Tigers and claws
You’re gonna face them all
You better get yourself together

Nobody’s life
Gets to be lived out twice
Your first try’s in the books forever

Savage direction
But I still think I can change where I am heading
Savage direction
But every day’s a chance to save my life

Raise the flag
Alert the people
There’s a new way
There’s a new way over

Blow the bridge
Flee the highway
There’s a new way
There’s a new way over

See, one of us has to end
For the other one to begin
One of us has to end
For the other one to begin

The Bronx High School of Science
On a Thursday
I was fifteen years old
I had a vision of my future in the stairwell
And I said to myself, I said:

“One of us has to end
For the other one to begin
One of us has to end
For the other one to begin
One of us has to…”

Tigers and claws
You’re gonna face them all
You better get yourself together

Nobody’s life
Gets to be lived out twice
Your first try’s in the books forever

Savage direction
But I still think I can change where I am heading
Savage direction
But every day’s a chance to save my life

I can remember
Standing in the doorway of my first recital
Raw nerves and pressure building in my skull
But I refused to buckle

I’m a destination fully unstable
That’s the reason they call me the lookout baby
I’m a destination fully unstable
That’s the reason they call me the lookout baby

As time crept onward
The doorways kept on coming
But I’d step inside them
Never allowing my body to defeat the only thing I wanted

I’m a destination fully unstable
That’s the reason they call me the lookout baby
I’m a destination fully unstable
That’s the reason they call me the lookout baby
Yet I’d say to myself that the name they gave me
Was for them and not for me

But years
Started hurtling by
And no matter how hard I seemed to try
I’d lose
Every single time
And each loss took one more piece of my mind

Come on
Come a bit closer
They say that I have good hands
Feel how perfectly structured
They say that I have good hands

I’m blessed with a loving home
Yet I still have this dream stuck inside my bones
I’m told I should chase my joy
But If I am not built, I can’t be destroyed
If I am not built, I can’t be destroyed
If I am not built, I cannot be…

Fathers are dreaming
Lifting their hands to a bright red sky
Dreaming their children
Will grow up brave enough to live life

Sometimes I get knocked down by the feeling
That the best feeling of all’s not getting up
But if I stay down
How can I expect that my child will be able to get up
When they get knocked down by the same old feeling?

Give my baby a life
Give my baby a life
That is not filled with their father’s frights
Give my baby their fears
Not mine

You’re not even born
But child, I love you
So I must change
Myself to protect you
See, in my mind
There’s a cold wind blowing that I’m scared of
It’s in my mind
There’s a cold wind blowing that I’m scared of

The dream’s the same
In fact, it’s stronger
The only change:
I’m ten years older

And in my mind
There’s a cold wind blowing that I’m scared of
It’s in my mind
There’s a cold wind blowing that I’m scared of
It’s in my mind
There’s a cold wind blowing that I’m scared of
It’s in my mind
There’s a cold wind blowing that I’m scared of

Any moment you’ll be born
I must change before you’re born
If I wait until you’re born
I’ll be too late to reform

So, in my mind
There’s a cold wind blowing I’m not scared of
It’s in my mind
There’s a cold wind blowing I’m not scared of
It’s in my mind
There’s a cold wind blowing I’m not scared of
It’s in my mind
There’s a cold wind blowing I’m not scared of

I’ve been waiting for so long
For the moment that you’re born
Come meet your father
He’s not strong
But he will not crack

Tigers and claws
You’re gonna face them all
You better get yourself together

Nobody’s life
Gets to be lived out twice
Your first try’s in the books forever

Savage direction
But I still think I can change where you are heading
Savage direction
But every day’s a chance to save your life

One of us has to end
For the other one to begin
One of us has to end for the other one to begin
One of has to —