[Rubato Intro] There is a scrape in the wall after midnight There is a laugh in the stairwell light Somebody paints it gold on a plywood sign Somebody says, well, at least it is mine [Verse 1] We used to whisper around the cracked foundation Sweep up the crumbs like a private shame Now there are flyers on the laundromat window Everybody knows everybody's name The landlord shrugs, the city keeps counting Little black eyes in the alley rain So we drag out amps and borrowed tables Make a little thunder from a common pain [Pre-Chorus] If the floorboards talk, let them testify If the pipes all knock, let them keep good time [Call and Response] Lead: What do we do with a hole in the street? Choir: Sing it loud till the whole block meets Lead: What do we do when the night gets mean? Choir: Make it art where the fear has been [Chorus] We are the common problem choir Tin-can drums and a wire-fire grin Turn the shame into a signal Let the whole neighborhood in We are the common problem choir No one's laughing alone tonight If the dark keeps moving under us We move together in the light [Verse 2] Mara made a crown from a warning sticker Joey built a throne from a milk-crate stack Old men argued by the corner mural Kids drew moons on a paper sack Not a cure and not a sermon Not a pretty lie for the evening news Just hands in paint and voices rising Saying, this is ours to refuse [Chorus] We are the common problem choir Tin-can drums and a wire-fire grin Turn the shame into a signal Let the whole neighborhood in We are the common problem choir No one's laughing alone tonight If the dark keeps moving under us We move together in the light [Guitar Solo] [Bridge] Every city has a thing it hides Under rent and rust and polite replies But a joke can open a bolted door And a song can ask what the silence is for [Final Chorus] We are the common problem choir Scrap wood saints with a basement hymn Turn the shame into a signal Let the whole neighborhood in We are the common problem choir No one's laughing alone tonight If the dark keeps moving under us We move together in the light [Outro] There is a scrape in the wall after midnight There is a laugh in the stairwell light
