The hands that built these walls to shelter me
From the Southern summers in Tennessee
Are the same ones that held me like iron bars
The hands that used black and blue to paint scars 
Onto the canvas of my flesh and bones
Are the ones that placed  every brick and stone

CHORUS ONE

When you built this house, did you think
Of the ways you’d make me shrink?
When you step through the door
Do you picture me shaking on the floor? 
Does a bloodstained history haunt you
Knowing what you put me through
Can you hear in the wind desperate pleas 
From a scared  girl down on her knees?

Sometimes I wake at night, screaming and lost,
As the memory of your hands closing tight
Around my throat bursts and ignites 
Panicked fear, the only thing I’ve known
Within the walls of our lonely home.

CHORUS ONE

When you built this house, did you think
Of the ways you’d make me shrink?
When you step through the door
Do you picture me shaking on the floor? 
Does a bloodstained history haunt you
Knowing what you put me through?
Can you hear in the wind desperate pleas 
From a scared girl down on her knees?

The echoes of rage, the sound of hate 
Are burdens as heavy as the weight 
Of you hurting me on the bed you made
I’ve been the good girl, I’ve obeyed 
But, if I stay in this house with you
I’ll die, so there’s one thing I have to do

CHORUS TWO

When you built this house, did you think
That one day I’d follow my instinct?
When you step now through the door
Do you see me standing from the floor?
Does a bloodstained history haunt you
Knowing I’m making something new?
Can you hear in the wind the breath
Of a girl who found her strength?

The winds of change have come
And look at who I’ve become
Your little girl from Tennessee 
Is soaring free