[Verse 1: soulful sung-rap hybrid male lead, rapping, heavy live drums driving] Phone lit up at two-fifteen, and I was sleepin' in my boots Dispatch on the line, "O-negative, they're losin' her, two units" Strap the cooler to the seat, I tap the needle on the gauge Thirty-nine degrees, and I sign my name across the page Every bag has got a paper, every paper's got a line Every line's a stranger's name, and now the last one's mine Hundred ninety miles of two-lane, deer eyes shinin' in the ditch Rain is comin' sideways, and the throttle's in my wrist Some men run from somethin', I been runnin' toward a door In a city that I've never seen, for someone I've never seen before [Pre-Hook: soulful sung-rap hybrid male lead, half sung] Keep it cold, keep it steady, keep it movin' Don't you break, don't you break [Hook: soulful sung-rap hybrid male lead, sung full voice over heavy drums] I'm a link in the cold chain Every hand that held this never had to know her name I'm a link in the cold chain And the chain don't break, it don't break, it don't break [Verse 2: rapping harder] Pulled in at a truck stop, soakin' wet, my hands are blue Lady at the register sees the red tape on the cooler too Pushes back my dollar, says, "Go on, baby, run" Trooper at the county line just hits his lights and waves me on Then he runs me ninety miles with his light bar burnin' bright Never asked me who it's for, he just told me, "Stay tight" A cashier and a trooper and a lab tech I won't see Every one of us a hand that held her, and she'll never know it's me [Hook: sung full voice] I'm a link in the cold chain Every hand that held this never had to know her name I'm a link in the cold chain And the chain don't break, it don't break, it don't break [Breakdown: everything falls away to the kick drum alone, then the band rebuilds one instrument at a time] Just the engine and the road Just the gauge and the load Then the city comin' up gold Then the doors, then the hall, then the cold [Verse 3: rapping, the full band back] Four-oh-nine, I hit the bay, a nurse is sprintin' through the rain Takes the cooler, takes the clipboard, says, "Sign here," so I sign my name Then I see the bag tag through the plastic, and the number's one I know It's the one they gave me Tuesday at the church hall down the road Same bandage on my arm, same cookie and the juice I been haulin' my own blood across the county line to you Hundred ninety miles to hand a stranger what was in my veins And I never got to see her, and I'll never know her name Every link was somebody, but tonight one link was twice I was in the bag and on the bike, and both of us arrived [Hook: sung full voice, the strings wide] I'm a link in the cold chain Every hand that held this never had to know her name I'm a link in the cold chain And the chain don't break, it don't break, it don't break [End]
0/500