Verse
Corner of Bellamy and Third, chair number nine
Leather cracked like a knuckle, still holding the line
Sharpie names on the mirror, half of 'em ghosts now
Kevon, Trey, Little Mook, still can't grow a mustache out
I been cutting these heads since they couldn't see the seat
Watched the fade turn to waves, watched the waves turn to street
Clippers humming like a hymn nobody wrote down
Every chip in the tile is a memory of a showdown
Buzz box rattles when the power flickers, no surprise
Same block, same static, same tired alibis
I don't ask what happened, I just tilt the chin up straight
Some scars need a comb-over, some just need to wait
Pre-Chorus
How many years I gotta cut before it heals
How many heads I gotta hold before it's real
Ain't looking for no answer, just a reason to stay
This the only chair in town where nobody gotta pay
Chorus
This the scar tissue anthem, no chorus for the pain
Just the buzz of the clippers and the mark that stays
Every scar got a season, every season got a name
This the scar tissue anthem, and we sing it just the same
Verse 2
Nineteen ninety kid named Ellis came in bleeding at the ear
Said don't go to Marsh Street, said it plain, said it clear
He didn't listen, caught a jump before the sun went down
Came back missing teeth, still asked me to shape the crown
I lost a friend that week for telling what I heard
The other side don't forgive a barber and his word
But I'd do it all again, cut the risk out like split ends
Loyalty ain't quiet when the outcome's a man's friend
Twenty years later Ellis got a shop two blocks from mine
Sends me customers he can't afford, calls it settling the line
We don't talk about the setup, we just nod and let it sit
Some debts get paid in silence, some just paid in it
Pre-Chorus
How many years I gotta cut before it heals
How many heads I gotta hold before it's real
Ain't looking for no answer, just a reason to stay
This the only chair in town where nobody gotta pay
Chorus
This the scar tissue anthem, no chorus for the pain
Just the buzz of the clippers and the mark that stays
Every scar got a season, every season got a name
This the scar tissue anthem, and we sing it just the same
Bridge
My hands shake now holding steel, arthritis in the joint
Teaching my nephew the fade, teaching him the point
Told him don't just cut the hair, you cutting through a year
Every man that sits down brought a whole life here
He asked me why I stayed when I could've left this place
I said the mirror needed somebody to hold its face
Handed him the clippers, told him mind the sound
This the only inheritance that don't get passed around
Chorus
This the scar tissue anthem, no chorus for the pain
Just the buzz of the clippers and the mark that stays
Every scar got a season, every season got a name
This the scar tissue anthem, and we sing it just the same
