Lyrics

They danced their way toward closing time in sweaty heat,
A rainbow mix of colors on Latinx Night,
Relaxed and free and flowing in the rhythm’s beat,
Lovers and friends, a parent, lost in pure delight.
At first, they thought the shots were simply music, then they heard the glasses shatter
And there was time for just one frantic phone call: oh mom, I love you so

But every last one is precious. Each life lost leaves behind a world with fewer colors.
Lights dim, sounds fade, healing falters. Each day our hearts a little smaller.
Who will calculate the cost?

He didn’t have the cash to get his taillight fixed
And when they pulled him over, he was terrified.
They had him on the ground when someone saw the gun,
A gun he couldn’t reach, a gun for which he died,
Another man, another human being in a state with open carry,
Another life that mattered or it should have, a black body on a street

But every last one is precious. Each life lost leaves behind a world with fewer colors.
Lights dim, sounds fade, healing falters. Each day our hearts a little smaller.
Who will calculate the cost?

A California shooting: fourteen more are gone. Police protect a protest and are gunned to death
And in our rage and terror it goes on and on: Time and again the weapon and the final breath
And maybe no one really has the answer or the will to make it happen
But this I know for sure would make a difference: a commitment to the truth

That every last one is precious. Each life lost leaves behind a world with fewer colors.
Lights dim, sounds fade, healing falters. Each day our hearts a little smaller.
Who will calculate the cost?

Yes, every last one is precious. Each life lost leaves behind a world with fewer colors.
Lights dim, sounds fade, healing falters. Each day our hearts a little smaller.
Who will calculate, oh, who will calculate the cost?