Lyrics
[Intro] Yeah Uh-huh
Brick by brick
(Let it rise)
[Verse 1] Clay from the river baked into a crown
Hammurabi carved law when the sun went down
Two hundred eighty-two stones
Every tablet got a number every crime got a throne
I was born in the reeds where the Tigris runs thick
Learned to count with my fingers and I never missed a trick
Now they bow when the ziggurat climbs
[Chorus] Babylon
Babylon
We built it tall we built it strong
Babylon
Babylon
Empire singing one long song
[Post-Chorus] Rise up
Rise up
(Walls up)
Rise up
Rise up
(Hold up)
[Verse 2] Nebuchadnezzar dreamed and the wise men froze
Daniel read the writing on the plaster where it glowed
Golden lions on a gate that the armies feared
Hanging gardens watered by a queen who persevered
Then the Medes came creeping through a riverbed low
Every empire got a morning when it don't get to grow
[Chorus] Babylon
Babylon
We built it tall we built it strong
Babylon
Babylon
Empire singing one long song
[Post-Chorus] Rise up
Rise up
(Walls up)
Rise up
Rise up
(Hold up)
[Bridge] Dust to dynasty
Dynasty to sand
Sand to memory
Memory to brand
[Chorus] Babylon
Babylon
We built it tall we built it strong
Babylon
Babylon
Empire singing one long song
[Post-Chorus] Rise up
Rise up
(Walls up)
Rise up
Rise up
(Fall down)
[Verse 3] Now the scholars in the palace keep a ledger of the stars
Every planet got a priest and every priest got scars
I was taught to read the heavens when the moon was thin and low
Seventy years of captive men still counting what they owe
They want the secret of the brick they want the recipe for might
But a tower built on tribute only stands until the night
So I map the constellations put the omens in a row
Fifty cuneiform decisions and the rivers start to slow
[Breakdown] Wait
Hold
Count it
Watch it fold
[Verse 4] Belshazzar threw a feast and used the temple cups for wine
Fingers writing on the wall and not a single man could shine
I was standing in the corner with a ledger and a blade
Every empire that I studied had a debt it never paid
Cyrus at the gate and not a single arrow thrown
Turned the river from its bed and walked the army in alone
Now the scribes are running copies of the records that I made
Every tablet get a witness every witness get a grave
[Verse 5] Chopper flow
Syllables I stack em like a ziggurat of stone
Babylon to Babylon I carry what I own
Cradle of the calendar the math the map the medicine
Seventy in the fire and not a hair was ever singed
Call it Babel call it Babylon it multiply and split
Every language in my mouth and every one of em legit
Tigris on my left and then Euphrates on my right
I been studying the sky since the very first night
[Chorus] Babylon
Babylon
We built it tall we built it strong
Babylon
Babylon
Empire singing one long song
[Post-Chorus] Rise up
Rise up
(Walls up)
Rise up
Rise up
(Fall down)
[Outro] Brick by brick
(Tear it down)
Stone by stone
(Count it out)
Sand by sand
(Let it go)
Name by name
(Let it go)
Babylon
(Babylon)
Babylon
(Babylon)
Babylon
(Babylon)
Babylon