[Verse 1]
In nineteen seventy-three the ground began to quake
Nixon's dollar fortress started showing every crack
Bretton Woods was crumbling, gold window slammed shut tight
CPI came climbing like a rocket in the night
Inflation hit five percent, then six, then more
While unemployment knocked on every factory door
[Chorus]
When the dollar falls apart, watch the numbers climb
CPI and jobless rates dancing out of time
Oil shocks and productivity sliding down the slope
Nixon's economic dream becomes a slippery rope
Seventy-three broke the mold, changed the global game
Nothing economic ever looked quite the same
[Verse 2]
OPEC squeezed the oil tap, prices shot up high
From three dollars to eleven, gas lines reached the sky
Real GDP growth stumbled, productivity fell
Output per worker hour rang like a warning bell
German marks and British pounds grew stronger every day
As the greenback weakened in the international fray
[Chorus]
When the dollar falls apart, watch the numbers climb
CPI and jobless rates dancing out of time
Oil shocks and productivity sliding down the slope
Nixon's economic dream becomes a slippery rope
Seventy-three broke the mold, changed the global game
Nothing economic ever looked quite the same
[Bridge]
Core inflation stripped away the volatile disguise
Food and energy excluded, still the baseline price
Exchange rates told the story of a empire's decline
Canada felt the tremors ripple down the line
Stagflation born that year, unemployment plus inflation
Textbook theories crumbled across every nation
[Chorus]
When the dollar falls apart, watch the numbers climb
CPI and jobless rates dancing out of time
Oil shocks and productivity sliding down the slope
Nixon's economic dream becomes a slippery rope
Seventy-three broke the mold, changed the global game
Nothing economic ever looked quite the same
[Outro]
Remember seventy-three when the old rules died
Economic regime shifted like a changing tide
Nixon's dollar kingdom fell from grace that year
And the data tells the tale crystal clear