[Intro | D Major | 88 BPM | fingerpicked acoustic guitar, soft upright bass] They told me I could do anything. All I had to do was want it badly enough. I believed them. For a long while. [Verse 1 | acoustic guitar, upright bass, light brushed drums] They said wake up early Work harder than everybody else Keep your head down Don't make excuses Don't blame anybody else So I did what I was told I gave it everything I had I swallowed every failure And called it a lesson Every time it didn't work I looked for something wrong with me. [Pre-Chorus | drums gradually building] Maybe I wasn't disciplined Maybe I wasn't brave Maybe everybody else could do it Because they wanted it more than I did So I tried harder. [Chorus | driving folk-punk arrangement, catchy vocal hook] I gave it everything I had And it was still not enough I did everything they told me And it still fell apart I used to think that meant I wasn't trying hard enough Now I'm learning something different. Sometimes you give everything you have And it is still not enough. [Verse 2 | driving acoustic guitar, upright bass] Money changes what you can afford Luck changes where you land Timing opens certain doors While other people hold the key Somebody gets sick Somebody gets lucky Somebody knows the right person Somebody was born with a head start And none of that means they didn't work hard It just means hard work wasn't the only thing on the table. [Pre-Chorus | stronger drums] I spent years believing effort was the only variable Like if I couldn't make it happen the failure belonged to me. [Chorus | fuller, sing-along folk-punk] I gave it everything I had And it was still not enough I did everything they told me And it still fell apart I used to think that meant I wasn't trying hard enough Now I'm learning something different. Sometimes you give everything you have And it is still not enough. [Verse 3 | pull back, intimate vocal] And I know somebody needs to hear this before they hate themselves for it You can love somebody and still not save them You can work on yourself and still get left You can study every answer and still fail the test You can make the right choice and still get the wrong result You can do everything right and lose anyway. That doesn't make you worthless. It makes you human. [Bridge | stripped acoustic guitar, voice nearly alone] I spent years looking for the flaw The thing I should've done differently The moment where I didn't try hard enough The version of me who could've saved it I'm tired of meeting that person in every story about my life. Now I know I don't need to find someone to blame. Not them. Not me. Maybe sometimes there isn't anyone to blame. [Final Chorus | full folk-punk, passionate vocal, harmony vocals] I gave it everything I had And it was still not enough I did everything I knew to do And it still came undone I wish I could say that makes it easier I wish knowing it wasn't my fault meant I didn't care But I still wanted it to work. I still wanted it to work. [Outro | acoustic guitar and upright bass slowly fading] So I don't know what to call this. Maybe failure, I guess. Or bad timing. Or bad luck. Or just the way things went. I don't know. I just know I tried. And it didn't happen. Still not enough. Maybe that's all there is to say.
