[CHILDLIKE MUSIC-BOX NOTES] Rumpty Dumpty sat on a wall... JUKE: Wait. That's not how that goes. ... Close enough. [BASS DROPS] [VERSE 1] Rumpty Dumpty sat on his wall, built it so high couldn't hear us at all. Called that wall protection. Then called it his throne. Funny thing about building walls— eventually you're sitting there alone. King looking down saying, "Look how small they are." People looking up thinking, "Look how high he climbed." Neither one asking— what's holding up the wall? [HOOK] Rumpty Dumpty! SITTING SO TALL! Rumpty Dumpty! WATCH THAT WALL! Pride climbs high! GRAVITY DON'T CARE! Everybody looking at the throne— nobody checking the chair! [VERSE 2] That's the parable, baby. Power can make a person confuse being above people with being bigger than people. Fear helps. Keep everybody frightened. Keep everybody fighting. Tell this one to fear that one. Tell that one they're coming for this one. Keep everybody looking sideways— nobody looks up. [CALL & RESPONSE] Why control people with fear? 'CAUSE FEAR CAN MAKE YOU SMALL! And why would somebody need you small? MAYBE THEY'RE AFRAID YOU'LL STAND TALL! There it is. Now you're listening. [VERSE 3 — HISTORY ENTERS] A preacher once talked about a mountain. Said he'd been to the mountaintop. Said he might not get there with his people— but he had seen the Promised Land. And still he kept going. Martin. Then Malcolm kept asking questions America didn't enjoy answering. Different roads. Different language. Same century refusing to sit quietly. Robert fell too. Huey and the Panthers said communities could organize, feed children, watch power and demand something different. None of them were perfect. That's not the lesson. The lesson is: people keep moving. [PERCUSSION BUILDS] You kill a voice— somebody remembers the words. You ban a book— somebody asks what's inside. You frighten a generation— eventually a child asks: "Why are we afraid?" And that's a dangerous little question. [LEGION ENTERS] MANY VOICES: Let us out. JUKE: Easy. These ain't demons. Not here. These are the voices somebody thought they could bury. Call them Legion because they are many. Memory is many. Grief is many. Hope is many. People are many. [DARK BRIDGE] And Rump? Still sitting up there. Narshade behind him. Ledger beneath him. Debt above him. And somebody waiting for payment. But here's what Rump forgot: the collector has a clock too. TICK. Everything does. [BUILD] Everything sweet... until pigs fly. Everything impossible... until somebody does it. Everything forgotten... until somebody dreams it. Everything buried... until the ground starts talking. Everything stable... until— CLANG. [SILENCE] JUKE: John? ... Boy, quit interrupting my records. [MASSIVE FUNK/GOSPEL RETURN] Rumpty Dumpty! WATCH THAT WALL! Kings get mighty! KINGS STILL FALL! Can't chain a rhythm! CAN'T BURY SOUND! Can't kill an idea just by putting bodies underground! Many voices! LEGION! Many dreams! LEGION! Many people waking up asking what everything means! [FINAL JUKE SPEECH] Now don't leave here thinking Old Juke told you who the villain is. That'd be too easy. Don't let me tell you who to hate. Ask better questions. Who benefits from your fear? What are you carrying that ain't yours? Who taught you that somebody else had to lose for you to win? What wall are you building? And when you finally reach the top... what exactly are you planning to sit on? [MUSIC BOX RETURNS] Rumpty Dumpty sat on a wall... CLANG. Rumpty Dumpty— CLANG. ... Well. You know the rest. JUKE: Or maybe you don't. Put another coin in. We got a long way to go.
