Manchester

This song began as a poem I wrote many years ago, during a time of reflection on some of the hardest moments of my teenage life. Using Suno, I generated the music around those original words. It's a kind of snapshot of who I was then and how I felt. Lyrics below [Verse 1] Sometimes it feels like there’s a film over my eyes Blocking my view and distorting my mind I watch the world pass me by through grease soaked windows That have never been cleaned The grime sinks into my skin like cracked cement I am porous and thin Strained conversation at the dinner table Mums screaming again at the culmination of desperation Dad’s locked out checked out like a door swinging shut in a storm The scrape of forks against china plates worn out and bare This warfare turns my stomach into ash My words stick like gum to the back of my throat Mouth full of thoughts I’m too scared to voice The silence stretched out over my skin thin as a rizla Corners circling up every time I get burnt I was fourteen and memorising the streets and alleyways To places where I could climb out and escape it [Pre-chorus] Slinking through gaps in fences The night was wide enough to contain my defences My life was sand slipping through my hands and [Chorus] Manchester held my bones In fingers wrapped round my throat The streets knew my name Calling me soft boy, lost boy, the boy who never went home [Verse 2] Down by the bottom of the hill at the shop that sells you anything As long as you know the drill and can handle the thrill I necked two trammies chased by white lightening The air smells sour of petrol and cig smoke Cider cans mixed with the rain make me choke My jaw feels loose stomach flipping The kind of nausea you either lean into or run away from Met Joe outside the Spar close to Ardwick Green park Swapped my coin from the side of the sofa for a baggie Locked it in my pocket and made my way to the train [Chorus] Manchester held my bones In fingers wrapped round my throat The streets knew my name Calling me soft boy, lost boy, the boy who never went home Manchester held my bones In fingers wrapped round my throat The streets knew my name Calling me soft boy, lost boy, the boy who never went home [Verse 3] Stepped off the train into the thick mist from old rain The city breathes like its a sixty a day smoker I exhale exhaust fumes my tongue thick with bile and half chewed sick Slipped into an alley stinking of piss that sticks to my ribs Chopped it out on my cracked spider webbed phone screen Snorted swift and strong till the pavement split and I slipped through the seams With jelly legs and a slack mouth made my way through the town The damp’s so deep you can feel the generations Seep and cry out from underneath By the time the sky was turning violet twilight was headed Over my eyeline and the silence was engulfing my pulse was eroding I was half boy half ghost cotton mouth dry with words not spoken Slumped on the grass where the streetlights from the overpass Illuminate my face in an off yellow paste The city still whistles and shouts around me gritty and warm A mother who never knew how to hold me right I’m stuck stitched into the fabric of this city [Pre-chorus] Slinking through gaps in fences The night was wide enough to contain my defences My life was sand slipping through my hands and [Chorus] Manchester held my bones In fingers wrapped round my throat The streets knew my name Calling me soft boy, lost boy, the boy who never went home If my work makes you feel something or is something you can relate to please let me know, I am making this channel as a way to share pieces of myself with others and to find other people like me. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. I’d love to hear your story. Subscribe for more tracks like this, other genres, some poetry, spoken word and AI-assisted music More like this coming soon © 2026 Jak-verse. All lyrics written and owned by the artist. Music generated with AI assistance (Suno). #poetry #spokenword #sunoai #emotionalmusic #personalstory #suno #introspectivelyrics #rap