Virgin Ears

Verse 1The neighbors heard him through the wall
They turned the television high
She wore a bruise beneath her sleeve
And learned to say she’d bumped her eye

They saw him smiling Sunday morning
Holding open every door
But when I called the b•••••• what he was
They couldn’t take it anymore

ChorusOh, cover up your virgin ears
The truth is getting far too near
You stood there silent through the worst
Then found your courage at the curse

You never flinched at what you saw
Just how I chose to say it
You don’t mind evil in the room
You mind the man who names it

Verse 2He emptied out his mother’s savings
While she forgot the day and year
Then bought a suit and praised her kindness
Standing by her coffin there

The family knew, but kept it quiet
Said grief was not the time for blame
I said, “The greedy son of a b•••• robbed her”
And somehow I became the shame

ChorusOh, cover up your virgin ears
The truth is getting far too near
You stood there silent through the worst
Then found your courage at the curse

You never flinched at what you saw
Just how I chose to say it
You don’t mind evil in the room
You mind the man who names it

Verse 3They wiped the blood up off the floor
And asked us not to make a scene
They called the cruelty “complicated”
And every coward “well-intentioned”

They passed around the careful language
Till nothing ugly sounded real
Then blamed the one who spoke too plainly
For disturbing how they feel

BridgeIt’s not good form to swear about evil
That’s where you draw the f•••••• line?
Not at the theft, the bruise, the betrayal
But at one impolite reply

You had a thousand words for silence
And not a single one for wrong
So pardon my g•••••••• accuracy
I’ve been polite too f•••••• long

Final ChorusGo cover up your virgin ears
The ugly truth has made it here
You stood there silent through the worst
Then found religion at the curse

You never flinched at what they did
You only hate me saying it
You don’t like it that I f•••••• swore
There’s the g•••••••• front door

OutroCall me crude
Call me unkind
But tell me where
You drew the line

Was it the evil?
Was it the pain?
Or was it only
How I named the thing?