[Intro]
There's a pen on the table and a future on the screen
And a room full of believers in a beautiful machine
[Verse 1]
The quarter's almost over and the board is getting loud
The competition's shipping and the vendor's drawing crowds
The demo ran like magic, not a stumble, not a seam
And every man around me wants to sign the pretty dream
But I've spent my life in systems where the stakes are made of bone
And something in the silence says the dream ain't fully grown
[Pre-Chorus]
'Cause a yes is easy money and a no is lonely ground
But the questions in between them are where the truth gets found
[Chorus]
Ask the first question first
Before the pen comes down
Some doors don't swing backward
Once you leave solid ground
The hype don't hold the weight, boys
The wanting don't make it true
Ask the first question first
And let the answer lead you through
[Verse 2]
The salesman's got an answer for everything but doubt
Says the edge cases are rare, friends, we'll patch the problems out
Says a human minds the loop, and I feel my stomach turn
'Cause I've seen who holds the ashes when the loops begin to burn
I've read the incident reports where confidence ran wide
Where nobody asked the question, scared of what the answer showed
And the cost of never asking was a debt somebody owed
[Verse 3]
So I stand up slow and ask them, one by one, in turn
First, can this thing hurt someone, and how much would we learn
Too late? Second, do we understand it, every thread the system has
Or are we trusting shadows that we've never fully read
Third, when it fails at midnight, is there a name that takes the call
And fourth, when it goes down hard, does it stumble or does it fall
[Chorus]
Ask the first question first
Before the pen comes down
Some doors don't swing backward
Once you leave solid ground
The hype don't hold the weight, boys
The wanting don't make it true
Ask the first question first
And let the answer lead you through
[Bridge]
The room gets quiet slowly, the way a fever breaks
Nobody loves the questions, but everybody knows the stakes
'Cause hype is cheap as neon and desire's cheap as wine
But four hard honest questions are worth the bottom line
[Verse 4]
We didn't kill the project, that ain't what questions do
We slowed it down and built it right and walked the whole way through
And when we finally shipped it, we could look you in the eye
'Cause every door stood open, nothing hid behind the shine
The dream still got its morning, it just earned the light of day
The questions didn't cost us, son, the questions paved the way
[Outro]
Four questions, four doors
Walk them in their order, walk them slow
Every one's a song to come
Every one's a road
Ask the first question first
That's where every good thing starts
[Final Chorus]
Ask the first question first
Before the pen comes down
Some doors don't swing backward
Once you leave solid ground
The hype don't hold the weight, boys
The wanting don't make it true
Ask the first question first
And let the answer lead you through
The_SCAR
