The Wires That Pull The Show

Verse 1

Well the mill whistle blows and the sun ain't up

I tie my boots in the cold

A man in a suit counts the hours I bleed

And files me away in a folder

Pre-Chorus

They told me work hard save your dimes

They told me patience pays in time

Chorus

But my hands are worn and the rent ain't paid

Lord my hands are worn and the rent ain't paid

I been chasing a promise somebody made

Now I'm standing where the promises fade

Verse 2

The foreman smiles like a man who knows

What my back is worth to his boss

My father did the same forty years

And never once counted the cost

Pre-Chorus

They sold us a ladder to the sky

Then they moved the ground we were standing by

Chorus

But my hands are worn and the rent ain't paid

Lord my hands are worn and the rent ain't paid

I been chasing a promise somebody made

Now I'm standing where the promises fade

Bridge

So here I am with an empty name

Nothing to hold and nothing to blame

I can see the wires that pull the show

And I walk on out and I let it go

Chorus

And my hands are worn but the rent can wait

Lord my hands are worn but the rent can wait

I ain't chasing no promise nobody made

I'm standing clear of the game they played

Post-Chorus

Oh-oh let it fall

Oh-oh let it fall

Nothing left to lose at all