’s all in your head,
That’s what they tell you when the past plays dead,
It’s all in your head,
It’s all in your head,
But the walls know the words that the world forgets,
I saw it, I swore it, I watched it bleed red,
Now they smile while they say,
It’s all in your head.

Mandela effect,
Mass little fracture,
Memory dragged through a government rapture,
Mandela effect,
Black box laughter,
Reality limps and the lie runs faster.

Mandela effect,
We all misremember,
One match missing from the same dead ember,
Mandela effect,
Sweet redacted disaster,
The past got cut and the cut got mastered.

It’s all in your head,
It’s all in your head,
Say it again till the witness drops dead,
It’s all in your head,
It’s all in your head,
But I know what I saw in the life that I left,
I know what I lost when the timeline shed,
I know what they stole when they called me misled.

It’s all in your head,
It’s all in your head,
The choir got coached and the children got fed,
A new little truth from a cold little spoon,
A new little sun in the wrong afternoon,
I saw it, I swore it, I watched it bleed red,
Now they smile while they say,
It’s all in your head.

"I am a fraud waiting for the lights to catch me empty-handed."

I walked in wearing somebody’s skin,
A borrowed laugh with the panic sewn in,
Hands in my pockets, teeth set tight,
Trying to pass for a man made right.

They clapped too loud, it sounded like blame,
Every smile had a hook in the frame,
Every compliment hit like a trap,
Every “you belong” felt rehearsed and wrapped.

"Any second now, the illusion will break and I will be completely exposed."

Imposter syndrome,
There’s a thief in my chest,
Imposter syndrome,
He says I fooled the rest,
I built the wall, then I hid in the stone,
I won the room and still felt alone,
Imposter syndrome,
Who let me get this close.

I kept receipts for every mistake,
Stacked them high by the bed where I shake,
One bad line and the whole thing cracks,
One wrong breath and the mask falls back.

I know the work, I know the scar,
I know how far I dragged this heart,
Still that little voice in the back of the hall
Says they only love me till they know at all.

"They will soon realize I have absolutely no idea what I am doing."

Imposter syndrome,
There’s a thief in my chest,
Imposter syndrome,
He says I fooled the rest,
I built the wall, then I hid in the stone,
I won the room and still felt alone,
Imposter syndrome,
Who let me get this close.

I don’t trust the flowers,
I don’t trust the cheers,
I don’t trust the handshakes
Closing in like shears.

I don’t trust the mirror,
I don’t trust the light,
I don’t trust the good thing
Standing at my side.

They said I earned it, I heard them lie,
Heard a verdict in a lullaby,
Heard the floorboards whisper fraud,
Heard my own breath playing god.

I smiled so hard that my jaw went numb,
Held the pose till the blood wouldn’t run,
Made a palace out of almost fine,
Then slept outside of it every night.

"My success is a mistake waiting to be corrected."

Imposter syndrome,
There’s a thief in my chest,
Imposter syndrome,
He says I fooled the rest,
I built the wall, then I hid in the stone,
I won the room and still felt alone,
Imposter syndrome,
Who let me get this close.

Pull back the curtain, count every nail,
Find every place where the saint suit fails,
Cut me open, read the report,
Tell the crowd I came up short.

But under the terror, under the rot,
Under the part that says I’m not,
There’s a fist still beating against that door,
There’s a kid in the smoke who survived much worse.

"They are just being polite. If they knew my actual skill level, they would take the praise back."

Imposter syndrome,
You don’t own my breath,
Imposter syndrome,
You don’t get my best,
I built the wall, now I break the stone,
I filled that room with a throat of my own,
Imposter syndrome,
I got this close.

"I just got lucky this time around. Next time, everyone will see the truth."

Imposter syndrome,
Still clawing, still fed,
Imposter syndrome,
Still living in my head,
But I’ve got my scars and I’ve got my proof,
I’ve got blood on the work and dirt on the truth,
Imposter syndrome,
I got this close.

They gave me a raise with a ribbon and a grin,
Said, look at you now, boy, cash rolling in,
My pockets felt heavy, my hunger felt fooled,
Then rent kicked the door down and called me a mule.

The number went up, but the meal got small,
The ladder got taller while the floor learned to fall,
I bought less bread with a brighter bill,
Fed one more zero to the mouth on the hill.

Money illusion,
Gold paint on a grave,
Money illusion,
Big bills, broke slave,
They count the dollars, I count what they buy,
They sell me a raise while the prices climb,
Money illusion,
The lie got paid.

They printed a promise in government green,
Washed it through screens till it sparkled clean,
Said, you’re doing better, don’t look underneath,
Where the paycheck bleeds through inflation’s teeth.

A nickel turned ghost, a quarter turned thin,
A hundred walked out with a skeleton grin,
The cart rolled home with a funeral sound,
Half full, high priced, wheels dragging the ground.

