[Intro]
Crossed arms on the crossbar
Head hung from the wire
Painted smile
Chipped and crooked
Cheap wood soaked in fire
[Verse 1]
You twist your fingers
My body takes the blame
You write the script
My mouth repeats your name
Every step
A borrowed motion
Every breath
A bit of shame
[Pre-Chorus]
I feel the strings
Dig in my skin
You pull
I swing
But I won't give in
[Chorus]
I'm not your puppet anymore
Cut the cords
Let the splinters fall
You yank and shake this broken frame
But you can't own my soul at all
You carved your words into my hands
Made me dance
Made me crawl
I'm not your puppet anymore
Hear me tear down your paper throne
[Verse 2]
You crowd of faces
Clapping at the show
You love the wreckage
You don't want to know
That under painted lashes
There’s a rage about to blow
[Pre-Chorus]
I feel the snap
Of one frayed line
You feel me crack
I call it spine
[Chorus]
I'm not your puppet anymore
Cut the cords
Let the splinters fall
You yank and shake this broken frame
But you can't own my soul at all
You carved your words into my hands
Made me dance
Made me crawl
I'm not your puppet anymore
Hear me tear down your paper throne
[Bridge]
[Extended guitar break – slow
Melodic lead blooms into rapid-fire harmony runs
Then dives back into a brutal gallop]
Saw through my shoulders
Rip out the nails
Ashes of orders
Blown off the rails
You lose your power
Each thread that fails
I learn to stagger
Then walk
Then impale
[Breakdown]
Cut
These
Strings (hey!)
Let
Me
Fall
I'd rather hit the ground
Than hang inside your hall
[Chorus]
I'm not your puppet anymore
Cut the cords
Let the splinters fall
You yank and shake this broken frame
But you can't own my soul at all
You carved your words into my hands
Made me dance
Made me crawl
I'm not your puppet anymore
Watch your kingdom of dust dissolve
[Outro]
[Guitars hold a soaring
Bent note over crashing cymbals that fade to a low
Ringing chord]
Hands up
Not in surrender
Hands up
Reaching alone
Wood burns
Wires tangle
But I walk off your empty throne