Intro
Steel gate rattling, sodium hum
Same window, three names, same sum
Verse
Grandfather's watch behind the glass, hands stopped at nine
Pawned it for rent, never came back to reclaim the time
My father's ring sat two shelves down from a trumpet, no case
Interest ticking louder than the clock on that same place
I walked in at seventeen with a chain round my throat
Clerk didn't blink, just weighed it, wrote the same old quote
Three generations feeding one drawer, one scale, one door
Every item's a promise nobody's kept before
Pre-Chorus
How much is a name worth when the name keeps coming back
Counting up the cost of everything we lack
Chorus
Ledger of rust and ruin, page after page the same
Ledger of rust and ruin, wearing my father's name
Every debt gets buried, every bill resigns
Ledger of rust and ruin, running through the lines
Verse
Tuesday the gate goes up, the regulars line the block
Trading gold for grocery money, watching the same clock
I bought back the ring at twice what it was worth
Held it like a headstone for the man who built this earth
The trumpet's still in the window, dust thick on the bell
Nobody's got the hundred, so it just sits and it swells
Pre-Chorus
How much is a name worth when the name keeps coming back
Counting up the cost of everything we lack
Chorus
Ledger of rust and ruin, page after page the same
Ledger of rust and ruin, wearing my father's name
Every debt gets buried, every bill resigns
Ledger of rust and ruin, running through the lines
Bridge
Not the gun, not the corner, just the drawer and the scale
The interest that outlives us, the debt that don't derail
I keep the receipt folded like a photograph
Proof that we were here, proof we did the math
Chorus
Ledger of rust and ruin, page after page the same
Ledger of rust and ruin, wearing my father's name
Every debt gets buried, every bill resigns
Ledger of rust and ruin, running through the lines
Outro
Same gate, same hour
Same name in the drawer
Ledger of rust and ruin
Still keeping score
