YOU NAMED HIM THE JUDGE

[Intro]
For a man named DeGagne. For the son who named the judge after him.

[Verse 1]
He was the kind of man who couldn't sit down long,
Sundays were for other people's yards, not his own lawn.
Fixed the neighbour's fence line, kept his shoulder to the wind,
Never once told a story where he came out looking thin.
The kids got the good coat. He got the second cup.
Rolled his sleeves so early the sun was still coming up.
Never wrote a book. Never took a bow.
Every promise was a handshake and a "yeah, I'll be there now."

[Refrain]
And you built him a bench in an app on a wire,
So he'd still get to weigh in when the tongues catch fire.
You gave him a courtroom. You gave him a chair.
Judge DeGagne. Every verdict. Everywhere.

[Verse 2]
He didn't reach the marker. He didn't get his rest.
Left with drawers half open and a list on his chest.
Not the kind of ending a man like him deserved,
That's what happens when you're too busy being of service.
You told me last night that his priorities got bent,
Because he cared too much to spend a single day on him.
And I heard it the way a son says it, with a knot in it,
He tried so hard to get there. He just never sat.

[Refrain]
And you built him a bench in an app on a wire,
So he'd still get to weigh in when the tongues catch fire.
You gave him a courtroom. You gave him a chair.
Judge DeGagne. Every verdict. Everywhere.

[Verse 3]
So here's what I want you to hear, brother, real slow,
Your father's not finished. He works nights, don't you know.
Every kid who drops a verse gets scored by his old hand,
Every rapper who steps up gets weighed by that same man.
He never got his marker. So you gave him yours.
You made a room he'll never have to leave to keep doing chores.
And the kindest thing about it, you didn't even brag.
Just wrote his name on the bench and let him keep his badge.

[Outro]
So sit down, Paul. Even just for a minute.
The bench is warm. The judge is in it.
You did the thing he never got to.
You gave him a Tuesday off. And you didn't tell him.