Clearance Level

This track comes from Aaron's military service — Air Force enlisted, Army Infantry officer, DoD civilian at SPAWAR/NIWC. It tackles Having security clearances and the walls it creates - the things you know but can't share, the isolation of classified knowledge. The lyrics get specific — "Those are unclassified, those I'll never shade" — because personal tracks on Majik's are personal for real, not performatively. The indie production matches the energy of the confession. It hits mysterious and guarded, in that order. Every personal track in the catalogue comes from a real moment, a real feeling, a real person. This one is no exception.

[verse 1] There are things I know that I can never tell you Not because I don't trust you, because I swore I'd be the well who Holds the water underground where light can't reach Classified compartments that I cannot breach Even with the people sleeping next to me at night The clearance is a wall between the left and right Sides of my existence, I can't merge the branches Some repositories are private, no second chances At declassifying what the government installed Behind the Stransky firewall, password-protected, walled Off from every conversation that gets too close to the line Sorry, can't discuss that, and yes I know it's fine That you're curious, but the clearance level holds [chorus] Clearance level, what I know lives in the dark Clearance level, classified down to the heart You can ask but I can't answer, that's the deal I signed Clearance level, some things stay behind The wall that the government built inside my mind Clearance level, a different kind of confined [verse 2] At the party someone asks so what'd you do in the Navy And the answer is a highlight reel, carefully and bravely Edited to include the parts that are approved For public consumption, but the truth is removed From the narrative, replaced with generalities I served, I deployed, I saw, formalities That cover up the specifics like a redacted page Black bars across the stories of a different age When I was someone with a clearance and a need to know Now I'm someone with a secret and nowhere to go With the weight of it except to carry it quiet Clearance level doesn't expire, don't try it [chorus] Clearance level, what I know lives in the dark Clearance level, classified down to the heart You can ask but I can't answer, that's the deal I signed Clearance level, some things stay behind The wall that the government built inside my mind Clearance level, a different kind of confined [bridge] The startup world is open source, transparent, share it all The government world is need-to-know, compartmentalized tall Walls between the people working on the same floor And I've lived in both, I know the score The freedom of transparency is intoxicating The discipline of secrecy is suffocating But necessary, and I understand the why Some things stay dark so the light can survive [verse 3] So I build in the open now, everything I can Open source the code, publish the plan Because the years of keeping secrets made me value The things that can be shared, the things that hallow The space between two people with no wall between The clearance level's mine to keep, but the things I've seen Since leaving, the Folly sunsets, the code, the music made Those are unclassified, those I'll never shade With black bars or redacted text or NDA The clearance level stays, but so does the day I decided that everything else I build is free Clearance level: open, for the rest of me [chorus] Clearance level, what I knew lives in the dark Clearance level, classified down to the heart But everything I build from here is open wide Clearance level, some things stay inside But the man who walks the world is fully clear Clearance level, I'm finally here [outro] Some doors stay locked That's the promise I made But every other door Is wide open