Didn’t need you anyway

(Intro phone call)

“You know what, Manny? I’m done pretending. You’ll never be anything more than some small-town dreamer. *static* Always talkin’ big about what you’re gonna build, but you never finish a damn thing. You think you’re some cowboy hero? Please. You’ll die out there in the dirt, broke and alone, just like your promises. So go play farmer, go chase your little dreams — maybe the cows will believe in you, ’cause I sure don’t.”

(click sound)

⸻

Morning light cuts through that barn,

dust floats where my scars once are.

Got a hammer swingin’, boots in the clay,

buildin’ dreams she threw away.

She said I’d rot out in this town,

but these roots run deep in this ground.

I ain’t rich, but hell, I’m proud,

’cause peace don’t come from the crowd.

⸻

Didn’t need you anyway,

found my worth in a brand-new day.

Got a horse, a dog, and bills to pay,

but I sleep just fine at the end of the day.

Didn’t need your words to stay,

you were thunder, I’m the rain.

You said I’d fall, but look at me today —

still standin’ tall, didn’t need you anyway.

⸻

Got Yuki barkin’ at the fence,

neighbors wave, and life makes sense.

I fixed the porch, patched up the shed,

ain’t a broken thing left in my head.

Now you’re gone, and that’s alright,

I found peace in these quiet nights.

The stars don’t lie, they just shine true,

something I can’t say about you.

⸻

Didn’t need you anyway,

found my worth in a brand-new day.

Got a horse, a dog, and bills to pay,

but I sleep just fine at the end of the day.

Didn’t need your words to stay,

you were thunder, I’m the rain.

You said I’d fall, but look at me today —

still standin’ tall, didn’t need you anyway.

⸻

“You said I’d never be nothin’…

Guess you were half right.

I became everything I needed —

just took losin’ you to see it.”

(steel guitar solo, light fiddle trail)

⸻

Now the sun sets over my land,

calloused hands, a simple man.

The wind still hums, but I don’t sway —

livin’ good, didn’t need you anyway.

(beat fades, faint echo of the voicemail repeating: “maybe the cows will believe in you…” drowned out by guitar)