[Lyric] The National Anthem (Guante & Big Cats)

[Hook: Haley Bonar]
You can call it a love song
You can call it a death rattle
You can call it a battle cry
You can call it the national anthem for your side

[Verse 1: Guante]
I pass a tank and think for a second
That the past caught up to us but it’s a replica
Or retired, on the front lawn of an American Legion
A proud, steel messenger
Without a message, no shells to suck on
Silent, empty as a love song
If I could open up the hatch we could make such beautiful music
But I can’t do it so I keep movin’
No cars or trucks, but I bet ya all your dough they live longer than us
And I don’t bother to run but don’t walk too slow
Who knows? we ain’t built for this
And that’s why we die and kill for this
Every refugee is on a pilgrimage
Every runaway slave is on a pilgrimage
Every border jumper is on a pilgrimage
And our prayers may not add up to much
A love song, a death rattle, a battle cry
Or the ticking of a time bomb
When they reminisce over you, my god
[Hook: Haley Bonar]
You can call it a love song
You can call it a death rattle
You can call it a battle cry
You can call it the national anthem for your side

[Verse 2: Guante]
Oh say, can you see
Two fresh band aids on my feet
Been walkin’ so long I’d forgotten that song
That tune, that prayer and that beat
But we are waking up in our caskets
We are so thirsty for oxygen
We are digging out of our burial plots
We call it renaissance and you’re callin’ it apocalypse
And if I ever make it to the ocean
Approachin’ with hell at my heels and heaven out of focus
I will whisper a prayer and breathe in a melody
Thick enough to touch
And fuck it, it might never add up to much
A love song, a death rattle, a battle cry
Or the ticking of a time bomb...

[Hook: Haley Bonar]
You can call it a love song
You can call it a death rattle
You can call it a battle cry
You can call it the national anthem for your side
[Outro: Guante]
And your side, is winning this war
Your side is dripping wet with god
Your side writes the history books
So your side has never lost
I take my hat off, and try to wipe this melody from my forehead
But there are so many voices, singing so loudly
Running
Out of breath