Dub the System

(Bass drone, rain sample, a single distant thunderclap. No drums. A melodica plays a sad, slow melody. Then a voice, heavily echoed) “ They build a world of clocks and wires…

And call it progress…

(echo: progress… progress… progress…)

But progress never taught the trees to pray.”

(Beat drops – one drop, heavy snare echo, organ bubble enters)

They print the truth on paper so thin

You can see the lie underneath, my friend

They sell you fear in a capsule form

And tell you peace is a shape to conform

(Bass drops out for 2 bars – only snare echo and guitar – then bass returns)

The scientist put a number on the sun

But Jah made the morning for everyone

So who gave them the patent on the light?

Wake from the dream… the dream is a fight

(Drums and bass only – vocal echoes) “ Dub… dub… dub the system…”

(Guitar skank appears for one bar, then disappears) “ Scratch the record… peel the skin…”

(Organ stabs, then drop-out to just snare and a whispered “ Jah”)

No clear chorus – instead, a repeating bass riff with fading vocal cries.

I watched them build a tower to measure the wind

Then charge the breeze for entering in

They put a fence around the waterfall

And sold the ticket – “ nature’s call”

(Drum fill – snare roll with phaser – then bass solo for 4 bars)

I walked to the office with no shoes on

The guard said, “ Sir, you’ve got it wrong”

I said, “ The ground was here before the floor –

Now open the gate or I’ll love you more”

(Laughing sample – then a dub siren sweep)

(2 minutes in – bass and drums continue, but all other tracks drop out. Then:)

Snare drum with massive spring reverb (like a gunshot in a cave)

Melodica plays a sorrowful phrase, then reversed

Bass drops out for 2 bars – only hi-hat and a heartbeat thump

Thunderclap – organ re-enters with a deep chord

Voice fragment: “ They never told you… the silence is legal.”

(Beat returns full – but now with phaser on the entire mix)

Dub the system… (system… system…)

Not with a bomb – with a broken clock

Let the pendulum forget…

Let the schedule rot…

(Rain sample rises, bass walks downward, one last snare hit – then only vinyl crackle and a distant laughing child)

(Silence – then a whisper:) “… Jah over science.”