Verse I: He started by breaking things to see how they fit. He trapped the spark that lives in dry wood and used it to push back the dark. He didn't just survive; he named the beasts, Then drew them on the stone walls so he could own their strength. He bent the wheat to his will, tied himself to the soil, And built the first walls to protect his grain. Progress, they called it. But the walls that kept the wild out, kept him locked inside. Chorus: Oh, the hands build the cage, then they reach for the key, We are digging the dirt just to see what we’ll be. From the first spark of fire to the wire in the air, We are climbing a mountain that never ends there. Yeah, we conquer the world, then we stand in the cold, With a pocket of code and a story untold. Verse II: Then came the kings, born from the heavy silos. He learned to march in straight lines, carrying bronze spears for someone else’s name. He stacked stones so high they scraped the clouds, Believing if the tomb was grand enough, he could cheat the dirt. He traded his open sky for a ledger, his freedom for a coin, Writing down laws on clay tablets to keep his neighbors from taking what was his. He conquered the map, but the map grew too big to hold, And every empire he built eventually fell back into the weeds. Chorus: Oh, the hands build the cage, then they reach for the key, We are digging the dirt just to see what we’ll be. From the first spark of fire to the wire in the air, We are climbing a mountain that never ends there. Yeah, we conquer the world, then we stand in the cold, With a pocket of code and a story untold. Verse III: He found the black oil sleeping in the deep earth, And used it to turn wheels faster than a horse could run. He replaced the horse with iron, the candle with wire, And moved from the dirt patch into the crowded smoke. Suddenly, he could speak across oceans, fly above the birds, But the machines he built started setting the pace. He became a clock-watcher, a gear in his own engine, Producing more, feeling less, running faster just to stay in place. Chorus: Oh, the hands build the cage, then they reach for the key, We are digging the dirt just to see what we’ll be. From the first spark of fire to the wire in the air, We are climbing a mountain that never ends there. Yeah, we conquer the world, then we stand in the cold, With a pocket of code and a story untold. Verse IV: Now he sits in a room of cold glass, staring into a small glowing rectangle. He has put his mind into the ether, mapping the stars while forgetting the soil under his feet. He can destroy a city with the push of a button, Or cure a plague with a sequence of code. He is a giant who can alter the climate of the globe, Yet he still shivers when the room gets cold, And still wonders, when the screens go dark, who he is supposed to be. Outro: We build it up high, just to watch it all break, Count up the wealth and the lives that we take. Yeah, the hands build the cage, then they reach for the key, We keep digging the dirt... just to see what we’ll be.
