[Verse 1: Hard-charging Houston female rock lead, belted, stomping with the kick] Harness clipped tight and the sunrise is pink Boom lift humming at the highway brink Company wants the soda smile bright Same plastic grin in the same plastic light I have painted that grin fourteen times in a row Same empty eyes looking down on the road Kids on the corner sell water in the heat Never see their faces on a board down the street So I mix a new color on the tray in my lap Block letters ready and a sketch on a scrap Supervisor waves from the gravel below I smile like the soda and I let the lift go [Pre-Chorus: Hard-charging Houston female rock lead, building, louder every line] Thirty feet up and the traffic is small Brush in my fist and I answer the call [Chorus: Hard-charging Houston female rock lead, shouted, full chest] Take it to the top, paint over the lie Write what the corner has been trying to buy Thank you in letters that the cars cannot miss Take it to the top, I am done with the fizz [Verse 2: Hard-charging Houston female rock lead, hydraulic crest, the lift hisses upward under a thinning beat, then the full band slams when she hits the top panel] Hiss of the cylinder, climbing the frame Hiss as the soda smile loses its name Slam when the top panel takes the first stroke Thank you, East End, in a red that awoke By noon the whole mural is facing the sun Faces of vendors and the kids on the run Radio crackles, you are done, come down I ride to the gravel with paint on my crown [Chorus: Hard-charging Houston female rock lead, shouted, full chest] Take it to the top, paint over the lie Write what the corner has been trying to buy Thank you in letters that the cars cannot miss Take it to the top, I am done with the fizz [Bridge: Hard-charging Houston female rock lead, raw then huge] Fired in the lot with my brushes still wet Posted the mural and the whole block said yes Jar on the counter at the water-stand shop Filled up with cash till the green hit the top [Verse 3: Hard-charging Houston female rock lead, triumphant belt] Now I own a lift with my name on the side Paint what the neighborhood wants to confide Soda can hire me if they want the truth I will paint their grin next to a kid with a booth Highway still moves and the mural still stays Rain tried to take it and the block came with glaze If you put me up high with a brush and a view I will take it to the top and I will paint it true [Chorus: Hard-charging Houston female rock lead, shouted, full chest] Take it to the top, paint over the lie Write what the corner has been trying to buy Thank you in letters that the cars cannot miss Take it to the top, I am done with the fizz [Outro: Hard-charging Houston female rock lead, belted, the hydraulic hiss rings out and fades] Take it to the top Paint it True [End]