[Instrumental emotional sad long intro] [Verse 1] Dust in the grille, crack in the dash two-lane out of Santo with a half-tank gas Ma says keep moving, don’t stare too long at the floodlit checkpoint where the sirens hum My boots got Badlands dust from a hundred wrong turns my hands got grease from the things that burn We roll in quiet, windows up past iron gates, badge scanners, and a Valentino crew in red by the curb [Chorus] Welcome to Night City where the deals come wired Welcome to Night City where the chrome looks pretty, but it cuts you deep and the bill comes due at midnight If you come in hungry Welcome to Night City don't let them see your face Welcome to Night City it remembers every soul the same Welcome to Night City where dreams die fast [instrumental solo] [Verse 2] Saw a kid on a corner with a borrowed face a cheap implant glinting in the rainless haze He laughed like it mattered, like he owned the block then a pair of Maelstrom lifers with chrome-sick jaws and a spider-drone rolled in and his grin just stopped I’ve seen bigger men fold in the backseat light heard prayers through a radio on a dead-end night Out past the Badlands fence, the map gets ripped, the lanes go thin and every shiny door has a lock, a guard, and a Maelstrom arm hanging out of the pin [Chorus] Welcome to Night City where the deals all come with a wire Welcome to Night City where the chrome looks pretty, but it cuts you deep and the bill comes due at midnight If you come in hungry Welcome to Night City don’t let them see your name Welcome to Night City it remembers everybody the same Welcome to Night City. where dreams die fast [instrumental solo] [Verse 3] My brother Ray said “stay sharp” at the Shell on Nine then he took that rust-red truck and never crossed back by He left his denim jacket on the vinyl chair and a half-empty pack of Kools still folded in the glare Now I keep his lighter by the greasy shift knob for the cold starts, bad calls, and the runs that go wrong That truck still coughs on grade shifts, front end pulls left I know every squeak in the cab, every dent by the step his baseball cap stuck above the visor like a warning sign [Bridge] If the city wants blood, let it take mine slow I’ve got family on the line and nowhere else to go We don’t pray for mercy, we just hold the wheel keep one eye on the mirror, keep the whole thing real [Chorus] Welcome to Night City where the deals all come with a wire Welcome to Night City where the chrome looks pretty, but it cuts you deep and the bill comes due at midnight If you come in hungry Welcome to Night City don’t let them see your name Welcome to Night City it remembers everybody the same Welcome to Night City. where dreams die fast [instrumental solo] [Verse 4] Morning finds us parked by a sodium street coffee gone cold and the engine beat No glory, no halo, just a job well done and a little more distance from the Valentinos and the chrome-faced things we run So if you’re hearing this while the sky turns gray and you’re fresh off the road with a suitcase delay Keep your head down, kid, and your exits near Night City smiles like a crowd that already knows you’re here [Instrumental long ending] [Outro] Welcome to Night City lock it in, hold tight welcome to Night City don’t blink, don’t fight. so I scream it out welcome to Night City— and it answers back with a chrome blade in the dark. Night City don’t care who you came in with it learns your face, then it takes its pick keep your hands off the chrome, keep your name out loud don’t stop in the middle when the whole place crowds If you hear it calling, let it pass on by don’t roll your windows down, don’t meet its eye I’m telling you plain: this town bites first and if you stay too long, it leaves you worse. [Instrumental long ending] [End]
