Xennials (Stuck in the Middle)

[Intro — Dial-Up Modem, Scratched Record, Breakbeat Kicks In] [Spoken — Dry, Sarcastic] Gen X says we're too young. Millennials say we're too old. Well, ain't that some shit. [Verse 1 — Bouncy Bass, Tight Rhythmic Delivery] We rode our bikes till the streetlights glowed, Took the long way home down a gravel road. No GPS, no digital trail, Just a house key swinging and a scraped-up tail. Saturday cartoons with a cereal bowl, Eight-bit adventures on a TV console. Friday night rentals, rewind the tape, And pray the damn thing didn't get erased. We knew every number we needed to call, Had a twenty-foot cord stretched down the hall. If your buddy wasn't home, well, that was that. You went and knocked. Imagine that. [Pre-Chorus — Staccato Guitar, Rising Drums] Too late for the old guard, Too early for the new. We grew up watching everything Turn into something new. [Chorus — Explosive, Syncopated Hook] We're not Gen X! We're not Millennials! Too young for one, Too old for the other! X-ENNIALS! Stuck in the middle! One foot in the past, One foot in the digital! We knew the world before the screen, Then watched it change before our eyes. We're the bridge they never noticed, Still standing on both sides! [Verse 2 — Breakbeat, Scratching, Offbeat Guitar] Pencil in a cassette, winding it tight, Recording off the radio late at night. DJ talked over the song? Start again. That's how you made a mixtape for a friend. Discman skipping on a bumpy ride, CD binder sitting on the passenger side. Then the modem screamed like a dying machine, Just to load one picture on a tiny screen. "Get off the internet! I need the phone!" Halfway through a download, connection blown. Spent three hours getting one MP3, And half the damn file wasn't what it claimed to be. [Pre-Chorus — Bass Drops, Handclaps] We went from paper maps To satellites above. From passing folded notes To a thousand ways to keep in touch. [Chorus — Punchy, Full Band] We're not Gen X! We're not Millennials! Too young for one, Too old for the other! X-ENNIALS! Stuck in the middle! One foot in the past, One foot in the digital! We knew the world before the screen, Then watched it change before our eyes. We're the bridge they never noticed, Still standing on both sides! [Verse 3 — Half-Rapped, Funky Bass and Electronic Percussion] Oregon Trail, dysentery, Computer lab elementary. Blowing on a cartridge like it had a disease, Slapping on the console, begging, "Work, please!" MTV had videos, radio had hits, You bought the whole album for a song you couldn't skip. Aim away messages, names spelled strange, Then everybody vanished when the platforms changed. Now my phone knows where I'm going, Knows the weather, knows the time. But I still remember getting lost And thinking we'd be fine. [Bridge — Beat Drops Out, Warm Electric Piano] We had a thousand little moments That nobody thought to save. No cameras at the parties, No digital mistakes. And I don't need to go backward. I like the world we've made. But there's something 'bout a childhood That the internet can't replay. [Instrumental — Chopped Breakbeat, Funk Bass, Scratch Solo] [Final Chorus — Faster, Bigger, Driving] We're not Gen X! We're not Millennials! Too young for one, Too old for the other! X-ENNIALS! Stuck in the middle! Raised in the analog, Thrown into the digital! We knew the world before the screen, Then watched it change before our eyes. We're the bridge they never noticed, Still standing on both sides! [Outro — Cassette Hiss, Bass Groove] We had one foot in yesterday, One foot in tomorrow. And somewhere in between, We learned to make our own way. [Spoken — Smirking] Now somebody tell me Where the hell I put my reading glasses. [Cassette Click]