[Intro] *low guitar hum / distant freeway noise / soft tom pulse* Sunday morning Phoenix still asleep Coffee in the console Dust on the seats Sky turning silver Out past the I-10 One more long horizon Calling me again --- [Verse 1] Twenty-five years Learning every trade Watching good ideas Get buried in the weight Saw what scales Saw what breaks Saw smart people Build mistakes Sat in conference rooms Talking circles all day While the real work waited Somewhere far away Never could settle Never stayed long Every time I stopped moving Something felt wrong --- [Pre-Chorus] Now the kids are grown And doing alright House is quiet For the first time in my life And maybe freedom Ain’t supposed to feel safe --- [Chorus] Time to head to L.A. Four hundred miles through the heat and haze Sunday morning, desert fading City of Angels, done waiting No big money No perfect plan Just a lifetime learning And these two hands I ain’t lost I just needed my way Time to head to L.A. --- [Instrumental] *open guitars / highway groove / restrained lead line* --- [Verse 2] I know systems I know people Know the difference Between noise and useful Know how people drift Till nobody knows Who’s steering the ship And maybe I got tired Of building for somebody else Making other men rich Putting my dreams on the shelf So here I am Shoestring thin Betting on myself Again --- [Pre-Chorus] There’s a strange kind of peace When there’s nothing left to prove Just a road out west And the freedom to move --- [Chorus] Time to head to L.A. Chasing something I can’t explain Half my life spent waiting tables For people too afraid to change Now the dashboard glows Like runway lights And the mountains fade Into morning white I ain’t young But I’m not done today Time to head to L.A. --- [Bridge] *pull drums back / intimate vocal* Maybe this is crazy Maybe that’s the point Maybe comfort’s just another word For slowly losing voice And I’d rather fail On a road I chose Than spend one more year Standing still --- [Final Chorus] *widest section — full band* Time to head to L.A. Windows down on the 101 All the years behind me Finally turning into one Every hard mile Every late-night drive Every wrong turn somehow Kept this dream alive So if you ask me why I finally walked away— It was time To head to L.A. --- [Outro] *instrumental fades* *freeway noise returns softly* *single guitar line*