[Intro: radio squelch, a young male voice cracks] [Young male voice] Mayday, mayday, my dad won't wake up [Hook: fierce calm female rapper, young male voice shouts the parentheses] (Talk me down!) Fly the plane, baby. I'ma fly the fear (Talk me down!) Every light on this field is burnin' 'cause I want you here Don't look at the ground. Don't look at him. Look at my voice (Talk me down!) I'm in your headset, and I'm the only noise [Verse 1: female rapper, cold and steady] Night desk, cold coffee, green glow and a radar sweep Nineteen years on this frequency, I talk the whole sky to sleep Little four-seat high-wing, eleven hours in his book Daddy's the instructor, slumped against the door, and the kid won't look Gusts at eighteen knots across the runway like a slap And he never landed once without his daddy's hand on his. Not like that I lost one in oh-nine. I still say that tail number in the shower Not tonight. Not on my shift. Not from my fuckin' tower [Flow switch: female rapper, double-time checklist] Wings level, find the beacon, nose a hair above the line Throttle back a little, little more, I want ninety, ninety's fine Key your mic seven times, baby, watch the whole field light up white That's for you. That's your runway. Every lamp on it says "alright" [Hook] (Talk me down!) Fly the plane, baby. I'ma fly the fear (Talk me down!) Every light on this field is burnin' 'cause I want you here Don't look at the ground. Don't look at him. Look at my voice (Talk me down!) I'm in your headset, and I'm the only noise [Verse 2: female rapper, tighter] Halfway down, his daddy's hand slid off the seat and hit the rudder like a weight Plane yawed hard, the stall horn screamin', and the kid screamin', "Wait!" [Young male voice] What do I do? [Flow switch: female rapper, half-time orders] Push. The nose. Down. I know it's backwards. Push it down and let it fall You get your speed back from the ground, baby. Fall to fly. That's all [Beat Switch: drums drop to wind roar and a stall horn, then slam back as the wheels hit] Short final, crabbed sideways. "Kick it straight before you touch" Five hundred feet. Three hundred. Fifty. "Hold it off. Not much" Bounce. Bounce. Rollin'. Brakes. He's breathin' like he ran a mile Daddy groanin' on the hot mic, and the kid laughin' like a child [Verse 3: female rapper, half-time, quiet, then raw] Shift ended at six. Drove home. Sat in the drive with the engine off Forty minutes cryin' in a parked car like I'm the one who landed soft Seventeen years since oh-nine I been carryin' a tail number in my chest Tonight I set one down. Not that one. But that one finally gets a rest [Final Hook: female rapper, young male voice on the parentheses] (I'm down!) You flew the plane, baby. I just flew the fear (I'm down!) Every light on that field still burnin', and you're here You didn't look at the ground. Didn't look at him. You looked at my voice (I'm down!) Now who's gon' talk me down? I'm shakin' worse than the boy [End]
