The Closet Where the Library Ran (Aaron Swartz)

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
The closet
is unlocked
The closet
has always
been unlocked
which will matter
later
when they call it
breaking and entering

The laptop
is plugged
into the network
and the network
connects
to the library
and the library
contains
four million papers
written by people
who were paid
by the public
to write them
and then sold
to a company
that charges
the public
to read them

The boy
who plugged
the laptop in
is twenty-four
and he built
the feed
that brings you
your news
at fourteen
and he helped build
the site
where you argue
about everything
and he wrote
the manifesto
that said:
information
is power
and like all power
there are those
who want
to keep it
for themselves

[Chorus]
My grandmother
kept the rice
unlocked
because
the locked rice
meant
someone
did not eat

This boy
kept the papers
unlocked
because
the locked papers
meant
someone
did not learn

And the government
looked at the lock
and looked at the boy
and decided
the lock
was worth
thirty-five years
of the boy

And the boy
was twenty-six
when the weight
of the thirty-five
became heavier
than the boy

[Verse 2]
He wore
a bicycle helmet
to hide his face
from the camera
they placed
in the closet
after they found
the laptop
and the helmet
is the saddest
detail
in the story
because
the helmet
means
he knew
the risk
and the knowing
did not
stop the feeding

The company
he took from
did not
press charges
The company
said:
we are done
The university
did not
say we are done
The government
did not
say we are done
The government
said:
thirteen felonies
a million
in fines
and a number
of years
that would mean
he would enter
the prison
as the boy
who freed
the library
and leave
as a man
older
than the papers
he downloaded

[Bridge]
He wrote
at twenty-two:
we need to take
information
wherever it is stored
make our copies
and share them
with the world

And I read this
and I hear
my grandmother
who said
the same thing
about rice
in a different
century
in a different
language
and the language
does not matter
because
the verb
is the same:

feed them

Feed them
the knowledge
they paid for
Feed them
the papers
their taxes
funded
Feed them
the research
that was done
in their name
and then
locked
in their name
and then
sold back
to them
in their name

The closet
was unlocked
The library
should have been

[Final Chorus]
He did not
survive
the distance
between
the unlocked closet
and the locked
courtroom

He was found
in his apartment
in Brooklyn
on a Friday
in January
twenty-six
years old
and the papers
he downloaded
were never
released
and the library
he tried
to open
opened
a little
two days
before he died
as if the library
heard him
leaving
and cracked
the door
too late

The laptop
in the closet
is dark now
The download
is incomplete
The feed
he built
at fourteen
still brings you
your news
every morning
and the site
he helped build
still argues
about everything
and the manifesto
still says
information
is power
and the power
is still
behind
the lock
and the boy
is still
twenty-six

And my grandmother
would have
fed him
She would have
looked at the lock
and looked at the boy
and opened
the kitchen
and said
the two words
she said
to everyone
who was hungry:

ăn đi
eat now

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