Verse 1
Odell's chair got a squeak like a rusted hinge
Radio dial stuck on the same station since
Nineteen-eighty-something, static holds the tune
My father's eyebrow scar catches light from the noon
He got it defending his brother off Tillman Ave
Fist came sideways, he still walked home, didn't wave
I used to trace it with my thumb when I was six
Ask him how it healed, he'd just flick his wrist
Some things don't heal, they just learn to sit right
Odell nodded slow, kept the clippers on light
Said your daddy's blood sings a note you can't erase
Same pitch, same pain, different year, same face
Pre-Chorus
So do we carry the wound or the way it's worn
Same crack in the mirror since before we were born
I'm asking the chair, I'm asking the glass
Does the song stay the same when the moment's passed
Chorus
Scars in the same key, father's cut runs through me
Different street, same beat, still it comes back to me
We don't heal the same way, but we hum the same tone
Scars in the same key, but I'm singing it grown
Verse 2
Seventeen, corner store, watched Marcus get jumped
Three of them circling, I couldn't just stay slumped
Caught one high on the brow, felt the skin split wide
Same exact spot my father's got on his side
Blood ran warm, tasted iron behind my teeth
Marcus said run, I said nah, we walk underneath
The same streetlight that watched my father bleed
Odell stitched it rough, said boy that's the family creed
Not the fighting, the choosing, the standing your ground
Some scars get passed like a hand-me-down gown
I looked in the mirror, saw two faces stacked
My father's outline underneath my own crack
Pre-Chorus
So do we carry the wound or the way it's worn
Same crack in the mirror since before we were born
I'm asking the chair, I'm asking the glass
Does the song stay the same when the moment's passed
Chorus
Scars in the same key, father's cut runs through me
Different street, same beat, still it comes back to me
We don't heal the same way, but we hum the same tone
Scars in the same key, but I'm singing it grown
Bridge
But I got a son now, four years old, quiet eyes
Watching me shave close, watching how a man tries
I ain't handing him a reason to bleed for pride
Gonna teach him the tune without the knife inside
Same key don't mean the same key gets played
The note can bend soft if the hand ain't afraid
I'll be the verse that finally shifts the chord
Still in the family, just a different record
Chorus
Scars in the same key, father's cut runs through me
Different street, same beat, still it comes back to me
We don't heal the same way, but we hum the same tone
Scars in the same key, but I'm singing it grown
