The stories behind Believe Them the First Time

• Inside "Believe Them the First Time": A Slightly Sharper Second Take — The second take of "Believe Them the First Time" pushes the tempo up and tightens the vocal phrasing on an already unrelenting song.
• Believe Them the First Time: The Warning That Gets Waved Off — A riot-grrrl anthem built around one of the top named patient-safety concerns: a warning taken seriously only after it's said one too many times.

Lyrics

She said it twice,

she said it three times

Nobody wrote it down, nobody read the signs

Something's wrong, she said it plain

Got waved off like it's all the same

Not a chart, not a trend, not a test

Just a person nobody addressed

Believe them the first time, believe them, don't make them cry

Believe them the first time, before it turns into a harder

line And half of the ones who get brushed away

Say it got worse the very next day

More than a quarter end up in a bed

For a warning that lived inside their head

Believe them the first time

Believe them, don't make them cry

Believe them the first time

Before it turns into a harder line

Not a machine, not a screen, not a code

It's a voice getting talked over, getting told

Calm down, it's fine

You're wrong, we're done singing that song

Believe in the first time, believe them, don't make them cry

Believe in the first time, before it turns into a harder

lie

She said it once, that should be enough

Believe in the first time, that's not

soft, that's tough