Scars I Keep Spending

Intro

Vance Street Pawn, bell above the door still rings the same

Odell's ledger older than the block, keeps every name

Third floor walk-up, radiator coughing out its steam

That's the room I learned that scars will finance any dream

Verse

Third of the month, rent due, momma counting change again

I grabbed my father's watch, the one he left in eighty-ten

Walked it down to Vance Street, Odell squinting through the light

Said this here's a Bulova, but the hands don't hold their price

Gave me ninety dollars, wrote it down in fading pen

Told me thirty days, I'll hold it safe until then

Never came back for it, spent the ticket on a phone bill

Watched the hour hand stop turning through the pawn shop window sill

Every scar's got a story, this the first one that I sold

Traded time for shelter when the winter got too cold

Momma touched my face and said the weight was never mine to hold

So I kept the ticket folded like a debt that can't be told

Learned that early, learned it heavy, learned it walking home alone

Some things you give up quiet just to keep a roof your own

Chorus

Scars I keep spending, spend 'em till they shine

Every one's a receipt from a rougher time

Pawned the pain for progress, kept the interest low

Scars I keep spending, that's the only cash I know

Verse

Dee gave me that chain the summer we turned sixteen

Said it's brotherhood in gold plate, wear it, know what it mean

Two years later he called me shook, said he needed bail