Twenty-Two in Babylon

Verse 1 They said my father left me A kingdom and a knife Like one would guard the other Like both would make a life There were horses in the morning There were maps across the floor There were old men saying “glory” Like they’d tasted it before I was twenty and anointed I was twenty-one and praised I was twenty-two and moving With the whole world getting named Mother said the gods were watching Men said men would sing I said, “Careful with a young boy When you dress him as a king” Pre-Chorus And I know enough to know What the marble leaves out The fever and the horses And the mother and the doubt Chorus I’m twenty-two in Babylon Everybody wants the dawn I gave the myth my name once Now the myth keeps coming on I’m twenty-two in Babylon With the ending written wrong If you give a boy an empire Don’t be shocked when he is gone Verse 2 There were men with little futures Putting kingdoms in my hand Saying, “Take it while it opens” Saying, “History understands” I said, “History looks thinner When it’s written after wine” They said, “Majesty, that’s wisdom” When I knew it wasn’t mine Every city had a doorway Every doorway had a price Every victory got hungry Every hunger called itself light And the room kept getting louder And the drums became a wheel And I felt the old joke smiling With its hand upon the steel Pre-Chorus And I know enough to know How a title eats a name How they call the burning glory When the burning gets a frame Chorus I’m twenty-two in Babylon Everybody wants the dawn I gave the myth my name once Now the myth keeps coming on I’m twenty-two in Babylon With the ending written wrong If you give a boy an empire Don’t be shocked when he is gone Middle Eight Twenty made a king of me Twenty-two made speed Twenty-three made prophecy For men who needed need Twenty-five made distance Thirty-two made stone And everybody after Called the appetite a throne I don’t want the map, love I don’t want the cheers I don’t want a room full of people Turning youth into years I don’t want the ending Just because it has a shape I don’t want to be remembered By the things I couldn’t escape Final Chorus I’m twenty-two in Babylon Everybody wants the dawn I gave the myth my name once Now the myth keeps coming on I’m twenty-two in Babylon With the ending written wrong If you give a boy an empire Don’t be shocked when he is gone I’m twenty-two in Babylon And the room keeps marching on If you give a boy an empire Don’t be shocked when he is gone Outro Someone brought the horse again Someone fixed my sleeve Someone said, “You’re made for this” I said, “That’s what I’m afraid of”