[Intro: round bell, one snare] Stay down Ninth round [Hook: choir doubles the count] Stay down, stay down, don't you get up I can fix a cut, I can't fix what they took from us One more swing and that eye is a door you can't close Stay down, motherfucker, I already know [Verse 1] Fifteen years of tape and grease and cotton on my wrist I been the last soft thing in a room built for fists He came up hungry, southpaw, chin like a brick I taught him how to breathe when the rib cage clicks Title night, ninth round, blood in a sheet down his cheek Ref lookin' at me like I'm the one who should speak Crowd wants a war, promoter wants a clip I want him to see his daughter when the stitches zip I pressed the swab, looked him dead, said the only true thing "Stay down. Let him have it. You already won the ring." He heard quit. I meant live. Difference got lost in the roar Bell saved him anyway, decision on the score [Hook: choir doubles the count] Stay down, stay down, don't you get up I can fix a cut, I can't fix what they took from us One more swing and that eye is a door you can't close Stay down, motherfucker, I already know [Verse 2: drums tighten, brass muted] Rematch six months later with a patch on the same side He hired a new cutman, wouldn't look me in the eye Won it ugly in the tenth, belt back, press all smiles Told the mics I quit on him, said I cost him his prime I watched from the cheap seats with a thermos and a coat Clapped when he won, left before they showed the quote He ain't wrong that I stopped him. He ain't right that I ran I been stoppin' bleeders since his daddy had hands Every corner's a confession, every swab is a prayer Sometimes love sounds like the one word they can't bear [Choir Count: men chant, huge choir answers] One! (Stay down!) Two! (Stay down!) Three! (Don't get up!) Four! (I got you!) [Beat Switch: double-time drums, brass open, choir stabs] He bumped me at a gas station two winters on Eye half cloudy, still pretty, still mean when he's wrong Said "you cost me a belt," I said "I cost you an eye" He laughed like a cough and he wouldn't say goodbye I ain't ask for a thank you, ain't ask for a seat I ask that he sees traffic when he crosses the street You can hate the man who taped you, you can spit on the cloth Just don't confuse a cutman with a man who got soft I still pack the same kit, same grease, same thread Same line for the next kid who would rather be dead than be led [Verse 3: half-time, choir under] Daughter's got his jab. She don't got his stubborn jaw He teaches her to move. I taught him when to withdraw Some wins you frame. Some wins you swallow whole I swallowed ninth and ninth again and I still patrol [Final Hook: full choir, brass] Stay down, stay down, don't you get up I can fix a cut, I can't fix what they took from us One more swing and that eye is a door you can't close Stay down, and thank me when the lights go cold [Outro: round bell fades] Corner Clear
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