Song
Multiple Choice
About the song
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Words from the artist’s archive
Multiple Choice lyrics
Artist-supplied lyric sheet, matched by title. The sheet may differ from this released performance. Production notes and alternate promotional cuts are omitted.
Read the lyric sheet
Intro
Good morning. This is a test. One question. Four choices. No talking. You have had forty years. Begin.
Verse 1
Kitchen table, coupon scissors, a notice from the state Somebody fed nine zeroes to a loophole on a plate News say improper payments, like the money tripped and fell Like a billion caught amnesia in a marble-lobby shell They got badges, they got software clockin dollars round the map But ten winters of the leaking and they cannot name the gap And the flag pin on the TV say we workin on it, again
Pre-chorus
I did like school taught: read it twice, eliminate Show your work, no peeking, breathe and concentrate Four letters on the paper, one pencil in my fist How the richest house on Earth lose a river to a ditch
Chorus
Multiple choice, is it A? (don't know) Is it B? (they know) Is it C? (they owe) Is it D? (it's a show) Four doors in a row And the money keep on leaving out a hole in the floor They say we workin on it, workin on it Been a lifetime of workin on it, workin on it Circle one, circle one, can you circle just one? Pass it forward when the buzzer say your time is done
Verse 2
Door A: incompetent. You truly can't find the leak Then quit tellin Sunday shows how brilliant you can speak You got staff, you got briefings, you got decades in the seat If a scammer's out-thinkin you, why we payin for elite Door B: complicit. You could draw the pipe by heart You cut ribbons with the takers then you look away with art No fingerprints, no smoking pen, just meetings off the book And a shrug rehearsed so perfect that the cameras overlook
Interlude
Reminder: we are looking into it is not an answer choice. Partial credit is not available. It was never available. Nine minutes remain. Nine minutes have always remained.
Verse 3
Door C: captured. Maybe you never stole a cent But the hands that skim the river keep your war chest full Gala plates and bundled checks, a runway for your name Bite the hand that feeds? You are the hand. Cute little game Door D: theater. Subpoena for the clip Bang the gavel for the cameras, watch the folder take a trip Big hearing, small findings, outrage right on cue Committees plannin committees plannin what they plan to do
Chorus
Multiple choice, is it A? (don't know) Is it B? (they know) Is it C? (they owe) Is it D? (it's a show) Four doors in a row Pass it forward when the buzzer say your time is done
Verse 4
Now hold up, let the other table talk, cause that's fair A ship this size don't pivot just because you mad it's there Some walked in there honest, fighting uphill, losing sleep And fraud's a moving target: cut a head, it grows a fleet Push the payments out too slow and grandma's medicine don't land Speed and checking pull like horses hitched to one tired hand Maybe progress don't do press, maybe wins look dull as math A smaller leak than last year on a spreadsheet, on a graph
Bridge
So I won't call the letter, here's my deal instead Show me harder to steal from, show me schemers gettin read Show me money coming home, show me systems that can catch Show me one number moving, I will tear this test in half But if the graph stays flat while the speeches stay long Don't ask why the people put the question in a song
Chorus
Multiple choice, is it A? (you know) Is it B? (they know) Is it C? (follow the dough) Is it D? (what a show) Four doors in a row And it's working, oh it's working, just not working for you They say we workin on it, workin on it That's the business model, workin on it, workin on it Grade it yourself, grade it yourself, pencil in your hand Pass it forward when the buzzer say your time is done
Outro
Pencils down. Pass your papers forward. They grade it after recess. There is always a recess.
Inside the recording
Good morning. This is a test. One question. Four choices. No talking.
I did like school taught: read it twice, eliminate Show your work, no peeking, breathe and concentrate
Pencils down. Pass your papers forward. They grade it after recess. There is always a recess.
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.