[Acoustic fingerstyle guitar intro, slow tempo, tense and sparse, warm melancholic piano pad enters underneath] [Verse 1] A summer memory, a paper route My bike against the bakery wall A chalk line on the counter, "put it on the tab" Old man Miki, he would just nod, that's all The screen door slap was the neighborhood's sound Now every hinge in this town is rusted shut [Chorus] [Distorted electric guitars crash in, heavy desert rock riff, driving beat, powerhouse vocals] And you can feel the concrete getting colder! And every smile's a transaction, bolder! This ain't the place I used to know! This slate is cracked, and I'm here to collect what's owed! (Yeah!) [Verse 2] Now the bread's wrapped tight in plastic on a shelf No chalk, just card readers and a silent guard The streets talk in whispers of what you might lose And every stranger's gaze is comin' in too hard You keep your head down, you double-lock the steel You forget how a honest handshake used to feel [Chorus] [Full band, raw and heavy, gritty vocals with soaring notes] And you can feel the concrete getting colder! And every smile's a transaction, bolder! This ain't the place I used to know! This slate is cracked, and I'm here to collect what's owed! (Collect what's owed!) [Bridge] [Band drops out, only melancholic piano and quiet, clean fingerstyle guitar, emotive vocal] So what's the cure when the medicine's fear? When "later" never comes, and "trust" disappears? A quiet sickness, a slow decay... (Is there another way?...) [Guitar starts a slow, tense build] [Instrumental] [Band explodes back in, heavy southern rock grit, virtuosic guitar solo over the chorus progression, building in intensity] [Chorus] [Powerhouse vocals return, full gospel-inflected runs, raw energy] And you can FEEL the concrete getting colder! (So cold!) And every smile's a transaction, bolder! (This ain't right!) This AIN'T the place I used to know! This slate is CRACKED! [Music pulls back slightly, vocal clear and declarative] And I'm not here to break bones... I'm here to reset them. (Make 'em remember!) [Outro] [Music shifts to a determined, mid-tempo heavy blues rock groove, repeating a solid riff] To reset them. Make the foundation hold. To reset them. Until the story's told. [Fade out on sustained guitar note and piano chord] [End]