Redbox and the Chilipeppers – Play The Game

Play The Game I wrote the music for this one before I knew what it was going to be. Wrote the chorus in August 2009, then about a month later wrote the verses and recorded them in the same evening. Curtis is a real person who you can learn about by visiting phonelosers.org/curtis_lee_jones/.

Click here to see a scan of the paper I wrote the chorus on. I did this while at the City Museum in St. Louis with my kids in 2009. I was sitting around bored while they were gone somewhere, so I downloaded the mp3 of that Curtis prank call to my phone and transcribed it onto paper. Then I wrote the chorus from that since I had already written the music. The rest of the song was written in a text file, where you can see alternate verses and other things that I didn’t use in the finished song.

LYRICS:

Curtis Lee Jones, the top fucking hacker,
Is scaring the operator, threatening to smack her,
He’s saying he’ll choke my fucking neck too,
(Dude, you don’t fucking get it, do you?)

I wish I was smarter to find the first clue,
But I’m just a punk-ass imbreeded fool,
(How stupid can you fuckin’ be?)
I guess I need to go to my libarry!

I’m hardly a genius like you are on phones,
I don’t have a central computer in my home,
Tapping my lines and tracing my calls,
Jesus, Curtis, you’re like a fucking god!

How do you get these impression footprints?
(You made me a fucking god, bitch!)
Jesus, what are you going to do to me, Curt?
(Dude, you should have did your homework.)

Let’s play the game like the devil says,
It’s not time to speak until I say it is,
Your time is up because the devil says so,
You understand that it’s the devil’s show.

Play the rules the way the game is played,
Or the devil’s hands will take your life away,
Each step is countered by a step of mine,
Just like every time, every fucking time.

(Curtis rants, then chorus again…)

Wow, Curtis, this whole thing’s a mess,
(I do have a way of getting your address.)
I didn’t mean to piss off a hacker this much,
I just wanted to hear you yell at me a bunch.

Now it seems like my whole life is through,
(Let me tell you exactly what I’m gonna do.)
Can you really find me through the telephone switch?
(You best understand who you’re fucking with.)

Please, Curtis, just let me go free,
I’ll never call your number again, you’ll see,
You win this round, Curtis, you’re the fucking boss,
(Now, motherfucker, you’ve pissed me off!)

Actually I’m kidding, your threats crack me up,
I know that you’re nothing to be afraid of,
Your crazy delusions of your hacker past,
(I’m gonna be stomping a mudhole in your fuckin’ ass!)

Let’s play the game like the devil says,
It’s not time to speak until I say it is,
Your time is up because the devil says so,
You understand that it’s the devil’s show.

Play the rules the way the game is played,
Or the devil’s hands will take your life away,
Each step is countered by a step of mine,
Just like every time, every fucking time.

(More Curtis ranting…)