Verse 1 We grew up in a fibro house Low-set, crooked, nailed from scratch Two rooms, kitchen, lounge Laundry out back, dunny past the patch Bare feet on flood-mud Rainwater running in the yard Every post, every floorboard Held stories rough and hard Verse 2 Mum’s round garden, rocks all chipped Fragrant flowers climbing where they liked Apple tree, mulberry tree Hands stained purple, shirt sleeves tied Silkworms munching leaves at school Shoeboxes full of yellow thread We’d spin it out, all slow and careful Yellow silk spinning from their shells Chorus Between bridges and backyards We learned to stand, we learned to run Dust in our eyes, sun on our backs Work done before the day was done Bridges rising, rivers roaring Floods washing over the past We were kids who grew up hard Between bridges and backyards Verse 3 Dad poured concrete, round and thick Rotary hoist, driveway tracks Wire lines, old posts still stood Funny, we missed them when they went Mum working, kids on wharv's Trying not to get in the way Pile dryver pounding riverbed Monkey hammer screaming all day Verse 4 Toilet pits, mud, and muck Floods came, we cleaned the lot Ash under the house hiding ring Hope crawling in the dirt we got Wood, sweat, smoke in the air Dad chain-smoking, nerves on edge Liquid lunches, men shouting loud Childhood’s lessons never pledged Chorus Between bridges and backyards We learned to stand, we learned to run Dust in our eyes, sun on our backs Work done before the day was done Bridges rising, rivers roaring Floods washing over the past We were kids who grew up hard Between bridges and backyards Bridge Floods take what floods will take Time takes what it wants But some things sink deep.... Mulberries, perfumed flowers The smell of wet timber The clomp of wood on riverbed You carry it. You grow with it You become it Final Chorus Yeah, between bridges and backyard We learned what’s worth holding tight Sunburnt noses, muddy hands Childhood carved in dirt and light No schoolbooks taught it No one wrote it down We were raised in the dust and the noise Between bridges and backyards Outro Still hear the hammer Still taste the sun Still run barefoot in memory Between bridges and backyards