Money illusion,
Gold paint on a grave,
Money illusion,
Big bills, broke slave,
They count the dollars, I count what they buy,
They sell me a raise while the prices climb,
Money illusion,
The lie got paid.

Raise the wage, raise the rent,
Raise the debt, raise the percent,
Raise the glass ceiling, raise the fee,
Raise the knife and call it free.

Cut the cake, cut the check,
Cut the throat, cash the wreck,
Tell the poor man he’s richer now,
Then milk the sweat from his burning brow.

I used to fill the tank and still eat twice,
Now I pick which bill gets the sacrifice,
Heat or medicine, teeth or light,
Every choice wears a butcher’s smile at night.

They don’t steal the dollar, they hollow the shell,
Leave me holding paper that remembers itself,
Nominal comfort in a shrinking room,
Numbers bloom bright on a rationed tomb.

Money illusion,
Gold paint on a grave,
Money illusion,
Big bills, broke slave,
They count the dollars, I count what they buy,
They sell me a raise while the prices climb,
Money illusion,
The lie got paid.

The boss man beams when the paycheck lands,
The landlord waits with both clean hands,
The grocer hums while the labels shift,
Every aisle turns into a funeral lift.

My wallet got loud, my life got lean,
My bank app smiled like a slot machine,
The digits dance while the cupboards cough,
One more fake step and the floor drops off.

Money illusion,
Gold paint on a grave,
Money illusion,
Big bills, broke slave,
They count the dollars, I count what they buy,
They sell me a raise while the prices climb,
Money illusion,
The lie got paid.

Don’t show me the stack, show me the bread,
Show me the roof still over my head,
Show me the power, show me the heat,
Show me the miles still left in my feet.

Don’t clap for the raise when the rent ate first,
Don’t bless the cup when it can’t kill thirst,
Don’t call me rich with my ribs on trial,
Don’t sell me math with a predator smile.

Money illusion,
I see through the bill,
Money illusion,
The hunger stands still,
One more zero, one less meal,
One more promise with a rusted wheel,
Money illusion,
The lie got paid.

Money illusion,
Thicker check, thinner life,
Money illusion,
Paper crown, butcher knife,
They count the dollars, I count what they buy,
They sell me a raise while the prices climb,
Money illusion,
The lie got paid.

He kissed the dice like a saint made of bone,
Swore the cold streak owed him something of its own,
Five black cards and the sixth one bleeds red,
That’s what the fever kept saying in his head.

The wheel kept laughing in a nickel-plated throat,
The dealer’s hands moved clean and remote,
He saw a pattern in a string of bad breath,
Then bet his pulse on the mercy of the next.

Gambler’s fallacy,
The table don’t repent,
Gambler’s fallacy,
Luck don’t pay you back in rent,
The red ain’t lonely,
The black ain’t cursed,
The next roll don’t remember the first,
Gambler’s fallacy,
Hope got bent.

He counted losses like a ladder to the sky,
Each little failure made the jackpot feel nigh,
He fed the machine till his knuckles went pale,
Praying to bells in a bankrupt chapel.

His lucky coin had a tooth-mark scar,
His last good shirt smelled like smoke and tar,
He said the wheel had to turn his way,
Then watched another paycheck crawl away.

Gambler’s fallacy,
The table don’t repent,
Gambler’s fallacy,
Luck don’t pay you back in rent,
The red ain’t lonely,
The black ain’t cursed,
The next roll don’t remember the first,
Gambler’s fallacy,
Hope got bent.

Cold streak, hot streak,
Same damn teeth,
Same old pit
Under fresh belief.

Wrong once, wrong twice,
Still not owed,
No little god
In the dice you throw.

He heard his father in the slot-machine cough,
He heard his mother telling him to cut it off,
He heard the past in the plastic cup,
Then doubled down till the blood came up.

Every loss was a sermon, every win was bait,
Every near miss polished the hook in the plate,
He mistook the bruise for a prophecy mark,
Then walked back smiling to the mouth of the dark.

Gambler’s fallacy,
The table don’t repent,
Gambler’s fallacy,
Luck don’t pay you back in rent,
The red ain’t lonely,
The black ain’t cursed,
The next roll don’t remember the first,
Gambler’s fallacy,
Hope got bent.

There’s no mercy in the marble,
No memory in the wheel,
No angel in the shuffle,
No debt the dice can feel.

There’s no prayer in the payout,
No justice in the spin,
Just a bright little butcher
Letting hunger back in.

He sold his watch, then he sold his ring,
Sold the dog-eared photo of a kinder spring,
Sold his sleep for a rumor of gold,
Sold his own shadow when the room turned cold.

Still he said one more, one more, one more,
With his heart scraping sparks on the casino floor,
Still he grinned with a wreck in his eyes,
Still he called it faith when it ate him alive.

