About the song
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Words from the artist’s archive
RED INK 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
Table still here, same wood grain, same stains Red ink, red ink
Verse 1
Kitchen table Memphis, fall of ninety-one Daddy thirty-five, ballpoint and a dream he couldn't fund Work shirt with his name stitched crooked on the chest Signing papers for a loan he ain't digest Adjustable rate, nobody said what that adjusts Loan officer left a card like he just blessed us Pen movin confident, mama cooking greens in back Interest rate a clock disguised behind the stack Circled the monthly, thought he understood the sum Number had a cousin that would swallow every one Four percent today, tomorrow it's a flood He signed the line, that ink looked just like blood
Pre-chorus
Same table, different decade, same math, nothing changed
Chorus
Red ink on the paper, red ink in the veins Every number that he signed became a number that remains Red ink, what you leave ain't always gold What you pass down is a debt nobody chose Red ink, red ink What you inherit when there's nothing left to hold
Verse 2
Same table but a rental, house was gone by oh-eight Thirty-five today, sitting where he sat, same weight Letter from a collector I ain't called Medical debt, his name on top, dead since fall No savings, no deed, no trust, just a minus sign Woman on the phone asking can I verify That's my father's debt, she say balance don't expire Holding a bill for a body they already buried Medicine ain't work, prayers nobody carried No house, no car, no fund, just red Only thing inherited was arithmetic I dread
Pre-chorus
Same table, different decade, same math, answer got worse
Chorus
Red ink on the paper, red ink in the veins Every number that he signed became a number that remains Red ink, what you leave ain't always gold What you pass down is a debt nobody chose Red ink, red ink What you inherit when there's nothing left to hold
Verse 3
Ninety-one he buying school supplies on cash advance Twenty-six I'm disputing charges from a man Ain't been alive seven years but credit still breathing He sat here doing math that wouldn't solve Proud he could provide, not knowing what it cost I sit here negotiating what I never spent Pride in his hands crashing into rage at the design System ate his effort, signed himself the debtor
Bridge
Found the shoebox cleaning storage last December His signature still confident on yellowing paper Held it next to the collection letter Same bloodline, different prisons He wasn't careless, he was unprotected Anger shift from the man to the architecture
Verse 4
Handwriting leans right like reaching for the future Hold the paper up, light through the watermark Bank don't exist no more, still got us in the dark They knew he couldn't read page three of the manual Knew the rate would climb, knew the ARM would break Sold him dignity on credit, kept the change Both papers on the table, hope and debt side by side Same pen strokes, different crime
Verse 5
Daughter at the table now, filling out her forms College application asking what the family worth Write a number with a minus but I write the check Forty-five dollars, that money real, I broke the pattern Math still red but the path look different now Every paper I sign I read until it's finished She look up from the table, ask what I'm staring at I say nothing but I see his hands inside of mine Red ink, red ink
Outro
Same table, same ink, different hand now
Inside the recording
Table still here, same wood grain, same stains Red ink, red ink
Same table, different decade, same math, nothing changed
Same table, same ink, different hand now
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.