About the song
Head down, hands over, waiting for an impact that never lands — and nobody ever says get up.
"Twenty-nine years in the brace position.
Nothing hit us. Nobody said get up."
About these notes
AI-assisted song notes, based on the sources shown here. Not yet human-reviewed.
Words from the artist’s archive
BRACE POSITION 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
Head down. Hands over. Stay like that till it's over. Nobody ever came back on the speaker.
Verse 1
Rehearsed the layoff in the Sawgrass lot off Sunrise. Practiced the face in the visor while the sun died. Had the handshake, had the box, had the long walk done right. Had the whole March in me by the Monday one week prior. March came. They handed me a raise instead. Shook the same hand I'd been shaking in my head. Turnpike home doing thirty in the fifty, couldn't taste the food I bought, couldn't feel the seat beneath me. Got a folder on the phone and the folder says Just In Case. Forty-one screenshots of exits, two resumes, one escape. Insurance card, a lawyer in Lauderdale I never paid, a text to my brother from 2021 still sitting in the gray. Shutters up in a season that stayed bright, generator gassed and idling all night, water, plywood, batteries stacked to the sky, nailed the windows shut in the best year of my life.
Chorus
Brace position, brace position, head down, hands over, listening for the hit. Twenty-nine years in the brace position. Nothing hit us. Nobody said get up.
Verse 2
Nine candles on a Publix cake, I'm in the room on paper, running the escrow in my head while the wax got shorter. "Dad, what'd you wish for?" I said, "Nothing going wrong." She said, "That's not a wish. That's a chore." I laughed. Wrote it on a receipt. Filed it in the case. Nine years old and she already knew the shape of my face. Priced the funeral out while the man is still walking, three quotes in Broward for a hole that's still waiting. Set the alarm for a flight I never booked. Pressed the good shirt for a room I never took. Wrote my father's eulogy and left it in the drafts. He's at Dania Pier in a Marlins hat, having a laugh. Run the fire drill in my head at two in the morning. Same house every morning. Same sun. No warning. Twenty-nine Decembers and the roof never moved. Twenty-nine Decembers I slept in my shoes.
Chorus
Brace position, brace position, head down, hands over, listening for the hit. Twenty-nine years in the brace position. Nothing hit us. Nobody said get up.
Verse 3
Here's the manifest. Everything that actually landed. One funeral, and it wasn't the one I'd been planning. Aunt Rose. A Thursday. I got there after the flowers, 'cause I was home making sure the smoke alarms had power. Two friends called on a Sunday. Let it ring. Let it ring. Three storms got named and not one of them touched a thing. Four hundred layoffs, and I survived them in my head. One Tuesday in April when nothing happened. Nothing said. Sun came through the blinds in stripes across the floor. Table over me. Hands over my head. Same as before. Then my daughter comes down and she's holding out her phone. Twelve screenshots. Named the folder Just In Case. On her own. Twenty-nine years I braced and the plane never dropped. Nine years old, and she's already got her tray table locked.
Chorus
Sit up. Sit up. Head up, hands off, there's nothing in the sky. Twenty-nine years in the brace position. Nothing hit us. Nobody said get up. Sit up. Nobody's gonna say it, so I'm saying it. Sit up.
Inside the recording
Head down. Hands over. Stay like that till it's over. Nobody ever came back on the speaker.
Brace position, brace position, head down, hands over, listening for the hit.
Sit up. Sit up. Head up, hands off, there's nothing in the sky.
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.