Module 10: Series Song, "THE VAULT"
SERIES SONG — MODULE 10: “THE VAULT” Persona: IRONWOOD (Dark Country / Outlaw Americana) Source: Module 10 — “The Vault” — Schedule B Black Hole
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[Intro — acoustic guitar alone, 4 bars]
[Verse 1 — voice alone for 2 lines, then bass walks in] Every charity in America fills out a form. The form is sworn. The form is filed. The form is law. One page on the form lists the names of the donors — name, city, amount, every year, every year.
[Pre-chorus — brushed snare in] The Schedule is filed. The Schedule is real. The Schedule is kept. The Schedule is sealed.
[Chorus — full, steel guitar sustained] So the page exists — and the page is read — by the Service and the lawyer — and by no one else instead. They call it public — but the names come out. They call it filed — but it lives in a vault. The Vault. The Vault.
[Verse 2 — back to acoustic + upright bass] Nineteen sixty-nine they wrote the rule down. Twenty-eighteen they narrowed it more. Twenty-twenty-one the high court settled it — said the state can’t ask, and no one can ask at all. So the C-three files. The Service sees. The State once saw — but not today. The public never did. The public never will. That is the law. That is the way.
[Pre-chorus] The Schedule is filed. The Schedule is real. The Schedule is kept. The Schedule is sealed.
[Chorus] So the page exists — and the page is read — by the Service and the lawyer — and by no one else instead. They call it public — but the names come out. They call it filed — but it lives in a vault. The Vault. The Vault.
[Bridge — voice and upright bass only, single piano note per bar] Eight moves in. Eight locks turned. Eight doors closed. Eight rules earned. If you made it this far — you read every move. The last one is the one they will not let you prove. The last one is a name the Service won’t say. The last one is a silence where the money stays.
[Verse 3 — sparse, acoustic only at first, bass walks in halfway] The donor has a right. The law has a reason. Since Alabama, nineteen-fifty-eight, every season. A list can be a weapon if the wrong man reads it. So they sealed the list — and they said the country needs it. I will not argue the First Amendment. I will not argue the Court. I will argue the eight moves stacked together — make the reason a shield — and the shield a fort.
[Final chorus — full, held] So the page exists — and the page is read — by the Service and the lawyer — and by no one else instead. They call it public — but the names come out. They call it filed — but it lives in a vault. The Vault. The Vault. (low, spoken) The Vault.
[Outro — acoustic guitar figure returns alone, 2 bars] (silence)