There’s a fire at the edge of the highway And a black sun nailed to the sky I can hear all the dead radios talking But nobody remembers why I’ve been walking with thunder behind me With a mouth full of iron and rain Every road that I followed to freedom Turned around and came back as a chain You can call me You can name me You can carve me into stone But the thing you think you’re holding Was never yours to own I am still here Under the noise Under the beautiful lies I am still here Behind every mirror With the lightning inside my eyes And I won’t go quietly No, I won’t go quietly There’s a child at the end of the tunnel Drawing circles around the sun He says, “Everybody wants an answer” I say, “Answers are where they run” There’s a preacher with blood on his Bible There’s a king with a hole in his crown There’s a wolf standing up in the doorway Saying, “Nothing can keep you down” So I gave him my fear He gave me his teeth I gave him my shadow He gave me belief Then the walls started breathing The ceiling turned blue And every god I ever invented Started looking like you I am still here Under the noise Under the beautiful lies I am still here Behind every mirror With the lightning inside my eyes And I won’t go quietly No, I won’t go quietly Play it slow Let the wire burn Let the old world twist Let the black wheel turn You hurt me I hurt you You give I return You build your heaven I watch it burn Not because fire is holy Not because darkness is true But because everything you throw into me Comes walking back into you That’s the mirror That’s the debt That’s the thing You haven’t understood yet There’s a doorway beneath every heartbeat There’s a staircase behind every scar And the farther you run from the darkness The more you become what you are I saw angels asleep in the gutter I saw devils dressed up in white I saw love with its hands in its pockets Standing barefoot under the light And love said— You don’t have to follow You don’t have to kneel You don’t have to believe me To know what you feel Then the guitar cried out like a siren And the whole fucking sky opened wide All the stars came pouring like water Through the hole I had carried inside I am still here Under the noise Under the beautiful lies I am still here Behind every mirror With the lightning inside my eyes I am still here When the names disappear When the kingdoms are dust in the rain I am still here Where the silence gets loud And the pleasure remembers the pain So turn it up Let it bleed Let the blue fire crawl Through everything you need Let it rise Let it break Let the whole night shake I was never the name I was never the face I was never the cage You mistook for the place I was the road I was the wound I was the echo Inside of the room And when the last little light Falls out of the sky Don’t ask me where I’m going Ask yourself Why.
