[Intro]

Three hundred pages on the altar,
Monday, quarter to eight,
Black pen waiting in the margin
Where the living sign their fate.

[Verse]

They signed below the gold-stamped letterhead,
Raised a glass and shut the door,
Never asked what waited, folded
Into clauses they ignored.
I turn past every tidy heading
Into the dark the language hides.

[Pre-Chorus]

Every comma hides a consequence,
Every "shall" can cut a line.
Go and celebrate the signature—
I will read the fine print.

[Chorus]

Read the fine print, line by line,
What you call a deal is a warning in disguise.
Read the fine print before the ink runs dry,
Every gentle sentence keeps a reason why.
Praise the price and swear we'll be fine—
I will read, I will read the fine print.

[Verse]

Red marks bloom along the margin,
Small confessions dressed as terms,
Thirty days become forever,
One exception twists and turns.
No one saved the negotiation—
Only paper keeps the vow.

[Chorus]

Read the fine print, clause by clause,
Find the hidden remedy, the undisclosed cause.
Read the fine print before you call it done,
A signature can aim a loaded gun.
Praise the price and tell me not to mind—
I will read, I will read the fine print.

[Organ Interlude]

[Bridge]

The archive has no sympathy.
The paper takes no side.
It only keeps the words you chose
When confidence was high.

[Final Chorus]

Read the fine print, every page,
Before the smallest sentence builds the final cage.
Read the fine print while there's still a choice,
Before the obligation finds its voice.
Curse the hours and the red-inked signs—
I will read, we will survive the fine print.

[Outro]

Black pen.
Red line.
No signature
Before its time.