[Intro, crowd stomps and claps, chant builds] One source! (ONE SOURCE!) One source! (ONE SOURCE!) [Hook, anthemic, sung descending over the crowd, call-and-response] Views are not witnesses (WITNESSES!), One source copied is still one source (ONE SOURCE!), They all saw it (SAW IT!), but who was there? (WHO WAS THERE?) A share don't add a witness (A WITNESS!)... it only add reach... [Hook, crowd chant, stomps] One source! One source! Copied, copied, still one source! Reach ain't evidence, evidence ain't reach, Views ain't witnesses, witnesses ain't views, how many people were there? Count 'em, count 'em... [Verse 1, hypnotic double-time chopper, locked in the loop] There's a faceless clip goin' 'round and it's everywhere, everybody seen it, it feel like it's proof, look at how many done seen it, the number keep climbin', But ask what they saw, they all saw the same seconds, same angle, same frame, same everything, not a crowd at the scene, every one with their own spot and their own timin', One clip, copied, a witness is somebody who was there, with their own eyes, from their own spot, who can tell you what they saw, no screen in between it, Two witnesses who never talked to each other, both sayin' the same thing, that's worth a lot, independent, if they agree, it's 'cause the thing itself made 'em agree, they seen it, Two people who watched the same video ain't two witnesses, they one witness seen twice, and a crowd that watched it is still one witness, seen over and over, one pair of eyes, And the one witness wasn't even there, nobody was there, there was no "there," just a frame in the air, and a share, and a share, and a share in disguise, The comic got the Archivist holdin' three shard-phones side by side, every screen pixel-identical, same rain streak, same crack, and the Seeker ask "So they all agree?" And the Archivist say the true thing, "They all copied," copied, copied, it's the same one, times three... [Hook, anthemic, sung descending, call-and-response] Views are not witnesses (WITNESSES!), One source copied is still one source (ONE SOURCE!), They all saw it (SAW IT!), but who was there? (WHO WAS THERE?) A share don't add a witness (A WITNESS!)... it only add reach... [Hook, crowd chant, stomps] One source! One source! Copied, copied, still one source! Reach ain't evidence, evidence ain't reach, Views ain't witnesses, witnesses ain't views, how many people were there? Count 'em, count 'em... [Verse 2, melodic sing-song bounce, harmonized, hypnotic] Virality, the same lock as the calendar, movin' at the speed of a thumb, every share sync one more phone, every phone show one more, and it come and it come, Within a day it ain't a file no more, it's a shared memory, a thing "people saw," it's the furniture now, it's the walls, and it's pressed into all, You can't reach into the heads and pull it back out, you can't recall the shares, can't un-feel what they felt, it's locked in the count, You can only put somethin' better next to it, stack it, outweigh it, the truth gotta stand where the copy is standin', and say it out loud, [Verse 2 continued, switch-up, fastest] A share don't add a witness, a repost don't add a witness, a site embeddin' the clip don't add a witness, a wall of comments sayin' "wow" don't add a witness, they add reach, And reach is not evidence, that's the virality trap, what make it feel true, everybody seen it, everybody talkin', is the thing that tell you nothin', and nothin' is all that it teach, A real moment leave a crowd of different pictures, messy, independent, a little different in the details, agreein' on the part that matter, pressed from different directions by the thing that was there, A fake moment leave one picture, and a crowd, one picture, and a crowd, the crowd grow, the evidence don't, the number climb, but the witness is one, and the one wasn't there, All them views, one witness, zero events, and the copy keep copyin', copyin', every day, everywhere... [Breakdown, drums drop out, call-and-response with the crowd] How many saw it? (EVERYBODY!) How many were there? (...) How many sources? (ONE!) Count the witnesses, not the views! (NOT THE VIEWS!) [Hook, anthemic, full crowd, call-and-response] Views are not witnesses (WITNESSES!), One source copied is still one source (ONE SOURCE!), They all saw it (SAW IT!), but who was there? (WHO WAS THERE?) A share don't add a witness (A WITNESS!)... it only add reach... [Hook, crowd chant, stomps] One source! One source! Copied, copied, still one source! Reach ain't evidence, evidence ain't reach, Views ain't witnesses, witnesses ain't views, how many people were there? Count 'em, count 'em... [Outro, crowd chant fades, beat stops] One source... (one source)... Let the number go quiet, count the witnesses, then ask the one question the crowd never ask... Which path did it walk in on?
