Keep Your Voice Down

Keep your voice down
Let the work get loud
Everybody wants a window
Few can hold the house
Keep your voice down
Watch who stays around

Small table, four chairs, know who sits in each
You can rent a hundred faces, can't rent what they mean
Got my cousin through the winter, never posted the receipt
You were looking for a headline, I was finding him some heat
Old phone, new number, still the same few names
Some things got expensive, some things never change
I don't need to show the envelope to prove the rent was paid
I just need my people sleeping without counting what they owe

Keep your voice down
Let the work get loud
Everybody wants a window
Few can hold the house
Keep your voice down
Watch who stays around

Heard my name in conversation, let it finish, let it die
I was busy at the counter helping Mama choose her tile
She said why you always quiet, I said listen to this room
All the people I was working for got something good to do
Put the meeting on a Tuesday, keep the Sunday clear
Got a little nephew waiting for his uncle to appear
Used to think a louder entrance meant a better place to stand
Now I shake the doorman's hand and put the phone inside my bag

Close the curtain
Count the chairs
If the house is full
I'm there

Keep your voice down
Let the work get loud
Everybody wants a window
Few can hold the house
Keep your voice down
Watch who stays around

Keep your voice down
Let them sleep in peace