[Intro - fluorescent hum, ticking clock, distant office chatter] [Automated female voice, unnaturally cheerful] Welcome to the Department of Acceptable Emotions. Your humanity is important to us. Please take a number. [Mechanical click] Your estimated waiting time is... [Pause] The rest of your life. [STAMP] DENIED! [Verse 1 - crooked, playful rhythm] Good morning, got a feeling? Take a number, hit the ceiling! Fill out form eleven-B, State your cause for misery. Are you grieving? Check the box. How long's it been? Reset the clocks. Oh, it's Tuesday, you're still sad? Sorry, dear, that's rather bad! Anger requires documentation. Fear needs prior authorization. Tears must meet our regulations. Joy needs proper certification. [Spoken, sweetly] Oh, sweetheart... You can't just FEEL things. [Chorus - catchy, jagged, sarcastic] Permission to feel? DENIED! You brought your heart? SET ASIDE! Your tears exceed The legal size! Your grief has failed To standardize! Stamp it, file it, Hide it away! Come back smiling Another day! Permission to feel? DENIED! Please keep your humanity Inside! [Verse 2 - rhythmic spoken rap] Form for sorrow, fee for rage, Please behave according to age. Children cry, but grownups don't, You can suffer, but we won't. Discuss your trauma? Absolutely! Just keep it short and speak politely. Don't say names, don't make a scene, Keep your nightmares nice and clean. We celebrate your bravery Once you've learned to hide the injury. Tell your story, win applause, But don't discuss the actual cause! [Music stops] [Clerk, whispering] I'm sorry... Are you STILL upset? [Applicant] Well... It still happened. [Wrong piano chord] [Pre-Chorus - accelerating paperwork percussion] Next! Next! Next in line! Your emotions are Out of time! Too much sadness! Too much shame! Please stop giving pain a name! [Chorus - office workers singing badly] Permission to feel? DENIED! Your anger isn't verified! Your childhood has been classified! Your loneliness is unjustified! Stamp it, file it, Make it neat! No emotional Spillage on the seat! Permission to feel? DENIED! Your suffering has not Been certified! [Bridge - music falls apart, only fluorescent buzzing] [Woman, quietly] Excuse me... I've been waiting here for years. I was twelve when I came in. They told me someone would listen. [Silence] [Clerk, distracted] Do you have your original receipt? [Woman] I don't have a receipt. I have memories. [Long pause] [Clerk] Memories are not Acceptable evidence. [Single broken piano note] [Woman, almost whispering] But I'm still here. [Clerk] Ma'am... You're holding up the line. [Silence] [Verse 3 - low, furious spoken rhythm] I wasn't asking for a permit. I wasn't asking you to fix it. I wasn't asking for approval To acknowledge I exist! I didn't need a diagnosis For a broken human heart. Didn't need another label For the day I fell apart. I just needed someone listening. Someone willing just to stay. But you sent me down a hallway And you filed my voice away. Put my childhood in a cabinet. Stamped my grieving overdue. Then you called me noncompliant For refusing to be you. [Build - irregular drums, stomps, voices overlapping] I'm too loud! I'm too sad! I'm too grateful! I'm too mad! I'm too broken! I'm too strong! I'm too right! I'm too wrong! I'm a human! Not a file! Not a number! Not your smile! [Final Chorus - chaotic, almost danceable rebellion] Permission to feel? DON'T NEED IT! Your paperwork? DELETE IT! My tears are not A violation! My heart is not Your corporation! Stamp it, shred it, Throw it away! I'll feel whatever I feel today! Permission to feel? DENIED? [Sudden silence] [Woman, deadpan] By whom? [Music erupts - crooked dance break] [Outro - office chaos, printer jams] [Automated voice malfunctioning] Your humanity is important... Your humanity is important... Your humanity is... [Printer grinding] ERROR. ERROR. [Woman laughs] Finally! Something honest around here! [Single piano chord, almost beautiful] [Whisper] Application withdrawn. [STAMP] APPROVED BY ME.
