[Intro: lone marching snare, slow piano chords] [Male, theatrical, dry, spoken] They called Grandpa silent. They called me selfish. Same magazine. [Male, theatrical croon, slow] Raise up the casket, we're burying the dream~ [Verse 1: marching drums, crunchy guitars, piano, Male, theatrical, sneering, building] Grandpa ducked the Bomb, I ducked a trench coat in the hall Lights off, door locked, underneath the "Hang in There" on the wall Rolled the towers in on a TV cart before the bell Rolled the class clown out to Fallujah, rolled him back a shell Set an away message in oh-four, and it's still up in my head AOL pulled the plug in seventeen, and my screen name's dead [Pre-Chorus: drums build, Female, bright, anxious, rising] Handed us the trophy, said we're special, said we're gold Then you made us "Me Me Me" for keeping what you sold [Chorus: full band, choir swells, gang vocals, Male, belting, Female harmony] I DID EVERYTHING YOU TOLD ME~ Signed the loan and chased the dream Now the loan's the only thing that holds me~ Bachelor's degree in whipping cream I DID EVERYTHING YOU TOLD ME~ SO WHY'S THE WORLD SO COLD TO ME~ [Verse 2: marching drums, crunchy guitars, Male, theatrical, mocking] Walked across the stage into nineteen percent unemployed Interned for free so the résumé could fill the void Every point of unemployment took eight off my first check Still taking two at forty, like a leash around my neck Moved back home with Mom and Dad till the bank came to repossess Packed my childhood in a U-Haul and forwarded the address [Chorus: full band, choir swells, gang vocals, Male, belting, Female harmony] I DID EVERYTHING YOU TOLD ME~ Crashed at graduation, crashed again in quarantine Now the loan's the only thing that holds me~ Unluckiest generation that the papers ever seen I DID EVERYTHING YOU TOLD ME~ SO WHY'S THE WORLD SO COLD TO ME~ [Verse 3: half-time, heavy guitars and piano stabs, Male, bitter, theatrical] Thirty-four when the world shut down at fourteen-point-seven percent Got laid off on a Zoom call, I was muted when they went [Female, bright, anxious, fast] Said we killed the napkin and the diamond and the Applebee's [Male, sneering] Funny how the starter home got killed by the ones holding all the keys [Chorus: full band, choir swells, gang vocals, Male, belting, Female harmony] I DID EVERYTHING YOU TOLD ME~ Skipped the nineteen-dollar toast and the four-dollar caffeine Now the loan's the only thing that holds me~ Still forty grand short, scrolling houses on a screen I DID EVERYTHING YOU TOLD ME~ SO WHY'S THE WORLD SO COLD TO ME~ [Bridge: band drops out, piano and strings only, Male, tender croon] Learned to scream from my big brother in his flannel and his fuzz Took the scream and gave it eyeliner, made a funeral of what was [Female, soft, tender] Can't mail the package, can't return the dentist's call It's not lazy, it's the weather, it's the background hum of it all [Male, tender croon, breaking] Grandpa never said a word about the war Now I pay a stranger by the hour to say what he couldn't before [Build: marching snare roll, choir rising, guitars crashing in] [Male, building to a scream] Strike up the band and wake the dead, somebody has to say it SAY IT OUT LOUD~ SAY IT OUT LOUD~ SAY IT OUT LOUD~ [Instrumental Break: soaring melodic guitar solo over marching drums and choir, no vocals] . [Final Chorus: full band, choir, gang vocals, Male, screamed, cathartic, Female harmony] I DID EVERYTHING YOU TOLD ME~ Didn't sell you the hustle, kid, it was the last thing on the shelf Now the loan's the only thing that holds me~ Fed says we split eleven percent, so I'll split it with you myself I DID EVERYTHING YOU TOLD ME~ SO WHY'S THE WORLD SO COLD TO ME~ [Outro: lone piano, marching snare fading] [Female, soft, tender] Grandpa never said it... [Male, tender croon] So we said it for him~ [Male, dry, spoken] brb. [End]
