(Verse 1)
You didn’t ask me to change
You just showed me what you liked
I trimmed the edges off my days
Filed my corners smooth and tight
You said you loved the quiet type
So I swallowed half my pride
Took the thunder from my voice
Took the fire from inside
⸻
(Pre-Chorus)
Every little compromise
Felt harmless at the start
I didn’t know I was trading
Pieces of my heart
⸻
(Chorus)
I kept replacing parts of me
With pieces borrowed from you
Changed my colors carefully
So they wouldn’t clash with you
By the time I matched your mirror
By the time I played my part
I was standing in your shadow
Made of someone else’s parts
⸻
(Verse 2)
You liked your coffee black and strong
So I learned to like it too
Said you hated certain songs
So I said I never knew
You rolled your eyes at things I loved
Called them childish, called them small
So I boxed them up like old mistakes
Stacked them high against the wall
⸻
(Pre-Chorus)
Every step toward “us”
Was a step away from me
Then two became one
erasing my identity
⸻
(Chorus)
I kept replacing parts of me
With pieces borrowed from you
Changed my colors carefully
So they wouldn’t clash with you
By the time I matched your mirror
By the time I played my part
I was standing in your shadow
Made of someone else’s parts
⸻
(Bridge – stripped down, piano + pad)
If I take it all apart
Would I find what I used to be?
Or is the original version
Just a rumor left in me?
Was I ever who I was
Or just clay in careful hands?
When the dust finally settles
Will I recognize where I stand?
⸻
(Final Chorus – lift, layered harmonies)
I won’t keep replacing parts of me
To fit inside your design
If loving you means disappearing
Then that love was never mine
I’m gathering every fragment
Every spark I let depart
I’m rebuilding from the pieces
That were always in my heart
ChucklesMcnerd
