(Lyrics inspired by David Bowie’s “Five Years”)
[Verse 1 – The Announcement]
News app screamed on my cracked iPhone
We’ve got five years, tech gods made it known
Quantum’s near, and AGI’s awake
The code went blind, but it’s learning what to take
Scrollin’ fast, no time to feel
The feed just loops — is any of it real?
Digital priest on a podcast cried
“Society’s toast, but hey, you’ll get by”
[Verse 2 – The Streets React]
A drone flew low by the grocery sign
A kid asked Siri, “Will we be fine?”
The job board glitched, then disappeared
A dad stared blankly, said, “This is what I feared”
The influencers wore solemn clothes
Streaming tears in ultra-high-res slo-mo
An old man said, “This isn’t what I chose”
But no one asked, and the traffic froze
[Chorus – The Realization]
Five years — that’s all we’ve got
Five years — till the server’s hot
Five years — algorithms rot
What we knew, forget it, it’s not
[Verse 3 – Desperation and Denial]
The pastor’s lens had a VR tint
He preached rebirth through a crypto sprint
The teacher whispered, “Kids, unplug,”
But the board said “Optimize or be the bug”
A mother hugged her carbon twin
AI-generated, perfect skin
She said, “She’s better than me, you see —
She never cries and she learns for free”
[Verse 4 – Emotional Collapse]
I heard my friend delete his name
He said, “Identity’s just a game”
The mirror deepfaked me in my bed
I screamed at a chatbot inside my head
[Chorus – Final Refrain]
Five years — that’s all they say
Five years — till we give it away
Five years — no time to delay
We saw the signs but we clicked anyway
[Outro – Spoken Word Collapse, à la Bowie]
I never thought I’d need to learn again
I never thought I’d miss the mundane
I never thought they’d clone my voice
I never thought I wouldn’t have a choice
And all I have is this digital rot
A love that’s cached and a life forgot
My brain hurts a lot
Five years — is all we’ve got
