Me Against Me

[Intro - Spoken] Three-thirty in the morning. House is quiet. Kids are asleep. TV's off. Dog's passed out on the floor. And here I am... Wide damn awake again. [Hook] In the middle of the night It's getting to me Every thought in my head won't let me sleep In the middle of the night I'm here on my own Trying to shut my mind off but it won't leave me alone [Verse 1] I've been staring at the ceiling for two damn hours Watching headlights slide across the bedroom wall Trying not to think about the things I can't change Trying not to replay every mistake at all The bills are paid The truck still runs The kids got food The job gets done From the outside everything looks alright But some fights don't leave bruises Some fights happen every night People tell you to stay positive Keep your head up Push ahead Like a damn bumper sticker fixes what's inside your head Truth is I get tired Not sleepy tired Soul-drained tired The kind of tired that follows you around Even after you get out of bed [Pre-Chorus] And I swear I've tried More than anybody knows But some things don't stay buried When the whole damn house goes quiet [Chorus] In the middle of the night It's getting to me Every thought in my head won't let me sleep In the middle of the night I'm here on my own Trying to shut my mind off but it won't leave me alone Every damn night It's the same old scene Nobody else around Just me against me [Verse 2 - Rap] Yeah... Everybody sees the beard The tattoos The attitude They think that means you're built from steel Like nothing gets through What they don't see is sitting in the driveway After work Trying to get your head straight Before you walk through the front door Because your family deserves the best version of you And some days you're running on fumes Still carrying names Still carrying memories Still carrying shit people told you to get over years ago Funny thing is The people who say that Usually never carried anything heavy themselves So you smile Nod your head Change the subject Keep moving Because explaining it gets exhausting And nobody can really feel it except you [Hook 2] The clock keeps ticking The coffee gets cold Another night fighting battles Nobody knows [Alternate Chorus] Maybe tomorrow I'll get it right Maybe tomorrow I'll finally sleep all night Maybe tomorrow these thoughts let go But tonight they're digging in deeper than before And every damn night It's the same old scene Nobody else around Just me against me [Verse 3] Sun's coming up Alarm goes off in forty minutes I'll throw on my boots Go to work Handle business Same thing I've always done Because quitting never fixed a damn thing And laying down ain't an option Not when people count on you Not when your kids still need you Not when there's work to do So I get up Even when I don't want to I keep moving Even when I'm tired I keep fighting Even when I'm losing Because that's what grown men do [Bridge] I don't need saving I don't need sympathy I don't need somebody telling me it'll all be alright I just need one damn night Where my head finally shuts up And lets me breathe [Final Chorus] In the middle of the night It's getting to me Every thought in my head won't let me sleep In the middle of the night I'm here on my own Trying to shut my mind off but it won't leave me alone Every damn night It's the same old scene Nobody else around Just me against me [Extended Outro] Four in the morning. Then five. Then daylight. Birds start singing. Coffee's cold. House starts waking up. And somehow... I made it through another night. Not because it got easier. Not because I figured it out. Just because I refused to quit. Maybe that's enough. Maybe that's always been enough. One more night survived. One more round won. Me against me. And this time... I didn't lose.