[Verse 1]
Bottles on the floor, a tattered jacket on a nail,
Porch light glows, Riley's sneakers lined up on the rail.
Sirens used to soundtrack me, nights mapped out in blame,
Now a nightlight hums and tiny footsteps call my name.
[Pre-Chorus]
I put the old me on a shelf, swapped the lies for lullabies,
A whisper in the dark — "Daddy's here" — I memorize.
I fold my shame into a song and then I...
[Chorus — Hooked]
Lullabies — I'm home tonight
Riley, Kiley, and Cole
Daddy's here — I hold my role
Lullabies — I'm home tonight
(Production cue: shout-stack — RILEY! KILEY! COLE! / three-part harmony on line 1)
[Verse 2]
Coffee on the counter, Saturday cartoons and sleepy grins,
Tucked a paper note — "Forgive me" — in the pocket of my jeans.
No more bottle-blurred nights — just bedtime tales and gentle sighs,
Tiny shoes in a row, a teddy named Tiny Rex beside.
[Pre-Chorus]
I traded darkness for soft songs, honest prayers and steady tries,
That little chorus in the kitchen snaps my old excuses dry.
I put my hands where love can grow and then I...
[Chorus — Hooked]
Lullabies — I'm home tonight
Riley, Kiley, and Cole
Daddy's here — I hold my role
Lullabies — I'm home tonight
(Production cue: layered vocal harmonies, light acoustic strum, clap-snap groove)
[Verse 3 — Rap (12–14 bars) — Country Pop / Rap crossover]
Cold cell echoes taught me patience; tin cups taught rhythm to my breath,
Clock faces carved my choices; I swapped headlines for a different text.
Concrete sermons, corner deals — I learned grammar from the streets,
Now I write bedtime verbs: tuck, hum, forgive, repeat.
Riley tapes busted dreams with duct and dare, calls that truck her rocket,
Kiley draws whole galaxies on scraps — I teach her how to plot it.
Cole's Tiny Rex wears a cape of shirts — patched love on the sleeve,
He calls me "Old Man C," runs to my boots, makes every wound believe.
I flip the past like busted vinyl — scratch to chorus, wrong to right,
Internal rhymes stitch up the seams: remorse to resource in the night.
(Triplet — Fast) I lace hope in their sneakers, not laces for the street, (trip)
(Slow) No bail bonds, just ballgames, tuck-ins and two-step beats.
Punchline couplet: turned felon files to father files — filed under "home,"
From parole stamps to pillow camps — I paid my dues, they paid my dawn.
[End rap cadence: syncopated triplet run, pull back to breath]
[Chorus — Big & Anthemic]
Lullabies — I'm home tonight
Riley, Kiley, and Cole
Daddy's here — I hold my role
Lullabies — I'm home tonight
(Production cue: full band, three-part harmony, stomps on 2 & 4, vocal stack on last line)
[Bridge]
There was a morning I handed in my keys, a court date washed away,
I signed a promise on the porch and watched the old life peel and sway.
A crinkled photo on the mantel saved me when I almost slipped aside,
I chose their faces over shadows — one small frame that turned my gray to light.
[Chorus — Full Payoff]
Lullabies — I'm home tonight
Riley, Kiley, and Cole
Daddy's kno
