[Intro — theremin wail / distant tap shoes] tick tick tick keep it alive keep it alive keep it alive even if nobody remembers why [Verse 1] Tap on the ledger, tap on the bone, tap till the numbers can stand on their own. Chrome little teeth in a dividend grin, feed me your hours, I’ll let you back in. The factory laughs in seven-four time, interest compounds like a nursery rhyme. Everyone claps when the graph goes high, nobody asks what had to die. [Pre-Chorus] The theremin bends like a ghost in heat, markets twitch underneath our feet. Round and round the brass gears spin— “preserve the system, preserve the system.” [Chorus] Preserving economic system! Polish the cage until it shines. Preserving economic system! Sell the clocks, then sell the time. Tap-tap-tap on the marble floor, produce a need, then manufacture more. If the machine is hungry, let it eat— we can always monetize the heartbeat. [Post-Chorus — tap solo / metallic percussion] click-clack click-clack profit in the bloodstream click-clack click-clack keep the corpse productive [Verse 2] Culture comes wrapped in a barcode skin, tradition trimmed till the margins win. Handmade ghosts in a plastic tray, limited edition—buy today. Love gets measured in engagement rate, beauty arrives with a shipping date. Every strange little useless thing must justify the joy it brings. [Pre-Chorus 2] Theremin screams through fluorescent snow, someone says, “That’s just how markets grow.” A violin snaps, a printer sings, shareholders sprout mechanical wings. [Chorus] Preserving economic system! Oil the throat and make it sing. Preserving economic system! If it consumes us, that’s efficient. Tap-tap-tap, keep perfect time, turn every pleasure into a line. Nothing survives unless it pays— except the things that hide away. [Bridge — unstable meter / spoken-sung] Who decided what deserves to remain? Who translated memory into gain? Who put a price on the unnecessary? Who called survival a balance sheet? [Breakdown — manic tap dance] Faster. Faster. FASTER. The tap shoes spark. The floor becomes a stock exchange. The stock exchange becomes a church. The church becomes a vending machine. Insert coin. Receive meaning. Insert coin. Receive meaning. [Theremin Solo] aaaaaAAAAAA— bend the note until the value breaks bend the note until the graph looks afraid [Final Chorus — huge, deranged] PRESERVING ECONOMIC SYSTEM! Keep the engine warm with human taste. PRESERVING ECONOMIC SYSTEM! Nothing sacred, nothing waste. Brand the dream and rent the air, sell nostalgia by the pair. If it cannot scale, erase it clean— leave one copy in a museum screen. [Outro — slowing tap dance] tap tap tap the shop is gone the recipe remains tap the market moves on the hands remember tap keep it alive outside the price [whisper] preserve the system… or preserve what the system cannot price.
