No One's Home

It's my pleasure to welcome you
To your new home in apartment two
With one bedroom and a splendid view
Just don't forget when the rent is due

We expect all residents to
Abide by tenancy rules
Keep quiet, keep clean, keep telling the truth
Present evidence of any elements who
Have better to do than to comply
With our societal requirements

Those who stay in line
Might just survive until retirement
Pay no mind as I enquire just
Why the other night you went
To the laundry room to hide
An item in the dryer, friend?

This block is state-provided
And you'd be wise to be grateful
Side with every regulation and you'll find food on the table
It's not a state, provided
You find decadence is wasteful
It's been perfect since the state decided

What décor is tasteful
As property manager, my job is sorting the utilities
Disposal of the garbage and the laundering facilities
Why would I compile a full report on your activities?
I'm just a standard landlord, glory to the ministry

Lock the doors and close the curtains, hold your breath lest you should speak your sins
But you can't keep a secret from the building that you keep it in
Befriend your fellow tenants, show a smile and keep it pleasant
But know everyone's a friend until you need to turn some people in
It's the breathing on the phone, hiding just beneath the tone
It's the things that shift when no one's home

Well, you may be on your own, but you'll never be alone
Yes, we all live here, but it's no one's home
To get through the day
It behoves you to play by the rules and behave
Do the state preapprove all the tunes that you play?
When alone in a room, well, to whom do you pray?
Assume that your neighbours are moving away

When the black van comes in the night
And you're numb to the sight
Of another fumbling for somewhere to hide
As their wife just runs for their life
'Fore the ones with the guns can arrive
And they're gone 'fore the Sun can arise
To a government provided bunker for some realignment

It's just fine, you can trust it's a wonderful time
Just go about your business normally
No one's following, I'm not recording
Your paranoia is awfully boring
According to all of your friends that talk to me
Most importantly, please speak clear when you're broadcasting
Your honest thoughts on the law or economy

My provided mics are tiny
And I can't transcribe properly
Should you ever behold
Me with my peepers pressed to a keyhole
You can trust I'm just checking the tumblers for rust
I'm a custodian, not a ministry mole

Settle in for a night on the couch
No questioning what that red light is about
Now bleeping on your ceiling since the time you went out
It's just a little gaslighting, put aside any doubts
You're fine in your house, so you confide to your spouse any crimes carried out
Any tiny amount of new ideas found just a mite out of bounds
'Cause I'm writing them down in a timestamped account
What's it matter, every night or two?
If I sneak in, have a rifle through?

But depending what I find, well, you'll
Be faced with another kind of rifle, too
Privacy is the cry of the
Defiant to compliancy
But grease my palm and I might not see
Those books they banned from the libraries
What do you mean, that's not yours?
It appeared one night in your cabinet drawers?

I have to report it, I regret
But, of course, I could forget
Societal ideals are reliably pliable
So the rise of a tyrant becomes entirely viable
You will find that the spying is really quite justifiable
Why are you crying when it's your blind eye that's liable?

Handy landlord here to fix your ventilation whistling
Too many questions and it's not the air that needs conditioning
That telephone's not tampered with
Of course it isn't listening
But were it, it prefers the words
Glory to the ministry

Lock the doors and close the curtains, hold your breath lest you should speak your sins
But you can't keep a secret from the building that you keep it in
Befriend your fellow tenants, show a smile and keep it pleasant
But know everyone's a friend until you need to turn some people in
It's the breathing on the phone, hiding just beneath the tone
It's the things that shift when no one's home
Well, you may be on your own, but you'll never be alone
Yes, we all live here, but it's no one's home