Standard

Verse 1

He walks in with a measuring stick

Made from bones and borrowed tricks

Calls it law when it fits his hand

Calls it taste when he cannot stand

Anything louder

Anything new

Anything breathing

Without his cue

Pre-Chorus

He built a throne from a broken rule

Then crowned himself in an empty room

Chorus

He says

I set the standard

I hold the line

I am the meter

I am the sign

Bow to the number

Bend to the brand

Nothing is worthy

Unless I command

I set the standard

I set the standard

I set the standard

And the standard is me

Verse 2

He paints the ceiling and calls it sky

Sells you the ladder, then asks you why

You climbed too high

You spoke too clear

You made his little empire fear

He hates the mirror

He loves the frame

He burns the village

And signs his name

Pre-Chorus

He made a bible from his bad review

Then blamed the world when the pages flew

Chorus

He says

I set the standard

I hold the line

I am the meter

I am the sign

Bow to the number

Bend to the brand

Nothing is worthy

Unless I command

I set the standard

I set the standard

I set the standard

And the standard is me

Bridge

But the crown is plastic

The voice is thin

The temple cracks

When the doubt gets in

All his commandments

Start to decay

When no one kneels

And no one obeys

Breakdown

Measure this

Measure that

Measure the world

Till it snaps

Judge the flame

Judge the flood

Judge the knife

By the blood

Final Chorus

He says

I set the standard

I hold the line

I am the meter

I am the sign

But the room keeps laughing

The walls disagree

The god of the grading scale

Falls to his knees

Guitar Solo

I set the standard

I set the standard

I set the standard

And the standard eats me