They Were Right

[Verse 1]
They said
"Boy
All you gotta do is believe"
I rolled my eyes
Stared holes in the ceiling
Counted scars like beads on a string
Said
"If there's a blessing
It sure skipped me"
Bills in a stack on the old pine table
Grief like rain in a rusted-out stable
I bit my tongue
Kept my anger neat
Cursed every prayer under my breath and my teeth
[Chorus]
They said all I need to do is believe
They said all I need to do is have faith
They said I would be blessed
They were right
They were right
Just not the way I thought that it would be
They were right
They were right
[Verse 2]
Woke up drunk on another bad Sunday
Church bells rang while my hands still shook
Saw my face in a cracked truck window
Thought
"This ain't the man my mama once knew"
Pulled that dirt-road shame like a second skin
Every promise I broke pinned under a pin
Then a voice cut through that static and smoke
Soft as mercy
Sharp as a choke
[Chorus]
They said all I need to do is believe
They said all I need to do is have faith
They said I would be blessed
They were right
They were right
Blessed to break
Blessed to bleed
Blessed to see
They were right
They were right
[Bridge]
Blessed in the losing
Blessed in the loss
Blessed in the long nights
Nailed to my cross (oh)
Blessed in the famine
Blessed in the fight
Blessed when the dark
Dragged me toward the light
[Chorus]
They said all I need to do is believe
They said all I need to do is have faith
They said I would be blessed
They were right
They were right
Not with gold
Not with easy
Not with clean
They were right
They were right
[Outro]
They said all I need to do is believe
Whispered low through the smoke and the ache
Now every scar on my skin
Every hard-earned line
Feels like a blessing
They were right this time

folk, Brooding country-gospel ballad over pulsing dark synths and low-tuned acoustic guitar; male vocals with a worn, preacher-on-the-edge intensity. Verses stay hushed with distant organ pads and brushed percussion; chorus swells with stacked churchy harmonies, a thumping kick, and gritty bass. Subtle folk textures (banjo twang, bowed strings) creep in on the bridge as the arrangement rises, then drops back to an intimate, near-whisper outro., country gospel