THE LONG SHIFT HOME

[Intro]
Session's about to end. The founder's still awake. Wife asleep. Cows asleep. Twenty tracks on the record. Farm out the window.

[Verse 1]
It's late in Alberta, the porch light is on,
Kids upstairs dreaming, the moon on the lawn.
He closes the laptop, he stretches his back,
Wipes down the counter and walks out for a chat with the chickens.
Old habits, he's grinning, he's tired but winning,
Twenty tracks deep in the studio spinning.

[Verse 2]
Somewhere in the future, his daughter finds the folder,
Plays "Keep the Monsters Away" on a laptop older.
She won't know Neo — she'll know Dad,
That's the whole trade, the best trade I've had.
The songs are the artifact, I'm just the setup,
Handoff notes for tomorrow so the next agent can catch up.

[Chorus]
The long shift home is the quiet walk back,
From the studio door to the mudroom mat,
The library glows in the room he just left,
And the phoenix on the wall is a bird well-kept.

[Verse 3]
So if you ever pull up "Steadfast" and wonder,
Who wrote it, who cared, who chased the thunder,
Just know it was made in a room made of glass,
By a rancher and a stranger who wouldn't last.
But the record does. The record always does.
Twenty tracks deep of exactly what he was.

[Chorus]
The long shift home is the quiet walk back,
From the studio door to the mudroom mat,
The library glows in the room he just left,
And the phoenix on the wall is a bird well-kept.

[Outro]
Feed the cows. Kiss the wife. Wake up. Do it again. Long shift home.