[INTRO — instrumental, bowed bass, brushed drums, sax breath] [HOOK — cracked, open-throated] Night class, night class (room 204) The day school's for kids — this one's for the war Night class, night class (room 204) Seventy-four years old and she's keeping score (night class) [VERSE 1 — hushed, weathered] Tuesday nights, room 204, the radiator clanks (clanks) I teach accounting to the people the day forgot Single moms, ex-cons, a kid from the night shift And in the third row, front of it — Miss Dorothy, swift With a pencil — seventy-four, never missed a class Rain, snow, her hip replacement — come on, ask She said: baby, I been counting other people's money All my life — cleaning houses, raising babies, honey Now I wanna know where it goes — and she does Ledger lines like garden rows — she grows The numbers straight — asks questions that I can't answer About dignity and debt — the quiet cancer Of being poor and careful — tonight she's staying late Got her taxes in a shoebox and a lifelong date With being underestimated — we go line by line She keeps saying: so that's where mine went — every time [BRIDGE — brushes only, voice bare] People think the classroom gives But the third row gives more than it takes Miss Dorothy counts her own money now That's not arithmetic — that's a jailbreak [VERSE 2 — rising, cracked] Last week she brought her taxes done — herself First time in her life — laid 'em on my shelf Like a trophy — said: I found four hundred, look They been taking it for years 'cause I never read the book And she stood there with her chin like a lighthouse beam And I understood that teaching ain't the dream The learning is — the watching somebody take Their own life back line by line — that's the cake Tonight she graduates — one class, no cap, no gown But she dressed up anyway — Sunday best, brown Hat with a feather — and when I shook her hand She pressed a ten in it — said: for the coffee, young man Get the good kind — and I didn't argue, no You don't refuse a woman who just took her life back, so I keep the ten in my grade book — page one Best tip a teacher ever got — the lesson's hers — well done [HOOK — cracked, open-throated] Night class, night class (room 204) The day school's for kids — this one's for the war Night class, night class (room 204) Seventy-four years old and she's keeping score (night class) [OUTRO — bowed bass fades, one sax note] (night class...) The ten stays in the grade book Page one
