About the song
A story for this song hasn’t been added yet.
Words from the artist’s archive
DEALT 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
Table in the backroom, cards face down. Rain tapping like it know the outcome before I do. One hand. Four suits. Same deck every night in the 305.
Verse 1
She waitin' under the bus shelter on 27th, rain beading on her hoodie like the sky tryna wash doubt off both of us I pull up late, engine warm from the run, but her eyes don't ask where I been, they ask if I'm still here Love in this city ain't soft. It's the only thing that don't charge interest when the lights blink twice Her hand in mine feel like the one card that don't get folded when the pot turn ugly We talk tomorrow like it owe us clean air and a working stove, like rain gon' stop and the repo man gon' skip our lot But every time I leave her porch the weight shift, carrying her hope in one pocket, my reality in the other
Chorus
Every hand got four suits pulling different directions at once Hearts pull soft, Diamonds pull bright, Clubs got the back aching, Spades keep the exit in sight I try to play one clean at a time but the felt don't work like that One night, one life, one deck, suited for all of it whether I like it or not
Verse 2
New chain catch the light like it tryna outshine the repo notice on the kitchen table I flex for the likes but they don't pay the note on the Buick or the light bill that blinked twice last week I chase the bag 'cause it promise to quiet the voice that say I ain't enough for her, for them, for the me I sold The shine feel good till the repo truck idles at 3am and I gotta decide which version of me I'm protecting
Chorus
Every hand got four suits pulling different directions at once Hearts pull soft, Diamonds pull bright, Clubs got the back aching, Spades keep the exit in sight I try to play one clean at a time but the felt don't work like that One night, one life, one deck, suited for all of it whether I like it or not
Verse 3
Clock in at 6, clock out at 6, body screaming but the rent man don't care about my back or my pride Side gig after side gig, Uber Eats bag smelling like somebody else's dinner while mine sit cold on the counter Clubs mean I build, I provide, I carry, but some nights the weight of what I'm building for feel heavier than what I'm carrying I clock out, wash the day off, look in the mirror and see a man who still believe in the work even when the work don't believe in him back
Chorus
Every hand got four suits pulling different directions at once Hearts pull soft, Diamonds pull bright, Clubs got the back aching, Spades keep the exit in sight I try to play one clean at a time but the felt don't work like that One night, one life, one deck, suited for all of it whether I like it or not
Verse 4
They say Spades is death but it feel more like the quiet after the phone ring at 2:17am The chair at the table stay empty now, plate still set like habit stronger than grief Death don't knock in the 305, it text you at 3am with a name you know and a "you good?" that don't mean what it say I carry every name that ain't here in the same pocket as the hope I still got for the ones that are Spades teach the math quick, every choice might be the last one you get to make with the people you love So I play careful, but careful don't always keep the reaper off the porch when he decide it's your turn to deal
Bridge
I been tryna keep the suits in separate piles like they don't talk to each other Like love don't cost money, like the work don't affect who I am when I come home to her Like the money don't change how I see the empty chair Like death don't make every single hand feel like it might be the last one I get to play
Verse 5
One night the phone ring, her voice soft like Hearts, but she need rent help like Diamonds pulling Boss text "be here early" like Clubs don't care what my body did yesterday And in the back of my mind the name from last week still sitting like Spades waiting on the river card I look at the table, four suits staring back, none of 'em willing to fold so the others can win clean But the deck don't shuffle like that Every choice touch all four, when I choose her I choose what it cost to keep her, when I chase the bag I choose what it take from the work and the people waiting I ain't just playing the game I am the hand And the only way to win is to play all of it like it matter, 'cause it do
Outro
Table still there in the morning Cards still got four suits And I still got one life to play 'em
Inside the recording
Table in the backroom, cards face down. Rain tapping like it know the outcome before I do. One hand. Four suits. Same deck every night in the 305.
Every hand got four suits pulling different directions at once Hearts pull soft, Diamonds pull bright, Clubs got the back aching, Spades keep the exit in sight
Table still there in the morning Cards still got four suits
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.