[Intro] [Verse 1] Five strings out of Kentucky, three strings from the northern snow, met up on a summer evening where the paper lanterns glow. Neither spoke the other's language — didn't matter, didn't need — one of 'em counted "one, two, three"... and both took off full speed. [Chorus] Same wood, same skin, same lightning in the hand — don't need a word of translation when the strings understand. Two shores of the same ocean, two branches of one tree... turns out we been playing the same song — in the same key. [Duel 1] [Verse 2] The banjo rolled like a boxcar with the brakes gone down the line; the shamisen cracked like thunder when the snow wind hits the pine. One dared the other faster, trading fours and then by twos, till you couldn't tell whose lick was whose — and neither one would lose. [Duel 2] [Bridge] The old men in the corner say it's always been this way: a string don't ask your passport... it just asks if you can play. [Final Chorus] Same wood, same skin, same lightning in the hand — don't need a word of translation when the strings understand. Two shores of the same ocean, two branches of one tree... turns out we been playing the same song — in the same key. [Outro]
