The Riveter's Prayer

[Verse 1]
The blue light flicker from a window on Mechanicsville Ave
casts a spiderweb shadow from a busted-up drill press half.
Three AM, the Tuesday after child support clears,
I’m parked up, motor cooling, just shifting the gears.
He’s in there, hunched over, a man made of wire and bone,
sanding the curve of a banjo neck, patient and all alone.
The air probably smells like sawdust and that high-dollar glue,
a silence so focused it could cut a man in two.

[Chorus]
Head down, hands steady, chasing a perfect line.
He ain’t building for money, he’s just running out the time.
Same key for the workshop, same key for the crown.
That’s the riveter’s prayer when the whole world shuts down.

[Verse 2]
Saw a picture taped up, a girl with a gap-tooth grin,
prolly nineteen ninety-seven, before the rust set in.
He wipes his brow with a rag, don't even break his stare,
like he's picking a lock buried deep in the thin air.
Reminds me of my MPC, tapping out a drum break,
that 'one more minute' lie you tell yourself for heaven's sake.
My ex said, "You can't eat a melody, you know that right?"
I see this old man working and I wonder if he had that fight.

[Chorus]
Head down, hands steady, chasing a perfect line.
He ain’t building for money, he’s just running out the time.
Same key for the workshop, same key for the crown.
That’s the riveter’s prayer when the whole world shuts down.

[Bridge]
And the chill from the vinyl seat seeps into my back,
a ghost of a horn section fades in on the track.
Is he praying to finish? Or praying it’ll never be done?
Just another father out-working the damn sun.

(BEAT SWITCH)

[Verse 3]
'Cause that grain in the wood got a memory, a built-in-stress,
you force it too early, you're left with a splintered mess.
Gotta check the torque, know the pressure, the give and the take,
for the little hands that will hold whatever you make.
This ain’t about a song, this is building a fire escape,
a clean-running engine that won't leak or throw a plate.
So when Maya asks what I built with all these wires and keys?
Just a roof, baby girl. A roof and a slight breeze.

[Outro]
The blue light goes black. The street is just a street again.
Ignition key turns. Let the day begin.