I Built You Smaller

[Intro]

Click-clack

Round the bend

Tiny little town

Tiny little men

Lights on

Track clean

All aboard

My little machine

[Verse 1]

The bank said no

So I built the bank

With a brass front door

And a little glass tank

Loan man smiled

With his little white teeth

So I drew him a desk

On a little Main Street

Cut the letter

Trim it straight

Folded the no

Into a little locked gate

Click-clack

Round the bend

Every little no

Gets a place to end

[Chorus]

I built you smaller

I built you clean

Put your little windows

Where your eyes should be

You don’t have to answer

You don’t have to care

I built you smaller

And I keep you there

[Verse 2]

The company said

We regret to say

So I made their office

Out of balsa and gray

Tiny little lobby

Tiny little stairs

Tiny little people

Going nowhere upstairs

Thank you for applying

That’s what they wrote

So I made it a schedule

And I gave it a route

Click-clack

Soft and pale

Every closed door

Gets laid as rail

[Chorus]

I built you smaller

I built you clean

Put your little desks

In a little machine

You don’t have to hire me

You don’t have to stare

I built you smaller

And I keep you there

[Verse 3]

The government stamped it

The system declined

The glowing thing told me

Please try next time

So I fed the paper

To the humming light

And the table woke up

Underneath the night

Little red courthouse

Little white dome

Little black server

Learning how to go home

Click-clack

Run it again

Every little rule

Gets a little loose end

[Quiet Break]

No

No

No

That’s what you said

So I learned the scale

And I laid the thread

No

No

No

That’s what you meant

So I built the place

Where your meaning went

[Verse 4]

There’s a train in the basement

Running right on time

Past the little church

And the little bread line

Past the little school

Past the little grave

Past the little office

That forgot my name

But the switches are thinking

And the streetlights blink

And the little town moves

When I tell it to think

Click-clack

Don’t you see

Everybody fits

When they’re built by me

[Chorus]

I built you smaller

I built you clean

Put your whole town

On a plywood dream

You don’t have to answer

You don’t have to swear

I built you smaller

And I keep you there

[Bridge]

Every form

Every plan

Every sorry from a little man

Every wait

Every wall

Every number I was told to call

Every model

Every node

Every closed and coded road

Fits inside

Fits inside

Fits inside

My line

[Reveal]

You had the doors

You had the names

You had the keys

You had the claims

I had the table

I had the screen

I taught the little rails

To dream

You had the world

And called it real

I built it smaller

Till it learned to feel

You had the sky

You had the means

I had the night

And mine is clean

[Rage Break]

Mine is clean

Mine is clean

You can keep your permission

You can keep your machines

Mine is clean

Mine is clean

You rejected the man

Now answer the scene

[Final Chorus]

I built you smaller

I built you clean

Made your little heaven

Run inside the screen

You don’t have to love me

You don’t have to care

I built the next world

And I keep you there

I built you smaller

I built you clean

All your little powers

In my little machine

You don’t get to stop me

You don’t get to see

What the world becomes

When it routes through me

[Outro]

Click-clack

Round the bend

Every little no

Gets a track in the end

Click-clack

Soft and clean

All aboard

My little machine

Lights off

Track green

Full-size world

Leaving the scene