Ferrous Gene

[Verse 1]
I'm the orange film on the Broadway Bridge guardrail
The slow-burn blush when the city's systems fail
Been here since the slag cooled, since the US Steel sign fell
Watchin' volts die in the conduit, got a different tale to tell
I map the hairline cracks in the concrete on Fifth Ave
I'm the future antique every single one of you has
A low-voltage hum when the night shift is breathing its last
The patient oxidation on the future and the past.

[Chorus]
Born in the red dust, live in the red dust
All of your polished chrome returns to the red dust
It's just the half-life, the slow-creeping red rust
This ain't a curse, it's a covenant, in the red we trust.

[Verse 2]
Now I'm the patina on grand-mère's cast iron skillet
Heard her say, "Cher, don't you scrub that season off, you'll kill it"
She's simmering roux, the whole kitchen smells of chicory and filé
I'm in the water pipes, that metallic taste you can't will away
I'm on the Impala frame sitting on blocks since '93
A family tree of decay, the ferrous gene in the seed
The short in the circuit between the want and the need
A silent inheritance, the only promise they keep.

[Chorus]
Born in the red dust, live in the red dust
All of your polished chrome returns to the red dust
It's just the half-life, the slow-creeping red rust
This ain't a curse, it's a covenant, in the red we trust.

[Bridge]
The air gets thick before the rain on Lake Street
A sweet metallic tang, a promise incomplete
I settle on the windowsills, the logic of defeat
The million-particle silence where the parallel lines meet.

[Outro]
Just the hum...
The long decay...