Paper Weight

Download The Song

[Verse 1]

I lock the office door

Past the lamp and files

Shift rosters on my screen

Like a row of quiet trials

One signature away

From a week of broken pay

Mud on steel-toe boots

Still waiting in the rain

[Pre-Chorus]

And I read it twice

Then I read it again

One wrong line

Could break a hundred homes

My phone won’t rest

My chest won’t rest

I carry names

Like stones

[Chorus]

I’m afraid to breathe

Afraid to sign

One small mistake

And they lose their lives

I’m holding fire

In paper hands

I’m holding fire

Can you understand? (understand)

[Verse 2]

The quarry wakes at dawn

With helmets in the dark

Men I know by first names

Mothers, sons, and sparks

Legal on one side

HR on the other

Every clause a rope

Pulled tighter, tighter, tighter

The pension calls

The grievance comes

The overtime dispute

The site lead wants by one

[Pre-Chorus]

And I read it twice

Then I read it again

One wrong line

Could break a hundred homes

My phone won’t rest

My chest won’t rest

I carry names

Like stones

[Chorus]

I’m afraid to breathe

Afraid to sign

One small mistake

And they lose their lives

I’m holding fire

In paper hands

I’m holding fire

Can you understand? (understand)

[Bridge]

There’s dinner gone cold

On the counter at home

A child asleep upstairs

While I’m still on the phone

If I choose the wrong word

If I miss that date

It’s not just my fault

It’s a thousand plates

I want to be soft

I want to be free

But the whole wide weight

Keeps leaning on me

[Final Chorus]

I’m afraid to breathe

Afraid to sign

One small mistake

And they lose their lives

I’m holding fire

In paper hands

I’m holding fire

Can you understand? (understand)

I’m afraid to breathe

Afraid to break

I keep the world

From falling off the page

I’m holding fire

In paper hands

I’m holding fire

Can you understand? (understand)