[Rubato Intro] Before the trucks wake up the avenue Before the first train shakes the glass We turn the key on a little square of light And sweep yesterday from the cracks [Verse 1] Our fathers stacked cans with a borrowed back Our mothers learned the wholesalers' names We priced the peaches by the bruise and blush And gave quiet credit in the rain [Verse 2] Now a clean white paper from a tower downtown Says a public shelf can save the poor But the paper never held the freezer shut Or slept beside the stockroom door [Pre-Chorus] We don't curse the hungry mouth We have fed it when it came But you cannot crown a counter king And call our labor shame [Stop-time Break] [Beat of silence] [Chorus] They want the bread without the flour They want the bell without the key They want the block without the hours That taught a little store to breathe [Call and Response] Who stacked it? We stacked it Who stayed here? We stayed Who knows the names on Friday? We know the names [Verse 3] There is law ink drying in a courthouse hall There is anger by the loading bay There are children doing homework on milk crates While the grown folks count the day [Half-time Breakdown] If help comes wearing a city seal And steps on the hands already there We'll raise our voice from the old back room Till the street turns into prayer [Bridge] Let the judges hear the cooler hum Let the clerks read every scar A grocery ain't a slogan line It's a map of who we are [Final Chorus] They want the bread without the flour They want the bell without the key They want the block without the hours That taught a little store to breathe Who stacked it? We stacked it Who stayed here? We stayed Leave the shelves to the hands That learned every name
