Verse 1 I’m fifty two with a crooked grin Raised on smoke and neglected by my kin Came home to silence every night Mom worked late, Dad out of sight Streetlights buzzing like warning signs Learned real young not to trust mankind Latchkey kid named marky mark Half raised by television in the dark Pre-Chorus We were children left alone too long Turned paranoia into song If the world smells wrong, we leave Never learned blind belief Chorus I’m a feral elder, still unchained Raised by static and parental shame Bad knees grinding like a busted amp Still dress like i'm abandoned at camp No phone tracker, no digital tether Disappear for days in dying weather Question everything, trust no scam And my parents still don’t know who I am Verse 2 Every politician sounds rehearsed Every preacher somehow has gotten worse Newsman smiling with predator teeth Selling fear by the pound each week I scan the fine print, I check the locks Don’t trust doctors or buying stocks Everybody’s selling some polished lie So I keep one eye open all the time Verse 3 Still live aimless after midnight rain same old songsrattling through my brain Friends dropped dead, friends disappeared Some got swallowed by booze and fear made to last fuelled by caffeine Too old to care what “normal” means World says smile, comply, behave I don't care at the end of the day Pre-Chorus We were children left alone too long Turned paranoia into song If the world smells wrong, we leave Never learned blind belief Chorus I’m a feral elder, still unchained Raised by static and parental shame Bad knees grinding like a busted amp Still dress like i'm abandoned at camp No phone tracker, no digital tether Disappear for days in dying weather Question everything, trust no scam And my parents still don’t know who I am Verse 4 My work mate says I’m emotionally tough Fair enough, I grew up rough Nobody asked if we were okay You just shut your mouth and walked away Now every app wants my face and name Every screen plays some surveillance game I avoid controversy out of habit now Like a burned-out actor taking a bow Verse 5 Corporations fake rebellion for cash Sell our old subculture right back Kids buy Bauhaus shirts at the mall Never scraped blood off a bathroom stall We earned these scars the ugly way Cheap apartments and minimum wage Now rich men cosplay working class pain While we still buy things with our loose change Bridge Mom calls asking, “Where you been?” Same vague answer I gave back then chilling in my room to pass the time Trying to outrun the end of the line Still don’t trust authority Still think about motives obsessively Body rusting, soul still feral Built suspicious right down to the marrow Pre-Chorus We were children left alone too long Turned paranoia into song If the world smells wrong, we leave Never learned blind belief Chorus I’m a feral elder, still unchained Raised by static and parental shame Bad knees grinding like a busted amp Still dress like i'm abandoned at camp No phone tracker, no digital tether Disappear for days in dying weather Question everything, trust no scam And my parents still don’t know who I am
