[Intro: one huge dark choir chord] [Hook: deep male lead, choir shouts "hold it!"] Hold the note (hold it!) till the wall's behind 'em Sing it so loud that the searchlights can't find 'em Every swing on the downbeat, every brick inside a hymn Hold the note (hold it!). Guard cryin'? Let him [Verse 1: low, measured] Chapel on the east block, paint peelin' off the cross Old piano with two dead keys, so I play around the loss I'm the old man with the hymnal and a life with no parole Nineteen years of showin' killers where to breathe and how to hold Then three young boys came to practice with their eyes down on the floor Tavi, Boone and Little Ray, with a map of what's beneath the boards They said, "Pop, we just need it loud." I said, "Loud is all I got Y'all bring the hammer, boys. I'll bring the whole damn flock" [Flow switch: double-time, the dig on the kick] Bass on the one and the hammer on the one, and the tenors cover the chisel on three Every "glory" a swing in the dark, every "amen" a brick comin' free Two years of Tuesdays and Thursdays, dirt in our socks, dust in our drawers Guard at the door tappin' his boot to the beat, and the beat is a hole in his floor [Hook] Hold the note (hold it!) till the wall's behind 'em Sing it so loud that the searchlights can't find 'em Every swing on the downbeat, every brick inside a hymn Hold the note (hold it!). Guard cryin'? Let him [Verse 2: brass starts to climb] Visitin' Day concert, and the warden's front row in a tie Captain Hollis by the door, six-four, and he's always first to cry Second song, I turn my back and raise my hands up like a flame Three tenors step down off the riser, and the riser sounds the same Thirty voices, twenty-seven men, and you can't hear the hole 'Cause a choir ain't a headcount, sir. A choir's a wall you can't patrol Little Ray's mama in row three, hummin' along, she don't know Her baby's crawlin' right beneath her on his belly to the road [Beat Switch: timpani roll, brass wide open, choir doubles] Last hymn, last line, I lift the note, and I don't let it drop Forty seconds, brass wide open, sixty-one, my fuckin' lungs about to stop Seventy, they at the grate. Eighty, they in the cold. Hold it. Hold Hundred. Cut it. Captain sobbin'. Past the fence, three shadows go [Verse 3: half-time, choir hums under] Count time came at four o'clock, and the count came up three short Captain at my bars, eyes still red, said, "Pop, what was that for?" Some men leave through a tunnel. Some men only leave through a song I'm the one who holds the door, son. Somebody got to hold it long [Final Hook: full choir, brass] Hold the note (hold it!), the wall's behind 'em Sang it so loud that the dogs couldn't find 'em Every swing on the downbeat, every brick inside a hymn Hold the note (hold it!). Captain cryin'? Let him [Outro: choir holds the last chord, a far-off siren under it] [End]
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