Big Brother

There’s a camera in the corner And a camera in the sky There’s a camera in the mirror Watching how I close my eyes There’s a badge behind the window There’s a drone above the street There’s a little red light blinking To the rhythm of my feet They said it was for safety They said it was for peace They said if you were innocent You’d never need release They put chains around the daylight They put locks around the rain Then called it protection When we learned to love the cage Everything sees Everything knows Every little secret Every place we go Everything hears Everything stays Every whispered prayer In a government grave Don’t speak too loud Don’t step out of line Big Brother’s got a soft voice now And a thousand eyes There’s a scanner at the school gate There’s a filter on the news There’s a neighbour taking notes On the language that you use There’s a number on your forehead There’s a file behind your name There’s a reason you feel guilty Even when you’ve done nothing wrong Mmm My father taught me silence My mother taught me fear My friends don’t say too much now There are microphones in here We laugh with our teeth closed We sleep with one eye wide We bury all our questions Where the satellites can’t find Everything sees Everything knows Every little secret Every place we go Everything hears Everything stays Every whispered prayer In a government grave Don’t speak too loud Don’t step out of line Big Brother’s got a soft voice now And a thousand eyes This is not order This is not peace This is a boot With a polished speech This is not justice This is not law This is a mouth Being told what it saw This is not safety This is the deal Give us your freedom We’ll tell you it’s real Mmm Everything sees Everything knows Every little secret Every place we go Everything hears Everything stays Every whispered prayer In a government grave Don’t speak too loud Don’t step out of line Big Brother’s got a soft voice now And a thousand eyes Everything sees Everything learns Every little fire Before it ever burns Everything smiles Everything lies Freedom in a black van Peace with a thousand eyes