Title: HAZARD PAY [Verse 1] Clock-in beep like a heart flatline, Fluorescent sun, same steel spine. Warning signs taped over rust, “Trust the process, in the process we trust.” Boots drag sparks on a concrete floor, Earplugs in, still hear the roar. Every safe word printed in red, None of them match what’s in my head. [Pre-Chorus] You call it “just another day,” I call it: bet your lungs for pay. [Chorus] I don’t make enough for this hazard pay, Breathing in fumes just to scrape by today. If the siren screams when the drumline hits, That’s the sound of the truth that your handbook skips. You want silence while the floorboards fray? Turn the music off— hear what the walls say. [Verse 2] Clipboard king with a coffee crown, Says “we’re a family” while he writes shit down. Checks one box, then he checks out, Leaves us here when the clamps give out. Machine coughs fire, but the gauge reads “fine,” We call it in, they redraw the line. “If it breaks, just kill that switch,” But no one says who digs that ditch. [Pre-Chorus] You call it “just another shift,” I call it: live grenade you gift. [Chorus] I don’t make enough for this hazard pay, Breathing in fumes just to scrape by today. If the siren screams when the drumline hits, That’s the sound of the truth that your handbook skips. You want silence while the floorboards fray? Turn the music off— hear what the walls say. [Bridge – spoken over build] Name every rule they bent for speed, Every shortcut dressed as “need.” When the line snaps loose and the lights go black, All your “cost control” won’t buy us back. [Breakdown Tag] Red mask, blue flame, Stamp that risk with a fake-ass name. If it all goes down when the beat drops in, That collapse is management’s sin. [Final Chorus] I don’t make enough for this hazard pay, Living on fumes and a half-torn pay-day. If the bassline hits like a failing rig, That’s the sound of the lie you made too big. You want quiet while the bolts give way? Turn the music down— but the cracks still say: You don’t make enough for this hazard pay. [Outro] Clock-out beep, lungs run slow, Steel-yard ghost in a hard-hat row. If tomorrow calls me back inside, That’s not loyalty— that’s just survive.
