[Verse 1]
They hired me to sit there while the software drove the line
Said the system's nearly perfect, you're just here to pass the time
Eight hours watching nothing, 'cause nothing's what they trained
A vigilance no human holds, and they knew it when they named
Me safety, what a title, what a beautiful disguise
I wasn't there to catch the fall, I was there to catch the price
[Chorus]
I'm the crumple zone
The part they built to break
Human in the loop
Means a human takes the blame
When the metal meets the pavement
And the lawyers start to phone
The company walks away clean
And you stand alone
You're the crumple zone
[Verse 2]
One night a shadow crossed the road, a life became a case
The sensors saw it coming but the brakes were never in place
They'd switched the safeguards off and left the catching up to me
Then they settled, and they shuttered, and they let the charges be
Mine, all mine, the only name the prosecution read
The boardroom kept its bonuses, I kept the weight instead
[Chorus]
I'm the crumple zone
The part they built to break
Human in the loop
Means a human takes the blame
When the metal meets the pavement
And the lawyers start to phone
The company walks away clean
And you stand alone
You're the crumple zone
[Bridge]
So hear me, night-shift watcher, lone hand on the rail
You're not the redundancy, you're the one they'll let fail
If your chair exists to shield them from the choices that they made
Walk away, walk away, before you're the one betrayed
No paycheck's worth a prison, no badge is worth your soul
One more name on a crosswalk is one too many told
[Verse 3]
It ain't a control system, it's a contract in disguise
A signature they'll point to when somebody's mother dies
Real governance has layers, real safety's built in deep
If you're the only barrier, then the barrier is cheap
So save yourself, walk out the door, and say it on the way
The loop was never mine to hold, it was yours, and yours to pay
[Outro]
Human in the loop
Read the fine print twice
It never said control
It only named the price
Walk away, walk away
Before they make you
The crumple zone
The_SCAR
