The Last Shift

slow electric guitar, faint factory hum / engine idle

⸻

Clock in at five when the sun ain’t up

Same old coffee in a plastic cup

Boss says, “Boy, we’re short again”

Like I ain’t heard that line since I don’t know when

Steel-toe boots on a cracked concrete floor

Every step feels like somethin’ more

⸻

I been countin’ hours like they’re all I got

But time don’t care when the body stops

⸻

This might be the last shift I ever run

Breakin’ my back just to see the sun

I been livin’ for a paycheck dream

But it don’t buy what it’s supposed to mean

Yeah I’m tired of livin’ just to get through the night

Clockin’ out of a borrowed life

If there’s somethin’ better waitin’ on the other side

This might be the last shift of my life

⸻

Foreman yellin’ over machine noise

Same old story for the same old boys

We all laugh but it ain’t that funny

Chasin’ hours like they’re chasin’ money

I look at the clock, it don’t move fast

Feels like the present never gonna pass

⸻

I got grease on my hands and weight in my chest

And a voice in my head sayin’ “you deserve less”

⸻

This might be the last shift I ever run… (repeat)

⸻

If I leave, who would I be?

Just a name on a payroll memory

But somethin’ inside me’s startin’ to break

Like I can’t keep livin’ on what I make

So I close my eyes in the factory light

And I swear I hear a different life

⸻

This might be the last shift I ever run…

No more breakin’ down just to get it done

I been livin’ for a paycheck dream

But I’m finally fightin’ what it means

Yeah I’m done with livin’ just to get through the night

Clockin’ out of a borrowed life

If there’s somethin’ better waitin’ on the other side

Then I’m walkin’ out for the last time

⸻

factory sounds fade into wind + distant guitar

“Clock out… for the last time…”