Before My Name

Verse1

Let me take you back down on a quiet road..

In a small Illinois town,

Where a boy sat watchin’ shadows move..

And a world he felt breakin’ down.

Didn’t know much ’bout danger yet..

Didn’t know pain had teeth and claws,

Just heard grown ups whispering secrets..

Behind half closed doors and broken down laws.

(Guitar Fill (B.B. King bends)

Soft, crying bends — like a memory trying to surface.)

Verse 2

I remember the long cold nights…

where the walls felt paper thin,

Like the house was holdin’ its breath…

Just waiting to let the Devil in.

Voices loud, tension running high..

Every word a threat of death,

Under a blackened lit up sky..

I wasn’t old enough to understand,

But old enough to feel the fear,

Sometimes the storms start rumblin’

Long before the clouds appear.

Chorus (Aerosmith lift)

Before my name was carved out in pain..

Before the world turned wild and strange,

I felt the tremble in the ground..

Heard the trouble rollin’ ’round.

Didn’t know what life would be,

Didn’t know that darkness would come for me.

But I felt the fire startin’ to flame,

Before he ever even called my name.

Verse 3 (Charlie Daniels storytelling)

There were nights I’d sit by the window,

Watchin’ headlights crawl down the road.

Wonderin’ who was leavin’,

Who’d stay, and who was next to explode.

Family ain’t just some body of flesh’

blood nor bone..

It’s the one’s who show up,

And save you from the hell and its throne.

And when the fight ain’t even started,

You can tell who’s gonna stop..

and who’s gonna run.

Bridge (Bluesy, smoky)

I didn’t know the rules of life,

But I knew somethin’ wasn’t quite right.

Kids shouldn’t feel the weight of grown men’s sin..

Before they learn to even sleep.

I felt the shadows gatherin’ a grin,

Felt the cold lay waste & stake it claim..

Yeah, I felt the devil circlin’ n lurk’n

Before God ever wrote my name…

Final Chorus (Soft‑rock swell)

Before my name was carved out in pain..

Before the world turned wild and strange,

I felt the tremble in the ground..

Heard the trouble rollin’ ’round.

Didn’t know what life would be,

Didn’t know that darkness would come for me.

But I felt the fire startin’ to flame,

Before he ever even called my name.

Outro (spoken‑story + blues guitar)

And if you wanna know the outlaw,

You gotta know the story of the child first.

’Cause every man who walks through hell…

Starts with a vile whisper before he begins to burst…