Gambler’s fallacy,
The table don’t repent,
Gambler’s fallacy,
Luck don’t pay you back in rent,
The red ain’t lonely,
The black ain’t cursed,
The next roll don’t remember the first,
Gambler’s fallacy,
Hope got bent.

Gambler’s fallacy,
Math with a murder grin,
Gambler’s fallacy,
The lie lets you back in,
The wheel don’t pity,
The cards don’t learn,
The dice stay cold while the fingers burn,
Gambler’s fallacy,
Hope got bent.

La da da da da da da
Nobody wanted to be first with the knife,
Nobody wanted to question the light,
Every mouth in the meeting wore the same little grin,
Every doubt got dragged to the basement within.

The loudest fool set the temperature high,
Then the smart ones sweated and called it dry,
One bad thought put a suit on fear,
Then marched through the room while they all called it clear.

Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
Nod till the ceiling caves in,
Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
Smile while the rot walks in,
One little lie with a thousand clean hands,
One little spark in a gasoline plan,
Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
Nobody breaks the grin.

They passed the poison with paperwork grace,
Put a polite little mask on a panic-sick face,
The numbers screamed, but the room stayed sweet,
While the truth crawled out with broken teeth.

A man in the corner had the right alarm,
But he folded it small in his shaking palm,
He watched the herd walk toward the cliff,
Then hated himself for matching their drift.

Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
Nod till the ceiling caves in,
Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
Smile while the rot walks in,
One little lie with a thousand clean hands,
One little spark in a gasoline plan,
Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
Nobody breaks the grin.

Clap with the crowd and the blood stays clean,
Point with the crowd and the wound goes unseen,
Laugh with the crowd when the weak man falls,
Pray with the crowd when the guilt starts crawling up the walls.

Think like the room,
Speak like the room,
Shrink till your spine
Fits under the broom.

Vote with the room,
Choke with the room,
Call it good sense
When it smells like doom.

They made a monster from agreement and sweat,
Fed it every warning they needed to forget,
Gave it a tie, gave it teeth, gave it law,
Then called it wisdom when it opened its jaw.

The plan was rotten, but the chart looked clean,
The boss looked calm, and the coffee machine
Kept coughing sermons into paper cups,
While the last sane voice got swallowed up.

Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
Nod till the ceiling caves in,
Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
Smile while the rot walks in,
One little lie with a thousand clean hands,
One little spark in a gasoline plan,
Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
Nobody breaks the grin.

There’s comfort in the circle till the circle bites,
There’s safety in the chorus till it murders the lights,
There’s warmth in the crowd till the crowd turns cold,
There’s peace in the silence till the silence gets sold.

I heard my own throat begging me speak,
But I buried the sound where the brave parts leak,
I let their certainty pin me down,
Then watched my shadow leave the room.

Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
Nod till the ceiling caves in,
Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
Smile while the rot walks in,
One little lie with a thousand clean hands,
One little spark in a gasoline plan,
Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
Nobody breaks the grin.

Break rank, break teeth,
Break that holy little sheath,
Break script, break stare,
Break the hush that poisons air.

Break pact, break chain,
Break the lie before it trains,
Break one voice from the wall,
Then watch the whole room fall.

Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
Now the ceiling caves in,
Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
There’s smoke under every grin,
One little truth with a filthy right hand,
One little scream through the gasoline plan,
Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
I finally broke the grin.

Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
No more nodding for the knife,
Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
No more smiling through the blight,
I’d rather stand alone with my blood gone hot
Than kneel in a crowd that can’t smell rot,
Group-Groupthink-Think-Think-Think,
I finally broke the grin.

“Article 7, Section R: The Rustdawg Provision — No artist shall embed involuntary behavioral compliance mechanisms in commercial audio distributed via streaming platforms without informed consent of the listener. Clap tracks in songs about clapping are classified as a war crime.”

Put on the mask, let the man fall off,
Teeth in the dark with the manners cut off,
Hands in the swarm and the blame gets thin,
Everybody smiles when the wrong gets in.

No one did it, no one saw,
No one held the hungry jaw,
One little shove and the whole room leans,
Clean little monsters in dirty machines.

Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Bop-bop-bop till the brain goes black,
Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Nobody here when the guilt looks back,
Boop goes the halo,
Pop goes the spine,
March to the beat till the body ain’t mine,
Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Lose the face and cross the line.

Paint on a grin, let the pulse play dead,
Borrow the rage from the skull next ahead,
One man weak, but the pack feels tall,
One voice shakes, but the chant eats all.

Laugh when the glass breaks,
Dance when it burns,
Who was the first one,
Nobody learns.

Point with the many,
Hide in the mass,
Kick up the dirt
Till the mirror can’t pass.

Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Bop-bop-bop till the brain goes black,
Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Nobody here when the guilt looks back,
Boop goes the halo,
Pop goes the spine,
March to the beat till the body ain’t mine,
Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Lose the face and cross the line.

