We learned to measure everything

In dollars, votes, and names

We built our towers to the sky

And called ambition fame

We chose our sides, we fought to win

We argued who was right

And somewhere in the shouting

We forgot what’s out of sight

There’s a chair beside the table

That nobody sits in now

A picture on the mantle

And a folded flag somehow

There’s a name beneath the soil

That somebody still holds dear

And the freedom that we talk about

Was paid for standing here

[Chorus]

Every victory has a cost

Are we counting what we lose?

When winning means everything

What are we willing to use?

Our pride, our truth, our brotherhood,

Our children and their dreams

How much of what makes us human

Can we spend to make us king?

[Verse 2]

We learned to turn a neighbor

Into someone we could blame

We learned that truth was flexible

If it helped us win the game

And wars are drawn on maps

By hands that never see the ground

While somewhere in the distance

Another mother hears the sound

Another young man leaves home

With a promise to return

And another empty doorway

Is all a family learns

[Chorus]

Every victory has a cost

Are we counting what we lose?

When winning means everything

What are we willing to use?

Our pride, our truth, our brotherhood,

Our children and their dreams

How much of what makes us human

Can we spend to make us king?

[Bridge]

The soil doesn't know our politics

The earth don't know our name

It doesn't care who held the power

Or who walked away with fame

It only holds the ones we lost

And keeps what we forget

The fathers, sons, and daughters

Whose sacrifices paid our debt

[Final Chorus]

Every victory has a cost

Now I know what I believe

If we're going to call it freedom

We must give more than we receive

Our pride can be expendable

Our anger can be too

But never let our hunger

Make another human lose

Every victory has a cost

So remember when you win

The people aren't the payment

And the battle isn't the end

[Outro]

So walk softly on this soil

There are stories underneath

Of people who gave everything

For strangers they would never meet

Don't spend another human life

Just to say that we won.