Album Cover Take It Back

Take It Back

ED SHEERAN

6

I′m not a rapper, I'm a singer with a flow

I′ve got a habit for spitting quicker lyrics you know

You'll find me ripping the written out of the pages they sit inI never want to get bitten 'cause plagiarism is hidden

Watch how I sit on the rhythm, prisoner with a vision

Signed to a label but didn′t listen to any criticism

Thought you knew, but you didn′t, so perk your ears up and listen

Studio is a system, and you could say that I'm driven

And now it′s onto the next saga, we drink the best lager

I'll never try to win you over like your stepfather

I do my own thing now and get respect after

And I′m avoiding the 'cain like it was Get Carter

For four years, I never had a place to stay

But it′s safe to say that it kept me grounded like a paper weight

At 16 years old, yeah, I moved out of my home

I was Macy Gray, I tried to say goodbye and I choked

And went from sleeping at a subway station

To sleeping with a movie star and adding to the population

Not my imagination, I don't wanna relax

Would it hurt your reputation if I put it on wax?

I take it back now

Mmm, come on and take it back, love

Come on and take it back for us

Don't you fade into the back, love

No

I take it back with the rhythm and blues

With my rap pack, I′ll be singing the news

Tryna act like Jack Black when I bring it to school

I make a beat with my feet by just hitting the loop

Bringing the lyrics to prove that I can fit in these shoes

I give you the truth through the vocal booth

And stars burst out on the scene like an Opal Fruit

They try to take aim like Beckham when he goes to shoot

But then again, that′s what they're supposed to do

And I′m supposed to be calm, I tattooed the lyrics onto my arm

Whispering, "Everything that happens is from now on"

I'll be ready to start again by the end of the song

And still they′re claiming that I handle it wrong

But then I've never had an enemy except the NME

But I′ll be selling twice as many copies as their magazines'll ever be

With only spectacles ahead of me

And festival fees are healthier than a Dalmatian on pedigree

Singing for the masses, rubber dinghy rapids

I keep this rapping a habit and keep on fashioning magic

I'm battling for respect and I don′t know if I have it

This song′s from the heart, cover the planet

I'll take it back now

Mmm, come on and take it back, love

Come on and take it back for us

Don′t you fade into the back, love

No

And take it back now

Now, I don't ever wanna be perfect

′Cause I'm a singer that you never wanna see shirtless

And I accept the fact that someone′s got to win worst-dressed

Taken my first steps into the scene giving me focus

Putting on a brave face like Timothy Dalton

Considering a name change, thinking it was hopeless

Rhyming over recordings, avoiding tradition

'Cause every day some lyrics and a melody can be written

Now, absence can make your heart ache

But drinking Absinthe can change your mind state

Vividly, need to let my liver be

And I'll say it again, living life on the edge with a close handful of friends

Is good advice from the man that took his life on the road with me

And I hope to see him blowing up globally

′Cause that how it′s supposed to be

I'm screaming out vocally

It might seem totally impossible achieving life′s dreams

But, but I just write schemes

I'm never having a stylist giving me tight jeans

Madison Square Garden is where I might be, but more likely

You′ll find me in the back room of a dive bar with my mates

Having a pint with McDaid, discussing records we made

And every single second knowing that we'll never betray

The way we were raised, remembering our background, sat down

That′s how we plan it out, it's time to take it back now

Mmm, come on and take it back, love

Come on and take it back for us

Don't you fade into the back, love

No

Mmm, come on and take it back, love

Come on and take it back for us

Don′t you fade into the back, love

No