[INTRO — CASSETTE CLICK / ACOUSTIC GUITAR / THUNDER] Dear Dad... I spent half my life looking for the words. Now I got 'em, I don't know if you need to hear 'em. Maybe this is for that little boy still waiting in the driveway. BORN. [VERSE 1 — RASPY SPOKEN RAP] Dear Dad, I remember more than you think, the garage, the silence, the dishes in the sink. The TV kept talking when nobody else would, a house still standing when the people in it couldn't. I remember your hands, all the cracks in the skin, how a man could come home and still never come in. You taught me how to work, how to swallow my pride, but never what to do with everything inside. Silence was armor, anger was a shield, men didn't talk about the things they feel. So I buried every question under concrete and stone, built a fortress, then wondered why I felt alone. I ain't saying you were evil. I ain't saying you were right. I'm saying little boys remember what grown men forget at night. And the hardest part of growing ain't the years or the pain— it's hearing your voice in mine when I'm trying to explain. [PRE-CHORUS — STRINGS RISE] I got your blood. I got your name. I got scars I couldn't explain. Somewhere between the love and damage, I became a man still sorting through the baggage. [CHORUS — FULL BAND / SOUL VOCALS] DEAR DAD! CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? I SPENT MY WHOLE LIFE TRYING TO MAKE YOU PROUD! I CARRIED YOUR SHADOW THROUGH FIRE AND RAIN, TRIED TO FIND MY OWN VOICE WHILE SAYING YOUR NAME! DEAR DAD! THERE'S SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW! DEAR DAD! THERE'S SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW! I LEARNED WHAT TO KEEP AND WHAT TO LET GO! I CAN LOVE WHERE I CAME FROM WITHOUT LIVING THAT WAY! I'M STILL YOUR SON—BUT MY OWN MAN TODAY! [VERSE 2 — BLUES GUITAR / HEAVY DRUMS] Dear Dad, I stood where you used to stand, with the same tired eyes and the world in my hands. Bills on the counter, coffee going cold, a thousand kinds of pressure nobody ever told. Now I understand some of the weight you carried, dreams postponed and the hopes you buried. Survival steals hours; exhaustion steals words. A man can love his family and still leave 'em hurt. That don't make it right. That don't make it fair. Understanding doesn't mean the damage wasn't there. I swore I'd never grow into your shoes, then heard your temper in the words I used. Same short fuse. Same locked jaw. Same damn refusal to admit what I saw. Hated that reflection till I understood: you can inherit damage without calling damage good. [PRE-CHORUS — PIANO / DISTANT CHOIR] I ain't asking for an apology time can't manufacture. Ain't rewriting our history into some pretty chapter. I just wish we'd had one moment, no defenses, no disguise, where you saw the little boy still living behind my eyes. [CHORUS — BIGGER / GRITTY HARMONIES] DEAR DAD! CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? I SPENT MY WHOLE LIFE TRYING TO MAKE YOU PROUD! I CARRIED YOUR SHADOW THROUGH FIRE AND RAIN, TRIED TO FIND MY OWN VOICE WHILE SAYING YOUR NAME! DEAR DAD! THERE'S SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW! I LEARNED WHAT TO KEEP AND WHAT TO LET GO! I CAN LOVE WHERE I CAME FROM WITHOUT LIVING THAT WAY! I'M STILL YOUR SON—BUT MY OWN MAN TODAY! [BRIDGE — SINGLE PIANO / VOICE CRACKING] You know what's strange? I spent years wanting you to say that you were proud of me. Then one day... I stopped waiting. Not because I didn't need it. Because I finally understood: a boy shouldn't spend his whole damn life auditioning to be loved. [BUILD — HEARTBEAT KICK / CELLO] Here's to the lessons you meant to teach, and the ones you never knew you did. To the nights we couldn't reach each other, and everything we kept beneath the lid. I don't need a perfect father. I don't need a perfect past. I just want the love worth keeping to be the thing that lasts. [FINAL CHORUS — CHOIR / SOARING GUITAR] DEAR DAD! I HOPE YOU HEAR ME NOW! I FINALLY FOUND A WAY TO MAKE MYSELF PROUD! I FINALLY FOUND A WAY TO MAKE MYSELF PROUD! I CARRIED YOUR SHADOW TILL I LEARNED TO STAND, NOT AS THE BOY YOU REMEMBER—THE MAN I AM! DEAR DAD! I'M PUTTING DOWN THE WEIGHT! NOT EVERY FAMILY STORY HAS TO END THE SAME WAY! I'LL KEEP THE LOVE! I'LL BREAK THE CHAINS! GIVE THE NEXT GENERATION SOMETHING BETTER THAN PAIN! [OUTRO — ACOUSTIC GUITAR / TAPE HISS] Dear Dad... Maybe some conversations never happen. But I don't have to carry all of yesterday into tomorrow. I can remember you without losing me. And if your voice ever comes out of my mouth, I hope it's the part that taught me how to love— not the part that taught me how to hide. Your son. BORN. [CASSETTE CLICKS OFF]