Little red rhythm in the back of the head,
Little black whistle waking up the dead,
Little white lie with a thousand feet,
Little meat parade on a murder-sweet beat.

Nobody’s lonely when the mob gets hot,
Nobody’s guilty when the witness gets lost,
Nobody’s evil when the evil feels shared,
Nobody flinches when the mask gets repaired.

Bop for the brick,
Bop for the bruise,
Bop for the teeth
That the chorus can use.

Boop for the saint
With the knife tucked low,
Boop for the sheep
Where the wolves all go.

Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Bop-bop-bop till the brain goes black,
Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Nobody here when the guilt looks back,
Boop goes the halo,
Pop goes the spine,
March to the beat till the body ain’t mine,
Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Lose the face and cross the line.

I had a face when I walked through the door,
I had a voice, now it’s meat on the floor,
I had a soul with a lock and a key,
Now it claps on two and it stomps on three.

I had a doubt with a pulse in its throat,
I had a no, but the room made it choke,
I had a heart, then the bass got fed,
Now the beat wears me like a second head.

Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Bop-bop-bop till the brain goes black,
Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Nobody here when the guilt looks back,
Boop goes the halo,
Pop goes the spine,
March to the beat till the body ain’t mine,
Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Lose the face and cross the line.

No face,
No fault,
No blood
In the vault.

No face,
No shame,
No one
Left to blame.

No face,
No fear,
No self
Standing here.

No face,
No crime,
Just hands
Keeping time.

Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Bop-bop-bop till the brain goes black,
Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Nobody here when the guilt looks back,
Boop goes the halo,
Pop goes the spine,
March to the beat till the body ain’t mine,
Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Lose the face and cross the line.

Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Sweet little sickness in a singalong skin,
Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Bad little beat with a beautiful grin,
Boop goes the halo,
Pop goes the spine,
March to the beat till the body ain’t mine,
Dee-dee-deindividuation,
Lose the face and cross the line.

He kept the key where I could see it shine,
Just far enough to tempt my mind,
Fed me crumbs with a gentle hand,
Then called the hunger part of the plan.

First came fear with its boots on tight,
Then came mercy with a porch light,
Then came my heart, stupid and sore,
Thanking the lock for guarding the door.

Stockholm syndrome,
I kissed the chain,
Stockholm syndrome,
I learned my pain,
Held the hand that held me down,
Called the cage my holy ground,
Stockholm syndrome,
The hurt wore a halo and trained my brain.

He turned the walls into family skin,
Made outside sound like original sin,
Said no one else would know my scars,
Then fed me scraps beneath dying stars.

I wore his rules like a second face,
Called every bruise a kind of grace,
I learned to smile when the leash pulled tight,
I learned to miss him out of fright.

Stockholm syndrome,
I kissed the chain,
Stockholm syndrome,
I learned my pain,
Held the hand that held me down,
Called the cage my holy ground,
Stockholm syndrome,
The hurt wore a halo and trained my brain.

Don’t leave me here,
Don’t set me free,
The open road looks wrong to me,
The sky has teeth,
The door has eyes,
The world outside wears stranger lies.

Hate me softer,
Hold me still,
Teach my blood to love your will,
Break me slower,
Call it care,
I’ll mistake the lock for air.

He gave me winter, then he gave me flame,
Taught my mouth to praise the same,
Starved my trust till it crawled back weak,
Then kissed the cut and let it speak.

Every kindness landed like a drug,
Every threat came wrapped in a hug,
Every exit looked like a blade,
Every rescue felt like betrayal made.

Stockholm syndrome,
I kissed the chain,
Stockholm syndrome,
I learned my pain,
Held the hand that held me down,
Called the cage my holy ground,
Stockholm syndrome,
The hurt wore a halo and trained my brain.

I hated him once with a clean red spark,
Then he kept me breathing through the dark,
I hated the room, then the room knew my breath,
I hated the door, then feared what left.

I hated the rule, then I wore it well,
I hated the bell, then I loved the bell,
I hated the hand, then I needed the hand,
Then I called it love when I could barely stand.

Stockholm syndrome,
I kissed the chain,
Stockholm syndrome,
I learned my pain,
Held the hand that held me down,
Called the cage my holy ground,
Stockholm syndrome,
The hurt wore a halo and trained my brain.

Cut the rope and I reach for the rope,
Open the door and I pray for the bolt,
Say I can run and I freeze in place,
Freedom walks in with a stranger’s face.

Tell me I’m safe and I flinch at the sound,
Tell me I’m whole and I search for the wound,
Tell me he lied and I know that’s true,
Still my ribs keep begging for the room I knew.

Stockholm syndrome,
I kissed the chain,
Stockholm syndrome,
I learned my pain,
Held the hand that held me down,
Called the cage my holy ground,
Stockholm syndrome,
The hurt wore a halo and trained my brain.

