[Intro: harp alone in six-eight, strings breathe in] [Hook: powerful soaring female R&B vocalist] I gave you up, I gave you up Seventeen and shakin' in a paper gown I gave you up, like you lift a boy above a crowd So he can see a whole parade I only heard from on the ground [Verse 1: raw tender male rapper] Pancake house off Route 9, I got there forty minutes early Three drafts of a speech in my pocket, every one of 'em angry and wordy Thirty-one years a question mark with a birth certificate copy Some clerk wrote "mother unknown," like my life started sloppy She walked in in scrubs, a nurse's aide off of a double And I swear she had my walk, the same little shoulder shuffle She ordered black coffee, hash browns, extra crispy, no onion That's my order, word for word. I ain't said nothin'. I'm just wonderin' I came to ask her why. I came with receipts. I came to be mad Then she laughed at somethin' nervous, and it was the laugh I thought I got from my dad [Hook: powerful soaring female R&B vocalist] I gave you up, I gave you up Seventeen and shakin' in a paper gown I gave you up, like you lift a boy above a crowd So he can see a whole parade I only heard from on the ground [Verse 2: male rapper, voice catching, drums fuller] Let me tell you 'bout the people who signed for me in ninety-five Carol and Big Ron, a mail carrier and a school bus driver, both alive Carol drove me to every practice in a car with no heat Ron taught me how to tie a tie, and how to lose a fight and keep my feet They knew I'd be here this mornin'. Carol ironed this shirt Said, "Go meet your face, baby. Come home and tell me how it works" I been given up and given everything. That's two kinds of given One of 'em's a wound and one's a roof, and both of 'em kept me livin' She slid a photo 'cross the table, curled up at the edge Her at seventeen, a hospital bracelet, somethin' blue against her chest [Bridge: spoken duet, harp and one cello] [Female, spoken] I named you Isaiah. For one day [Male, spoken] My name's Marcus [Female, spoken] I know [Male, spoken, after a long breath] I'll take the day [Verse 3: male rapper, strings swell, drums full] Every March eleventh, she said, she baked a cake and cut it in two Ate her half at the counter, froze the other half for who? Thirty-one halves in a deep freeze, wrapped in foil and dated, stuck You never gave up on me, lady. You just gave me up Now I got two mamas and a story with no villain in it Carol's in the parkin' lot with the engine runnin', every minute [Final Hook: powerful soaring female R&B vocalist, full strings] I gave you up, I gave you up Seventeen, and I held you to the sky I gave you up, like you lift a boy above a crowd And look at you, baby. Look how high [Outro: harp, one long held string note] [End]
