[STYLE PROMPT: Heavy medium-tempo 90s grunge. Drop-tuned guitars, filthy bass, huge natural drums. Verses restrained and bitter with gritty male vocals. Choruses explode into thick distorted guitars and layered raspy harmonies. Frequent half-time sections. Dark, frustrated, working-class atmosphere. No politics—just exhaustion, pressure, and simmering rage.]
[INTRO — feedback / bass drone / 4 bars]
[Guitar scrapes into a slow crushing riff]
[Distant vocal]
Count the cracks…
Count ’em twice…
[VERSE 1 — restrained, dirty guitar]
Morning crawls beneath the door
Same old boots across the floor
Another number, another name
Another week fed to the flame
The cupboard echoes when it shuts
The needle moves, but never much
We stack our hours against the wall
And watch the shadow eat them all
[PRE-CHORUS — drums build]
They say the water’s fine…
But everybody’s choking
They say we’re doing fine…
So why is everybody broke and—
[CHORUS — EXPLOSIVE / layered vocals]
TIRED!
Of feeding a mouth that never gets full
WIRED!
With our backs to the wall and our hands on the rope
We climb, we crawl
We give it all
Still hear that meter running
[Backing vocals: “RUNNING! RUNNING!”]
We bleed another hour dry
Just to keep the lights alive
[POST-CHORUS — HALF-TIME]
[Massive open chords]
One for the roof
Two for the road
Three for the weight
WE CAN’T… LET… GO!
[VERSE 2 — bass-heavy / vocal nearly spoken]
Paper castles, plastic crowns
Numbers climb while heads stay down
Fill the tank and watch it burn
Every mile costs what we earn
There’s laughter hiding underneath
A thousand grinding sets of teeth
Nobody says exactly why
We just keep punching in on time
[PRE-CHORUS — rising scream]
The table’s set again
But the plates are getting smaller
We’re running twice as fast
And the hallway’s getting longer—
[CHORUS — BIGGER]
TIRED!
Of feeding a mouth that never gets full
WIRED!
Another notch in a tightening hole
We climb, we crawl
We give it all
Still hear that meter running
[Harmony: “It never stops…”]
We trade another piece of life
Just to make it through the night
[BREAKDOWN — SLOW HALF-TIME / CRUSHING]
[Guitars drop lower. Drums enormous.]
COUNT IT!
Bread on the table
COUNT IT!
Gas in the car
COUNT IT!
Hours disappearing
Tell me—
HOW MUCH ARE WE WORTH?!
[2 bars silence]
[SCREAMED]
Apparently…
NOT ENOUGH!
[Heavy riff x4 / feedback]
[BRIDGE — haunting clean guitar]
Funny how the ceiling rises
Every time we build a stair
Funny how tomorrow’s waiting
With its fingers in our hair
We’re not asking for a kingdom
We’re not begging for a throne
Just a little room for breathing
In a life we call our own…
[FINAL CHORUS — FULL BAND / RAW VOCAL]
TIRED!
The whole damn room is getting tired
WIRED!
Like a thousand fraying wires
We climb, we crawl
We give it all
And still that meter’s running
[Backing vocals: “RUNNING!”]
Another day
Another price
Another little piece of life
[OUTRO — tempo drags / guitars collapsing into feedback]
Morning crawls beneath the door…
Same old