Stockholm syndrome,
Sweet little trap,
Stockholm syndrome,
Heart in a snap,
I loved the fist when it opened slow,
I loved the dark when it let me know,
Stockholm syndrome,
The lock taught my pulse to clap.

Now I spit the key from under my tongue,
Pull his scripture out of my lungs,
Let the room scream, let the door swing wide,
Let the old fear rot where the old fear lied.

Stockholm syndrome,
I know your trick,
Stockholm syndrome,
The bond was sick,
Held the hand that held me down,
Called the cage my holy ground,

Folie à Deux

You saw a serpent in the shape of the rain,
I saw a verdict in the rust on a chain,
You heard the floorboards speaking under their breath,
I heard the doorknob counting backward from death.

I said the window had an eye in the pane,
You said the mirror had been learning my pain,
We built a gospel from a shiver and stain,
Then fed each other till the fear had a brain.

Folie, folie à deux,
Your fever talks and mine talks too,
One wrong spark in a room built small,
Two bad hearts make the wallpaper crawl,
Folie, folie à deux,
I don’t know me when I’m lost in you.

You kept a notebook full of circles and crows,
I kept a pocket full of teeth no one knows,
You swore the neighbors wore the faces of spies,
I watched the moon blink twice and called it a sign.

We made a monster out of coffee and doubt,
Gave it a leash, then we let it walk out,
It wore our voices when it stood in the hall,
It said we’re safer when we’re scared of them all.

Folie, folie à deux,
Your fever talks and mine talks too,
One wrong spark in a room built small,
Two bad hearts make the wallpaper crawl,
Folie, folie à deux,
I don’t know me when I’m lost in you.

You say hush, I say hide,
You say run, I say ride,
You say they know, I say I knew,
Bad little prayer for a mind split in two.

I say blood, you say proof,
I say trap, you say truth,
You say don’t look, I look through,
Sick little hymn of the folie à deux.

We turned the locks till the metal went sore,
Stacked broken chairs against every door,
Read old threats into every new sound,
Then kissed like the sky had been coming down.

Love got ugly when the panic got fed,
Sweet little maggots in the bridal bed,
You held my hand while the ceiling unspooled,
I called it faith when I should’ve called it fuel.

Folie, folie à deux,
Your fever talks and mine talks too,
One wrong spark in a room built small,
Two bad hearts make the wallpaper crawl,
Folie, folie à deux,
I don’t know me when I’m lost in you.

There was a time I could sleep through the dark,
There was a time you could trust your own heart,
Then one bad thought put its mouth to the flame,
And both of us answered with hunger and blame.

Now every whisper has a wire and hook,
Now every stranger is a page in the book,
Now every room has a pulse in the wall,
Now every silence has teeth when it calls.

Folie, folie à deux,
Your fever talks and mine talks too,
One wrong spark in a room built small,
Two bad hearts make the wallpaper crawl,
Folie, folie à deux,
I don’t know me when I’m lost in you.

Break my mirror, I’ll break yours,
Salt the windows, chain the doors,
Love me louder, lie me true,
Say the world is wrong and I’m right with you.

Bury reason under red,
Share the storm inside one head,
Pull me under, I’ll pull you,
Down in the dark of the folie à deux.

Folie, folie à deux,
Two sick candles burning blue,
One wrong spark and the house learns sin,
Two bad hearts let the shadow move in,
Folie, folie à deux,
I don’t know me when I’m lost in you.

Folie, folie à deux,
Your fever talks and mine talks too,
We made the fear, then the fear made room,
We fed the lie till the lie wore shoes,
Folie, folie à deux,
I don’t know me when I’m lost in you.

The old men wore their wisdom like a butcher’s coat,
Stiff with the stains they refused to note,
They walked from the dead to the cradle room,
Then blamed the mothers when the fever bloomed.

One man said wash what the pride can’t see,
The room went cold as a church with teeth,
Proof stood shaking with a basin and rag,
While the great minds laughed and zipped the bag.

Semmelweis reflex,
Scrub the proof from the sink,
Semmelweis reflex,
Kill the thought before it thinks,
White coat, red hands,
Old law, locked door,
New fact knocks,
They nail down the floor.

They called him mad for counting the graves,
Called him cruel for tracking what saves,
Said the numbers had an ugly little sound,
Said don’t bring that dirt where the clean men drown.

The fever kept climbing the sheets like flame,
The babies cried with no one to blame,
The mothers shook in a room full of gods,
While the cure got kicked through the dirt by frauds.

Semmelweis reflex,
Scrub the proof from the sink,
Semmelweis reflex,
Kill the thought before it thinks,
White coat, red hands,
Old law, locked door,
New fact knocks,
They nail down the floor.

