Viktor K. - Rust Belt Lullaby Lyrics

[Intro]
Paper mill ghosts in my head tonight
Watching memories fade like the Northern Lights
Yeah, yeah, f*ck what they told us back then
Everything breaks in the end

[Verse 1]
Summer shifts got me feeling dead inside
Rust and steel where my dreams used to hide
Dad lost his job, I was just seventeen
Now I'm trapped in this same machine
Punch the clock, watch the seconds bleed
Every day just a different breed
Of the same old pain that we can't escape
Working class heroes, yeah, that's what they say

[Chorus]
Mills keep turning while our souls decay
Trapped in cycles, we're all gonna fade away
They feed us lies about making it someday
But we're just cogs until we break, yeah
Until we break, yeah

[Verse 2]
Empty halls where the workers used to be
Now it's just f*cking shadows and me
Arctic winds blow through broken dreams
System's rigged, man, it makes me scream
Papa said work would set me free
Now he's drinking away his memories
Town's dying slow like winter trees
While they count profits overseas

[Bridge]
Sometimes I dream of burning it all
Watch it crumble, watch it fall
But even ashes can't set us free
From the chains we cannot see
Yeah, yeah

[Verse 3]
Generation lost in the factory dust
Trading heartbeats for dollars and rust
They call it progress when it all shuts down
Moving profits to another town
Got these pills just to make it through
Working dead like my old man too
Nordic nights getting colder now
While they bury hope beneath the snow

[Chorus]
Mills keep turning while our souls decay
Trapped in cycles, we're all gonna fade away
They feed us lies about making it someday
But we're just cogs until we break, yeah
Until we break, yeah

[Outro]
Paper mill ghosts still haunting me
In this graveyard of industry
Yeah, this graveyard of what we used to be
What we used to be...