Hit the strings till the dust jumps up
Boot heel down, let the old room answer
We ain’t quiet enough
Floorboards like thunder

I woke up with the walls sitting close to my chest
Same old air, same unpaid rest
There’s a dent in the wood where I learned to stand
There’s a buzz in the bronze when I open my hand
I don’t call it healing
I call it still here
Turn the worn-out grain to a drum in my ear
If the room wants silence, it can take its turn
But not before the rafters learn

Floorboards like thunder
Heart still under
All this weight, but we make it sound
Floorboards like thunder
Tear that quiet asunder
If grief walks in, we shake it down
We shake it down

Got a boot lace split and a red palm sting
Got a six-string body that can still kick back
Every hard downstroke pulls the dark off me
Every low tom cracks what the room won’t ask
I’m not past the missing
I’m not cleaned of the ache
But the ceiling starts trembling when the backbeat breaks
So bring your tired breath
Bring your bent-up name
We’ll put both feet down
Till the dust jumps again

Floorboards like thunder
Heart still under
All this weight, but we make it sound
Floorboards like thunder
Tear that quiet asunder
If grief walks in, we shake it down
We shake it down

Heel
Wood
Breath
Blood
String
Buzz
Still
Us

Kick
Kick
Hands
Low
If the house won’t move
Then the whole house knows

Floorboards like thunder
Heart still under
All this weight, but we make it sound
Floorboards like thunder
Tear that quiet asunder
If grief walks in, we shake it down

Floorboards like thunder
Not healed, not hollow
Just loud enough to stay around
Floorboards like thunder
You hit, I follow
We turn the hurt into holy ground
Then cut it out

One chord
Dust hangs
No sound