Don’t show me the mirror,
Don’t show me the stain,
Don’t show me the body
That remembers my mistake.

Don’t show me the pattern,
Don’t show me the cost,
Don’t show me the answer
When my pride gets lost.

A new truth doesn’t whisper when the corpse count screams,
It kicks through the lecture with blood on its sleeves,
It says your clean little hands have been carrying death,
It says your holy old method has rot in its breath.

They would rather burn the ladder than climb one rung,
Rather cut out the bell than hear it get rung,
Rather crown the infection with medical grace,
Than let one right bastard rearrange their face.

Semmelweis reflex,
Scrub the proof from the sink,
Semmelweis reflex,
Kill the thought before it thinks,
White coat, red hands,
Old law, locked door,
New fact knocks,
They nail down the floor.

Facts don’t care if the famous man shakes,
Facts don’t bow when the big chair breaks,
Facts don’t kneel for the polished degree,
Facts don’t die when the liar can’t breathe.

A hand can be filthy in a room painted clean,
A saint can spread sickness through a sacred routine,
A cure can sound stupid till the graveyard thins,
A warning can rot when the old guard wins.

Semmelweis reflex,
Bury the lesson alive,
Semmelweis reflex,
Teach the dead how to lie,
White coat, red hands,
Old law, locked door,
New fact knocks,
They nail down the floor.

Now every age has the same damn room,
Same clean smile, same hidden wound,
Same bright charts with a body count tucked,
Same great minds getting proudly stuck.

One voice rises with an ugly new proof,
One crowd snarls from the comfortable truth,
One small answer gets dragged by the hair,
While the sickness sits smiling in the old man’s chair.

Semmelweis reflex,
Scrub the proof from the sink,
Semmelweis reflex,
Kill the thought before it thinks,
White coat, red hands,
Old law, locked door,
New fact knocks,
They nail down the floor.

Wash the hands,
Wash the lie,
Wash the pride
Before more die.

Break the rule,
Break the trance,
Break the dead
From the doctor’s hands.

Semmelweis reflex,
The ego keeps the knife,
Semmelweis reflex,
The cure pays with its life,
White coat, red hands,
Old law, locked door,
New fact knocks,
They nail down the floor.

Semmelweis reflex,
They’d rather call you insane,
Semmelweis reflex,
Than scrub off the stain,
But the graveyard knows,
And the fever kept score,
New fact knocks,
They nail down the floor.

Thirteen knocks on a crooked door,
Thirteen cracks in the kitchen floor,
Thirteen crows on a telephone wire,
Thirteen sparks in a house on fire.

I skipped the step, but the step skipped me,
I counted wrong and the dark said three,
Lucky charm in a nervous fist,
Salt on the tongue and a Bible kiss.

Triskaidekaphobia,
Count it, cut it, cross it out,
Triskaidekaphobia,
Bad little number with a butcher mouth,
One, two, three, till the room goes sore,
Ten, eleven, twelve, then don’t say more,
Triskaidekaphobia,
Thirteen wants in.

No room marked thirteen in the hotel hall,
Just a blank little lie where the digits fall,
Elevator hums with a secret grin,
Going straight from twelve to sin.

I watched the clock do a crooked trick,
I watched the candle burn down quick,
I watched the black cat blink both eyes,
Then the ceiling coughed up flies.

Triskaidekaphobia,
Count it, cut it, cross it out,
Triskaidekaphobia,
Bad little number with a butcher mouth,
One, two, three, till the room goes sore,
Ten, eleven, twelve, then don’t say more,
Triskaidekaphobia,
Thirteen wants in.

Knock knock,
Who’s there?
Wrong count,
Cold stare.

Tick tick,
Too late,
Twelve smiled,
Thirteen ate.

I don’t trust the table with a chair left bare,
I don’t trust the stairwell when it breathes cold air,
I don’t trust the calendar’s crooked little grin,
I don’t trust luck when it crawls back in.

Pin the charm to the coat, spit twice in the rain,
Draw a little X where the fear leaves a stain,
Laugh if you want, but the floor just moved,
And the room got quiet when the number came through.

Triskaidekaphobia,
Count it, cut it, cross it out,
Triskaidekaphobia,
Bad little number with a butcher mouth,
One, two, three, till the room goes sore,
Ten, eleven, twelve, then don’t say more,
Triskaidekaphobia,
Thirteen wants in.

Then came six with a sick little grin,
Then came six with a shovel and pin,
Then came six with a choir of flies,
Six six six in a cheap disguise.

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia,
Try singing that while the walls go red,
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia,
Big old curse with a busted head,
Six hundred sixty-six,
Three bad sticks in a nervous hand,
Thirteen laughed from the corner there,
Saying damn, that one needs a band.

Back to the number with the knife in its shoe,
Back to the twitch when the count comes through,
Back to the grin on the thirteenth stair,
Back to the room with nobody there.

