[spoken, barely a whisper] They needed a villain. So they made one.
Verse 1
You built your altars out of borrowed fear You sang the hymns you didn’t understand You knelt before the men who held the keys And never thought to question whose command I watched you fold your hands in practiced grace I watched you close your eyes to keep the peace You loved your gods the way you love your cages The kind of love that only wants release
Pre-Chorus
And then I opened my mouth And everything changed You couldn’t hear the truth So you rearranged Every word that I said Into something you could name
Chorus
Sinister They’re calling me sinister Because I refused to look away Sinister They’re calling me sinister Because the things I saw needed saying anyway You dressed your wolves in robes of white And called my honesty a blight Now I wear the word you gave me like a crown Sinister Go on then Call me sinister
Verse 2
I memorized your ceremonies well I knew the prayers before I knew myself I knelt beside the men who held the answers And watched those answers twist into something else You said the silence was a form of reverence I learned the silence was a form of shame And every secret that you swore was sacred Was just a lock on someone else’s cage
Pre-Chorus 2
But then I opened my mouth And told what I’d seen You couldn’t bear the mirror So you shattered everything Every witness I became You tried to make obscene
Chorus 2
Sinister They’re calling me sinister Because I refused to look away Sinister They’re calling me sinister Because the things I saw needed saying anyway You dressed your wolves in robes of white And called my honesty a blight Now I wear the word you gave me like a crown Sinister Go on then Call me sinister
Bridge
You need a monster to explain your silence You need a darkness so your light makes sense You need a sinner so your saints seem holy You need me guilty so you don’t feel The weight of what you’ve done So go ahead Name me Frame me Brand me Shame me I’ve been kneeling at your altar Long enough
Pre-Chorus
But then I opened my eyes And screamed what I’d seen You couldn’t bear the truth So you shattered everything, everything Every witness I became You tried to make obscene
Final Chorus
Sinister They’re calling me sinister But I’ve read every page of every lie Sinister Oh I’m your sinister The inconvenient truth you can’t deny You built your kingdom on the silent On the broken and the frightened Now I’m standing in the ashes of the fire you lit Sinister Yes I’m sinister I finally understand What you meant
[spoken, piano only] They needed a villain. Now they have one.