The Way We Leave It

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The Way We Leave It lyrics

Artist-supplied lyric sheet, matched by title. The sheet may differ from this released performance. Production notes and alternate promotional cuts are omitted.

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Verse 1

Screen door creak when the night air hit my face Back inside the kitchen table got the whole plan laid Papers from the county and the one from the school Mixed with the plate from the cookout, sauce still on the spoon Little man tugging my leg asking if we winning yet I tell him we building baby just ain’t finished yet Out back the grill still popping cousins laughing loud But in here the silence got a different kind of sound Like the weight of what granddaddy carried on his back When he stepped off the plane with nothing but a sack And a promise that the next ones wouldn’t have to do the same But the same kept showing up with a different name University Drive outside humming like it know the deal Every car that pass got a story at the wheel I got two envelopes and only one feel like it lead somewhere The other one been sitting there since last year The babies see it all even when they playing with they toys They watching how we move like we the blueprint for they boys

Chorus

I’m trying to leave more than a story, I’m trying to leave a way For the babies to walk without the same stones in they shoe I’m trying to leave more than the struggle they saw in my face Trying to leave a table where the plans don’t got to choose Between the quick and the long between the silence and the song I’m trying to leave the way we ain’t never had But still honor the ones who carried it on they back

Verse 2

The weight hit different when the little eyes follow you to the door Asking if you coming back like they seen this movie before I seen granddaddy work three jobs just to keep the lights on Now I got one that pay better but still feel like it taking something strong The kitchen table got coffee rings and the plans we drew But the chair where he sat still got the indent like it knew What it cost to keep the family name from fading in the rain On the concrete where the dreams and the repo trucks came I don’t want them to inherit the silence that ate at his chest Or the way he carried everything so nobody else could rest But I feel it pulling me too when the bills stack like they testing How much man I got left when the month run out of blessings

Chorus

Verse 3

Sometimes I catch my reflection in the window over the sink See his eyes looking back asking what I really think Am I building something new or just polishing the same chain That kept us in the same spot even when we changed the name The old heads say that’s just how it go boy don’t rock the boat But the boat already leaking and the babies learning how to float I love my people want to make em proud with every move But the proud that come from repeating what already proved To break something slow is still breaking just with better shoes I rather they see me trying to carve than watching me lose The same way he did quiet in the back of the room

Bridge

I been carrying it like it’s mine to hold alone… But maybe the way we leave it is letting some of it go So the babies see a man who chose the long road even when the short looked easier Who sat at the table and wrote something they could read later Not just the story of how we survived the weather But the map of how we made the weather better

Chorus

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01 / The opening