"Unsigned" (Bitter Cut) 🎵
Mid-tempo R&B, about 72 BPM, Tr Bebey-style storytelling with a colder, sharper edge
Verse 1
Five a.m., I'm up before the sun,
Chalk dust on my hands, but the love for it is gone.
Gave you every ounce of me, you took it and you stayed,
Now I'm a ghost in my own house, got nothing left to say.
Home late, my babies already sleeping,
My wife says, "I miss you," and I'm standing there just breathing.
You told me "be grateful," with that smile on your face,
While you sit behind your desk and I'm falling out of grace.
Pre-Chorus
So I wrote the letter, signed it with my name,
Gave you half the reasons, 'cause I know your little games.
Say the whole truth out loud and I'm the one who pays,
You'd label me a problem and bury me in days.
Chorus
It's unsigned, oh, unsigned,
Your silence is an answer, and you think I cannot hear.
Unsigned, oh, unsigned,
You don't have to say no, you just let me disappear.
You're watching me break, and you call it "patience,"
Sitting on my future like it's your dirty little pastime.
I just wanted to teach, now I'm bitter in the teeth,
And my hope is in your drawer, unsigned.
Verse 2
One small mistake and you're calling it a crime,
"There's a hundred graduates waiting, we can do this all the time."
Replaceable, that's what you made me feel,
Tell me, how's a broken man supposed to keep it real?
So I swallow every word, put a smile on my face,
While you hold my whole life in a locked-up place.
Don't think I don't see it, the power in your hands,
You've never walked a classroom, but you run my plans.
Pre-Chorus
I'm a father, I'm a mother, I'm a person, not a tool,
Not a number on your payroll, not your pawn to play and fool.
All I asked was a chance to heal and start again,
But you made me beg for crumbs and called it being a friend.
Chorus
It's unsigned, oh, unsigned,
Your silence is an answer, and you think I cannot hear.
Unsigned, oh, unsigned,
You don't have to say no, you just let me disappear.
My family pays the price for the war you never see,
They get the tired shell of what you've made of me.
I just wanted to teach, now I'm bitter in the teeth,
And my hope is in your drawer, unsigned.
Bridge (low, almost spoken, then rising)
And you wonder why the classrooms are falling apart,
Why the good ones walk away with a hole where their heart...
You can't squeeze a tired soul and expect it to shine,
Then blame the ones you broke when the whole thing falls behind.
Oooh, look at what you've done,
The children feel it too.
You built this system on our backs,
And now you're asking what went wrong. Ask yourselves, not us.
Final Chorus (key change, raw vocals, ad-libs)
Sign it, oh, sign it,
Or admit you never cared, say it to my face!
Sign it, oh, sign it,
You can't keep a man in chains and call it a workplace.
'Cause a teacher who is crushed raises a nation that's cold,
And the blood's on the hands of the ones who just control.
I just wanted to teach, but you made it too much to reach,
So take it out the drawer, and sign it... sign it.
Outro (fading, flat and tired)
Unsigned... still waiting...
You know exactly what you've done.