[Hook: HBCU drumline male MC, booming call over thundering snare cadences] Forty-two to nothin' on the board, and that's the game But nobody in the stands is leavin', nobody's feelin' shame 'Cause the football clock is finished and the band clock's at the top Fifth quarter, hit it, and the stands won't let it stop [Verse 1: HBCU drumline male MC, quad toms rolling] I ain't looked at a scoreboard since the August that I came Four hours on a parking lot, a hundred and two degrees, no shame Taped my sticks and taped my fingers, taped the blisters on the tape Drum major high-steppin' till his knees were outta shape And the football team is losin', that's a fact, I'm not unkind We love 'em, but they're down by six touchdowns, they're far behind But the crowd don't come for football, they come here for the band And the second that the whistle blows, the whole stadium stands [Hook: HBCU drumline male MC, full drumline, snares thundering] Forty-two to nothin' on the board, and that's the game But nobody in the stands is leavin', nobody's feelin' shame 'Cause the football clock is finished and the band clock's at the top Fifth quarter, hit it, and the stands won't let it stop [Verse 2: HBCU drumline male MC, deep bass drum line pounding] Now the visitors are over on the forty with their horns And they think they gonna drown us like a hurricane in corn Their sousaphones are swingin' and their drum major can split And they hit us with a cadence that's a little bit legit Ten-hut, my snares line up, we're shoulder to shoulder, tight Every stick is in the air like we're salutin' under the lights And I count it off, "Hit it," and the quads come rollin' in And the bass drums shake the bleachers, and the fifth quarter begins [Verse 3: HBCU drumline male MC, everything louder, cymbal crashes] Back and forth for forty minutes, it's a war across the grass They hit a tune from the radio, we hit it back twice as fast They break it down to just the drums, we break it down to just the sticks And I'm grinnin' at their snare line like I'm teachin' 'em some tricks Then the final cadence comes, and it's the one we wrote in June And the whole crowd knows the call and they holler on the tune And the other band just lowers all their horns and nods their heads And the scoreboard still says forty-two, but look at what it said [Final Hook: HBCU drumline male MC, cymbal line sweep, the whole cymbal line sweeps the field in one long crashing wash] Forty-two to nothin' on the board, and that's the game But nobody in the stands is leavin', nobody's feelin' shame 'Cause the football clock is finished and the band clock's at the top Fifth quarter, hit it, and the stands won't let it stop [Outro: HBCU drumline male MC, booming call] Band, ten-hut That's the real score [End]
