MEANT WELL

Name: MEANT WELL
Duration: 272 s
Description: MEANT WELL by mBaileyz. From the artist’s lyric sheet: “And they all say the same thing, hand over the heart, "I only ever wanted what was best."”

No artist release note is published for this song yet.

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Words from the artist’s archive

MEANT WELL lyrics

Artist-supplied lyric sheet, matched by title. The sheet may differ from this released performance. Production notes and alternate promotional cuts are omitted.

Read the lyric sheet

Intro

Money order, your name in the memo line. Everybody round here meant well. That was the problem.

Verse 1

Deacon brought a casserole the week they cut the lights, said "God don't close a door," then watched us count by candlelight. Coach said he would make me, drove me past the Palmetto every night, benched me when my granddad died, told me "son, that's part of life." Carol City raised on people swearing they was on my side, the loan my momma co-signed so my cousin could survive. Off Opa-locka every favor came stapled to a price, they hand you up the ladder then they charge you for the climb.

Pre-chorus

And they all say the same thing, hand over the heart, "I only ever wanted what was best."

Chorus

Meant well. oh well. Paved my whole road and they meant well. Smiling at the wreckage like they couldn't even tell, half my life got buried by somebody meant well. Oh well, meant well, don't show me your reasons, show me what it cost. The receipt say "love," but my name still on the loss.

Verse 2

Public defender meant well, gave me ninety days to sign, said "take the deal, beat the trial," now it's tattooed on my file. Twenty-two and tagged a number off a thing I didn't try, the favor weigh a hundred pounds, I drag it down I-95. Money order every Friday to a man who learned my name the same year my own father called my keeping a strain. They meant well at the funeral, brought the chicken, brought the blame, left the casserole dish empty and my mother holding shame.

Verse 3

But I put my little cousin on a corner so he'd eat, told myself it's temporary, now he sleeping on the street. Gave my brother all my answers like my road was paved concrete, watched him walk it in my footprints till it cracked beneath his feet. I meant well. God, I meant well too.

Pre-chorus

And I hear my own voice now, hand over the heart, "I only ever wanted what was best."

Chorus

Verse 4

So keep the kind apology, the "I was only trying" line, keep the prayer you mumble while you standing on my spine. Intention ain't a currency, it never paid a fine, Liberty City don't run on what you almost did in time. I'm done forgiving damage just because it came in love, the softest hands round here the ones I never saw enough. Pen click, screen door, that's the sound of being sold, wrapped a knife in Tupperware and called it serving cold.

Pre-chorus

So don't hand me your heart, keep your hand off your chest, I don't need what you wanted, I need what's left.

Chorus

Verse 5

So to my daughter on the 79th, riding past the church: watch the ones who hurt you gentle, baby, that's the worst. Don't measure people by the wanting, measure what they build, a road is what you finished, not the promise that you feel. And when you break it, and you will, don't hide behind the heart, say the damage out loud and name it, that's where mending start.

Outro

Money order, your name in the memo line. I won't tell you that I meant well. I'll show you what it cost.

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Inside the recording

96 sampled loudness windows · 272 seconds. The white line follows the player; this is a local recording matched by title and duration, not a verified YouTube audio fingerprint.

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01 / The opening