The World Is On Fire Again

THE WORLD IS ON FIRE AGAIN Noise-rock verses / huge melodic chorus / acoustic folk bridge / increasingly chaotic final section [INTRO — low distorted guitar, amp hum] One more notification. One more little red light. Somebody's threatening somebody on the other side of the night. [VERSE 1 — tense, spoken-sung] The leaders went to New York to tell us what the future means, shaking hands beneath the chandeliers, smiling for the machines. Iran says, open up the water, seven days and maybe peace. Someone else says, not so fast, and the missiles don't decrease. The oil goes up, the market goes down, the pundits make a killing while the bombs make another sound. And I'm standing in my kitchen with a coffee going cold, watching history happen through a rectangle I can hold. [CHORUS — wide, melodic, anthemic] The world is on fire again, and everybody's got a microphone. Everybody knows the answer, nobody wants to go home. The world is on fire again, but the screen keeps shining blue. There's a war behind the headline, there's a person underneath you. So tell me— who's gonna turn it off? Who's gonna say enough? Who's gonna look into the camera and admit that we're all fucked up? [VERSE 2 — heavier, angular guitars] Washington meets Beijing, two giants at a table. They talk about the future like the future is a cable they can pull from one socket, plug into another wall. Tariffs, chips and artificial minds— who gets to build it all? They call it super intelligence, like a better name makes it safe. Meanwhile somebody's asking if the machine should know our face. And somewhere underneath it there's a kid who's out of school, learning how the world works from a thousand different fools. [PRE-CHORUS — building] Ukraine is still counting the dead after the night. Another promise on a podium. Another flash of light. And every man with power says the ending's close at hand. But the people who are buried never get to make the plan. [CHORUS — louder] The world is on fire again, and everybody's got a microphone. Everybody knows the answer, nobody wants to go home. The world is on fire again, and we're arguing who's to blame. While somebody's mother is screaming out a name. Tell me— who's gonna turn it off? Who's gonna say enough? Who's gonna look into the camera and admit that we've had enough? [BREAKDOWN — Chat Pile-esque ugly repetition, drums and bass pounding] WHO OWNS THE WATER? WHO OWNS THE SKY? WHO OWNS THE FUTURE? WHO GETS TO DECIDE? WHO OWNS THE TRUTH? WHO OWNS THE LIE? WHO GETS THE MONEY? WHO GETS TO DIE? [Everything stops] I don't know. [ACOUSTIC BRIDGE — bare fingerpicked guitar] My neighbor doesn't care about the summit. He's trying to keep his job. My sister doesn't care about the markets. She's worried about the rent. My father watches every war like he's waiting for the one that finally comes back home. And I don't know what to tell them. I don't know what to tell anyone. Because every night there's another photograph of another place that used to be somebody's home. And every morning we wake up and make our little coffee and pretend that this is normal. [SOFT CHORUS] Maybe we're not powerless. Maybe we're just tired. Maybe the world keeps burning because we're afraid to call it fire. Maybe peace isn't something that somebody signs above our heads. Maybe it's something small— like refusing to hate the stranger standing next to us. [FINAL BUILD — drums enter slowly] But the screen lights up— Another war. The screen lights up— Another lie. The screen lights up— Another number. Another body. Another flag. Another speech. Another promise. Another— [FULL BAND EXPLODES] [FINAL CHORUS] THE WORLD IS ON FIRE AGAIN! And everybody's got a microphone! Everybody's selling answers! Everybody's going home! THE WORLD IS ON FIRE AGAIN! But we're still alive tonight! So before we choose a side, before we choose a fight, before we turn another human being into a symbol we can hate— LOOK AT ME. LOOK AT ME. LOOK AT ME. We're still here. We're still here. We're still here. [OUTRO — feedback, distant acoustic guitar] One more notification. One more little red light. Somebody's threatening somebody on the other side of the night. And somewhere— someone puts the phone down. [amp hum] And listens.