My grandfather bought this house on one salary. One. I've read the paper twice. He worked at the yard and he came home at six Same coat every winter, same hands, same bricks My grandmother kept the whole of it turning inside And I'm not saying it was fair, I'm not saying it was right But the numbers used to work and now the numbers don't And nobody tells you when the ground moves under you There's a table in the kitchen where they paid it off in cash And I'm standing in the same room doing the same maths It isn't that we're softer, it isn't that we're slow Something got expensive that nobody said would go Now it takes two, it takes two Two wages just to stand in the doorway Two lives to hold up one small roof And the bank calls it living, the bank calls it fine Say it plain, say it true Two Now it takes two We do the drop-off in shifts like it's a factory line I see her in the hallway, we compare our Tuesday nights Everything's a subscription, everything renews The rent went up in April and they didn't ask us to choose And they'll tell you buy a house at thirty like it's still on the shelf Like the ladder didn't get taken up behind them by themselves We're not asking for a fortune, we're not asking for a lot Just the version of a life that people used to get It isn't that we're softer, it isn't that we're slow Something got expensive that nobody said would go Now it takes two, it takes two Two wages just to stand in the doorway Two lives to hold up one small roof And the bank calls it living, the bank calls it fine Say it plain, say it true [deep bass voice] Two Now it takes two And I don't want him back, that man in the same coat. I like that she has her own money, her own name, her own door. That part's better. That part's good. It's just that nobody planned for both of us to be this tired. Same work, same week, same hands Same work, same week, and it doesn't reach Same work, same week, same hands And it doesn't reach, and it doesn't reach Now it takes two, it takes two Two wages just to stand in the doorway Two lives to hold up one small roof And the bank calls it living, the bank calls it fine Say it plain, say it true [deep bass voice] Two Now it takes two He'd have hated this. He'd have said work harder. He'd have been wrong.
