Flag in the Rain

[Intro: single piano chord, distant crowd murmur]

[Spoken]
They’ll hand you a costume.

They’ll tell you it fits.

[Pause]

You are allowed to say no.

[Drums enter]

[Verse 1]

They drew the lines before you came
Put little boxes by your name
Told you which colors you should wear
How loud to laugh, how much to care

They’ll say,
“Be sensible”
“Don’t stand out”
“Lower your voice”
“Control your doubt”

But some hearts simply won’t behave
Like decorations in a cage

[Backing Vocals]
Too bright!
Too strange!
Too much!

[Lead]
Good.

[Pre-Chorus]

Here’s to the ones who heard the rules
And asked who gave them all the tools

Here’s to the ones who took the map
Turned it over
Drew another path

[Chorus: huge guitars and choir]

CHOOSE YOUR OWN NAME
LIKE A FLAG IN THE RAIN

LET THEM STARE
LET THEM TALK
LET THEM CALL YOU INSANE

If the world builds a doorway
Too narrow for your frame

Don’t cut pieces off yourself

[Choir]
WIDEN THE FRAME!

[Lead]
Here’s to the bold
Here’s to the strange

Here’s to the ones
Who refuse to be changed

Into somebody easier
For somebody else to explain

Wear your own name

[Verse 2: bouncing bass, handclaps]

Here’s to the woman who chose her own road
While everybody handed her another load

Here’s to the man who learned to cry
After years being told that boys stay dry

Here’s to the artist dressed too loud
The quiet kid who leaves the crowd

The lover who loves
The thinker who doubts
The person who finally
Lets themselves out

[Backing Vocals]
There you are!
There you are!

[Lead]
Funny how freedom
Can look like becoming
Who you already are

[Pre-Chorus]

Society loves a tidy shelf
A label underneath yourself

But human beings were never made
To fit perfectly in a display

[Chorus]

CHOOSE YOUR OWN NAME
LIKE A FLAG IN THE RAIN

LET THEM STARE
LET THEM TALK
LET THEM CALL YOU INSANE

If the world builds a doorway
Too narrow for your frame

Don’t cut pieces off yourself

[Choir]
WIDEN THE FRAME!

[Instrumental Break: triumphant guitar solo]

[Handclaps]

[Choir]
Too loud!
Too soft!
Too weird!
Too free!

[Lead, laughing]
Sounds perfect to me.

[Bridge: music drops to piano and strings]

It isn’t easy being honest
When honesty has a price

When family turns to silence
When strangers aren’t so nice

When every room has expectations
Waiting quietly at the door

And being true to who you are
Means losing what you had before

[Pause]

So here’s to every trembling hand
That still reached for its own life

Every voice that said
“This is who I am”

Even when the room went quiet

[Strings swell]

That isn’t vanity

That isn’t selfish pride

Sometimes being yourself
Is simply refusing

To disappear inside

[Drums explode back in]

[Final Chorus: key change]

CHOOSE YOUR OWN NAME
LET IT RING THROUGH THE HALL

YOU WERE NEVER BORN
TO BE ACCEPTABLE TO ALL

Let them measure
Let them judge
Let them build another wall

A life lived as somebody else

[Choir]
ISN’T YOUR LIFE AT ALL!

[Lead]
Here’s to the fierce
Here’s to the shy

Here’s to the ones
Who finally stopped asking why

They had to become smaller
Just to make somebody comfortable nearby

[Choir]
Stand tall!
Stand strange!
Stand true!

[Lead]
There is only one life
That belongs to you

[Final Refrain]

Wear the clothes
Love the love
Speak the words
Dream the dream

Choose the road
Change your mind
Become whoever you mean

[Choir rising]
Not their version
Not their plan
Not the person
They demand

[Lead]
Let the world meet you
Without disguise

[Music drops]

And if they don’t understand…

[Pause]

At least they met
Your actual eyes

[Outro: piano and soft choir]

[Soft Vocal]
Wear your own name

[Choir]
Your own name

[Lead]
You fought too hard
To live somebody else’s life

[Final guitar chord]