[Intro]
Take the road
Take the sign
Take the field
Take the mine
But you can’t take the fire
That makes a person whole

[Verse]
They changed the street names in the morning rain
Painted over letters like it buried the pain
Sent a new flag up on the schoolyard pole
But you can’t annex a soul

An old woman laughed at the official seal
Said paper gets old, but wounds still feel
My mother’s song is not under your control
No, you can’t annex a soul

[Pre-Chorus]
The walls may listen
The doors may close
But memory travels
Where no border goes

[Chorus]
You Can’t Annex a Soul
You can’t buy it, you can’t break it
You Can’t Annex a Soul
You can wound it, you can’t take it
You Can’t Annex a Soul
No decree can make it yours
A country lives in people
Not in generals, maps or wars

[Verse]
She records a choir in a subway hall
Their voices climb over concrete and crawl
Through every checkpoint, every patrol
Singing you can’t annex a soul

A boy hides poems in a winter coat
A girl paints freedom on a fishing boat
They can cut the network, they can flood the roll
But they can’t annex a soul

[Pre-Chorus]
The walls may listen
The doors may close
But memory travels
Where no border goes

[Chorus]
You Can’t Annex a Soul
You can’t buy it, you can’t break it
You Can’t Annex a Soul
You can wound it, you can’t take it
You Can’t Annex a Soul
No decree can make it yours
A country lives in people
Not in generals, maps or wars

[Instrumental]
Guitar feedback cries and bends
Drums like hearts that will not end
Bassline walks through smoke and stone
Gang voices rise alone

[Bridge]
Take the courthouse
Take the square
Take the tower
Take the air
Take the broadcast
Take the school
Still you cannot make the living
Love your rule

[Breakdown]
No stamp
No tank
No crown
No rank
No gun
No role
You can’t annex a soul

[Build-up]
She stops recording
And starts to sing
Not for a party
Not for a king

[Chorus]
You Can’t Annex a Soul
You can’t buy it, you can’t break it
You Can’t Annex a Soul
You can wound it, you can’t take it
You Can’t Annex a Soul
No decree can make it yours
A country lives in people
Not in generals, maps or wars

[Chorus]
You Can’t Annex a Soul
It survives where the ashes blow
You Can’t Annex a Soul
It remembers what the tyrants don’t know
You Can’t Annex a Soul
Every language finds a way
You can occupy the morning
But you cannot own the day

[Outro]
Take the road
Take the sign
Take the field
Take the mine
But you can’t take the fire
That makes a person whole