[Intro] This one's for my grandmother. Big Mama Ruth. The one who raised me and my brother while my mama kept the lights on. Everybody got one — that one who made you who you are. If you had one too... this one's yours. Hold 'em up. [Verse 1] Raised me and my brother while our mama worked the doubles Peppermints up in your purse, you kept us out of trouble Braided all my hair up sitting on the kitchen floor Me and Terrell on the linoleum 'fore you walked us out the door Church clothes pressed and patent leather, "sit up straight and still" Hard love and a softer hand, you bent me to your will Fed the whole block Sunday dinner off a pension and a prayer Greens up on the stovetop, hummin' hymns into the air Reading glasses on a chain, you saw through every lie Flour on your working hands, you wiped away my every cry You were church before the building, you were warmth before the flame You the reason that I'm standing, you the reason of the name [Hook] Would you know me, Big Mama, would you know my face? Look what your baby did — would you call it grace? I'm still standing on the things you put in me Big Mama, everything I am is you in me I carry you, I carry you Eighteen years and I still carry you [Verse 2] Taught me right from wrong before I knew the words for either "God don't make no junk," you told me, "hold your head up, hold your feature" Taught me feed the ones with nothing, taught me look 'em in the eye Taught me pride ain't in the pocket, taught me how to hold it high Switch behind the door but you ain't never swing in anger Corrected with a look that made me straighten like a soldier Walked me to the schoolhouse, walked me past the corner danger Prayed the whole block off of me, your faith a folded armor Every value that they praise in me, you planted in the cold Every ounce of backbone in me is a story that you told I ain't learn it in a classroom, ain't learn it in the street I learned it at your table with my elbows off and feet beneath [Hook] Would you know me, Big Mama, would you know my face? Look what your baby did — would you call it grace? I'm still standing on the things you put in me Big Mama, everything I am is you in me I carry you, I carry you Eighteen years and I still carry you [Bridge] And I know you had to go, I know He called your name But I wasn't finished needing you, still reaching just the same I made it, Big Mama — how I wish that you could see Every good thing that I grew, the seed was planted by your hands I'd trade the whole marquee, trade the plaques up on the wall For one more Sunday dinner, hear you humming down the hall [Verse 3] Everything they clap for now, you gave me long ago The loyalty, the backbone, the compassion that I show I still feed everybody, still keep my hands like yours Still hold the door for strangers, still remember who I'm for They can keep the accolades, I'd give it back to sit One more evening at your table, watch you rock and knit 'Cause you living every time I'm decent, every time I'm true When the whole world think they see me — what they really see is you Terrell got your name and "oh-eight" inked into his skin He wear you on his arm, and I wear you deep within Two grandkids that you raised, two different ways we hold — Me the keeper of your conscience, him the keeper of the gold You ain't give up on that boy even when the block had took him He climbed up out the fire, Big Mama, and he shook 'em Know you had a hand in it, know you walked him to the light He scream your name on stages — brother, we carry you tonight They tore the buildings down, tore the neighborhood apart But they couldn't touch your kitchen 'cause I built it in my heart So they call me by my name, but the name is just a door And behind it stand a grandmother who made me from her core [Outro] Rest easy, Big Mama. Still trying to make you proud. I carry you everywhere I go. Everywhere.