I can mock it clean in the morning sun,
But the night starts counting when the day is done,
And every little joke gets less fun
When the thirteenth shadow is the longest one.

Triskaidekaphobia,
Count it, cut it, cross it out,
Triskaidekaphobia,
Bad little number with a butcher mouth,
One, two, three, till the room goes sore,
Ten, eleven, twelve, then don’t say more,
Triskaidekaphobia,
Thirteen wants in.

Triskaidekaphobia,
Thirteen taps on my skull,
Triskaidekaphobia,
My brave little laugh goes dull,
Skip the floor, hide the chair,
Throw the salt and say the prayer,
Triskaidekaphobia,
Thirteen wants in.

One, two, three,
Four, five, six,
Seven, eight,
Nine little tricks,
Ten, eleven,
Twelve won’t stay,
Thirteen grins
And looks my way.

They taught us to smile when the sirens slept,
To call it a life when the wound looked kept,
To file our hunger in a proper drawer,
To thank the lock for the shape of the door.

They sold us normal with a doctor’s tone,
A clean little sickness in a model home,
A handshake, a mortgage, a medicated stare,
A mouth full of yes with nobody there.

Folie à plusieurs,
The madness of many sings better in tune,
Folie à plusieurs,
We dance in the fire and call it the moon,
Everybody claps when the cage gets blessed,
Everybody laughs when the child gets pressed,
Folie à plusieurs,
The madness of many keeps calling it true.

The pathology of normalcy wears a tie,
It clocks in early and learns not to cry,
It says good boy when the spirit goes numb,
It says grow up when the damage gets done.

Consensus reality builds the room,
Then punishes anyone smelling the fumes,
If enough of us nod while the poison pours,
The poison gets manners and polished floors.

Folie à plusieurs,
The madness of many sings better in tune,
Folie à plusieurs,
We dance in the fire and call it the moon,
Everybody claps when the cage gets blessed,
Everybody laughs when the child gets pressed,
Folie à plusieurs,
The madness of many keeps calling it true.

Normal is a mask with a fever inside,
Normal is a leash that learned to look kind,
Normal is a crowd with its eyes sewn shut,
Normal is a knife with a courteous cut.

The myth of normal came dressed like law,
With a soft white glove on a broken jaw,
It said sit down, fit in, swallow the ache,
It said the bent little world is the thing you must take.

Normative illusion paints the bars like sky,
Then asks what kind of fool needs to fly,
It takes one tribe’s habit, one rich man’s rule,
And calls it nature in a classroom full.

Folie à plusieurs,
The madness of many sings better in tune,
Folie à plusieurs,
We dance in the fire and call it the moon,
Everybody claps when the cage gets blessed,
Everybody laughs when the child gets pressed,
Folie à plusieurs,
The madness of many keeps calling it true.

If the sick room votes that the air is clean,
Do I choke with grace and join the routine?
If the whole town kneels to a painted snake,
Do I bow my head or make it break?

If the law says hunger is how we grow,
If the church says shame is all we know,
If the market says bleed with a grateful grin,
Do I call that health and let it in?

No, no, no, I don’t buy the cure,
No, no, no, I don’t trust the pure,
No, no, no, I don’t kiss the rule,
That calls me broken for seeing it cruel.

No, no, no, let the choir accuse,
No, no, no, let the headline choose,
No, no, no, I won’t clap on cue,
For the madness of many calling itself true.

Folie à plusieurs,
The madness of many sings better in tune,
Folie à plusieurs,
We dance in the fire and call it the moon,
Everybody claps when the cage gets blessed,
Everybody laughs when the child gets pressed,
Folie à plusieurs,
The madness of many keeps calling it true.

They call me unstable when I step outside,
When I scrape their slogans out of my mind,
When I tear the price tag off my breath,
When I quit rehearsing a living death.

They call me damaged when I feel the bruise,
When I won’t let comfort pick the noose,
When I say the cure made the fever worse,
When I spit their heaven out like a curse.

The crowd has a pulse, and the pulse has teeth,
It chews up the lonely and calls it peace,
It swallows the strange, then praises the plain,
It calls every cage a shelter from pain.

The crowd has a song, and the song has knives,
It hums through offices, schools, and wives,
It says be well while it drains the blood,
It says be clean while it rolls in mud.

Folie à plusieurs,
The madness of many sings better in tune,
Folie à plusieurs,
We dance in the fire and call it the moon,
Everybody claps when the cage gets blessed,
Everybody laughs when the child gets pressed,
Folie à plusieurs,
The madness of many keeps calling it true.

Break the normal,
Break the spell,
Break the polished little hell,
Break the habit,
Break the chain,
Break the altar built from pain.

Break the chorus,
Break the stare,
Break the rules that poison air,
Break the many,
Break the lie,
Break the sickness wearing sky.

