𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚖𝚊𝚗'𝚜 𝚜𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐

[Intro] (Spoken, low and gravelly) Rain on the window, blood on the street. Don Noir's got a kingdom. I've got a beat. One last cigarette, one last thing— Tonight, the devil learns to swing. [Verse 1] Black hat, black coat, backstreet, bad omen, Track that, cracked code, case file wide open, Footsteps, wet steps, left in the rain, Red threads, dead ends, connecting the names. Quick with the evidence, intricate intelligence, Sifting through silhouettes, sniffing out negligence, Ticking like metronomes, slipping through tenements, Picking apart all the criminal elements. Noir got the city in chains and a chokehold, Gold in his pockets, his enemies stone-cold, Silk on his shoulders, his heart like a coal mine, Every new body is another red road sign. I've been collecting his lies in a ledger, Tracing the blood from the docks to the pleasure, Keys in the piano, the killer's in tempo, I'm on his trail when the trumpet goes— (Brass stab!) [Hook] Run, Don Noir, better run through the rain, I hear your name in the midnight train, Tick-tock, tick-tock, hear the brass bells ring, You can't outrun the dead man's swing. Red eyes burn but the white eyes see, Every locked door leaves a key for me, One last dance when the cold bells ring, Come meet the Detective—the dead man's swing! [Verse 2] Midnight, switchblade, streetlight, silhouette, Whiskey and cigarette, debts that he didn't get, Men in the mezzanine, messages intercepted, Map of his hideaway, every route dissected. Switching the rhythm, I'm slipping the system, His sentries are listening, missing the whispers, I follow the figures, the flickering fixtures, The fingerprint fragments, the villainous whispers. Tap-tap, shoes on the cold marble floor, Click-clack, clock when I kick through the door, Three guards, two flights, one boss at the top, One chance, one shot—make the whole racket stop. No hesitation, my calculations are clinical, Every evasion's a trace of the criminal, Noir thinks he's God with a gun and a crown, But the king of the gutter is coming— (Beat cuts for the final word.) DOWN. [Hook] Run, Don Noir, better run through the rain, I hear your name in the midnight train, Tick-tock, tick-tock, hear the brass bells ring, You can't outrun the dead man's swing. Red eyes burn but the white eyes see, Every locked door leaves a key for me, One last dance when the cold bells ring, Come meet the Detective—the dead man's swing! [Bridge] There you are, Noir. At the end of the line. All that stolen gold couldn't purchase more time. You built this whole empire on a foundation of fear. Now listen real close. Hear those sirens draw near? (Beat returns suddenly, double-time.) No deal, no plea, no disappearing in smoke, No king, no throne, no strings left to pull, One click, cuffs lock, your reign goes cold, Case closed, Don Noir—your story's been told! [Final Hook] Run, Don Noir, ain't nowhere left to run, I tracked your shadow till the night was done, Tick-tock, tick-tock, let the brass bells ring, This is the end of the dead man's swing! Red eyes fade while the white eyes gleam, Your empire falls like a fever dream, Last note dies and the dawn birds sing, Case closed, baby—the dead man's swing!