(Verse 1) I was there in the draft stage In the margins before the claim I held the ladder, named the cracks Watched someone else sign their name You quoted my idea verbatim But left the citation blank Said “we arrived here together” Then crossed the bridge and cut the plank (Pre-Chorus) They say knowledge belongs to no one But careers do They say ideas float freely Till someone gets tenure off you (Chorus) I’m the footnote they forgot The name you trimmed for space I’m the labor that disappeared So the argument stayed clean I’m the footnote they forgot Still holding up the page If the truth needs erasing What does that say about the claim? (Verse 2) I reviewed it twice for free Fixed the logic, killed the flaws They thanked me in private emails Then promoted someone else’s cause I watched my language come back to me In a voice that wasn’t mine Same structure, same conclusion Different author line (Pre-Chorus) They say “that’s just how it works” Like gravity again Like exploitation’s a law of nature And not a choice by men (Chorus) I’m the footnote they forgot The ghost in the bibliography Present in the framework Absent from the legacy I’m the footnote they forgot Too inconvenient to cite You don’t have to kill the thinker If you can starve the light (Bridge – spoken, restrained) There’s no form to report this No office to hear it through You sound bitter the moment You say “this was built on me too” So you learn to watch quietly As credit learns to migrate From the precarious hands To the ones already safe (Final Chorus) I’m the footnote they forgot But the record still knows Every clean conclusion Rests on buried bones I’m the footnote they forgot But I remember the cost If your canon needs silence Look at what it’s lost (Outro) History isn’t written by winners. It’s edited. And some of us Were cut For length.
