[Intro – Rain on Tombstones + Thunder]
[Footsteps through wet cemetery grass]
Some places remember you…
[Choir hum rises softly]
before you even arrive.
⸻
[Verse 1]
🎶
The graveyard know my name down South,
Crows fly low when I come around.
Black umbrellas drip candlelight rain,
Whole cemetery whisperin’ pain.
Mon Dieu, the air smell ancient tonight,
Like old prayers still trapped inside.
I got swamp blood deep in my posture,
That’s why the dead feel familiar.
Gold teeth shine near marble saints,
Funeral flowers wilt in the rain.
I walk slow past family names,
Realizin’ trauma hereditary.
Grandmère buried beneath magnolia roots,
Still teachin’ lessons through the moon.
She used to say:
“Cher, respect the dead…”
“One day they’ll introduce you to yourself.”
🎶
⸻
[Hook – Choir + Funeral Brass]
🎶
The graveyard know my name tonight…
Black water moon beneath the sky.
The graveyard know my pain…
Louisiana carved me this way.
🎶
⸻
[Verse 2]
🎶
I’m from where the tombs sit higher than homes,
Like death itself outrank us.
Where old men drink bourbon beside graves,
Talkin’ to people nobody else see.
Flow got mildew and obituary elegance,
Every bar smell spiritually weathered.
I got alligator patience near sorrow now,
Pain move slower when acknowledged.
Shorty from St. Bernard held my face,
Said:
“Cher, you look emotionally haunted.”
I laughed:
“Baby, where I’m from that’s normal.”
Then watched lightning split the horizon.
Truth is—
I used to fear becoming my ancestors.
Now I fear never understanding them.
That’s different.
That’s Louisiana adulthood.
🎶
⸻
[Bridge – Spoken + Organ]
Down here…
cemeteries ain’t just for mourning.
They for remembering who survived before you.
🎶
Black rain fall on the family stones…
Even the dead still feel close.
🎶
⸻
[Verse 3]
🎶
So I poured bourbon on the muddy ground slow,
For every soul that built my bones.
For every storm somebody endured,
So I could stand here breathing.
And somewhere in the thunder’s echo—
I finally stopped feeling alone.
Because maybe the graveyard don’t haunt me…
maybe it protect me.
🎶
⸻
[Final Hook – Full Orchestra + Choir]
🎶
The graveyard know my soul tonight…
Swamp-born child beneath moonlight.
The graveyard know my name…
Louisiana forever in my veins.
🎶
⸻
[Outro – Thunder + Choir Fading]
[Rainwater dripping from stone]
Down here…
the dead don’t disappear.
They become part of the weather.
