Intro
Cold don't ask permission, it just takes what ain't nailed down
My scale kept the difference between starving men and drowned
Verse
My uncle ran the post before the rail line came through
Handed me the ledger and a coat two sizes too
Said every trapper's hungry but the wolf don't care who's fair
Weigh the pelt at midnight, keep the lamp oil rare
Scale had two brass plates, one was always warped
Men with a heavy thumb, I learned to watch and thwart
Gate froze shut by morning, had to kick it twice to break
Ash from the woodstove settled thick on everything I'd stake
Trappers came in starving, snow crusted on their brows
Some tried to slip a stone inside the bundled skins somehow
I caught it every time, held the lamp up to the light
Told them short weight buys you nothing but a colder night
Frostbite carved two scars where my fingers used to bend
Still I counted every cent, never let the numbers bend
By March the post was legend, not for gold but for the scale
Men would ride an extra day just to know the weight won't fail
Hook
Wolf winter wages, paid in full, never late
Snow can bury bodies but it can't bury weight
I kept the scale honest when the whole camp learned to cheat
Wolf winter wages built the only house I keep
Verse
Now the post is timber dust, the rail line rusted through
But the men who knew my scale still nod when I walk through
I sell what I got left, count it slow like I was taught
Never let a hungry look talk me into what it's not
City tries the same old trick, dressed in different snow
Say the number's bigger if you don't look close, you know
I still hold the lamp up, still I check the seam
Truth don't need decoration, weight's the only thing that's clean
My hands remember cold before my mouth remembers words
Every deal I close gets weighed against the wolves I've heard
Some men chase a fortune, I just chase an honest ounce
Rather starve one winter than let one lie get pronounced
They call me old school, call the ledger obsolete
I call it the only reason my name still walks the street
Legends ain't the ones who took the most they could hold
