[Intro: Slide guitar moans a slow blues figure, audience murmurs settle] - Chord Progression: E - A - B7 - E [Verse 1: Soulful, slightly rough, blues-inflected male vocal] E A I know the bottle better than I know my own two hands B7 E It's held me up on nights when I could barely understand E A Why the morning comes so heavy and the evening comes so light B7 E Why I keep on reaching for the thing that starts the fight [Pre-Chorus: Slide guitar answers each vocal line] A B7 It's bottle and bone, bottle and bone A B7 Wearing this body down to skin and stone [Chorus: Full band, gritty and honest] E A B7 E It's bottle and bone, it's all that's left of me A B7 E Whatever's underneath, I'm still too scared to see A B7 E But I'm trying, Lord, I'm trying to set the bottle down A B7 E Trying to find the man I was before I drowned [Post-Chorus: Guitar solo answers with restrained blues phrasing] - Chord Progression: E - A - B7 - E (Repeating) [Verse 2: Vocal deepens with fatigue and honesty] E A My hands don't shake from cold no more, they shake from wanting less B7 E Every day's a negotiation, every night's a test E A I've buried better men than me beneath this very weight B7 E I'm not looking for a miracle, just looking for a break [Pre-Chorus: Repeat, soulful female guest vocal adds a low harmony] A B7 It's bottle and bone, bottle and bone A B7 Wearing this body down to skin and stone [Chorus: Repeat, fuller and more determined] E A B7 E It's bottle and bone, it's all that's left of me A B7 E Whatever's underneath, I'm still too scared to see A B7 E But I'm trying, Lord, I'm trying to set the bottle down A B7 E Trying to find the man I was before I drowned [Post-Chorus: Solo returns, slightly more resolved, less desperate] - Chord Progression: E - A - B7 - E [Bridge: Instrumentation thins, voice trembles honestly over sparse guitar] C#m A I'm not cured, I'm just a day further from the fall C#m A Some nights that's everything, some nights it's not enough at all [Outro: Slide guitar fades slow, one last unresolved note hangs in the room] - Chord Progression: E - A - E [End]
