Raised On Empty

(Hook)

I was raised on empty, fightin’ off the shame,

Gas tank light and a prayer to my name.

Swore I’d find heaven with a pocket full of pain,

Now I walk like a sinner but I sing like I’m saved.

(Verse 1)

Daddy left early, mama worked nights,

Learned how to hustle under liquor store lights.

My prayers hit the ceiling, bounced back twice,

So I put faith in the pen, not the preacher’s advice.

(Gates flow kicks in)

I done bled for my brothers, I done cried through the cage,

Took loss after loss but I never lost rage.

When the storm rolled in, I just tightened my fade,

Let the thunder teach rhythm to the music I made.

(Hook)

I was raised on empty, fightin’ off the shame,

Gas tank light and a prayer to my name.

Swore I’d find heaven with a pocket full of pain,

Now I walk like a sinner but I sing like I’m saved.

(Verse 2)

That girl said I’d never be more than my past,

But here I am singin’ with a bottle and a flash.

Tears in the ink when I sign that cast,

Of a dream that broke bones but it still outlasts.

I wrote songs in the dark when the world went silent,

Turned shame into gold when the pain got violent.

Now I pull up with ghosts in the backseat smilin’,

‘Cause the boy they left behind became a lion.

(Bridge)

I still got wounds I ain’t dressed yet,

Still got sins I ain’t confessed yet.

But if you listen close to that sunset,

You’ll hear a broken man that ain’t dead yet.

(Final Hook)

I was raised on empty, fightin’ off the shame,

Gas tank light and a prayer to my name.

Swore I’d find heaven with a pocket full of pain,

Now I walk like a sinner but I sing like I’m saved…

Now I walk like a sinner… but I sing like I’m saved.