Adversarial Legacy Fixtures

[Title: Adversarial Legacy Fixtures] [Intro — spoken] Don’t move that. [Verse 1] New man found a little bracket Painted seventeen shades of green, Said, “I reckon we can lose this, Far as I can tell, it’s clean.” Old hand looked across his glasses, Set his coffee by the vise, Said, “You’re welcome to remove it. I would think about it twice.” [Pre-Chorus] No drawing says it’s needed, No manual says it stays, But somebody put it there once For some extremely specific days. [Chorus] Adversarial legacy fixtures, Bolted down and painted green, Every time you fix the problem You find out what the problem means. Nothing here is quite redundant, Nothing leaves without a fight, If you don’t know why it’s mounted, Don’t unbolt the thing tonight. [Verse 2] There’s a shim beneath the motor, There’s a jumper on the board, There’s a cable marked “DO NOT USE” That we absolutely can’t ignore. There’s a test jig for a test jig, There’s a plug they haven’t made Since the temporary workaround Got permanently displayed. [Pre-Chorus] Every ugly little answer Raises questions by the score, And the thing you called a problem Was compensating for three more. [Chorus] Adversarial legacy fixtures, Bolted down and painted green, Every time you fix the problem You find out what the problem means. Nothing here is quite redundant, Nothing leaves without a fight, If you don’t know why it’s mounted, Don’t unbolt the thing tonight. [Verse 3] There’s an old machine out back there That won’t start when it is warm, And a bridge asleep among the trees Awaiting its next form. You can call it obsolete now, You can price it out as scrap, But somebody solved a problem Every place you find a patch. [Bridge — half-time] We documented everything That anybody knew, Which made a mighty handsome page— And left us page two. [Breakdown] Shim. Jig. Relay. Wire. Mystery bracket. Do not retire. [Final Chorus] Adversarial legacy fixtures, Scars of everything we learned, Every strange accommodation Marks a place somebody burned. So before you modernize it, Get the history somewhere right— If you don’t know why it’s mounted, Don’t unbolt the thing tonight. [Outro — spoken] Put the wrench down.