# ONLY TRYING TO LIVE [Intro – male, strong East London voice, close mic; half-spoken, dry grain, clipped endings] Walking home past midnight. Ends gone quiet. Streetlights flickering. Man steps out, hood low, heart heavy, hands shaking. He says, “I’m just trying to make it... make it... Feed the little one. Pay the rent. Don’t call it crime. Don’t call it sin. I’m just doing what I can.” [Breath.] What can I do? --- [Verse 1 – rapid East London rap; tight pocket, off-beat starts, hard consonants] Eyes low. Head down. Cold on my breath. Street taught quick: don't gamble with debt. Bills stack high. Cupboard's bare. Friday comes... nothing there. Man shout “beef”. Man whisper “liar”. Empty cupboards build a different kind of fire. Right gets bent when the lights go black. One step forward. Two steps back. Rent due Friday. Pockets on zero. Nobody skint ever feels like a hero. Judge my hands if that helps you sleep. You don't know what survival keeps. [Low shadow] Keeps... --- [Pre-Chorus – speech-to-song; downward scoop, delayed vowel, breath cut] When the world shuts doors, you find another way. No time for clean answers when the rent's due yesterday. Every choice got weight. Every breath got cost. [Beat pause.] You move... or you're lost. --- [Chorus – clean melodic lift with London edge; stretched vowels, low shadow] I'm only a man, flesh and bone. Trying to survive in a world this cold. If virtue paid, I'd take it home. But hunger's got a heavy hold. [Low shadow] Heavy hold... No rest when the night won't let you breathe. Judge my hands, you don't know the weight I keep. I'm only a man... [Brief high flip] trying to find my way. Through the dark, through the dirt, through the choices I made. [Ghost] Made... --- [Verse 2 – faster, more East London slang; clipped and conversational] Few nights later, corner shop, half past two. Old girl by the window says, “Son, what's man gonna do?” She'd seen bare hard times. No sermon. No shame. Said, “Sometimes, fam, you play the hand you're given just to keep the lights on.” I looked at her. She looked at me. “Don't get it twisted. Survival ain't the same as being free.” [Small breath.] That stayed with me. Long after she left. --- [Pre-Chorus 2 – tighter, more urgent; phrases rush then fall] System's cold. Man gets colder. Every year puts more weight on your shoulders. No clean choices. No easy run. Just another night waiting for the morning sun. [Low ghost] Still here... --- [Bridge – rapid spoken-rap; cynical, escalating, sudden silence] Even the preacher on Sunday morning counts notes behind the door. Tells the flock, “Have faith.” Meanwhile the meter says no more. [Small laugh.] Everybody's got a line they swear they'll never cross. Then the bill lands. Kid's hungry. Now tell me... what that promise costs. [Quicker] Call it wrong. Call it right. Call it whatever helps you sleep. Man still wakes up at six trying to keep the family fed. [Hard stop.] That's the bit nobody sees. --- [Chorus 2 – tighter, more rhythmic] I'm only a man, flesh and bone. Trying to survive in a world this cold. If virtue paid, I'd take it home. But hunger's got a heavy hold. No rest when the night won't let you breathe. Judge my hands. You don't know the weight I keep. I'm only a man... trying to find my way. Through the dark, through the dirt, through the choices I made. [Male ghost] Made... --- [Final Build – accelerating fragments; pitch and timing tighten] Rent due. Lights on. Kid asleep. Phone off. Bare stress. No peace. [Quicker] One more day. One more shift. One more chance to make it stick. [Breath.] One more... --- [Final Chorus – strongest vocal evolution; low chest voice, clean high lift, dry lead forward] I'm only a man, flesh and bone. Trying to survive, but I know what I've become. I wanted a way out. Found another road. [Low shadow] Another road... Now every step has something on it. Every pound has someone behind it. [Lead – clean high] And I still wake up trying to find my way. [Beat cuts.] Not a hero. Not a villain. Just a man trying to live... the best he can. [Airy ghost] Best he can... --- [Outro – close mic, low and exhausted; final syllables fall] Only a man. [Pause.] Just trying to live the best I can. [Breath.] That's it.
