Keep the Lights On

Grandmama used to say a house is just some wood and nails.
Home is whoever still sittin' at your table.
They ain't never understood that.

It was a Tuesday in the Town when they taped it to the door
Rent up four hundred, like we ain't already poor
Mama at the table countin' quarters from a jar
Little sister askin' why the landlord got a brand new car
Now the block that raised me got a coffee shop and a gate
Where Mr. Earl used to cut us, now a latte cost eight
They callin' it renewal, sayin' everything great
Great for who? 'Cause my mama on her knees and it's late
Thirty years she paid this rent and never missed a single date
Raised three kids on a bus pass and a paper plate
Now a man in a suit say the buildin' got a new owner
Say "relocate," like the word make the hurtin' any slower
Where we 'posed to go when the whole Town for sale?
Where a mama 'posed to sleep when the system built to fail?
So I'm askin' You, Lord, from a kitchen with no heat
Do You see us down here? Do You hear us on the street?

Keep the lights on, Lord, keep the lights on (Keep 'em on!)
We ain't got much, but we still got a song (Still got a song!)
They can take the house, but they can't take the home
Keep the lights on till the mornin' come
Oh, keep the lights on (Keep the lights on!)
Somebody's baby (somebody's baby) still tryna make it home

Now I ain't gon' lie, I thought about the corner every night
Fast money call your name when the cupboard lookin' light
I done dirt I ain't proud of just to make the bills right
Prayed with my eyes closed and my fists balled tight
Am I wrong for wantin' somethin' that they never let us own?
Wantin' Mama's name on the paper of a home?
And I seen it in a dream, every brick gon' return
Every block that they bought, every bridge that they burned
Kids gon' own the corners where they used to get searched
And the first thing they build gon' be Grandmama's church
So to my young ones sleepin' in a car with the seat back
Doin' homework by the streetlight, yeah, I see that
Don't let 'em tell you you ain't nothin' 'cause you ain't got a key
You the reason I'm still standin', you the reason I believe
They could change the street names, they could paint the walls new
But the Town still remember, and the Town still you

Keep the lights on, keep the lights on (Keep 'em on!)
We ain't got much, but we still got a song (Still got a song!)
They can take the house, but they can't take the home
Keep the lights on till the mornin' come
Oh, keep the lights on (Keep the lights on!)
Somebody's baby still tryna make it home

They can buy the buildings.
They can't buy the stories in 'em.
One day somebody gon' ask who built this Town...
and the walls gon' say our names.

Keep the lights on, keep the lights on (Keep 'em on!)
We ain't got much, but we still got a song (Still got a song!)
They can take the house (they can take the house), but they can't take the home
Keep the lights on till the mornin' come
Oh, keep the lights on (Keep the lights on!)
Somebody's baby still tryna make it home

Keep the lights on, baby...
somebody's comin' home.