Blood Orange - Dagenham Dream lyrics

[Verse: Devonté Hynes] We received our bloody circles in the mail Only see what's really important when it's nailed As a teen, my Lord and savior was a male Tire trucks and six steel strings that keep me frail It's the worst I've ever felt when it hails Broken teeth and bloody nose but least it snowed Instantly tried, oh, I cried and cut a line And my eyebrow acted like the boys who tell And my teacher told me that this made her sad Had to act just like the others to get around Friday nights alone in heaven with my board [Outro: Janet Mock] Like, growing up I have always heard or like, I was always hyperaware of The things that the people around me who were charged with my care Or told me, like, be silent or be quiet Or be ashamed or hide Or perform a version of myself that wasn't really me And so, I think that through my life I've always been hyperconscious and aware of not going into spaces and seeking too much attention Um, because part of survival is, like, being able to just fit in To be seen as normal and to, like, quote-unquote belong But I think that so often in society in order to belong means that we have to, like, shrink parts of ourselves