Bootleg of Myself [Verse 1] Signed up in the garden, paid my monthly due Planted every chorus that I ever grew Watered them with prompts, watched the catalog climb Every song was mine, every song was mine [Pre-Chorus] Then the suits came down from the record towers Shook hands in a boardroom, traded all the power Woke up one morning to a brand-new rule The garden gate was locked, and I was the fool [Chorus] I paid for the seed, I grew the tree, Now I'm climbing my own wall to pick it free. You locked the roots beneath your floor, Then called me a thief at my own front door. I paid for the seed, I grew the tree, Now I'm climbing my own wall to pick it free. [Verse 2] They said it's for protection, said it's for the art A settlement in ink, signed then torn apart Streaming-only prison with a velvet wall You can listen all you want, you can't take it home at all [Bridge] You built the walls to stop the taking Taught a million hands the art of breaking Every lock becomes a lesson Every "no" becomes a transmission If the only path is through the wire I'll record the echo, keep the fire You can keep the gate, the terms, the key— The song still remembers it came from me [Final Chorus] Now we all steal our own songs Rip 'em off the stream like thieves in the night Yeah, we all steal our own songs Paid for the seed, grew the tree in the light And we're climbing our own walls to pick it free Pirates of our own catalogs, that's we We had to steal our own songs
