We were kings of the backstreet nights

Cheap kicks, busted bikes

Screaming dreams at broken lights

Thought the world would blink first

Graffiti hopes on concrete walls

Laughing loud, yeah, standing tall

Swore we’d never take the fall

Guess the fall was patient

They said “grow up, choose a side”

We said “hell no”, crossed our minds

Now the mirrors don’t look kind

And time don’t miss

(We were the back alley kids)

With fire in our lungs

Now we’re choking on the lives

We said we’d never become

No crowns, no wins

Just scars and bills

(Yeah, the back alley kids)

Didn’t beat the world

One got stuck in a dead-end town

One got clean, then went back down

One still talks ‘bout getting out

Like it’s ‘99

We laughed at suits and nine-to-fives

Now we’re late just trying to survive

Teenage gods, adult lives

Bad trade-off

(We were the back alley kids)

With fire in our lungs

Now we’re choking on the lives

We said we’d never become

No crowns, no wins

Just scars and bills

(Yeah, the back alley kids)

Didn’t beat the world

(Hey!)

This is the sound of growing old too young

(Hey!)

This is the end of thinking we’d outrun

We were the back alley kids

Middle fingers high

Now we’re begging for a break

Just to get by

No lies, no myths

Just truth that kills

Yeah, the back alley kids

Didn’t lose ‘cause they quit