Thicker Than My Skin

Lyrics

Verse 1
Line us up
Share the same last name
Same hard jaw
Same old shame

At the table
Every joke’s a knife
Laugh or bleed
That’s the price

You call it loyalty
I call it a cage
You pass down orders
Like you pass down rage

Chorus
Blood is thicker than my skin
You write the rules
I’m written in
Say “family first” like a holy hymn
But it burns my throat when I sing it with them

Blood is thicker than my skin
I wear the bruise
You wear the grin
If this is love
Why do I shrink?
Why do I drown every time I drink it in

Verse 2
Five harsh voices
All in my head
“Sit down
Be quiet
Remember who fed
You first”
You twist that thread

Call me ungrateful
If I dare ask why
I see the cracks
You call it the sky

You call it honor
I call it control
You keep the heart
But you poison the soul

Chorus
Blood is thicker than my skin
You write the rules
I’m written in
Say “family first” like a holy hymn
But it burns my throat when I sing it with them

Blood is thicker than my skin
I wear the bruise
You wear the grin
If this is love
Why do I shrink?
Why do I drown every time I drink it in

Bridge
[five voices
Soft
Overlapping]
You won’t leave
(you can’t leave)
You must choose
(don’t you dare choose)

Call it respect
(we raised you)
Call it a debt
(we made you)

[lone voice
Rising]
If I step outside your shadow
Am I still your kin
If I wash your name off my mouth
Will you pull me back in

Chorus
Blood is thicker than my skin
You wrote the oath I never signed in ink
Say “family first” as you drag me in
To a dark
Small room where the walls all think

Blood is thicker than my skin
But I feel air when I resist the spin
If this is love
It can’t be right
I’ll break that chain
To save my light

Outro
[faint
Dreamy unison]
Blood is thicker
Till I breathe
Till I breathe
Myself free