Star-Spangled Bars

Dog tags swing when I step on the gravel

Boot print deep in the dirt, I travel

Shield on my back like a sworn old habit

Old soul heart in a wartime jacket

Brooklyn on my tongue, world on my shoulders

Frostbit veins, came back colder

I seen friends fade in the flash of a flame

Still salute every ghost when they call my name

I’m that star-spangled soldier (yeah)

Red on my knuckles, weight on my shoulders

Stand in the line when the whole world folds up

Still plant feet, tell fear “roll up”

I don’t run from the fight, I run to it (run to it)

Truth in my chest, I stay fluent

If you need a stand, I’m the man on the line

Captain of the lost, keep ’em all in time

Wake from the past with the future in my face

Billboards bright, but the morals out of place

They tell kids “pose,” I tell kids “lead”

They flash big chains, I just bleed for the creed

I took hits from my own, still stayed loyal

Saw flags used wrong, kept my soil royal

You gon’ measure my worth by a bruise or a scar?

I count every life that I carried out the dark

I’m that star-spangled soldier (yeah)

Red on my knuckles, weight on my shoulders

Stand in the line when the whole world folds up

Still plant feet, tell fear “roll up”

I don’t run from the fight, I run to it (run to it)

Truth in my chest, I stay fluent

If you need a stand, I’m the man on the line

Captain of the lost, keep ’em all in time

They ask, “Who you die for?”

I say, “Who I live for”

Every last kid on the back row bleacher

Every quiet voice no leader will reach for

I’m the shield when the promise gets thin (get thin)

Front door open, tell hope “come in”

If courage got a face in the middle of the clash

It’s a beat up vet with a shield and a past

I’m that star-spangled soldier (yeah)

Red on my knuckles, weight on my shoulders

Stand in the line when the whole world folds up

Still plant feet, tell fear “roll up”

I don’t run from the fight, I run to it (run to it)

Truth in my chest, I stay fluent

If you need a stand, I’m the man on the line

Captain of the lost, keep ’em all in time