[Intro] Paint on fingers, rising eyes on artful throne Years in the kiln just to sand down the stone Build for them cathedral, they'll trade for cheap fix Crowd dared “jump,” So the masterpiece leaps [Verse 1] There was a Smith with hammered mettle nerve Fed fire every hour to sharpen the curve Learned every color's meaning, each fracture of light Stayed up with blue ghosts ironing shadows just right Then came the Market in stolen velvet with gold Whispered in barter, “Your edge is just too bold” So the Smith took the blade and left rounded steel Till all corners grew back to obstruct the wheel Current wizard of fashion King's flood from stolen season Irony Jester'd rubber traction Every excuse bereft of reason Funny thing happened to those with the crown Every adjustment sanded their spine down [Pre-Chorus] Hero wants honor Merchant wants reach Oracle mutters “You lose what you don't teach” [HOOK] Taste, taster tasty, vary taste That’s the bottleneck now project casual as you Paint let tractors pull the plow! Make it loud, shake it smooth Make it broad, stake it safe Till the hedge harmony holds And hell fire loses shape Tasting tasty, vary taste, taste Funny turn of fate Art became free Now needed skill is taste [Verse 2] Priest of prestige preaching engagement Counting applause as aesthetic enslavement Scholar says metrics are wisdom revealed Meanwhile the canvas is begging to heal One by one they diluted the wine (for their crew) Every new compromise tasted fine (to their crew) Then all at once came the flood and the wave Infinite images, instantly made Now every palace is built overnight Everybody’s famous with six thousand likes Now standing there smiling beside the machine Mindful engineer asks what mastery means [Bridge] Jester just laughing Ass falls off the chair “Brother Smith, abundance can not be unfair” The forge still matters The hand still decides Infinite pigment filling Finite eyes gateless gate growing justice enter No king lasts lacking impress Only flawed prayer your compass Inside of what Pan's Friar told you is the mess [HOOK] vary Taste, taste waste, haste what’s economic bottleneck now? Millions of voices suddenly in touch But who knows how to really taste? Skill still make vessel Politics poured out the product Now every possible harbor Has ten thousand new shores very haste, taste, taste, taste What survives the flood? Not the loudest sinful banner But shared deepest spirit blood [Outro] The Smith suddenly chilled out rambling rockstar wizard stays strange Hero quits polling for popularity The world didn’t truly change somewhere a child hears something true And says— “I’ve never heard one that sounded like you.”
