This song is about Charlie Gordon, "holding a scalpel" to his own fading mind. Inspired by "Flowers for Algernon", it's the voice of a genius dissecting his own decay - watching every memory slip away, knowing exactly which neuron is dying next. He's performing an autopsy on the person he used to be, while the 'other him' - the smart one - quietly walks out the door... ***** My name is Charlie! I work in a bakery! I know the days: Monday, Tuesday, bread day... They put something in my head! Now I see the letters that I didn't understand. I want to crack my skull and stop decay To shake the neurons and make them stay But the silence inside me is growing so wide I'm still in this body, but Charlie has died! But Charlie has died! Day forty-seven: intelligence quotient has tripled! I deconstruct my own mind in phases! My primary mission: metacognition! Memory traces! I write a paper on the neuroplasticity of induced dementia! They called it groundbreaking! I called it what it is: a suicide note! It was my hand that wrote! I kiss the lab assistant I tell her she tastes of formaldehyde and fear She slaps me I understand why I just know too clear And understanding is the worst part Of being smart! Peel my skull, peel it slow! Let me watch my neurons go! I want to crack my skull and stop decay To shake the neurons and make them stay But the silence inside me is growing so wide I'm still in this body, but Charlie has died! I don't know what I wrote. The letters are running away again. I can hear him leaving. The other me. The smart one. He was just a visitor...
