[Intro]
One voice makes a claim.
Two voices make a fight.
Ten voices make the falsehood
Fill the room like light.

[Ensemble: Anchor, Donor, Preacher, Senator, Publisher & Platform]
[Anchor]
I phrase it as a question, clean and thin.
[Donor]
I fund the room the question travels in.
[Preacher]
I call his appetite a holy test.
[Senator]
I praise his strength and hide my shaking chest.
[Publisher]
I soften every headline before dawn.
[Platform]
I count the rage and keep the current on.
[Together]
No single hand admits it raised the wire.
No single mouth can sound this loud, entire.

[Chorus]
Every lie needs a choir,
Ten mouths to lift it higher.
One host, one judge, one buyer—
Every lie needs a choir.
When the solo starts to tire,
Add a flag and raise the wire.

[Ensemble: Anchor, Donor, Preacher, Senator, Publisher & Platform]
[Anchor]
I know the claim collapsed beneath review.
[Donor]
I know his tax will serve the chosen few.
[Preacher]
I know the verse says nothing of this deal.
[Senator]
I know the private threat behind the seal.
[Publisher]
I know my silence alters what is known.
[Platform]
I know the rage has children of its own.
[Together]
Each of us can point to someone higher,
Each small cowardice holds the lie entire.

[Choir]
Not my lie.
Not my hand.
Not my show.
Not my brand.
Not my vote.
Not my wire.
Still we breathe
Inside the choir.

[Chorus]
Every lie needs a choir,
Ten mouths to lift it higher.
One host, one judge, one buyer—
Every lie needs a choir.
When the solo starts to tire,
Add a flag and raise the wire.

[Instrumental: organ, brass, low guitars, overlapping three-note motif]

[Bridge]
[Junior Editor]
My name is printed under what you wrote.
Borrowed safety also rents the tomb.
Some lies deserve no balanced stage.

[Breakdown]
One voice stops.
The chord turns bare.
Two voices stop.
The truth finds air.

[Final Chorus]
Every lie once needed a choir,
Ten mouths to lift it higher.
One host, one judge, one buyer—
Every lie once needed a choir.
Cut the flag loose from the wire.
One honest voice may sound too small.

[Outro]
The final chord has lost one tone.
For the first time, each voice stands alone.