I walked out with the weight of it Still sinking in my bones Every door had closed again And I was walking home alone They said, it’s not enough yet They said, it’s hard to prove They said, come back with broken bones Like terror needs a bruise [Pre-Chorus] But I put the sun on my face Put the sound in my veins Let the street hold me steady Till I came back again [Soaring soprano contrast for these two lines only] And somewhere under all that grief A louder thing woke up in me [Chorus] I will not give up I will not go quiet You can bury the truth But the roots start a riot I will not lie down I will not disappear I am building a universe From what I survived here They may think they've won Let them look while I rise I will not give up I am still alive [Verse 2] The cage was in the paperwork The passwords and the plans Pretty little messages Like silk around my hands Called the cage a calendar Called the dark a fight Dressed it up as family And slept just fine at night Pretty little thread Pretty little lie Pretty little “reasonable” alibi But I kept every date And I kept every sound You can bury the truth But it blooms underground [Pre-Chorus 2] But I know what I know And I wrote what I saw Every line, every date Every crack in the wall [Soaring soprano contrast for these two lines only] And if they will not name it yet I’ll make a sound they can’t forget [Chorus] I will not give up I will not go quiet You can bury the truth But the roots start a riot I will not lie down I will not disappear I am building a universe From what I survived here They may think they've won Let them look while I rise I will not give up I am still alive [Bridge] For the women in kitchens With their hands on the sink For the girls who are learning Not to say what they think For the mothers still proving What the world refused to see For the daughters who’ll inherit A map that sets them free We are the record We are the sound We are the witnesses Rising from the ground Final Chorus We will not give up We will not go quiet You can bury the truth But the roots start a riot We will not lie down We will not disappear We are building a universe From what we survived here They may think they've won Let them look while we rise [Soaring soprano contrast for these two lines only] We will not give up We are still alive [Outro] I walked out with the weight of it But I came back with the sun The system may betray me But I know what I’ve become I will not give up I will not give up We will not give up
