Keep Our Feet

Lyrics

[Verse 1] You said the rent went up again, I watched your jaw go tight We split the last two slices on the walk home Thursday night The corner store clerk knows the names we never say out loud A kid counts coins for bus fare, chin tucked against the crowd I learned the price of every promise from a landlord’s grin And how a polished suit can hide the mess it’s standing in So fuck a clean campaign if the block still eats the cost I’m writing down the names of everybody they forgot [Chorus] We keep our feet when the floor gives way Tell the whole damn truth, don’t look away If they lock that door, we make a way Still here, still loud, still here today [Verse 2] My brother works the night shift, comes home smelling like rain Says the foreman cut his hours, then he laughs to hide the strain Ma keeps every paper bill in a tin beside the stove She says, “A little hope is good, but make the numbers show” So we read the fine print, we show up, we take the mic No saint is coming down to make the crooked ledger right I got love for every neighbor who keeps showing up to fight And a middle finger ready for the suits who sleep at night [Chorus] We keep our feet when the floor gives way Tell the whole damn truth, don’t look away If they lock that door, we make a way Still here, still loud, still here today [Bridge] No speech can feed a kid, no slogan pays the bill But hands can build a table; stubborn hearts can still We trade the fear for questions, trade the hush for names And leave a little room for somebody else to change [Verse 3] At the meeting, young and old, the folding chairs were full A nurse stood up and spoke; the room went still as wool We put the dates in writing, every promise, every check If they think we’ll lose the thread, they don’t know us yet I don’t need a golden ending, just a fairer kind of start A key that fits the front door, less weight upon the heart So when the next kid asks me if the truth can move a wall I’ll say, “It can, but not alone—so bring your ass, we’ll call” [Final Chorus] We keep our feet when the floor gives way Tell the whole damn truth, don’t look away If they lock that door, we make a way Still here, still loud, still here today Still here, still loud, still here today