[Intro: grand piano and a crunchy guitar, then the drums slam in] [Verse 1] I failed math twice at Jefferson High Mister Dunn said, son, you'll just get by Kitchen table now at a quarter to one Shoebox full of bills, and the bills ain't done Light bill, phone bill, and the brakes on the van Your tooth that's been aching since the spring began Little Rosie's homework sitting next to the stack Two-digit adding, and the answers in the back [Chorus] When the numbers don't add up I carry the one When the month outlasts the money I carry the one I never learned the rest of it But I learned the one that counts [Verse 2] You came down at two in my old gray shirt Said, show me the damage, show me where it hurts I said, we're three hundred short, and I can't make it change You said, baby, we were short when you bought me the ring We were short in that apartment with the window that stuck Short every Christmas, and we never ran out of luck You put your hand on the shoebox, and you put it on mine Said, we've been short since we met, and we've been fine [Chorus] When the numbers don't add up I carry the one When the month outlasts the money I carry the one I never learned the rest of it But I learned the one that counts [Bridge] Mister Dunn, if you could see me now I still can't do division, still don't know how But I can split one paycheck four ways in my sleep And I never dropped a single thing I swore I'd keep Never made the honor roll, never made a dime But I made it to the first of the month every time [Verse 3] Then Rosie's on the stairs in her socks at three Said, Daddy, you're adding it wrong, let me see She took the pencil from my hand, and she wrote it out slow Carry the one, Daddy, everybody knows She said, see that little one, Daddy, it goes on top Every time it gets too big, you carry it, you don't stop And her mother looked at me, and we laughed until we shook Schooled at three a.m. by a kid and a book [Final Chorus: a pipe organ enters for the first time, under the whole band] When the numbers don't add up I carry the one When the month outlasts the money I carry the one I never learned the rest of it But I learned the one that counts And the one I carry Carries me [Outro: piano, guitar, organ, one last huge hit] Kitchen table now at a quarter to four Three of us asleep with the bills on the floor [End]
