Footsteps Fade

[Verse 1]
I watch ‘em pass
Same coat, same cracked phone glass
Same stare at the floor
Like truth too bright, like shame too fast
Third step on that stair creaks
It knows who used to sneak in late
Lipstick on a shirt cuff
A ring pawned for rent, then fate
Bench by the bus stop, gum on the underside
Held a breakup, held a breakdown, held a kid who lied
Saying, “Nah, I’m good,” eyes red as the EXIT sign
Walked off, left his hope in the metal and the summer grime
[Chorus]
Footsteps fade
I remember every name they ever said
Every “stay,” every “leave,” every “wish I was dead”
Paint on the walls peeled off, but I replay the frame
You forget your own face
I remember every name they ever said
[Verse 2]
Corner shop door with the busted bell
Knows who stole, who prayed, who fell
Girl counting change for a test she failed
Still bought flowers for her mom in a hospice cell
That alley keeps secrets in the oil stain
Blood washed by rain, but it keeps the pain
Bruised knuckles on brick, quiet “I’m okay”
Car lights blink once, then drive away
Old pier boards hold a father’s ghost
He swore he’d quit, then hit the coast
Dropped his bottle in the black tide, whispered, “Let me float”
Ocean forgot his promise, but the railing wrote it note for note
[Chorus]
Footsteps fade
I remember every name they ever said
Every “home,” every “gone,” every word left unsaid
Locks change, lights dim, but I replay the frame
You erase your own past
I remember every name they ever said
[Bridge]
Streetlight hums like a tired saint (yeah)
Brick keeps the blood, church keeps the paint
You walk on through, call it just “that place”
I’m the dust in the crack that can’t forget your face
[Chorus]
Footsteps fade
I remember every name they ever said
Every “love,” every “lie,” every desperate thread
Cities sink, signs fall, I still hold the flame
When you can’t bear the truth
I remember every name they ever said

rap, Dusty boom-bap drums with a shadowy, detuned piano loop and distant vinyl crackle; male vocals dripping with close-mic intimacy. Verses stay low and conversational, almost whispered, then choruses widen with eerie choirs and a pulsing sub. Occasional reverse-cymbal swells and tape-stop effects to underline key lines, letting the vocal sit front and center in a dim, cinematic space.