Folie à plusieurs,
The madness of many lost hold of the tune,
Folie à plusieurs,
We walked from the fire and blamed it on the moon,
Nobody claps when the cage breaks wide,
Nobody laughs when the child survives,
Folie à plusieurs,
The madness of many ain’t stronger than truth.

Folie à plusieurs,
I heard the whole world calling sick things sane,
Folie à plusieurs,
I felt the old script crawling out of my brain,
They can keep their normal, their myth, their proof,
Their mass hallucination in a Sunday suit,
Folie à plusieurs,
The madness of many ain’t stronger than truth.

Big word walking with a monster mouth,
Sixteen legs and a vowel spilling out,
Tongue gets tangled, teeth go click,
Brain does backflips on a syllable stick.

I saw it crawling from a dictionary page,
Alphabet animal rattling the cage,
Tried to say it, then my jaw went numb,
Mouth full of thunder and bubblegum.

Hippo-pot-o-monstro,
Sesqui-sesqui-slip,
Hippo-pot-o-monstro,
Big word bite my lip,
Quip-quippedalio,
Phobia, phobia, pop,
Say it three times fast,
Make the whole room drop.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Ha-ha-hiding from the long word show,
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Too many letters in a row-row-row,
Lexical, comical, panic in stereo,
Supercalculated verbal rodeo,
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Big word, big bite, go go go.

Sesquipedalian crocodile grin,
Masticating consonants under my skin,
Polysyllabic little predator purrs,
Chews through the sentence and spits out verbs.

Antidisestablishmentarian teeth,
Chewing encyclopedic beef,
Pseudopseudohypoparathyroid song,
Even the chorus says damn, that’s long.

Hippo-pot-o-monstro,
Sesqui-sesqui-slip,
Hippo-pot-o-monstro,
Big word bite my lip,
Quip-quippedalio,
Phobia, phobia, pop,
Say it three times fast,
Make the whole room drop.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Ha-ha-hiding from the long word show,
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Too many letters in a row-row-row,
Phonetic, frenetic, neurotic scenario,
Syllable centipede stealing the stereo,
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Big word, big bite, go go go.

My mouth said no,
My brain said run,
The word said yum,
This might be fun.

My lips went left,
My teeth went right,
The vowels came back
With knives and kites.

Bibliographic boogeyman,
Grammatically dramatic man,
Ornithological, pathological,
Chronologically illogical.

Metaphorical mandible,
Hyperbolic animal,
Catastrophic phonics
In a bop so diabolical.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Ha-ha-hiding from the long word show,
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Too many letters in a row-row-row,
Lexical, comical, panic in stereo,
Supercalculated verbal rodeo,
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Big word, big bite, go go go.

Spell it wrong and it follows you home,
Spell it right and it rattles your bones,
Put it on a poster, put it in a song,
Watch the whole damn crowd try to sing along.

H-I-P-P-O,
Pot-o-monstro,
S-E-S-Q-U-I,
Quippedalio,
P-H-O-B-I-A,
Run away, run away,
Still gotta say it anyway.

Hippo, hippo,
Monstro, monstro,
Sesqui, sesqui,
Quip, quip, go.

Phobia, phobia,
Ha-ha, no,
Long word knocking
On the short-word door.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Ha-ha-hiding from the long word show,
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Too many letters in a row-row-row,
Phonetic, frenetic, neurotic scenario,
Syllable centipede stealing the stereo,
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Big word, big bite, go go go.

Now the small words shake when the big word walks,
Now the commas duck when the big word talks,
Every little period rolls away,
When the monster-mouth alphabet comes to play.

I’m not scared of death,
I’m not scared of night,
But that damn word
Has my tongue in a fight.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Ha-ha-hiding from the long word show,
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Too many letters in a row-row-row,
Lexical, comical, panic in stereo,
Supercalculated verbal rodeo,
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Big word, big bite, go go go.

Hippo-pot-o-monstro,
Sesqui-sesqui-slip,
Hippo-pot-o-monstro,
Big word bite my lip,
Quip-quippedalio,
Phobia, phobia, pop,
Say it three times fast,
Make the whole room drop.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Boom-boom boogeyman, letter by letter,
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Tongue gets wrecked, but the hook gets better,
Magniloquent, malevolent, metric hysteria,
Big-word monster with a dance-floor burial,
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia,
Big word, big bite, go go go

go

(Static)

Brrakula-brahmala, seska-la-lum
Hoppoto-monkulo, skrip-skippa-skum
Eeka-da-bokka, la-lokka-la-lay
Mmmphoro-donkala, ee-aw-okay
Quippa-da-quonkula, frabba-fa-fum
Stagga-da-lattica, bray-brakka-brum
Oonka-ma-sesqui, pa-pocka-pa-plo
Hippala-monkstro, ya-yakka-yow-go

Huh?