Bits Don't Lie

Flip a coin, that's the smallest true thing you can send One bit of maybe, heads or tails, beginning to end A yes or a no, a spark or a gap in the wire That's all a signal is, underneath the whole choir

Bits don't lie, they don't waver, they don't blur A one is a one, a zero is a zero, that's the law they prefer Every photo, every voice, every song on the air Is just billions of yeses and nos stacked with care

The less you expect a message, the more it can hold A sunrise every morning tells you nothing new, truth told But an unexpected knock at your unexpected door Carries more bits than a headline you saw coming before

Bits don't lie, they don't waver, they don't blur Surprise is the currency, the rarer, the higher the transfer Noise is just the static trying to drown the true note out Signal is the pattern that refuses to give out

Shannon drew the map before the internet had a name Said a message and its meaning don't have to be the same You can compress a sentence, strip it down to its bone And the bits underneath will still bring the whole thing home

Bits don't lie, they don't waver, they don't blur Every love song, every warning, every soft goodbye you've heard Rode here on a pattern simpler than you'd guess Bits don't lie, they just carry what we dress