Song Description
"Ride" was what Ethel did when she was seventeen, across red dirt on a bike built for escape.
Raised by her grandparents in rural Australia, she was already learning to weigh harm and walk her own line.
When others slipped into easy crime and tribal excuses, she stepped back quietly. The system called her “withdrawn,” “non-compliant,” “hostile.” No one saw the choice beneath it, the invisible line she refused to cross.
When she logged into her teacher’s computer and uncovered proof of his fraud, the reaction was predictable. He kept his job. She got expelled.
That’s where it all began.
Lyrics
Pulled the visor down on a sky like tin
Didn't check the map
Didn't ask the question
I know the trail that cuts behind the noise
They were laughing in the gravel lot
Boots too loose all smirk and spit
Someone tossed a stolen tin
I stepped aside That wasn't it
I don't need their brand of bold
Doesn't mean I leave it cold
I just see the mirror behind the stunt
And who cops the hit when the fun runs blunt
I watch for the part that gets left out
The wallet that doesn't make it home
The kid that wakes up blamed
And they say it's just a joke
Just a laugh
Just one of those things
I call that a pattern
But I don't name it twice
I ride the edge but I don't drift blind
The hill tells me when to lean
My brain skips steps you never knew were there
Not guessing Just already seen
You think I'm wild 'cause I don't explain
That's fine
I've got gears for that
They thought I guessed the answer once
Didn't see the five steps in between
I read the frame before it sets
And still get marked for broken screens
I opened a file with the wrong name once
Lit up a lie in quiet code
They told me "danger" I said "look closer"
Then they called it luck
Or something owed
Gran said
"You don't need to explain what you know
Just know it better than they can fake it"
Pop fixed tools he didn't own
Said
"Things still break Fix them anyway"
The ride back yelled with silence
The trail too straight
The air too slow
Blue lights
No echo from the house
Just shapes
Just boots
Their mouths were moving
But all I heard
Was my name
Mispronounced
I don't run fast I run true
The path moves when I need it to
You think I'm chaos
I think you don't listen
I track the cost by what's missing
And what never makes it home
I never took the shortcut
I just knew where the road was hiding