Verse 1
Fourth floor of the mill where the windows stayed broke
Dess and me climbed in through the vents like a joke
Wire cutters in a duffel, flashlight in my teeth
Copper coiled like intestines underneath the concrete
Scrapyard paid nine-fifty a pound back then
Enough for rent, enough to eat, enough to breathe again
Burned my palm on live current, didn't say a word
Kept peeling wire steady like the pain never occurred
Dess said copper don't care whose hand is doing the work
Long as the strip is clean, long as nobody shirks
We split it fifty-fifty on the curb by the light
Counted twice, shook once, called it an honest night
Pre-Chorus
What's a man worth when the lights go out
When it's just two hands and a metal route
Do you strip it clean or do you cut and run
When the truth's the only weight that weighs a ton
Chorus
Copper wire testimony
Every burn scar tells the truth
Strip it down, it don't lie to me
That's the only currency I trust
Verse 2
Two years later Dess got caught on the third floor alone
Cops found the cutters, found the duffel, found his own
Name in the file but never mentioned mine
I sat in my room counting scars like a spine
Could've run my mouth, made bail money appear
Instead I kept the silence like the wire kept us clear
Visited him Sundays, brought him canteen and cash
Never talked about the job, just talked about the past
He said you still stripping? I said nah, went legit
Got a job installing wire, funny how that fits
Same hands, same burns, different kind of light
Still following that copper like it's showing me what's right
Pre-Chorus
What's a man worth when the lights go out
When it's just two hands and a metal route
Do you strip it clean or do you cut and run
When the truth's the only weight that weighs a ton
Chorus
Copper wire testimony
Every burn scar tells the truth
Strip it down, it don't lie to me
That's the only currency I trust
Bridge
Taught my nephew how to run conduit last spring
Told him copper only tells you one true thing
It don't care your color, don't care what you're worth
Only cares you strip it honest, first cut to the earth
He asked me why my palms look torn like a map
I said that's the receipt, boy, for a debt I never wrapped
Some scars pay forward, some just pay you back
Mine bought me a partner's silence on the tracks
Chorus
Copper wire testimony
Every burn scar tells the truth
Strip it down, it don't lie to me
That's the only currency I trust
