BLACKBROOK (A Life Returned)

[Verse 1 — Male Vocal, quiet and reflective] Afternoon sun through the redwood line Twelve-speed rattlin’ down Vineland Movie cases in a backpack worn thin Fifteen years old and nowhere near the end Thought I knew every curve in that road Every crack where the winter water flowed Love Creek risin’ through the trees Then headlights climbed straight into me [Pre-Chorus — Male Vocal, low and distant] Steel screamed World turned white And somewhere far away The mountain lost the light [Chorus — Male Vocal, restrained but powerful] They said my heart went quiet Three damn times that day But something in the dark inside me Refused to fade away Broken neck, shattered bones Halo steel around my soul I was never meant to walk that road again But I’m still here Yeah… Blackbrook lives again [Verse 2 — Male Vocal] Ross Zimmerman saw me pass Reflection flash across the glass Razor in his hand, foam on his face Then the sound that time can’t erase Jumped the fence, tore his jeans Back into the worst he’d seen Retired from the firehouse pain Only to pull me back again [Verse 3 — Male Vocal with soft Female Harmony underneath] Surgeons standing clockin’ out One more minute, they’d have missed me now Coma dreams and hospital light Machines singin’ through the night Halo vest and learning pain How to stand and speak again Back to school with scars that showed Carryin’ ghosts nobody knows [Pre-Chorus — Male Vocal] Death knew my name Before I learned my own And every road since then Feels borrowed, not owned [Chorus — Male Vocal with subtle Female Harmony] They said my heart went quiet Three damn times that day But something in the dark inside me Refused to fade away Broken neck, shattered bones Halo steel around my soul I was never meant to walk that road again But I’m still here Yeah… Blackbrook lives again [Bridge — Male Vocal, emotionally exposed] I walked back into the same fire hall Where they carried my broken body through those walls Learned the weight of sirens in the rain Learned some people never heal the same Worked the yards and logging lines Stacked lumber under mountain skies Fire science, Navy steel Fifteen years learning what survives for real Marriage young, daughters born Love and damage both take form Lost myself for a little while Then Nicole brought the light back to my eyes [Breakdown — Male Vocal, nearly spoken] Now dispatch radios fill the night Another road, another fight And August waits beyond the bend Wonderin’ where this road might end But after everything The fire The sea The wreck The grief The years… I’m still building. [Final Chorus — Full Voice, widest emotional moment] They said my heart went quiet Three damn times that day But every scar became a map That somehow led the way From Ben Lomond mountain roads To every life I’ve tried to hold I was never meant to make it past fifteen But I’m still here Still standing in the flame [Outro — Male Vocal, soft and tired] Vineland still runs through my veins Redwood ghosts and winter rain And somewhere in the mountain air That fifteen-year-old’s still ridin’ there