Hard-Headed Truth

[Verse 1]
Pawned my last guitar
For a bottle and a bad idea
Watched my woman drive off slow
In a cracked rearview of the past year
Blew my rent on weekend halos
Burned my bridges, laughed at the flame
Every prayer I ever mumbled
Had my own damn name
[Chorus]
I lost it all to the hard-headed truth (yeah)
Every broken thing
Points straight back to you-know-who
I was a king of the easy excuse
Now I’m toe to toe
With the hard-headed truth
[Verse 2]
Woke up on my brother’s sofa
Dog hair on my only shirt
Bank calling like a debt collector choir
Same song, extra hurt
Mama’s eyes on the kitchen floor
She said, “Son, that storm is you”
So I boxed up every lie I loved
Left ‘em out by the curb with the trash and the screws
[Chorus]
I lost it all to the hard-headed truth (oh yeah)
Every crooked choice
Came back like a bruise
I was rich in every useless excuse
Now I’m broke but I’m buying
This hard-headed truth
[Bridge]
[Beat drops to a low, pulsing groove]
Step one, sweep the ashes
Step two, look ‘em in the eye
Step three, build slow from the splinters
No shortcut, just try
I ain’t who I was last summer
But I ain’t who I’m gonna be
Got these calloused hands, this busted heart
And a small-town second chance for free (hey!)
[Chorus]
Yeah I lost it all to the hard-headed truth
But these empty hands
Can finally hold something true
I traded every worn-out excuse
For a long dirt road
And the hard-headed truth
[Outro]
Hard-headed truth
Cut me down, cut me clean
Hard-headed truth
Gonna build me a life from the in-between

rap, Gritty blues-rock groove with a swampy, overdriven riff and laid-back alt-hip-hop swing. Male vocals, dry and up-front, with a raspy edge; verses sit over a stripped kit and dirty bass, chorus widens with gang-style harmonies and crunch guitars. Bridge drops to a hushed folk-tinged pulse—acoustic strums and rim-clicks—then slams back into the last hook with doubled vocals and a snarling lead line., folk, blues, hip hop, rock