Inderveer Sodhi - Keep Your Hands Up Lyrics

Son, you're getting to the age where I've gotta teach you how to fight
I don't want to
Social contracts and kind hearts should be enough
But too often, they are not
So get your hands up

There aren't any referees in the wild
Son, it is strike or be struck
When you hit, don't just make contact with this animal
Crack the back of his skull when you hay-make his mandible
Split his right from his left when you kick in his chest
Do not bruise what you can break
They will not give you the same courtesy
Keep your hands up

When you get hit, yes, when
Do not come undone
Fear is their favourite weapon
Their overhand is not your guillotine
Their uppercut is not your skewer
Remember that they are just flesh, bone and depravity
Bob, weave and breathe
Keep your hands up

It is worth noting, son
That the most significant battles for your life won't be fist fights
Most times, your flesh will ensnare you
It'll hog-tie and slug your better judgment like a bountiful piñata
Make you dangle and watch every crimson millilitre of temptation
Gush from your mutilated mind

In those moments, son
When your hands are bound behind you
Clasp them tightly
Get them up as high as you can
And pray
For liberation
For mercy
For a strength greater than yours
So that you can let yourself down
And subdue your flesh with a divine conviction

Even afterwards
Keep your hands up
Because despite these directions
There will still be bouts that I can't teach you enough about
I have not yet found
A strike that can stop a mind from choking itself
Or a counter for cops with bloodlust and the law on their side
I can't sweep loved ones out of bad decisions
Or shield them when their number's been called
Too many of your life's fights won't be fair
And the only peace I've found in those battles, son
Is, for the love of God, to keep your hands up