[Intro]
They can take the road
They can take the square
But not the songs
That brought us there

[Verse]
She sits with a family in a candle room
Where the windows shake from a distant boom
A grandmother hums in a language old
Like a match kept warm in a winter coat
The map outside has changed three times
But the kitchen still smells of bread and thyme
The children learn names the rulers ban
And write them in dust with a stubborn hand

[Pre-Chorus]
You can break the door
You can steal the sign
But you cannot own
The heart inside

[Chorus]
You Can’t Annex a Soul, you can’t buy the rain
You can’t make a people forget their name
You Can’t Annex a Soul, you can’t chain the sea
You can take the hill but the hill stays free
No flag forced high, no border patrol
Can ever annex a living soul

[Verse]
She hears a singer with a cracked guitar
Play under curfew by a burned-out car
The melody limps but it does not fall
And the crowd knows every word by call
A soldier watches from a checkpoint light
Too young to know why he owns the night
The singer keeps singing, low and clear
Until even the rifles seem to hear

[Pre-Chorus]
You can close the road
You can cut the wire
But under the ash
There is still fire

[Chorus]
You Can’t Annex a Soul, you can’t buy the rain
You can’t make a people forget their name
You Can’t Annex a Soul, you can’t chain the sea
You can take the hill but the hill stays free
No flag forced high, no border patrol
Can ever annex a living soul

[Interlude]
Our names
Our dead
Our bread
Our bed
Our songs
Our scars
Our streets
Our stars

[Bridge]
They can rename the station, repaint the school
Teach every child that surrender is rule
They can stamp new papers and punish the tongue
But the old lullaby will still be sung
She writes through tears she refuses to hide
The human heart has no occupied side
And every empire that tries to control
Finds stone in the body and flame in the soul

[Breakdown]
You can take
You can burn
You can lie
We return

[Build-up]
You can take
You can burn
You can lie
We return
You can mark
You can roll
But you cannot
Annex a soul

[Chorus]
You Can’t Annex a Soul, you can’t buy the rain
You can’t make a people forget their name
You Can’t Annex a Soul, you can’t chain the sea
You can take the hill but the hill stays free
No flag forced high, no border patrol
Can ever annex a living soul

[Outro]
They can take the road
They can take the square
But not the songs
That brought us there
Not the songs
That brought us there