Ancestors at the Rooftop Bar (version 2)

Verse

Nineteen floors above the taxi rank

Glass and steel where the elders sank

Into the beat through the speaker wire

Grandmother's hips in my own two feet

City lights like a thousand fires

Rising up where the smoke retires

Somebody's spirit moving through the crowd

I feel the old ones singing loud

Pre-Chorus

They climb the stairs behind my ribs

Riding the bassline, filling my hips

This rooftop breathing, this rooftop wide

Ancestors dancing on either side

Chorus

Ancestors at the rooftop bar

Under the same old northern star

They never left, they just came far

Ancestors at the rooftop bar

Verse

Ice in the glass and gold in the sky

Uncle's laughter in the wind gone by

Every skyline holds a hundred names

Every heartbeat carries what remains

Waitress moving like she knows the song

Something ancient telling her along

The city hums where the towers sway

Grandfather's rhythm won't fade away

Pre-Chorus

They climb the stairs behind my ribs

Riding the bassline, filling my hips

This rooftop breathing, this rooftop wide

Ancestors dancing on either side

Chorus

Ancestors at the rooftop bar

Under the same old northern star

They never left, they just came far

Ancestors at the rooftop bar

Bridge

I pour a little out for the ones who came

Water on concrete, whisper their name

No goodbye needed, no ending here

Just my body moving, they're always near

Chorus

Ancestors at the rooftop bar

Under the same old northern star

They never left, they just came far

Ancestors at the rooftop bar