About the song
Told from the other side of the funeral: the room gets honest only once you cannot answer back.
My name never sounded louder than the day I couldn't hear it.
About these notes
AI-assisted song notes, based on the sources shown here. Not yet human-reviewed.
Words from the artist’s archive
THE ENVY OUTLIVED ME lyrics
Artist-supplied lyric sheet, matched by title. The sheet may differ from this released performance. Production notes and alternate promotional cuts are omitted.
Read the lyric sheet
Intro
They put my best suit on a body I no longer use. Funny how the room got honest when I could not answer back. Same corner outside. Same cups by the curb. My name never sounded louder than the day I couldn't hear it.
Verse 1
The wake, the suit, the tears, the truth, my mother touched the glass like it might let me through. The same dirt in the drain by the curb we claimed, fresh paint on the wall, but they kept my name. Friends by the cooler kept pouring my share, foes crossed the street just to count who was there. One man hugged my brother, then watched his chain, one hand held a candle, one measured the gain. They called me a king where they called me a threat, gave flowers to a man they who they would never forget. I watched from the hush where the ceiling fan turned, and learned who was grieving, and who came to learn.
Chorus
The envy outlived me, stood by my picture like family. My friends poured one for the memory, my foes poured two for what could be. They buried the body beneath me, but the envy outlived me.
Bridge
Then I saw my old marker still under the paint. I wrote that name first. I taught pride how to aim. I made being feared look the same as respect, kept score of each favor, collected each debt. The corner did not make this hunger alone. I left it my rules, and it made them its own.
Verse 2
By midnight the shirts with my face sold out, a boy I never fed wore my name through the crowd. The cousin who owed me was leading the toast, making himself look close to a man now a ghost. The news used one photo, the hardest they found, cut off my daughter who stood just out of bounds. She asked why the strangers knew words to my songs, but none knew her birthday or where she belonged. My rival sent roses, then counted each repost, then smiled at the lens like the peace had been chosen. I wanted to warn them, but death has no breath, so the lie shook every hand that was left.
Chorus
The envy outlived me, stood by my picture like family. My friends poured one for the memory, my foes poured two for what could be. They buried the body beneath me, but the envy outlived me.
Verse 3
At sunrise my daughter slipped out of the wake, past bottles, black cars, and the deals being made. She stood at the wall with a bucket and brush, while men twice her age told the whole sidewalk, hush. She painted one word where my nickname had been, not saint, not soldier, not legend, not king. Just FATHER in white, small enough to read, then set down the brush and walked off from the scene. Behind her, my friends had new sides to defend, my foes had a story they needed to end. I begged her, go home, though no sound left my mouth. She saved what was mine by crossing me out.
Chorus
The envy outlived me, stood by my picture like family. My friends poured one for the memory, my foes poured two for what could be. My child left one word to remember me, then walked past the envy that outlived me.
Inside the recording
They put my best suit on a body I no longer use. Funny how the room got honest when I could not answer back.
The envy outlived me, stood by my picture like family.
The envy outlived me, stood by my picture like family.
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.