[Intro: dark choir alone, one low wordless chord, wind under it] [Hook: weathered male lead, dark choir rising under it] Mandatory, ma'am, the bridge is closin' at noon She said, "Mandatory, baby? So was sayin' 'I do' Forty-eight years and every storm, I stayed through Earl ain't leavin' that yard, so I ain't leavin' it, too" [Verse 1: male lead, slow and heavy, timpani under] Every porch on the point got plywood. Hers got wind chimes on the hook Miss Dell on the swing with a menthol and a paperback book She babysat me when my mama worked the cannery line Taught me cards and cussin', how to hold my breath for a dime Now I'm thirty-three in a county truck with a badge and a sheet Said, "Mandatory evacuation, ma'am." She said, "Sit down. Eat" Earl's under the live oak with an anchor for a stone Forty-eight years married, nine years sleepin' there alone [Flow switch: double-time, the radio crackles] Radio sayin', "Report," and I'm sayin', "In a minute" She's sayin', "Pass the hot sauce, baby, put a little butter in it" [Hook: dark choir rising] Mandatory, ma'am, the bridge is closin' at noon She said, "Mandatory, baby? So was sayin' 'I do' Forty-eight years and every storm, I stayed through Earl ain't leavin' that yard, so I ain't leavin' it, too" [Verse 2: raspy older female rapper, fierce and funny] Listen here, little deputy, I potty-trained you on that rug Now you standin' on my porch with a clipboard and a shrug Forty-eight years, Earl held the ladder while I nailed the shutters tight Nine years I hold it by myself and cuss his ass at night You want me on a cot in a gym with a granola bar And a stranger snorin' next to me while my husband's in the yard? Sweetheart, I'm seventy-nine. Every mornin's mandatory Water don't scare me. Water's the oldest part of my story Storm can have the shingles. It can have the porch and the swing Storm can't have the yard, baby. I'm still wearin' the ring [Beat Switch: timpani rolls, choir surges, drums double as the bridge goes up] [Verse 3: male lead, the long night] Noon came. Watched the bridge go up from her porch and called it in Sergeant said, "You're fuckin' done." I said, "Then I'm done," and went back in Two o'clock the water hit the steps, three it hit the sill Four we in the attic with a hatchet and a candle and her will Wind sound like the ocean finally sayin' what it meant She held my hand and told me dirty jokes until the candle went [Half-time: the choir at full size] Roof was gone at sunrise. We was sittin' on a beam Sky pink like it's sorry, and the water flat as a dream Every house on the point was kindlin' in the reeds Live oak pulled up by the roots and laid down where Earl sleeps [Final Hook: full choir, male lead] Mandatory, Earl. The oak came down at two Laid itself across your grave like your arm used to do Forty-eight years and one more storm, she stayed through Mandatory, ma'am? Yes, ma'am. I stayed, too [Outro: choir resolves, gulls come back, the wind is gone]
