How Come?

My heart used to pitter-patter, now it makes a loud clunk
I used to think the picture mattered, yes I was a proud one
Now I slouch, hunched, waiting for that blackout
To outrun the machines that tell me not to ask «How come?»
But how come
These days the babies are perfect
And the master is out of touch with the world behind the curtain
And how come
The world behind my eyes makes them nervous
And out of touch with that world that’s not made out of circuits
It was a normal day for Michael, he was the sludge of their kingdom
His job was to recycle and clean the gutters of the streets up
As complex as he was he tended to act strange
And play stupid cause he was better off that way
His back ached and nobody talked to Michael
His only friends were the rats and an electronic pocket bible
On which the words changed monthly
He held what he believed was true and saved nothing
Rounding his thoughts through the compartment in the back of his head
Blaming his God for Armageddon not happening yet
He says the computer chips in the system took the good within this
And innocent ones disappear if they look suspicious
But we all know that that’s not true, Michael’s just crazy
And if he didn’t keep the streets clean, then he’d die discretely
They think he’s no threat, but they don’t know yet
Now he goes in his own head and says it to himself
My heart used to pitter-patter, now it makes a loud clunk
I used to think the picture mattered, yes I was a proud one
Now I slouch, hunched, waiting for that blackout
To outrun the machines that tell me not to ask «How come?»
But how come
These days the babies are perfect
And the master is out of touch with the world behind the curtain
And how come
The world behind my eyes makes them nervous
And out of touch with that world that’s not made out of circuits
The days pass like dreams and years pass like blinks
And he kept them in his diary, though he couldn’t write or read
That compartment in the back of his head, he kept safe
He knew that he was dead weight the day he couldn’t clean
The rats were the only ones that listened to Michael
Cause the rats were like him in that they lived under the spiral
The rats were like him and given a similar title
And as the light grew dim, he saw that the sun was a lightbulb
There was a story that his great-grandmother told him
About when there was fresh air and the land wasn’t frozen
People looked different cause their genes weren’t altered
And the sky was blue and filled with animals called birds
Just then, he felt a pressure in the back of his neck
A routine thought check, so he had to clear his head quick
His compartment had been detected
So with the lips of a dead man he said this
My heart used to pitter-patter, now it makes a loud clunk
I used to think the picture mattered, yes I was a proud one
Now I slouch, hunched, waiting for that blackout
To outrun the machines that tell me not to ask «How come?»
But how come
These days the babies are perfect
And the master is out of touch with the world behind the curtain
And how come
The world behind my eyes makes them nervous
And out of touch with that world that’s not made out of circuits
The blackout came and technically Michael still lived
And was given new chemicals to kill rats with
It was easy
Because the rats came to him
And with the streets cleaned, he was considered angel again
My heart used to pitter-patter, now it makes a loud clunk
I used to think the picture mattered, yes I was a proud one
Now I slouch, hunched, waiting for that blackout
To outrun the machines that tell me not to ask «How come?»
But how come
These days the babies are perfect
And the master is out of touch with the world behind the curtain
And how come
The world behind my eyes makes them nervous
And out of touch with that world that’s not made out of circuits