{"id":52216,"date":"2026-04-04T12:53:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T12:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/?p=52216"},"modified":"2026-04-04T12:53:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T12:53:02","slug":"pass-or-fail-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/2026\/04\/04\/pass-or-fail-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Pass or Fail?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[Silence]<\/p>\n<p>[Instrumental, Guitar, Piano, Synth, Bass, Percussion, Drums]<\/p>\n<p>[Intro]<br \/>\n[Low Drone, Pulsing Bass, Distant Guitar Harmonics, Minimal Beat]<br \/>\nThe questions return<br \/>\n(One final time)<br \/>\nThe lights are oh so low<br \/>\n(Answers can&#8217;t wait)<br \/>\nYou know&#8230;<br \/>\n(Can&#8217;t be too late)<br \/>\n[Instrumental Build: Organ Swell, Snare March, Tremolo Guitar]<\/p>\n<p>[Verse 1]<br \/>\n[Duet, Steady Beat, Deep Bass, Atmospheric Synth, Piano Chords]<br \/>\nI walked through the system<br \/>\nI carried the weight<br \/>\nI searched for the meaning<br \/>\nI challenged my fate<br \/>\nEvery test and trial<br \/>\nEvery wrong and right<br \/>\nEvery step behind me<br \/>\nBrings me here tonight<\/p>\n<p>[Pre-Chorus]<br \/>\n[Layered Vocals, Rising Cymbals, Synth Swell]<br \/>\nThe numbers have been counted<br \/>\nThe lines have all been drawn<br \/>\nNow the final silence<br \/>\nWaits before the dawn<\/p>\n<p>[Refrain]<br \/>\n[Driving Beat, Punchy Drums, Layered Vocals]<br \/>\nWell, do tell<br \/>\n(Pass or fail?)<br \/>\nEpic flail&#8230;<br \/>\n(Or prevail?)<br \/>\nWell?<\/p>\n<p>[Verse 2]<br \/>\n[Driving Bass, Organ Flourish, Guitar Echoes]<br \/>\nI learned from every failure<br \/>\nI learned from every scar<br \/>\nI mapped the hidden distance<br \/>\nBetween here and who we are<br \/>\nNo answer came so easy<br \/>\nNo truth arrived complete<br \/>\nBut every broken pathway<br \/>\nStill led me to my feet<\/p>\n<p>[Pre-Chorus]<br \/>\n[Snare Roll, Rising Strings, Whispered Vocals]<br \/>\nThe clock is still ticking<br \/>\nThe shadows still remain<br \/>\nBut I can hear the future<br \/>\nCalling out my name<\/p>\n<p>[Refrain]<br \/>\n[Full Band, Bigger Drums, Choir Vocals]<br \/>\nWell, do tell<br \/>\n(Pass or fail?)<br \/>\nEpic flail&#8230;<br \/>\n(Or prevail?)<br \/>\nWell?<\/p>\n<p>[Bridge]<br \/>\n[Half-Time Beat, Dark Synth Drone, Piano Arpeggios]<br \/>\nMaybe there is no &#8220;final&#8221; answer<br \/>\nBut we&#8217;re being graded on our score<br \/>\n(I&#8217;m starting to see&#8230;)<br \/>\nPerhaps most importantly<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s becoming something more<br \/>\n(Through the static and the noise)<br \/>\nThrough the posing and poise<br \/>\n(Through the doubt and through the fear)<br \/>\nIs it surprising?<br \/>\n(Can you feel the signal rising)<br \/>\nI can see the ending here<\/p>\n<p>[Guitar Solo]<br \/>\n[Lead Guitar Solo, Organ Layers, Heavy Tom Drums]<\/p>\n<p>[Final Refrain]<br \/>\n[Massive Chorus: Full Orchestra, Layered Choir, Heavy Drums]<br \/>\nWell, do tell<br \/>\n(Pass or fail?)<br \/>\nEpic flail&#8230;<br \/>\n(Or prevail?)<br \/>\nWell?<\/p>\n<p>Well, do tell<br \/>\n(Pass or fail?)<br \/>\nEpic flail&#8230;<br \/>\n(Or prevail?)<br \/>\nWell?<\/p>\n<p>[Outro]<br \/>\n[Instrumental Outro: Fading Piano, Synth Drone, Slow Percussion]<br \/>\nThe test is done<br \/>\n(Lost or won)<br \/>\nLight&#8230; shade<br \/>\n(The answers fade)<br \/>\nThe story ends<br \/>\n(Nature mends)<br \/>\nSane sustains<br \/>\n(And life remains)<br \/>\n[Fade Out]<\/p>\n<p>From the album <strong>&#8220;<a href=\"\/albums\/Laboratory\/\">Laboratory<\/a>&#8220;<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Silence] [Instrumental, Guitar, Piano, Synth, Bass, Percussion, Drums] [Intro] [Low Drone, Pulsing Bass, Distant Guitar Harmonics, Minimal Beat] The questions return (One final time) The lights are oh so low (Answers can&#8217;t wait) You know&#8230; (Can&#8217;t be too late) [Instrumental Build: Organ Swell, Snare March, Tremolo Guitar] [Verse 1] [Duet, Steady Beat, Deep Bass, Atmospheric [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52217,"href":"https:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52216\/revisions\/52217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}