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Words from the artist’s archive
FIRST RIGHT 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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Intro
Box fan on the floor doing all the lifting, window cracked two fingers, call it the budget, August in the 305, you can taste it.
Verse 1
Carol City heat got the asphalt sweating, AC been dead since the day of the renting, mama keep the inhaler right by the Tylenol, little brother wheeze when the Palmetto fumes roll, smoke off the plant where Opa-Locka meet the sky, whole block taste it as the 95 roll by, we don't get the same alerts the suburbs be reading, just a tight in the chest and a box fan beating.
Chorus
First right, that's the air in my chest, 'fore the rent come due, 'fore the badge, 'fore the rest, crack the window when the heat won't quit, let the whole block exhale, that's it, first right, you can argue all the rest, you can't collect off a man 'til he caught his breath.
Verse 2
Light bill came with a shutoff date, rent jumped up but the check the same weight, that's a knot in the throat that you can't cough loose, Publix line and the card decline the whole truth, court date Tuesday for a tag that expired, miss one shift and the manager fired, ceiling getting lower every month they don't fix it, you learn to breathe shallow, you learn to live with it.
Chorus
First right, that's the air in my chest, 'fore the rent come due, 'fore the badge, 'fore the rest, crack the window when the heat won't quit, let the whole block exhale, that's it, first right, you can argue all the rest, you can't collect off a man 'til he caught his breath, say it again.
Verse 3
I see my own face in the kid with the inhaler, same chest off Liberty, same uphill later, mirror in the window when the bus don't come, city see your breath like it's optional, son, grandma on the porch with the church fan moving, short of air for years and nobody proving it.
Verse 4
So we crack every window on the whole top floor, file the complaint that the office ignored, photograph the smoke, put a date on the haze, knock every door in the building, we raise, turn the box fan up like a battle drum, ask the council to your face where the asthma come from, you want the check, then you better fix the vents, 'cause the first right ain't a gift, it's the rent.
Chorus
First right, that's the air in my chest, 'fore the rent come due, 'fore the badge, 'fore the rest, crack the window when the heat won't quit, let the whole block exhale, that's it, first right, you can argue all the rest, you can't collect off a man 'til he caught his breath. First right, let me hear the whole section, First right, air before the collection.
Verse 5
So I tell the little ones before they grow tall, air come first, you fight for it all, keep the window cracked and your name on the lease, keep the receipts on four forty-one, keep the peace, they gon' hand you the bill 'fore they hand you the air, the order is backwards, so we putting it square.
Outro
Box fan still going, window still cracked, air come first, everything after that's tax. First right.
Inside the recording
Box fan on the floor doing all the lifting, window cracked two fingers, call it the budget,
First right, that's the air in my chest, 'fore the rent come due, 'fore the badge, 'fore the rest,
Box fan still going, window still cracked, air come first, everything after that's tax.
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.