About the song
A story for this song hasn’t been added yet.
Words from the artist’s archive
BEFORE THE FLIES 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
Backyard in Miramar, mango tree dropping all morning. One good day. Then the flies.
Verse 1
Heat sit on the Hill like it pay rent in Lauderhill, memorial tee on a jit, twenty-one, couldn't sit still. Corner store taped a face to the door by the lotto sign, Carol City clock don't tick, it just drop fruit on time. Grandma tree out back, mango heavy, mango gold, ripe for one afternoon then the brown start to fold. 441 humming low like it know all our names, death move quiet down here, it don't ask, it just claims.
Pre-chorus
So I'm counting every green to gold, the flies already circling slow,
Chorus
Eat your lies, live you life, before the flies, the mango only sweet for one of your days. I'm free, I'm awake, I'm alive, gone tomorrow, so I'm tasting today. Before the flies, before the lies, before the flies come for the sweet.
Post-chorus
Before the flies, live you life,
Verse 2
Repast in the church hall, foil pans and folding chairs, his momma thanking everybody, gripping both armrests like stairs. Light bill don't grieve, the Palmetto don't slow, I'm crying on the 95 with the AC on low. Cost of a casket more than my first car, they passed the white envelope, I gave what I had so far. Time is a debt and the interest is the people you lose, I been spending my mornings on a screen I didn't choose.
Verse 3
Mirror in the bathroom, fluorescent on my face, I been saying "tomorrow" so long it took my place. Said I'd call her back. Nah. I didn't. That's the lie. Let three good mangoes rot while I scrolled the time by. Who am I when the block ain't watching, camera off, just a man with a phone and a fruit going soft.
Pre-chorus
No more counting green to gold, I'm biting in before it fold,
Chorus
Eat your lies, live you life, before the flies, the mango only sweet for one of your days. I'm free, I'm awake, I'm alive, gone tomorrow, so I'm tasting today. Before the flies, before the lies, before the flies come for the sweet.
Verse 4
Nah, not today, I'm picking up the phone, 27th Ave green light, I'm gone, I'm grown, took my daughter to the water by the Sistrunk side, bought the off-brand kite, watched it climb, watched her eyes, I'm killing the "later," I'm burying the "soon," seize it like the last spoon scraping out the jar, Opa-Locka sun going down like it owe me a debt, cashing every minute that I ain't spent yet, the flies can wait, the flies can circle and starve, I'm eating the whole day down to the scar.
Bridge
The mango's only sweet for one of your days, and the flies don't call ahead. They never call ahead. So I'm tasting it, tasting it, even the bruise, even the part going soft.
Verse 5
Lil man, when the green turn gold, you go, don't save the sweet for a later the Lord ain't owe. Plantation porch, I'm teaching him the thud on the grass, that's the sound of a day saying, baby, this won't last. Eat the good one. Hold your people in the light. Then we cross 95 and we keep the night.
Pre-chorus
Still counting every green to gold, but I'm biting in before it fold,
Chorus
Eat your lies, live you life, before the flies, the mango only sweet for one of your days. I'm free, I'm awake, I'm alive, gone tomorrow, so I'm tasting today. Before the flies, before the lies, One good day, one good day before the flies come for the sweet.
Outro
One good day. Eat it now. Flies don't call ahead.
Inside the recording
Backyard in Miramar, mango tree dropping all morning. One good day. Then the flies.
So I'm counting every green to gold, the flies already circling slow,
One good day. Eat it now. Flies don't call ahead.
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.