WHO SENT YOU?

# WHO SENT YOU? *(crooked bassline, brushed drums, spoken-word paranoia in the style of Soul Coughing)* --- *[payphone ringing]* *[modem noise]* *[ice clinking in a glass]* --- A friend from the old days called me at three in the morning --- Said: *"I got a job."* --- Everybody's got a job. --- The question is who's paying. --- ### Verse 1 A washed-up VIP working for a street gang --- A cultist working for a startup --- A politician working for themselves --- A fixer working for somebody working for somebody working for somebody --- Until the money gets tired --- ### Chorus Who sent you? Who sent you? Who sent you? --- The masked stranger won't say --- The briefcase won't say --- The credchip already said enough --- ### Verse 2 The bodega owner needs something stolen --- The AI needs something delivered --- The mobster needs somebody threatened --- The concerned citizen needs somebody disappeared --- Funny how those jobs start sounding alike after midnight --- ### Verse 3 A former enemy offers a future favor --- A lover offers information --- A megacorp offers exposure --- The corporation always offers exposure --- Usually explosive --- ### Chorus Who sent you? Who sent you? Who sent you? --- The answer changes every floor of the elevator --- ### Bridge Escort the package Steal the prototype Protect the witness Sabotage the convoy --- Kidnap the scientist Save the politician Destroy the evidence Observe the target --- Different verbs Same city --- ### Breakdown Twenty thousand credits for the impossible --- Five thousand for the suicidal --- A place to sleep for the desperate --- Half your debt erased for the stupid --- ### Final Chorus Who sent you? Who sent you? Who sent you? --- A hacker A roadrunner A cult An AI A ghost A neighbor --- Doesn't matter --- Everybody's mission eventually becomes someone else's problem --- ### Outro The call disconnected. The money arrived. The address was real. --- The client wasn't. --- *[dial tone]* *[bassline continues alone]* --- Somewhere in the city another payphone starts ringing. --- Nobody answers. --- Everybody knows it's for them.