Elliot Valentine Lee, Mel Hornyak - The One Who Pulls the Strings

★ Verse Intro ★
BEATRIX
Did you ever write a story that shook the world to its core?
Did you publish an indictment of the wrong side of a war?
Do you want the power to decide whose words survive?
The daily's done that longer than we both have been alive!

★ Verse ★
When I was the new kid
Not the tried-and-true kid
Not the love-what-you-do kid
Just new
My dad didn’t go here
I had no fortune to show here
No seniors I know here
Like you
I applied for every club I had the interest to pursue
I tried to make the case for all the good I'm gonna do
But no one had time
And no one had space
I was falling behind at the start of the race
So I changed my name to please them
And bought my classmate's rings
I decided I’d become the one who pulls the strings

★ Verse ★
Abuela tells me to rest
Says I'm constantly stressed
And I'll just get depressed
Like before
But I still have to try
Not stand idly by
So I don't have to rely
On her more
I learned to flatter peers with fiction, show my canines when I smile
With a lipstick benediction, make them think I'm worth their while
I ghostwrote the stories
That left them enthralled
I was out pounding the pavement
Or a fly on the wall
And I earned the kind of power
Only great reporting brings
I worked my way from nothing to the one who pulls the strings

★ Bridge ★
But you could love it here
Where the beat of the presses makes you feel like you're at the heart of it
I just love it here
Where you know they'll be printing forever and you are just part of it
This paper used to change the world
So you could do the same
You could write something important
And make the readers know your name
And they love us here
Without what we write, all the prizes they earn would go unwitnessed
You could love it here
If you can't get permission, ask for their forgiveness

★ Verse ★
So you don’t have to stay
But there’s always a way
If you mind what you say
To still write
I can't promise success
But you’re in league with the best
If the board is impressed
You'll do alright
Just keep your head and you could be the next head of the section
Learn to stay in line and you could pursue perfection
You could do what I couldn't
And write powerful things
If you stay with me then you could be the one who pulls the strings!