(Verse 1 – fingerpicked guitar intro, clean and storytelling vibe, like a late-night bar tale)
Time rolls on like a freight train down the line
Never stops for no one, just keeps stealing the time
Faded Polaroids tucked in the back of my mind
Some make me chuckle low, most leave me bleeding inside
I wish I could dodge these ghosts on the midnight train
No suitcase of sorrows dragging me down again
They talk about the wheel spinning, birth to the grave
Karma’s dusty ledger, debts I gotta engrave

(Pre-Chorus – subtle organ swell, building tension)
Gotta wipe it all clean ‘fore the reaper calls my name
Break this endless chain, step out of the flame

(Chorus – laid-back groove kicks in, wry and resolute vocal delivery)
But I will survive… yeah, you know I will survive
Walk these lonesome streets, keep the spark alive
No more tears in the well, but the steel’s in my eyes
I will survive… oh, I will survive

(Verse 2 – rhythmic guitar riff, talking blues feel)
Three in the morning, the city’s asleep in its bed
Those old demons come knocking, crawling out from my head
A million tiny razors dancing under the moon
Slicing through the quiet, howling a lonesome tune
Eight billion faces, but I’m the ghost in the crowd
Whispering secrets that scream way too loud
Then a voice from the gutter says, “Boy, get off your knees
Yesterday’s a closed door—tomorrow’s the keys”

(Pre-Chorus – Hammond organ layers in, soulful)
Live for the moment, let the old fires burn low
Every scar on my heart taught me what I need to know

(Chorus – fuller band, twangy guitar shining through)
Yeah, I will survive… Lord knows I will survive
Clear that ancient debt, watch the new sunrise
No shadows gonna chain me, no night can divide
I will survive… I will survive

(Instrumental Break – extended guitar solo: bending notes, clean tone weeping then soaring, rhythm section locked in, subtle keyboard washes building emotion)

(Bridge – slower, atmospheric, building with military snare echo)
I’m a phoenix in the alley, rising from the neon glow
Wings spread wide against the wind, where the wild rivers flow
Every war I’ve waged forged the iron in my veins
With the first light breaking, I’m shedding these chains
Like a long highway stretching out to the sea
This one’s for nothing? Nah, this one’s on me

(Verse 3 – storytelling resumes, vivid imagery)
So raise a glass to the dreamers who brave the storm
Carrying private storms in the eye of the norm
The tunnel might be dark and long
But the hero keeps rolling along
I inhale the horizon, exhale the fear
One more for the road, the path finally clear

(Final Chorus – anthemic swell, layered guitars, harmonies, full band drive like a live outro)
Oh, I will survive… yes, I will survive
Like the lover waiting, like the heartfelt sigh
No tunnel can bury me, no wave goodbye
I will survive…
I will survive…
Yeah, through the alchemy of the blues, I will survive…

(Outro – extended fading guitar solo, twangy licks intertwining with soft vocal ad-libs, echoing into silence like the end of a long set)
I will survive… (getting it all for nothing? Nah…)
Through the rain and the years… (long highway calling…)
I will survive… (brothers standing tall…)
Forever… I will survive… (fade on shimmering clean notes)