Starting to Dig Out
Intro
Hand me a shovel.
Hand me a hammer.
Verse 1
There were stickers at the candles,
Little circles in the cold.
“I Voted” where the flowers lay,
Where the stories still get told.
By Alex Pretti's photograph,
By Renée Good's name,
We left a little proof behind
That we remembered why we came.
Pre-Chorus
We'd been making calls on lunch breaks.
We'd been knocking after dark.
You can call it a blue tsunami.
We know how the water starts.
Chorus
We're starting to dig out,
Stone by heavy stone.
Hear the sound of people finding
They were never quite alone.
It'll take more than an evening.
It'll take more than a shout.
Put your shoulder here beside me.
We're starting to dig out.
Verse 2
Keisha's name came up in Georgia.
Somebody began to cry.
A mother pointed at the screen.
Her daughter asked her why.
“That's a Black woman for governor.
That's a door we couldn't move.”
Then the room got loud enough
To shake the dust out of the roof.
Pre-Chorus
From the Texas county courthouses
To the Michigan factory gates,
All the people you called powerless
Had a hand upon the spade.
Chorus
We're starting to dig out,
Stone by heavy stone.
Hear the sound of people finding
They were never quite alone.
It'll take more than an evening.
It'll take more than a shout.
Put your shoulder here beside me.
We're starting to dig out.
Verse 3
Down in Alabama, Allison
Won a seat to write the law,
Where she'd stood and asked for dignity
Through the hearings years before.
They'd talked about her body.
Now she'll have a vote inside.
Somewhere a kid turned up the volume
And pulled the curtains wide.
Bridge
But Alex doesn't get this morning.
Renée doesn't get this dawn.
And a change of hands in Washington
Won't undo what's been done.
We didn't carry all these names
To put yours up in lights.
You work for every frightened child.
Now get their future right.
Final Chorus
We're starting to dig out,
Pass the handle down the line.
Bring the names beside the candles.
Put your tired hand in mine.
Let the morning find us working.
Let the neighbours hear us shout.
There's a country underneath this.
We're starting to dig out.
Outro
We'll be digging out for decades.
We knew that from the start.
Somebody bring the saplings.
We're making room again.
Hand me a shovel.
Hand me a hammer.
We've got the will.
We're starting.