GIVE ME MY LIFE BACK

Lyrics

(Dark Jazz • Blues • Classic Rock • R&B
Female Vocal — smoky, wounded, soulful, ultimately powerful)

Verse 1

I gave my hands to everybody
Who needed something fixed
Gave away my heart so freely
Till I couldn't feel my own exist

I carried names that weren't mine
Paid debts I never owed
Walked through fire for the ones I loved
While they watched me bear the load

And every time I needed somebody
There was nobody at my door
I kept giving pieces of myself
Till I didn't know me anymore

Pre-Chorus

I've been the shoulder
I've been the shield
I've been the one who stayed
When everybody else disappeared

But tell me, Lord—
How much more must I lose
Before somebody asks
What happened to you?

Chorus

Down on my knees, I'm begging You
Give me my life back
The one You gave me
Before the world put me on its track

I don't want their story
I don't want their blame
I don't want to carry
What was never mine to name

I've lived for everybody
Till I forgot how to breathe
Now I'm down on my knees, Lord
Begging You—
Give me back me.

Verse 2

Sometimes it feels like the whole thing
Was written before I arrived
Every road already chosen
Every reason I had to survive

They tell me, “This is the last time
We need you to make it right.”
So I swallow another person's sins
And disappear another night

There's a narrative at my feet
Like a script I'm supposed to read
But nobody ever sat beside me
And asked me who I wanted to be

They called me what they needed
They made me what they could use
But somewhere underneath all that
I never stopped knowing the truth

Pre-Chorus

I know who I am
Even if they don't
I know the soul God gave me
Even when the world says I won't

And I'm tired—
God, I'm so tired
Of being strong for everyone
While my own heart catches fire

Chorus

Down on my knees, I'm begging You
Give me my life back
The one You gave me
Before the world put me on its track

I don't want their story
I don't want their blame
I don't want to carry
What was never mine to name

I've lived for everybody
Till I forgot how to breathe
Now I'm down on my knees, Lord
Begging You—
Give me back me.

Bridge — stripped down, almost whispered

Maybe I don't need another answer
Maybe I need the truth

Maybe I don't need another person
Telling me what I should do

Maybe the girl beneath the damage
Never really went away

Maybe she's been waiting
For me to finally say—

I forgive myself.

For every time I stayed too long.
For every time I chose their peace
Over my own.

For every dream I buried
So somebody else could shine.

Instrumental Break

Dark electric guitar bends over Hammond organ.
Drums slowly enter.
Bass walks underneath like a heartbeat.

Final Verse

So if I walk away from the wreckage
Don't call it running away

I'm walking toward the woman
God kept alive anyway

I'm gonna learn to love my silence
I'm gonna let my spirit heal
I'm gonna stop explaining wounds
To people who refuse to feel

And if they need somebody to blame
They can find another name

Because I won't sacrifice my soul
Just to keep somebody else's world the same

Final Chorus — full band

Down on my knees, I was begging You
Give me my life back
Now I hear You whisper—

“Child, it was never gone.”

I don't need their story
I don't need their blame
I don't need permission
To become myself again

I've lived for everybody
Now I'm learning how to breathe
I'm not who they wrote me to be
I'm who You created me to be

So I’m getting back up
From these broken knees
I'm coming home to my spirit
I'm coming home to me

Outro — slow, gospel-blues

I know who I am...

I know whose hands made me...

I know what they took from me...

But they can't take
What God put inside of me.

No more.

No more carrying what isn't mine.

No more dying so somebody else can live.

No more asking permission...

to be me.

Give me my life back.

I'm coming home.