Paid in Full

The Story Behind the Song

The album's closing argument, and its wisdom story: that pain isn't the opposite of a good life, it's what makes a good life legible. Every joy in the song is measured against a loss that came before it -- love feels bigger because of what it costs, and peace feels earned rather than given. It's less a resolution to everything that came before it on the record and more a way of making sense of it: the debt gets paid, eventually, in the form of having lived through it.

Also Performed By

This Long Broken Road is released in multiple performer editions, each with its own real performance — durations differ by artist, not just persona.

Lyrics

Every smile comes borrowed from the pain we knew, Every sunrise reminds us of nights we've been through. The sweetest songs we sing are born from our broken hearts, And every ending’s hidden in the moments we start. Love only feels so good ’cause it hurts so bad when it’s gone. Joy takes you so high ’cause you get so low when it’s wrong. You hold on to what you have ’cause of all the things that you lost… Yeah, you can only see what's precious after you have paid the cost. We call it wisdom, but it's just getting old, Easier when you're young, or so I was told. Every hand we let go opens a space in our souls, Every scar that we wear is tryin' to fill up a hole. Love only feels so good ’cause it hurts so bad when it’s gone. Joy takes you so high ’cause you get so low when it’s wrong. You hold on to what you have ’cause of all the things that you lost… Yeah, you can only see what's precious after you have paid the cost. If forever won't last, then why do we try? 'Cause a moment of love is worth a million goodbyes. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose, But endings are beginnings, just a different point of view. Love only feels so good ’cause it hurts so bad when it’s gone. Joy takes you so high ’cause you get so low when it’s wrong. You hold on to what you have ’cause of all the things that you lost… Yeah, you can only see what's precious after you have paid the cost.