They tell me put my money in the market, Watch the numbers climb and climb, Buy a piece of somebody's empire, Let the profits multiply. They say the Dow is just a number, Just a ticker on a screen, But every number has a story That the numbers never speak. Somewhere behind the quarterly earnings, There's a worker on the line, Building things the world keeps buying While the owners count the dime. And I can't sit here celebrating Every dollar that I make If the price somebody else is paying Is a life they couldn't take. **[Chorus]** **I don't want blood money Sitting in my hands. I don't want to get rich From somebody else's pain. You can keep your golden numbers, You can keep your rising stocks. If the price of making millions Is a human life being lost.** **I want guardrails on the highway. I want conscience in the machine. I want people over profit When the numbers turn obscene. If we're building the future, Then the future better care— Because no innovation is worth it If there's nobody left to share.** **[Verse 2]** They built the modern world with factories, With steel and sweat and time, And now we're building something faster, Something smarter by design. Artificial intelligence, Robots working through the night, Algorithms making fortunes While we're asking who's alright. I don't want to demonize invention. I don't want to stop the wheel. I just want the people turning it To know somebody sees how they feel. If an Apple leaves a factory, If a product leaves a line, I want the person who assembled it To come home at quitting time. **[Chorus]** **I don't want blood money Sitting in my hands. I don't want to get rich From somebody else's pain. You can keep your golden numbers, You can keep your rising stocks. If the price of making millions Is a human life being lost.** **I want guardrails on the highway. I want conscience in the machine. I want people over profit When the numbers turn obscene. If we're building the future, Then the future better care— Because no innovation is worth it If there's nobody left to share.** **[Bridge — The Question]** What is a company worth If the people making it suffer? What is a stock worth If the human cost is hidden? What is progress If the people left behind Are the ones who paid for it? And what good is wealth If I have to close my eyes To enjoy it? **[Verse 3]** Maybe I could make a fortune If I learned to look away, If I treated every worker Like another line item on a page. Maybe I could sleep much easier If I never asked who's hurt, But I don't want an easy conscience Bought with somebody else's work. I don't want to be the investor Who only sees the quarterly gain. I want to know the hands behind it, I want to know the human name. Because behind every factory, Behind every glowing screen, There's somebody trying to live a life Just like you and me. **[Final Chorus]** **I don't want blood money. I don't want wealth that blinds. I don't want someone else's suffering Hidden underneath the line. Let the market keep on moving. Let invention reach the sky. But build a world where human beings Don't have to break to make it fly.** **Put guardrails on the future. Put compassion in the code. Let the machines increase our power Without increasing someone's load. Let the workers come home living. Let their families see the night. Let the people who build tomorrow Have a tomorrow of their own in sight.** **[Outro]** So if I ever make a fortune, Let me know where it came from. Let me ask who paid the price. Let me look beyond the numbers Before I celebrate the rise. Because I don't want to stand On a mountain made of money And discover at the top— **That I traded human dignity For another point on the stock.** Give me wealth with a conscience. Give me progress with a soul. Give me innovation with guardrails. Give me something worth more Than gold. **And if the market asks me What I'm willing to sacrifice—** I'll answer: **"Not a human life."**
