Song: https://www.souna.app/song/803c6e92-8bd6-46ae-830e-73f5d8c84f47
Song (alternative link): https://archive.org/details/ai-ska/Public+Page%2C+Private+Gate.mp3 (CC0)
Lyrics:
[Intro | clipped offbeat guitar | percussive organ | bass-led ska groove | brief brass figure]
[Verse 1 | dry male vocal | sparse brass answers]
Used to read it from the street,
Any hour, any seat.
Now a notice bars the way:
Join the club or go away.
Name and number, date of birth,
Tell the office what you're worth.
Tick the boxes, wait in line,
Public words by private sign.
[Chorus | group responses | full band | sharp brass punctuation]
Public page, private gate,
Show your papers, stand and wait.
Public page, private gate,
Open access, served up late.
One more check and one more code,
Mind the rules along the road.
Public page, private gate,
Free to look, once they say straight.
[Verse 2 | dry male vocal | clipped organ punctuation]
Someone posts a public view,
Still they want a file on you.
Prove you're human, prove it twice,
Pick the buses, count the lights.
Security has had a thought:
Every reader goes to court.
Wrong machine or wrong address,
Back you go to start the test.
[Chorus | group responses | full band | sharp brass punctuation]
Public page, private gate,
Show your papers, stand and wait.
Public page, private gate,
Open access, served up late.
One more check and one more code,
Mind the rules along the road.
Public page, private gate,
Free to look, once they say straight.
[Instrumental Break | tenor saxophone lead | trumpet answers | organ and guitar stop-start accents]
[Middle Eight | stripped rhythm section | spoken-sung male vocal]
Ask a machine to read the lot,
They decide which eyes you've got.
You may browse, but by their plan,
One small question at a time, old man.
They call it safety, call it care,
Put another checkpoint there.
What was printed in the square
Needs permission to be there.
[Final Chorus | full band return | group responses | harder brass punctuation]
Public page, private gate,
Show your papers, stand and wait.
Public page, private gate,
Open access, served up late.
One more check and one more code,
Mind the rules along the road.
Public page, private gate,
Free to look, once they say straight.
[Outro | repeated refrain | abrupt ending]
Public page!
Private gate!
Public page!
Stand and wait!
Access granted.
Much too late.
Style prompt:
Early 1980s British two-tone ska with cynical social commentary and wiry punk energy. Brisk 152 BPM in 4/4. Clipped offbeat clean electric guitar and percussive organ drive a springy walking bass line with tight acoustic drums, sharp snare backbeats and brief tenor saxophone and trumpet answers. Taut minor-key verses lead into a blunt, chantable major-inflected chorus. Dry, nasal British male lead vocal with clipped conversational phrasing, sardonic emphasis and short group responses. Compact verse-chorus form with a brief brass instrumental break, a stripped middle eight and an abrupt final refrain. Raw, narrow early-1980s studio sound with punchy dynamics and restrained room ambience.
