Name: Highway (WTJB) 10-23-25 by John Britton
Duration: 3 min 35 s
Description: An original song. Trying it here with acoustic guitar and accompaniment with cajon.

Live At Leonard Cohen Tribute - Montreal Canada

Famous Blue Raincoat (Live At Leonard Cohen Tribute - Montreal Canada) - Damien Rice

It's Gone.

The Fool is Blue

This dark pop ballad explores the raw, imperfect nature of love—not as romance or perfection, but as a quiet act of endurance. The lyrics trace the emotional terrain of forgiveness, patience, and vulnerability, revealing how love survives through silence, bruises, and the courage to stay. With whispered confessions and cinematic restraint, the song moves through intimate verses, fragile choruses, and a haunting instrumental section that breathes like memory. It’s a portrait of love as a slow, painful, and beautiful process of learning to breathe again.

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Lyrics – Learning to Breathe Again

Intro  
soft breath, the room folds in on me  
clock ticks sideways, the light leans in  
you trace the edge where silence lives  
I breathe slow, pretending to begin

Verse 1  
you hold my jacket like a borrowed shield  
your smile folds secrets we refuse to yield  
we count the cracks and tape them with our hands  
we map the quiet places where the night expands

Pre Chorus 1  
I catalog the pauses and the small lies  
soft mercy whispers where the gentle truth dies  
forgiveness tastes like someone else’s name  
I practice saying sorry when I’m to blame

Chorus 1  
love isn’t sunlight perfectly framed and hung  
it’s bruised and patient, learning how to breathe and run  
it’s faith that holds when laughter turns to steam  
it’s staying through the ache, it’s keeping the dream

Verse 2  
you laugh and the ceiling forgets the rain  
for a minute we are whole, unmarked by pain  
the tide pulls secrets till they show our hands  
we fold the truth until it barely stands

Interlude  
thin light through curtains, half a song above  
we hum the missing lines like they might be enough  
the room inhales slowly, keeps our small deceit  
we breathe the empty spaces where our halves meet

Verse 3  
you say forever in a voice that almost breaks  
I keep a list of promises and the mistakes  
I count the tiny mercies nobody sees  
your hand on my low ribs when the storm agrees

Pre Chorus 2  
every small forgiveness feels like brave repair  
we learn the tender language of the dare  
we stitch the nightly fractures into seams  
we barter fear for faith and borrowed dreams

Chorus 2  
love is not a picture kept inside a frame  
it’s the bruise that breathes and whispers out your name  
it’s patient, faithful, gentle when it hurts  
it’s leaning toward the wound and keeping it from worse

Verse 4  
midnight confessions clog the sink with doubt  
we polish off the empty places, wipe them out  
you press your head into the hollow of my chest  
we practice being strangers learning how to rest

Bridge  
sometimes love is a punch that lands beneath the ribs  
it knocks the air and leaves a bruise that keeps  
sometimes grace arrives as small, cheap light  
a quiet hand that stays to learn the night

Instrumental Section  
hmmm, a long breath held and then released  
ahhh, wordless shapes that learn to intercede  
mmmh, a pulsing quiet grown to full air  
huhh, the chest remembers how to care

Reprise Pre Chorus  
count the pauses, how the small things lie  
count the mercy that we both deny  
count the tiny sorries folded in the night  
count the courage that keeps choosing right

Chorus Reprise  
love is not a picture, not a perfect frame  
it’s the bruise that learns to breathe and speak your name  
it’s patience, faith, forgiveness when we break  
it’s staying when the harmless pieces shake

Interlude Reprise  
we hum the missing lines until they fit  
we draw the cracked edges with a softer wit  
we fold the light around the places torn  
we hum until the shape is newly born

Outro  
soft breath, the room folds out into the night  
your shadow learns the fragile edges of light  
we hold the hush between the heart and skin  
we let the small forgiveness live within

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© 2025 Martin Oliver Beinersdorf. All rights reserved.  
Lyrics and concept by Martin Oliver Beinersdorf. Do not reproduce, distribute, or adapt without explicit permission.

Learning to Breathe Again

An original song. Trying it here with acoustic guitar and accompaniment with cajon. 

Highway (WTJB) 10-23-25

Caledonia on my mind

Bang Bang Boom Boom

Caught Out In The Rain

Live at Bangor Abbey

Make It Rain (Live)

Marc Aryan - Toi Ma Boheme

Between The Minds

Russian Roulette

Blackfield (Remastered)

Hello (Remastered)

Acoustic guitar; folk; Americana; jam band influences; blues; rock; old time; bluegrass; grungey stuff. Even some electro and EDM vibes occasionally. I play a wide mix of music with a lot of different people.

Highway (WTJB) 10-23-25

John Britton

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