Concrete Heartbeat

oh ah down in the delta carrying the pain away born from the chains in the heat of the night a cry from the soul chasing shadows from sight working hands blistered heart heavy with load but the blue notes rise up bathing that lonesome road oh blues you a river flow through my vein singing of sorrow breaking these chains resilient and raw in the midnight hour you whisper of hope in your weeping power blue notes bending guitar strings cry blues you're the fire that never dies from the juke joints humming where the weak beat becomes strong lost loves and leaving apollo's cold kiss but in every lament there's a spark of resist harmonica wailing like a freight train's moan echoes of ancestors calling us home oh blues you a river flow through my vein singing of sorrow breaking these chains resilient and raw in the midnight hour you whisper of hope in your weeping power blue notes bending guitar strings cry blues you're the fire that never dies bars of thunder in the still of the storm turning the hurt to a shape-shifting foam from the deep south's cradle to the world's wide stage you carry the story turn the grief to rage no more hiding the tears we fall like the rain in the blues we rise up dancing through the pain now the lights of the city they pull you on north electric and fierce proving your worth but the roots run deep in that red light red plays soil hardship so teaching resilience is toil so people me and you I I I you that never dies blues you a river like a freight train's moan blues you're the fire blues you're the fire