# Club Fed Blues [Intro – spoken] They called it a deal. A deal implies both sides came to bargain. [Verse 1] They stacked a lifetime on the table, Then pronounced each number slow: “Sign your name and take these years, Or take your chances—never go.” Freedom was the wager, And fear became the proof. The process started punishing me Long before they learned the truth. [Pre-Chorus] When dying there’s the other choice, A plea ain’t freely made. That’s surrender with a signature— But everybody calls it trade. [Chorus] I’ve got the Club Fed blues, Where mercy wears a price. One man traded names for daylight; Another paid with half his life. They call the sentence justice Like the numbers make it true. But a softer name won’t open steel— I’ve got the Club Fed blues. [Verse 2 – rhythmic] Memory became merchandise; Every name could purchase time. The first one through the government’s door Got the shortest hill to climb. Same conspiracy, same courtroom, Different years beneath the gavel. One went home before the dust cleared; One grew old inside the gravel. Cooperate, corroborate, Say whatever makes it fit. When mercy has a market value, Truth gets priced by who sells it. And a whisper that you helped them Can put a price upon your breath— Caught between a life sentence And a different kind of death. [Chorus] I’ve got the Club Fed blues, Where mercy wears a price. One man traded names for daylight; Another paid with half his life. They call the sentence justice Like the numbers make it true. But a softer name won’t open steel— I’ve got the Club Fed blues. [Verse 3] I surrendered on a Tuesday With my documents and pride. Hugged my people like a funeral, Then walked through the door outside. There was no chase and no resistance, No last stand and no disguise. I arrived there under my own power And watched the gate erase the sky. Then came numbers, counts and headchecks, Concrete mornings, sleepless nights. You learn to hear a room go silent; You learn when not to meet their eyes. You learn a bunk can be a kingdom, That a letter can be air— And the ones who swear they won’t forget you Slowly disappear. [Bridge – stripped] Some men did more and served less. Some did less and lost their lives. There’s no arithmetic in mercy When survival testifies. [Verse 4 – building] The gate returned my body, But the sentence followed home. The world had changed its passwords; Everyone I knew had grown. Every application asked me To confess it all again. Some doors don’t need a lock or bars To tell you, “You can’t come in.” Supervised and scrutinized, Still sleeping toward the door, Still waking for a headcount That they don’t conduct anymore. They said I paid my debt in full, But the interest still came due. Freedom isn’t where the bars end— It’s believing that they do. [Final Chorus] I’ve got the Club Fed blues, They followed me outside. One man’s past becomes a footnote; Another wears his till he dies. They call a sentence finished When the paperwork goes through— But the cage can keep on living In the things they won’t let you do. I’ve got the Club Fed blues, But I’m more than what they knew. They took the years they came to take— They don’t get the rest of me too. [Outro – spoken] They opened the gate. I’m still teaching myself To walk through it. ---
