[Verse 1: hype male MC] Storm came through on a Thursday like a freight train off the track Took Old Man Pruitt's roof off, and it never brought it back Same man sued my daddy over eighteen inches of lawn Measured every fence on Maple Street from dusk until dawn Called the city on our pool, on our dog, on our tree Called the city on the ice cream truck, the mailman, and me Friday mornin', he's in the yard with a tarp and a frown Seventy-eight years old, and the rain still comin' down Nobody said nothin', nobody made a call Saturday at six a.m., there's ladders on his wall [Hook: belted male hook, the hype MC doubles it] Raise the roof, raise the roof, every hammer on the one Sixty neighbors up the ladder, and we ain't leavin' till it's done Raise the roof on the man who measured every line Sued us all for half a foot, and he's sleepin' dry tonight [Verse 2: hype male MC, harder] Big Ray on the trusses, Miss Linda on the nails Teenagers passin' shingles like a fire line passin' pails Pastor runnin' plywood, and the barber cuttin' felt Twelve-year-old with a nail gun and his granddad's leather belt Pruitt on the lawn in his slippers and his robe Sayin', "I can't pay you people," and his voice is gettin' low I said, "Sir, you never paid us, and we never sent a bill We just want the coffee hot and your fence line holdin' still" Sheathing up by lunchtime, felt by two, and by four the rows Every hammer in the county doin' somethin' that it knows [Hook: belted male hook, the hype MC doubles it] Raise the roof, raise the roof, every hammer on the one Sixty neighbors up the ladder, and we ain't leavin' till it's done Raise the roof on the man who measured every line Sued us all for half a foot, and he's sleepin' dry tonight [Bridge: hype male MC, the stomp and piano build] Sundown, last shingle, and the whole street's on the lawn Pruitt climbs the ladder slow with his tape measure on Measures every edge of it and doesn't say a word Then he yells, "Well, turn it up," the loudest thing we ever heard [Verse 3: hype male MC, joyful and loud] Speakers on the porch, and the cooler on the ridge Grandmas on the shingles and the kids up on the bridge Same man, same block, same tape, same street Never heard the old man laugh, now he's dancin' in bare feet Leanin' off the gutter yellin', "It's my house, it's my call" Raise the roof, raise the roof, hollerin' it down to us all Thirty years of lawsuits, and he dropped every one Told my daddy, "Keep the inches," raised a glass up to the sun [Final Hook: real hammer strikes become the snare, belted male hook, the hype MC doubles it] Raise the roof, raise the roof, every hammer on the one Sixty neighbors up the ladder, and we ain't leavin' till it's done Raise the roof on the man who measured every line Sued us all for half a foot, and he's sleepin' dry tonight [End]
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