Bearing Wall

[Verse 1]
We saw his Chevy parked on Erie Avenue, Tuesday, past the foundry glow
The air was sharp with slag and ozone, a taste we all still know
Maria's laughing on the porch swing, she doesn't see the way we freeze
Just another quiet evening carried on the iron breeze

[Chorus]
(We're a) bearing wall of silence, hold the whole house straight
Pour another drink and smile, and seal her pretty fate

[Verse 2]
Last week he sent her roses, red as rust on a steel beam
She held one to her face and said, "'He's every Midwest dream.'"
And who are we to take a hammer to the blueprint she designed?
To point out all the stress fractures we're determined not to find

[Chorus]
(We're a) bearing wall of silence, hold the whole house straight
Pour another drink and smile, and seal her pretty fate

[Bridge]
A train horn cuts the twilight, a long and lonely sound
Some foundations aren't worth shaking, once the girders are in the ground

[Outro]
Hold it straight now...
Just for a little while...