[Intro] [Intricate acoustic fingerpicking in DADGAD tuning, dark and resonant, punctuated with subtle percussive guitar body taps] [Spoken word, intimate close-mic, unhurried gravelly voice] "You know... they spend twenty, thirty years telling you to keep your head down. They tell you the mud is where you belong, that it's every man for himself out in the cold. But you only stay down as long as you believe them. Tonight, we stop looking at our feet." [Acoustic picking accelerates into a determined, driving 82 BPM rhythm] [Verse 1] [Spoken monologue, rhythmic cadence, completely spoken with zero melody] Thirty winters in the ditch. Told to suffer without a glitch. Pushed aside at every door. Swept like ash across the floor. They fed us poison and they called it bread. They counted fortunes on the silent dead. Told the broken to divide. Told the hungry where to hide. [Pre-Chorus] [Rhythmic spoken delivery quickens, guitar strumming tightens with percussive palm mutes] No more crawling in the dust. No more trading fear for trust. Look around at what we are: Scattered iron... iron into star. [Chorus] [Commanding spoken proclamation, powerful dynamic spoken-word cadence, loud and resolute, no melody] Stand up tall. Step into the light. We don't break, and we don't fight this night alone. Take my hand. Tear the borders down. No more kings in a phantom crown. Nobody gets left behind in the sea. If you want the dawn... Follow me. Follow me. [Verse 2] [Spoken intimate whisper over intricate, rapid acoustic hammer-ons and low drone string] I felt the boot upon my neck. Built a home inside the wreck. They want us quiet, cold, and blind. Trapped inside a manufactured mind. I took the hits, I bled the rust. Now I rise above the dust. Not a savior from the sky— Just a man who refuses to comply. [Pre-Chorus] [Spoken with fierce intensity, urgent rhythm, driving acoustic guitar taps] No more crawling in the dust. No more trading fear for trust. Look around at what we are: Scattered iron... iron into star. [Chorus] [Loud, emphatic spoken delivery, dynamic acoustic strumming behind the spoken voice] Stand up tall. Step into the light. We don't break, and we don't fight this night alone. Take my hand. Tear the borders down. No more kings in a phantom crown. Nobody gets left behind in the sea. If you want the dawn... Follow me. Follow me. [Bridge] [Tempo pulls back, hypnotic low drone with deliberate, heavy downstrokes; voice drops to a tense, deliberate spoken whisper before rising in spoken volume] They told you salvation was a solitary road. They lied. We only rise when we carry the load together. Every scar. Every name. Every step through the fire and flame. [Loud spoken rally, authoritative voice shouting without singing pitch] Rise up. Out of the ashes... rise up. [Guitar Solo] [Virtuosic, aggressive acoustic fingerstyle solo, heavy string bends, sliding octaves, and driving percussive slaps] [Chorus] [Maximum spoken authority, raw gravelly monologue over driving, ringing acoustic chords] Stand up tall. Step into the light. We don't break, and we don't fight this night alone. Take my hand. Tear the borders down. No more kings in a phantom crown. Nobody gets left behind in the sea. If you want the dawn... Follow me. Follow me. [Outro] [Strumming winds down to delicate, sparse fingerstyle; quiet, grounded spoken close] No one gets left behind. We rise together. Follow me. [Final resonant D-chord allowed to ring and decay naturally into room silence] "Thank you." [End]
