About the song
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Words from the artist’s archive
Three of 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.
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Intro
Who fed you
Verse 1
I was born to a spoon that was borrowed and bent Learned the math of an oven with nothing in it Hunger was a teacher with a ruler for a hand It measured me in winters, I grew up on demand I broke what I loved if it stood near the plate Burned a bridge in December just to stand in the heat Call me the destroyer, I answer to fed I never counted damage, I was counting the bread Tomorrow was a rumor and today was a fight I tore the house apart so the kid inside could smile
Chorus
I tore it down to eat, down to eat I built it up to sleep, up to sleep I dream about a door where they know me by name Three of me inside, one heartbeat to divide Housed, Fed, safe - and we came here to be one
Verse 2
I wake to an alarm I installed on myself Coffee, commute, a career as a shell I patch what he shattered, I mortar the seams Buy locks for the windows and blinds for the dreams I built a clean fence around a man in a frame A family, a routine, a respectable name I check the stove twice and the deadbolt at night Safety is a hum but it never sings right He wrecked it for a dinner, I construct for a calm But walls that keep the wind out keep the neighbors gone
Chorus
I tore it down to eat, down to eat I built it up to sleep, up to sleep I dream about a door where they know me by name Three of me inside, one heartbeat to divide Housed, Fed, safe - and we came here to be one
Verse 3
I'm the one they both built for, the maybe, the yet The postcard on the fridge from a place we never left I watched the plate get full and the deadbolt get strong And I'm grateful, and I'm empty, and that math feels wrong Is surviving a life or the porch of a life Is a roof an achievement or a lid on the night I dream a loud table, a chair worn to my shape Somebody who can finish my sentence when it breaks I don't want to be guarded, I want to be known Not a guest with credentials, a reason to come home You fed me and you housed me, and I carry that debt But a pulse with no witness skips beats at best
Bridge
Said the past, keep your poems, you can't sing while you starve Said the present, no supper with no roof and no yard Said the future, then answer me, what is the roof for A room full of safety is a beautifully locked door Hunger rules the morning, worry runs the noon The dream takes the night shift, humming at the moon
Verse 4
So here is the ruling, no gavel, no cage It was never a courtroom, it's a crew and a wage I wreck when it strangles, I build when it's clear I dream so the building has a why to be here And the cities run the pattern, watch a skyline confess Cranes over rubble over promises over sweat Fed is how I'm standing, housed is how I'm warm Safe is how I'm sleeping through the sound of the storm But known is why I'm staying, why the body keeps its shape A man is not a pantry, a man is not a gate I set one more chair out before I set the alarm Three of me go quiet when somebody says my name wrong
Chorus
I tore it down to eat, down to eat I built it up to sleep, up to sleep I dream about a door where they know me by name Three of me inside, one heartbeat to divide Housed, Fed, safe - and we came here to be one
Outro
Who fed you, who built you, who knows you The one who knows you is the reason for the other two
Inside the recording
Who fed you
I tore it down to eat, down to eat I built it up to sleep, up to sleep
Who fed you, who built you, who knows you The one who knows you is the reason for the other two
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.