[Verse 1]
Mama told me where we come from
Not a place you’d ever see
A name written on a paper
Like a life was property
Born into a world already decided
Hands to work, back to the sun
Freedom came, but nothing changed
Just a different kind of run
[Pre-Chorus]
No land
No pay
Just long days
And faith
[Chorus]
They took his years
They took his strength
They took everything they could take
But he held that line
Through all that pain
So his name would stay
Yeah, the world moved on
But he stayed the same
Working through the weight
They couldn’t break him
They couldn’t erase him
His name stayed
[Verse 2]
Worked his whole life after freedom
Still doors closed in his face
Segregation wrote the rules
He just learned his place
White signs, long roads, hard winters
No help coming back his way
But he built a family from nothing
And gave them better days
[Pre-Chorus]
No justice
No rest
Just his will
And what was left
[Chorus]
They took his years
They took his strength
They took everything they could take
But he held that line
Through all that pain
So his name would stay
Yeah, the world forgot
What he gave away
Every drop, every day
They couldn’t break him
They couldn’t erase him
His name stayed
[Bridge]
I carry his blood
In the way I stand
In the way I fight
In these working hands
They never gave him
What he was owed
But I’m here now
Because he held that road
[Build]
Woodard
Still here
Still standing
Still here
[Final Chorus]
They took his years
They took his strength
They took more than anyone should take
But he held that line
Through all that pain
So his name would stay
Now every step
Every breath I take
Is the life he made
They couldn’t break him
They couldn’t erase him
His name stayed
[Outro]
They tried to own him
They tried to end him
But his name stayed