[Intro] [Intricate acoustic fingerpicking in DADGAD tuning, dark and resonant, punctuated with subtle percussive guitar body taps] "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-sung hybrid delivery, intimate and gravelly against continuous fingerpicked arpeggios] 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, called it bread Counted fortunes on the dead Told the broken to divide Told the hungry where to hide [Pre-Chorus] [Strumming starts to open up, rhythm gains weight and urgency] No more crawling in the dust No more trading fear for trust Look around at what we are Scattered iron, iron into star [Chorus] [Full dynamic acoustic strumming, soaring raspy belt, anthemic and unified] Stand up tall, step into the light! We don't break, and we don't fight the 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! Yeah, follow me! [Verse 2] [Guitar drops back to intricate, rapid hammer-ons and pull-offs over a low droning bass note] 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 won't comply [Pre-Chorus] [Vocals climb with fierce intensity, driving percussive accents on the acoustic body] No more crawling in the dust No more trading fear for trust Look around at what we are Scattered iron, iron into star! [Chorus] [Maximum dynamic power, ringing open acoustic chords, commanding vocal delivery] Stand up tall, step into the light! We don't break, and we don't fight the 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! Yeah, follow me! [Bridge] [Tempo pulls back, hypnotic low drone with deliberate, heavy downstrokes; vocal drops to a tense, rhythmic spoken cadence, steadily climbing into a roar] 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! [Massive, extended vocal wail transitioning from gritty falsetto to a powerful chest roar] 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] [Explosive emotional climax, raw, full-throated rallying cry] Stand up tall, step into the light! We don't break, and we don't fight the 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! Yeah, follow me! [Outro] [Strumming gradually winds down into delicate, intricate fingerstyle; intimate and 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]
