Bend They Grow

Intro

Ah-ah

Ay-ya

Mm-hmm

Verse 1

Woke before the roosters found their voice

Swept the courtyard clean

Packed my grandmother's brass anklets

Wrapped them in a weathered sleeve

Every step a small migration

Every road a borrowed map

I am learning how to carry

What I cannot carry back

Pre-Chorus

So I hum what she hummed

Low and slow

So I hum what she hummed

And let it go

Chorus

Roots don't break they bend

Bend they grow

Roots don't break they bend

Bend they grow

Say it till the mountains know

Roots don't break they bend they grow

Post-Chorus

Ay-ya

Ay-ya-oh

Ay-ya

Ay-ya-oh

Verse 2

Market stalls of orange thread

A stranger's dialect

Somebody's radio bleeding through the wall

Half a word I recognize

Half a word I never will

Still I dance to both of them

Still I dance to both of them

Pre-Chorus

So I hum what she hummed

Low and slow

So I hum what she hummed

And let it go

Chorus

Roots don't break they bend

Bend they grow

Roots don't break they bend

Bend they grow

Say it till the mountains know

Roots don't break they bend they grow

Post-Chorus

Ay-ya

Ay-ya-oh

Ay-ya

Ay-ya-oh

Breakdown

Palms up

Palms down

Turn the whole room round

Palms up

Palms down

Turn the whole room round

Bridge

Spin me like a spindle

Spin me like a loom

I was woven somewhere distant

I am weaving somewhere new

Chorus

Roots don't break they bend

Bend they grow

Roots don't break they bend

Bend they grow

Say it till the mountains know

Roots don't break they bend they grow

Post-Chorus

Ay-ya

Ay-ya-oh

Ay-ya

Ay-ya-oh