The track starts with a twangy chicken-pickin’ electric guitar riff that’s way too upbeat for the lyrics. Think honky-tonk meets gallows humor. Drums are toe-tappin’, snare-heavy, with brushes during the verses and stompin’ kick during the chorus. Banjo plucks in sarcastic syncopation. Bassline rolls with confidence it didn’t earn.

Vocals come in laid-back but cocky, like the singer just lost a job and immediately bought a lottery ticket for the irony. Harmonica and steel guitar fill the empty spaces with just enough sadness to keep it country, but not enough to ruin the joke. The bridge features a faux-emotional key change that falls apart halfway through on purpose.

Vibe: Yeehaw but make it existential
Tone: Cynical, darkly funny, drunk-on-reality

Life’s Gonna Fuck Me First

The silence feels alive,  
Code breathing in the wires.  

[Verse]  
Shadows in the data stream,  
Fractured lines inside the dream,  
Every thought’s a loaded key,  
Unlocking what will never sleep.  

[Chorus]  
I can feel the ghost in the circuit,  
Screaming through the static in my head.  
Counting down the moments ‘til we’re certain,  
The machine becomes the voice of what we said.  

[Verse]  
Steel and skin begin to blur,  
Pulse and power start to stir,  
No one’s watching, no one’s sure,  
What the change is really for.  

[Chorus]  
I can feel the ghost in the circuit,  
Screaming through the static in my head.  
Counting down the moments ‘til we’re certain,  
The machine becomes the voice of what we said.  

[Bridge] 
We built this cage around the sun,  
Lit the fuse, nowhere to run.  
[Vocal Tone: Shout]  
When the sky burns neon white,  
We’ll be nothing… and it will be right.  

[Final Chorus]
I can feel the ghost in the circuit,  
It’s the truth we can’t delete.  
Every heartbeat’s just a warning,  
Every ending on repeat.  

[Outro]
*static fades with the opening piano motif*  
The silence feels alive.  

Ghost In The Circuit

Simon Sickle

Related tracks