"Same hands, different news."
The slowest track on the album — 110 BPM, traditional trip-hop blues in E minor, baritone close-mic vocal, slide guitar carrying the melody, drums barely there. The grief needs room, so the production gives it room. Sung in the voice of a displaced worker — someone the narrator of the rest of the album knows, someone he warned. The bridge is the most vulnerable moment on the record: "Maybe there's something new / I don't know what comes next / But I woke up this morning / And I'm still here too." The track grieves the people the transition left behind — and refuses to dress that grief up as anything else.
Swiped my badge this morning Light went red, not green Thirty years of showing up Replaced by a machine Nobody came to tell me Just a login that won't load Packed the desk by lunchtime Drove the long way home Automation blues Same hands, different news Gave it everything I had What am I supposed to do The kid who trained me quit last spring Said the field was getting thin Now the thing that thinned it out Wears my title with a grin Rez-um-eh says qualified For a job that don't exist Every skill I built by hand Sitting on a dead-end list Automation blues Same hands, different news Gave it everything I had What am I supposed to do Maybe there's something new I don't know what comes next But I woke up this morning And I'm still here too Automation blues Same hands, different news Gave it everything I had But I'm still here too
Lyrics & direction: Brian 200. Vocals & arrangement: Suno.