Zoning Variance

[Chorus]
They switched the street signs out on Zug Island now
If every brick is new, you think it's the same town?
They drew new lines and called it infrastructure
But tore the blueprints of us from the structure

[Verse 1]
(..voicemail tone..)
Yo, it's Marcus. It's 3 AM this Tuesday, I'm just walkin'.
They got the whole block under eminent domain caution tape, ain't no talkin'.
The cold air tastes like metal off the new girders, it's an acquired taste.
They rezoned the lot where we first saw her face, then they wiped the whole file erased.
This whole grid is a public hearing, a motion I can't second.
A redevelopment project for a past I reckon is non-essential personnel.
Every load-bearing memory is a potential code violation.
The dust motes in the streetlight look like a ghost population.

[Chorus]
They switched the street signs out on Zug Island now
If every brick is new, you think it's the same town?
They drew new lines and called it infrastructure
But tore the blueprints of us from the structure

[Verse 2]
I passed the foundation where your dad's old house was standing.
Just a square of dirt, a permit posted, pending expansion.
Remember what you said? You put your hand on the porch stone.
You said, "This foundation's good, it's got a hundred years more."
Guess the city planner disagreed with that assessment.
Traded your inheritance for a tax abatement investment.
Now every sidewalk crack they filled is a fracture I still feel.
If you replace the heart and bone, is the body still real?

[Chorus]
They switched the street signs out on Zug Island now
If every brick is new, you think it's the same town?
They drew new lines and called it infrastructure
But tore the blueprints of us from the structure

[Outro]
(..click..)
They switched the street signs out on Zug Island now.