Concrete Battles

Look at this room...

Papers piled up,

past-due notices.

Just trying to keep my feet on the ground. (yeah)

Clock strikes five and the engine barely turns Another forty hours for

a dime that burns

Hand me down boots with the sole worn thin

Washing off the grease just to clock back in I watch the

kitchen table gather all the unpaid debt

Counting out the quarters while the ceiling drips wet

Tryna be a pillar when the foundation shakes

Paying for every single innocent mistake I'm still standing in the freezing

rain

Learning how to carve a living out of the pain

Nobody hands you anything down here

Just scrape by,

wipe off the sweat and tear (wipe it off,

yeah)

Grew up round the mill where the smoke stays gray

Taught to bite your tongue if you got words to say Now

the plant shut down and the town went cold Watching friends grow

bitter before they turn old

Pop worked his spine down straight to the bone

Just to leave behind an empty house and a loan I refuse

to let the gravel swallow up my pride

Even with the whole world laughing on the other side

They say you pull yourself up by your own two hands

Hard to stand up tall when you're sinking in the sand Hard

to see the morning through the factory haze Still fighting through the

quiet of these heavy days

I'm still standing in the freezing rain

Learning how to carve a living out of the pain

Nobody hands you anything down here

Just scrape by,

wipe off the sweat and tear (yeah,

still standing here)

Just keep walking.

One shift at a time.

Tomorrow's coming anyway.

(yeah...

one foot in front of the other)