[Intro] [One acoustic guitar] [Heart] This one starts small. Don't help me yet. [Crowd laughs] I'm serious. Let it earn you. [Boot tap begins] [Verse 1] Put a little away Before I had a reason Not enough to brag about Not enough for believing Just enough to tell tomorrow Somebody already came Put one brick beside another Didn't bother naming the frame Month went by Then another Didn't look like much at all Little number Little habit Little mark against the wall Everybody loves the moment Something finally breaks the scale Nobody writes songs About the years It barely moves the needle [Upright bass enters] [Pre-Chorus] Funny thing about a quiet thing You think it isn't growing Till one day you turn around And don't remember when it started showing [Chorus] A little at a time [Crowd softly] A little at a time... [Heart] Money Patience Miles And mind A little at a time You don't see the mountain While you're carrying the stone Then one day You look behind you— And somehow you built a road [Rimshot joins] [Verse 2] Same thing happened with a person I never tried to rush Same thing happened with a voice I finally learned to trust Same thing happened with the room Back when nobody knew the song Fed it something every night Then left it alone long enough You can't pull a root upward Just to check if it has grown Can't keep digging up tomorrow Then complain it won't come home Sometimes building looks like nothing That's the part nobody sells It's just showing up again When there ain't a story yet to tell [Handclaps join] [Pre-Chorus] You in the back— Don't clap harder. Just keep it steady. That's the whole damn trick. [Chorus] A little at a time [Crowd] A LITTLE AT A TIME! [Heart] Money Patience Miles And mind A little at a time You don't see the mountain While you're carrying the stone Then one day You look behind you— And somehow you built a road [Hammond enters] [Break] [Heart] Hold on. Listen. [Band keeps playing] Hear how much is happening now? [Crowd murmurs] We didn't add much. [Electric guitar enters with one answering phrase] Just one thing. Then one thing. Then one thing. [Heart] That's usually how it happens. [Verse 3] Checked the number recently Thought somebody'd made a mistake Not because it changed last Tuesday Because I finally stepped away Same old months Same little choices Same hands Same name Nothing dramatic happened That's what made it strange I spent years expecting thunder For the proof I'd finally grown Turns out change can fill a house Without ever slamming a door [Backing voices enter quietly] [Bridge] [Heart] I used to think patience meant sitting still. It doesn't. [Acoustic guitar continues alone for two bars] Patience is doing the small thing after the small thing stopped being exciting. [Boot tap returns] Again. [Bass returns] Again. [Rimshot] Again. [Claps] Again. [Hammond] Again. [Electric guitar] Again. [Backing voices] Until somebody calls it luck. [Full room reacts] [Final Chorus] A LITTLE AT A TIME! [Crowd] A LITTLE AT A TIME! [Heart] Money! Patience! Love! And life! [Crowd] A LITTLE AT A TIME! [Heart] You don't see the mountain While you're carrying the stone! [Crowd] A LITTLE AT A TIME! [Heart] You don't hear the choir When you're teaching one voice alone! [Band swells] You don't see yourself becoming When you're standing much too close Sometimes growth is just the quiet thing That stayed after everything else went home [All] A LITTLE AT A TIME! A LITTLE AT A TIME! [Outro] [Heart] All right. Take everything back out. [Band removes instruments one by one] [Backing voices disappear] [Electric guitar stops] [Hammond stops] [Claps stop] [Rimshot stops] [Bass stops] [Only acoustic guitar and boot tap remain] [Heart] There. That's what we started with. [Pause] Doesn't sound as small anymore, does it?
