The Twelfth Street Calm

[Verse 1]
The Stroh's bottle sweating on the porch wood.
July twenty-second, felt quiet and good.
The heat laid a blanket on Clairmount Street,
We were just bone and muscle, you and me, in the driver's seat.

[Pre-Chorus]
And the air got tight, a held-in breath
Like a fighter's chest just before the bell says death.

[Chorus]
And they say we won, baby, they say we won.
But it feels like the silence after the punch is done.
Just the heavy quiet, standing under the sun.

[Verse 2]
Heard Martha Reeves through a busted screen door.
You said, “Watch me, Ess, I’m gonna own this whole damn floor.”
The asphalt was soft enough to take a thumbprint,
A last perfect record before the sky was rent.

[Pre-Chorus]
And the air got tight, a held-in breath
Like a fighter's chest just before the bell says death.

[Chorus]
And they say we won, baby, they say we won.
But it feels like the silence after the punch is done.
Just the heavy quiet, standing under the sun.

[Bridge]
Now there's just this ringing, a low, constant tone.
Not the sound of the crowd, but the sound of alone.
Tried to tape up the memory, wrap it up tight.

[Outro]
I just wish I could tell you—
I wish I could say—