[Verse 1: Orchestral-rap male MC, half-time war drums, cracking snare] Four o'clock the wind turned and the whole west sky went red Cole got on the radio and this is what he said "Ridge road, all of you, we cut a line and hold it there Nine hundred homes in Calder, and the wind don't care" Twenty of us climbing with the saws across our backs Smoke so thick you followed boots and nothing else but tracks Dig it down to dirt, ten feet wide and half a mile Rookie on the end, that's me, I hadn't slept in a while Every hour Cole walked the line and put a hand on every neck Said, "We go home together, kid, that's the only bet" [Chorus: Female chorus vocal, orchestral-rap war drums] Hold the ridge until the morning comes Every house below us got a light still on We don't turn our backs and we don't count the cost Hold the ridge and nobody gets lost [Verse 2: Orchestral-rap male MC, staccato cellos] Midnight it jumped the road and it came up through the pine Sounded like a freight train eating up the line Cole was out in front of it, he didn't even flinch Fought it with a shovel and a hose for every inch Two a.m. a spot fire bloomed behind us on the grade Reyes beat it down with nothing but a shovel blade Three a.m. my hands were bleeding through the gloves I wore Cole said, "Look down there," and I could count the kitchen doors Every one a family, every one a bed, a name "That's why we're up here bleeding, kid, and nobody needs the fame" [Chorus: Female chorus vocal, orchestral-rap war drums] Hold the ridge until the morning comes Every house below us got a light still on We don't turn our backs and we don't count the cost Hold the ridge and nobody gets lost [Bridge: Orchestral-rap male MC, war drums only, then the tutti slam] Five a.m. the wind laid down like somebody told it to Smoke went gray and then went white and then the sky went blue Calder waking up below and none of them would know Twenty of us on that ridge and every one of us still whole [Verse 3: Orchestral-rap male MC, strings settle] Then we walked the ridge road down and every house was standing still Every one except a cabin at the bottom of the hill Just a chimney and a mailbox and a swing set bent in half Cole stood looking at the mailbox and he gave a little laugh Said, "I saw it go from up there, kid, a quarter after two Pull six off the line to save it and the line don't hold for you" Name on the mailbox was his own, and all night long he knew Kept his hand on every neck and never told the crew [Final Chorus: Female chorus vocal, orchestral-rap full orchestra] Hold the ridge until the morning comes Every house below us got a light still on We don't turn our backs and we don't count the cost Hold the ridge and nobody gets lost [Outro: Orchestral-rap male MC, strings hold] Nine hundred lights, one chimney [End]
