A Prayer I'm Saying Out Loud

Verse 1

Started out in a two-room shack

Mama washing clothes on a board

Daddy working double shifts

Just to put shoes on our feet

I remember peanut butter sandwiches

Split four ways on a Tuesday night

We didn't have much of nothing

But we had each other's light

Verse 2

First time I held a microphone

I shook like a leaf in the wind

Sang my heart out to the empty room

Didn't care if anybody cared

That guitar cost me three whole paychecks

Bought it from a man named Joe

I practiced till my fingers bled

And now look at where we go

Chorus

I came from nothing

And I mean nothing at all

So when I see a hand reaching up

I know just how they fall

I give because I remember

The nights of going without

Every dollar that I hand away

Is a prayer I'm saying out loud

Verse 3

People ask me why I'm so generous

Why I open up my doors

I tell them I was once the one

Standing hungry at those doors

We had a neighbor Mrs. Bell

Brought us soup when Papa was sick

She never once made us feel small

That kindness stuck with me quick

Chorus

I came from nothing

And I mean nothing at all

So when I see a hand reaching up

I know just how they fall

I give because I remember

The nights of going without

Every dollar that I hand away

Is a prayer I'm saying out loud

Bridge

So don't you thank me

Don't you bow your head

I'm just passing on the favor

From the ones who raised me right

This heart knows the weight

Of a heavy empty plate

And I swore I'd never

Let another feel that way

Chorus

I came from nothing

And I mean nothing at all

So when I see a hand reaching up

I know just how they fall

I give because I remember

The nights of going without

Every dollar that I hand away

Is a prayer I'm saying out loud

Outro

Mm... yes sir

That's the truth right there

From nothing to something

And I owe it all

To the folks who gave

When they had nothing too