[Verse 1: Aesop Rock] My feet hang off of every bed I ever slept on Catch less Z's more f-bombs (fuck) Invaders from the north brought a body in the trunk With four coal eyes ushering a Jonestown flood Two known, two dumbstruck Plain clothes sputter in A strange home spine-chilling cluster to unfuck Sup sup Austin, I know little magic No checked bags show up with the most baggage Fresh hell dragging old hell up from holed rabbits Who mangle emotion in gross patterns No carrots, only rumors of a bridge that flickered with black scallops And float pine out the bathtub of crass maggots (Bats) 1 point fuckin 5 schmillion A number undermining how they duck and dive different And I was waiting for an hour and I merely saw six Some thought it was a bust, I thought it was the shit
[Verse 2: Kimya Dawson] I watched the videos and hung out with his friends and hugged his mama And it’s clear to me this kid’s the Minnesota Dalai Lama And the llama twist his tongue To create a perfect rhyme Whether freestyled or preconceived to spit that shit out at your mind And your mind’s rind peels back revealing Every dead friend on the back of a little black bat So you stand and you wait at the top of the bridge Only six fly out and return to where they hid So you wait and you wait and you never wanna leave ‘Cause 1.5 million bats is what you need to see to grieve 1.5 million bats is what you think you need But 6 is enough to receive a little peace ‘Cause every little bit counts In times of death and disorder You look for shooting stars In the reflection of the water And you open the gifts that you didn’t expect On the birthdays of the dead friends that are stuck in your head Like love, and hugs and songs and rage And the keys that you needed to unlock your heart’s cage The ability to put the pen back to the page The heat beneath your feet to propel you on stage The beat that completes your shit these days Yeah the beat that completes your shit these days (The beat that completes your shit these days)
[Hook] BATS BATS
[Verse 3: Aesop Rock] The post cards coast from a recurring force field Pickling his demons with the prematurely door-nailed Never play Taps on a short-scale Played dream wars with coffins and chalkboard nails Sore thumb All played the corner of the salt lick K'll say, \"The people you are meeting know what loss is” Twenty in, I'm on the patio with forceps Wig split, sorting what amount to little war heads Yadda yadda stop Tell me about your homie The quote that would open a can of bogeys In the form of stolen roman candle stories Wild youth clipped From a tether plus my alive friends are even deader
[Verse 4: Kimya Dawson] Is a little folk singer who has run out of chords Like a big bad lion who has lost its roar? Coming in like a lambchop Out like a lyin' shame I got Gunther Gabel- Williams Tryna tame my brain With a flick of the wrist and a crack of the whip I said, \"If that’s all you got You ain't got shit\" ‘Cause for free birds like me The possibilities are endless Try to put me in a box I will be relentless In my pursuit of lots of different kinds of things You can clip my toe nails but You can’t clip my wings
[Hook] BATS BATS
[Verse 5: Aesop Rock] I know about your brother I will bring him to the bridge If the colony is hiding, we will lift him on the six Knife in the road Scalp in his mitten Glass house, decal of Calvin pissin--- A proud Fugee of the foul cow tip cow system Triple crown clip, never trickle down bread crumbs Goofus over Gallant Mill about head shrunk Thread a symphony of krill and killer clown redrum-wretch If you ever woke up feeling future-proof Precious brothers in effect and rooting for the future you Speaking of the future us Twin City morning Broke a wiper on a rental tryna grin away the gory Wait, new game: smuggle bats on a plane Wait - newer game: tie the whole bridge to his frame I will drag these bricks Over lake and law Shake 1.5 out over St. Paul Just knowing poetry and mathematics get involved Any total ain't a quota more a draw Don’t count shit First sign of leathery wings You throw them devil horns up yelling heavenly things
[Verse 6: Kimya Dawson] See I started this life As a nappy buckwheat flapjack Flipping on the shiny white backs of the brat pack A princess, a jock, a brain, a freak Now I’m a fucking rebel I’m a little of each And I’m not ashamed of all the different parts of me And I like cross-pollinating the communities Because divided we’re cool But together we conquer Like monsters and grouches And humans and honkers And if you’re close to my age, then you were raised on the street With a Lik-M-Aid Fun Dip in front of your TV And our generation’s gotta do it differently ‘Cause we got new ideas and new abilities Is that an old-fashioned funeral? ew - change the station I’d rather tune in for a life celebration Say good bye with dance parties and say good bye with shows ‘Cause that somber-ass shit’s not the way I wanna go Put your hands in the air Feel your dead friend’s presence Wrap and unwrap pack no resentments With our hoods on our heads we are up on the bridge And we’re summoning the bats so we can live With our hoods on our heads we are up on the bridge And we’re summoning the bats so we can live