scrabble-and-dimes

Verse 1
They built their towers out of broken backs,
Fed the fire while they hid the facts.
We paved the roads, we wired the veins,
They took the gold and left the chains.

We wake at dawn to keep their lights on,
While they’re asleep in their tax-free dawn.
But the ground is shifting, the cracks run deep—
The hands that built won’t stay asleep.

Pre-Chorus
We are the rhythm they can’t contain,
The pulse in the power line, screaming in the rain.

Chorus
We are the hands that built the empire,
Now we’re takin’ it back, set the world on fire.
From the steel and the dust, from the sweat and the flame,
We rise as one—remember our name.
The hands that built the empire—
Now we break the frame.

Verse 2
They sold the dream for a paper throne,
Left us fighting just to own a home.
But every paycheck, every night we grind,
We forge the blade they’ll feel in time.

They call us small, they call us weak,
But we’re the storm they’ll never see.
No lobby gold, no TV spin—
Just blood and truth beneath our skin.

Pre-Chorus
We are the rhythm they can’t contain,
The thunder beneath their private plane.

Chorus
We are the hands that built the empire,
Now we’re takin’ it back, set the world on fire.
From the steel and the dust, from the sweat and the flame,
We rise as one—remember our name.
The hands that built the empire—
Now we break the frame.

Bridge (spoken, over quiet drums and feedback)
They thought we’d beg.
They thought we’d kneel.
But this time—
We bring the real.

(Drums explode back in)

Bridge (sung)
No kings, no crowns, no chains of gold,
No lies to buy what can’t be sold.
We built the dream, now we reclaim—
Our blood, our work, our name.

Final Chorus (bigger, layered vocals)
We are the hands that built the empire,
Now we’re takin’ it back, set the world on fire.
From the streets to the stars, from the rust to the rain,
We rise as one—unchained.
The hands that built the empire—
Now we break the frame.

Outro (fading feedback, faint voice over static)
You can’t own the people forever.

The Hands That Built the Empire

Andy

21st Century Breakdown

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¡DOS!

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Lady Cobra

New album Father Of All... out Feb 7. Hella Mega Tour w/ Green Day, Fall Out Boy + Weezer coming in 2021 http://hellamegatour.com