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Words from the artist’s archive
Roses Got Thorns 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
The bay holds the last light like it owes nobody nothing The slip rocks slow, the same way it did last week
Verse 1
High rise window, the city lights blink like they know the score The boat in the slip sways the same way it did before You in the kitchen, the radio low, the same song on repeat I watch the way your shoulders drop when the phone lights up the sheet The thorns are in the quiet, the space between the words we don't say The bloom is in the morning, the way you still reach across the gray The cost is the late nights, the moves that take you away The shine is the watch but the watch don't stop the heat at the door The glass reflects the two of us, the same two from the start The thorn is the knowing that the bloom has a clock and a heart The dock at dawn cuts the air, the gulls don't wait for the sun We stand in the same place where the promise first begun
Chorus
Roses got thorns, pick 'em while they bloom Roses got thorns, don't wait for the room The weather ain't perfect, the tide don't slow down Pick 'em while they thorn, before the petals hit the ground
Verse 2
The marina at midnight, the engines hum low like a threat The people who came for the shine, they leave when the check ain't met You held the line when the ops picked up, the glass started to shake I saw the thorn in your eye when the promise started to break The high is the rooftop, the low is the call that means run The flex is the silence, the way we both know what we done The test is the morning, the light that shows every crack The weight is the knowing that the bloom don't come back The rose in the water drifts out with the tide The hand that held it still feels the sting inside
Chorus
Roses got thorns, pick 'em while they bloom Roses got thorns, don't wait for the room The weather ain't perfect, the tide don't slow down Pick 'em while they thorn, before the petals hit the ground Ground
Bridge
The mirror in the hallway don't lie when the lights are low I see the same face that swore it would never let go The cost was the distance, the phone calls that turned into texts The bloom was the laughter, the nights that felt like the best If I could go back, I'd pick it all over again Even with the thorns, even knowing the end
Chorus
Roses got thorns, pick 'em while they bloom Roses got thorns, don't wait for the room The weather ain't perfect, the tide don't slow down Pick 'em while they thorn, before the petals hit the ground Pick 'em while they thorn
Outro
Pick 'em while they thorn
Inside the recording
The bay holds the last light like it owes nobody nothing The slip rocks slow, the same way it did last week
Roses got thorns, pick 'em while they bloom Roses got thorns, don't wait for the room
Pick 'em while they thorn
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.