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One for the kids, in a way. It's a story song and completely clean (though a bit dark in subject matter). Bonus points if you can recognize all three movie samples used (hint: one of them is score, not dialogue).

lyrics

Once in a distant land, a whispering man passed on a tale
To the next man, to the next woman, to the next child without fail,
And now I pass it on to you in the hopes to teach, or to
Enrich your soul, or entertain you at least...

Once there was a criminal who, as criminals often do,
Committed a crime and was placed before a magistrate in judgment true.
Upon proclaiming him guilty in a rich and booming voice,
The magistrate offered the criminal the following choice:
"Behind this door," he said, pointing, "lies that of which you're unsure.
"In my other hand I hold the rope I'll use to hang you and make you pure.
"To be absolved of your crime, I offer you this simple rhyme,
"And I hope you have the wisdom to choose, or maybe you will in time..."

The criminal was given a day in which to ponder what choice to make,
And he was wise enough to know that you can't eat it first and then have your cake.
The decision he'd make was binding, there was no chance of rewinding,
And if he chose the door, he thought, the magistrate wouldn't decline to bring
Terrors worse than death from behind it, and he'd surely find it
Worse for having perceived the contract's outcome when he signed it.
In the morning the criminal was sobbing when the magistrate called him
And asked him what choice he'd made about the fate that would befall him.
The criminal was terrified of the door because he was so sure
That behind it lay 700 or more different kinds of torture.
The images of which he'd conceived the night before left him with no hope
So with tears in his eyes he resigned himself to his fate and chose the rope.
The magistrate laughed and said, "In all my years of magistrating,
"Everyone has always chosen the rope with little debating.
"And now I'll tell you the punchline since you soon will be dead:
"The door leads to freedom, but everyone's so afraid of the unknown
"They choose death instead."

credits

from Spare Thoughts, released September 13, 2019

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all rights reserved

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Tom Swifty New York, New York

Born in Springfield, Illinois, and raised in the southern Midwest of Missouri, Ezra Stead became Tom Swifty in Minneapolis when he began rapping live and recording quality tracks over ten years ago. Before that, they were... not so quality. Back in Minneapolis after 10 years in NYC, Swifty's latest albums prove that he's never been better. ... more

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