[Verse 1 – Whispered / Clean Vocals]
Painted smile, cracking slow behind the stage light glow,
Another mask, another show, another pain I never show.
I tell the crowd my twisted jokes, they scream until they cry,
But when the laughter fades away, I’m asking myself why?
The demon whispers in my head, “You’re nothing but the clown,”
He feeds upon my silence when the curtains all come down.
Every cheer becomes a chain, every joy another scar,
I’m a jester to the kingdom, but I don’t know who you are.
---
[Chorus – Growled / Screamed]
Who laughs when the jester can’t?!
When the painted grin begins to crack?
Who smiles when the fool breaks down?!
When the laughter turns to black?
Who laughs when the jester can’t?!
When the joke becomes the knife—
I make the world forget their pain,
But I can’t fix my life!
---
[Verse 2 – Melodic / Spoken-raspy tone]
They call me joy, they call me light,
But I’ve been fighting demons every night.
I laugh so loud, I drown their screams,
But the echoes bleed into my dreams.
Behind the jest, behind the flair,
There’s a hollow heart that no one cares.
You clap for peace I never find,
Applause that kills a tortured mind.
[Bridge – Heavy Breakdown, slow tempo]
Guitar chugs under fading laughter sounds
I try to make it right, I try to breathe again,
But the mask becomes the monster, and the smile’s my sin.
I gave you laughter so you wouldn’t feel my pain—
Now I’m chained to joy I can’t sustain.
[Chorus – Growled / Double-layered Vocals]
Who laughs when the jester can’t?!
When the lights go cold and dim?
Who saves the fool from himself?!
When the laughter’s just a hymn?
Who laughs when the jester can’t?!
When his tears burn through the paint—
You call it art, I call it hell,
A joke that saints and demons tell.
[Outro – Clean / Whispered / Echoed]
The crowd is gone, the stage is bare,
The demon’s voice is still out there.
He laughs with me, he laughs at me…
And I whisper back, “Just let me be.”
Who laughs… when the jester can’t?
(soft echo)
Who laughs…
DexJest
