Live Unil I Die

Lyrics

[Intro | warm | heavy | building with purpose]
[Deep bass groove, brass enters like a slow engine turning over]

[Verse 1 | driving | steady groove | confident]
Sixty-one and the gears still turn
The axle bends but it doesn't break
Every year another lesson learned
From the weight I was designed to take
The daughters grew like climbing vines
Around the trellis that I chose to be
Forty years of the same good wine
Still fermenting, still not free

[Pre-Chorus | building | intensifying]
They don't write songs for the man in the middle
The one who carries the beam and the stone
They write for the ones who burned out or buckled
Never the ones who just kept going home

[Chorus | powerful | full band | anthemic brass]
I'm gonna live until I die
Not just survive — I'll testify
That every load was mine to own
Every seed was mine to sow
The architect still draws the lines
The engine runs on borrowed time
But borrowed time is still time
I'll live until I die

[Instrumental Break | heavy groove | brass and guitar interplay]
[Baritone sax and guitar trading phrases]

[Verse 2 | complex rhythm | deeper | reflective but strong]
They handed me the map at nineteen
A compass made of code and stone
Forty years of building machines
From languages I learned alone
Still climbing when they say sit down
Still sharpening when they say the blade is done
The summit doesn't care about the crown
It only cares if you can reach the sun

[Pre-Chorus | building | urgent]
They don't write songs for the quiet war
The mortgage and the midnight oil
The man who shows up at the door
With nothing left but loyal soil

[Chorus | massive | wall of sound | declaration]
I'm gonna live until I die
Not just survive — I'll testify
That every load was mine to own
Every seed was mine to sow
The architect still draws the lines
The engine runs on borrowed time
But borrowed time is still time
I'll live until I die

[Bridge | dramatic | tempo shift | introspective then building]
[Drums pull back, solo trumpet over clean guitar]
[Building — full band returns]

The young men want the fire fast
They want the peak without the climb
But iron only holds the cast
When it's been in the furnace a long time

[Guitar solo | melodic, technical, emotional arc]

[Final Chorus | everything | triumphant | full brass screaming]
I'm gonna live until I die!
Not just survive — I'll testify!
That every load was mine to own!
Every seed was mine to sow!
The architect still draws the lines!
The engine runs on borrowed time!
But borrowed time is still time!
I'll live until I die!

[Outro | heavy but warm | resolving]
[Brass and guitar unison melody, descending to a major resolve]
[Final hit — full band on a bright, open chord]
[Ring out]
[End]