(Verse 1 – The Prisoner) We sleep like neighbors in our mortgaged home, Still say “good morning,” still say “good night Pay the bills, mow the yard Breathe, exhale, pretend to live a life The love ain’t gone, it just changed shape, Like a weathered creaking unhinged gate We’re not sleeping with the enemy nor at war Just ships that don’t pass in the night. (Pre-Chorus) Many say, “Just walk away,” Like freedom’s a golden chariot awaits As if freedom didn’t have a higher cost On bodies gone older and brains less bolder (Chorus) ’Cause money, THE LACK OF, can be a hammer, Or Money can be a key, Money can build a doorway from which to flee Or be a self imposed marital prison of permanency And when the house is all you’ve got, Them walls can be funny. Maybe you love’em, hate’m, then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on ’em.” Learned helplessness - said the devil you know As one’s world traps you in a sad lonely swirl where you can’t tell the difference between one’s freedom and a prison cell Am I staying because of love, habit, fear, loyalty, or the swirl of all four at once. (Verse 2 – The Escape Artist) I can drink cheaper wine, plant tomatoes in the dirt, Trade the country club for a sunset that still works. Get a mutt from the shelter, walk him every day, Learn that peace comes slowly when the shouting fades away. I once saw an old woman by the ocean shore, Her husband squeezing anger from his face to her hand I swore I’d never live like that, not one single day. Then I looked up into the mirror and she was me (Chorus) Money can be a hammer, Money can be a key, But happiness ain’t measured by The square footage you keep. The grass gets greener where you’re standing Once you finally leave that dark cloudy shade. And build a new life brick by brick, One fearless choice at a time. (Bridge – Both Voices) One says: “What if I lose the house?” One says: “What if you lose yourself?” One says: “What if I end up lonely?” One says: “Aren’t you already painfully lonely” One says: “What if starting over breaks me?” One says: “What if staying already has or will?” (Final Chorus) So here’s to you all in empty marriages Each still a breathing but not alive. Sharing moments but no golden future No new memories in the burial cue Some will stay and guard the ruins, Some will run towards a new light. Neither path is free from sorrow or fright But one offers hope of new delights One path offers One path takes So if you’re heart keeps asking: “Am I just surviving on a respirator of life Or is there not a better way of living without all this strife. (Outro) The hardest chains aren’t forged from our hate, anger, or blame Sometimes they’re made from the comforting lies we tell ourselves A pension, health insurance, A paid-off house… What’s it all mean If clocking through a marriage, Hollows you out Either way Brick by brick Your Freedom or Prison is a YOU built For there ain’t no lock And there ain’t no key Just you standing on the precipice of a self imposed prison or Fleedom
