[Verse 1: Grunge male lead, low snarl over sludgy distorted guitars] You found me in the comments, you were hangin' off the thread Tellin' every stranger that the music's cold and dead Said a real one bleeds to make it, said a real one pays the cost Said you wanna see the hours, every draft I ever tossed So I dragged the boxes up the stairs from where I keep the dead takes Forty notebooks, coffee rings, a thousand small mistakes Every page is crossed and crossed again and crossed until it's torn Yeah, I showed you how the sorrow and the second verse get born [Pre-Hook: Grunge male lead, quiet, just the bass guitar and a ride cymbal] You wanted proof, I brought the proof, I brought it by the crate Now let me see the stack of yours, man, I can wait [Hook: Grunge male lead, full band, loud] Go on and show your work, the red pen's in your hand You graded every song I made, you never made a band Turn your paper over, man, the back of it is bare Show your work, I showed you mine, there's nothin' written there [Verse 2: Grunge male lead, sludgier, pounding live drums] So I asked to see your catalog, the records that you cut The demo in the drawer, the open mic, the guts You said you're more a listener, a scholar of the art A professor of the hours other people tore apart So I pulled up your account and started scrollin' to the start Every rating, every ranking, every "this one's got no heart" Twenty years of gradin' papers that you never had to write Twenty years of red ink, man, and a blank page every night [Hook: Grunge male lead, full band, loud] Go on and show your work, the red pen's in your hand You graded every song I made, you never made a band Turn your paper over, man, the back of it is bare Show your work, I showed you mine, there's nothin' written there [Breakdown: Grunge male lead, red-pen slash, a snare crack like a pen stroke on every quoted word] "Derivative." Slash. "Lazy." Slash. "Soulless." Slash. "Nobody asked." Slash. That's the whole collected works, man, I just read 'em back Twenty years, four little words, and every one's a slash [Verse 3: Grunge male lead, loudest, guitars grinding] Now I'm standin' at your desk the way you stood over mine With a pencil and a rubric, and I'm checkin' every line For the verse you never wrote, the hook you never tried The chorus that you never had the nerve to sing outside Zero for the melody and zero for the nerve Zero for the hours, man, you got the grade that you deserve Keep the red pen, keep it, it's the only thing you own I'll be up here makin' somethin' while you mark it from your phone [Final Hook: Grunge male lead, full band, everything loud] Go on and show your work, the red pen's in your hand You graded every song I made, you never made a band Turn your paper over, man, the back of it is bare Show your work, I showed you mine, there's nothin' written there [Outro: Grunge male lead, low, one guitar ringing] Pencils down Pencils down, man, show your work [End]
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