Inquisitor
By prophisee on March 1, 2026 7:14 pm
This week’s topic ended up being rejecting complacency to follow the set path. Felt a lot like last week.
I was able to spend a good amount of time on this one. Was able to start Sunday with the instrumental not far from the final. Spent a big chunk of the day ideating lyrics surfing many different topics before this one and a direction did not form until 11pm so I stayed up til 2am to get this done since the GMT deadline lets me do that in Bali now. I am happy with at least the first stanza.
“Inquisitor” is a nod to the Star Wars fictional Jedi hunter which must either kill or convert the Jedi to the ways of the empire.
Fun story I was surprised to get mildly shocked by 50hz AC via elbow on guitar bridge. I have a decent little studio setup in the new spot we moved here now into but my travel adapter doesn’t have a ground. Current theory is that it was from the filter capacitors in the MacBook power supply that discharged through the DC negative into me via the cable shield since the ground was lifted. Needless to say I went and bought a proper adapter as that was freaky.
These HS8s were delivered on the back of a scooter to rent for the month. I bought the bass off a local hardcore band and checked everything else. Turkish had a two free checked bags promo 
› lyrics
‹ lyrics
The city’s full of paper trees
Dreams xeroxed into LEDs
Umbilical 401k
Inquisitor, empire state
And now you do what they told ya
And now you’re under control
I push my stack to the felt
I’d rather burn it than fold
Not too different, you and me
Assembled at the factory
QA passed by SAT
Special intern programming
You can be a CEO
after 20 years with no windows
I’d rather burn the ladder
And now you do what they told ya
And now you’re under control
I push my stack to the felt
I’d rather burn it than fold
My goal is to write better lyrics this year so I've been following the process and frameworks from Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison. Dumped a boatload in for ideation this week
› idea and narrative
‹ idea and narrative
Beat kinda sounds alien. Space safari?
Subverting the norm at the risk of no stability
- Escape gravity
- Go all in on yourself
- Swim upstream
- Lone wolf
Not complacent to follow the normal path
- Wild mind, cant stay inside the lines
- Tired of the typical (… critical)
- Refusing the conveyor
- Denied the assembly line
Jumped off the conveyor. Threw a wrench in the gears. Shorted the circuits.
Cognizant of the chains and the system
- Know youre in a fishbowl
- Can see you’re a pawn
- Can see the bars in front of the sun
Modern life is better than the past but still hard via the same exploitative patterns
Life is harder off the path
Actual trajectory
1. Regular path set by mom and dad
2. Dreams of big things, thought you might actually use math. Image sold that every little kid can be an engineer that will invent something big and change the world
3. Climbed and climbed the ladder until realized that not everyone can make it to the top
4. Burned down the ladder
5. Live wild and free without clinging to safety and status. Driven by curiosity
Assembly line as a metaphor
People are born - initial assembly
Parents - propagate what was taught by their parents
School - indoctrination with info
Job - follow the incentives, get the carrots, climb the ladder.
Later realize it’s too late.
Hopped off the conveyor, spit out the microchip
What do I want to say: I’ve never been complacent to follow the normal path.
Narrative I settled on (literally filled in those blanks):
Everyone is taking the same path. The safe one. No risks but no life:
The city’s full of paper trees
Dreams xeroxed into LEDs
Umbilical 401k
Inquisitor, empire state
I don’t take that path anymore:
And now you do what they told ya
And now you’re under control
I push my stack to the felt
I’d rather burn it than fold
I took a different path,
This one is hard
But its easier than the other one:
Not too different, you and me
Assembled at the factory
QA passed by SAT
Special intern programming
You can be a CEO
after 20 years with no windows
I’d rather burn the ladder
› object writing
‹ object writing
Assembly line: The roar of the rubber belt on the rollers carries everything forward as spider hands grab, poke, extrude, and heat. Everything is carried in one direction and build upon. Whirring, steaming, alarms occasionally blare. A sense of a million things moving at once such that each step in the process cant be fully comprehended. Cold aluminum and steel shines in light. A red glow emanates from ovens. Vats hold liquids and chemicals that steam and bubble. Smells of things burning.
Feel free to roast so I can get better.
