1. |
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Don’t hang up! I am so desperate. Desperate. Come home. No one’s mad! I am so desperate. Desperate. Come home. There’s a ghost in my house. There’s a ghost in my house!
A child with no friends is stung by a bee
Everybody do the brand-new dance; it’s called the King Herod’s Decree
Some people die from drinking the sea
Everybody do the brand-new dance; it’s called Come Swimming With Me
Don’t hang up! I am so desperate. Desperate. Come home. No one’s mad! I am so desperate. Desperate. Come home.
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2. |
Saw an Owl
05:12
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Unrelateable
What a gamble
It’s weird how puritanical I get
All cold feet, hot air, and no outlet
Fun in doses
What a handful
I’m not a good example of a man
I shouldn’t have been part of their plan
I was sleeping
Someone small behind the dresser
Worrywarts fester on my arm
Is this what I get for living on a farm?
They all rush in
and they lift me up
Carried by the greys to a dirty den
and I’m singing like I’ll never sing again
You want more?
I don’t have it
Why was it me?
I don’t ever think I’ll know
The next day,
I had forgotten,
but I thought I saw an owl at my window
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3. |
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How easy is it for you to remember a name?
How good are you at processing shame?
It’s hidden in the data dump you have at night
It’s tangled with the others as twisted kites
Three years sitting on a Bunsen burner,
a war-torn land deserter; look no further,
you won’t find any real desires
when the pan’s so hot ‘cause the Earth’s on fire
The trash can is way past its last dance
Just keep stress eating ‘til I buy new pants
I’m saying all of my shit is broken; I hate this,
feeling so prosaic and tasteless
I think I’m getting some sort of immunity
slinging subpar pizza in gated communities
Nobody’s got masks and they cough a bunch
onto the sad-sack carrying lunch
You might think
I’m making it up,
but I’m not
I don’t know how else I can say it
You might think
it’s waking me up
Well, I’m up! I’m up! I’m up! I’m UP!
I’m now 28, and in 28 years,
I have nothing to show but my glowing arrears,
betrothed to the tears that appear on my lap
when I think for a minute, then quit it and nap
I counted 14 mundane pains in the ass,
and 3 that in trinity never will pass
I pray to the mercy spirit
I swear that the neighbors can probably hear it
Sometimes I wanna let it out, but I can’t
The friends I have wanna see me do a dance
They wanna see a little miracle of perseverance,
but I’m trucking through a tunnel and I’ve got no clearance
So now, I’ve gotta keep up appearances
I know there’s a world torn up from eternal trauma,
from the course crosshairs of our human drama
In the library of life, I’m a comma
You might think
I’m making it up,
but I’m not
I don’t know how else I can say it
You might think
it’s waking me up
Well, I’m up! I’m up! I’m up! I’m UP!
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4. |
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You can’t find me anywhere; I’m hiding in the back
of a walk-in freezer; the panic has attacked
You’ll fire me from the grocery store, and I’ll overreact
I’m lying to my doctor,
refusing every offer
Misery, misery will find you in the end, in the end
Misery, misery will find you in the end, so don’t pretend that you can stay objective,
that you can live and let live
They’re watching us, friend
I can’t find you anywhere; it’s time for coming clean
I talk, you listen, and you hate that routine
But I’m far from alone in this, I’m somewhere in between
It’s gonna come and get ya
Your mom, your dad, et cetera
Misery, misery will find you in the end, in the end
Misery, misery will find you in the end; you condescend,
you’re shooting at a clay dove, we all know what you’re made of
They are not friends
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5. |
Dream Police 2
04:27
|
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Look up to the window! We’ve been tapping all night
You’ve held the world as a suspect; we’re here to tell you, you’re right
Focus up your eyes a bit; yes, you’re seeing us straight
We’ve been trying to reach you, hope it isn’t too late
You’ve always had really vivid dreams, you try to write them down
We’re begging you to swim across, but you wake up and drown
We’re gonna be more direct with you, looking for the quantum leap
Do you really want the waking life? Do you really think that this is sleep?
I don’t think it’s right, do you?
I don’t think it’s right for you to be so let down, so often, in the morning
Conditions are perfect, now we’re really on track
Wave out to the world you know; you can never go back
We’ve all been talking, too, we think you’ve got the stuff
You’re strong and perceptive and cool and creative, and you’ve never felt “enough”
I don’t think it’s right, do you?
I don’t think it’s right for you; come and ride with us, we’ll save your friends and family
Come and walk up the drawbridge, hold the chromium key
Your new home has your eyes all wide; you haven’t started to see
We all listen to the music too, we all have discerning ears
We’ve built you a space with the grandest piano, and I will be your engineer
Sit over here at the bench now, put your headphones on
Now we’ve got you all mic’d up, go on and play me a song
But something’s feeding back, you can only hear that sound
You’re turning around, you’re turning around, you’re turning around and I’m not standing there
The levers and doors, every tile on the floors, all the screens and the sound equipment
In fact, about everything past the partition is black as nonexistent
Soon you will go with them, and you already might’ve guessed:
It’s a lie, it’s a lie! Stop hitting yourself! It’s a lie, it’s a lie! Why are you kidding yourself?
Thought you were special? Thought you were too good for dinner? Now that is embarrassing
Exempt from the life you were given, you thought you were gunning for hero or heroine
Thought you’d be taken aside, told you could go home…
...there was never a home, there was never a home, it was never a home
I don’t think it’s right, do you?
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6. |
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Take the whole vibe that the Grinch had, add a little synth pad; that’s your scene
Numinous zephyr in the basement,
the bitterness is nascent, but you don’t know yet what I mean
You will brag about it in the morning, the data needs sorting; do that soon
You think your persona is cementing?
The Thelemites are renting out a conference room and bumping tunes
You’re walking so fast!
Do you know where you’re going?
Your moment passed, the spell is cast, you’re paralyzed, your yellow belly’s showing
The Great Old Ones, they are indifferent
You should be thinking, “Why am I acting any different, different?”
Every one of your footfalls, seeming like a good call at that time
You don’t see the strings on your ankles,
wrists, and your brain cells; you’re not the first word, but the rhyme
On a track at the airport, but you wouldn’t dare court thoughts like that
You’ve been running ‘round all the bases
What you need to face is, you will never hold the bat
You’re quitting every job; you think that you’re above it
You’re gonna send it back, I know you’re gonna send it back if you don’t love it
The Great Old Ones, they are indifferent
You should be thinking, “Why am I acting any different, different?”
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7. |
Conrad
02:23
|
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Taking out the trash out of his office, Conrad isn’t there
I could call him crass, call him a sophist; I don’t think that Conrad cares
You call me at dawn, tell me to “Come on!”; oh Conrad, hear my prayer:
Leave me alone, Conrad
I pick up a rag, I’m cleaning a toilet, Conrad, can you see?
Now I back away, something is buoyant; Conrad, why did you call me?
I guess I’m alright, the clock is gonna bite; oh Conrad, hear my plea:
Leave me alone, Conrad
It’s really funny that you’re calling,
I was just about to do the same
You can tell, can tell that I’m not well
I’ve been going through something
I don’t think you wanna know,
but if you do, I’ll tell the truth, I’ll tell the truth
Lying in my bed, speaking so softly; Conrad isn’t there
Sitting in my chair, drinking my coffee; I don’t think that Conrad cares
Regretting what I said, I go back to bed; oh Conrad, hear my prayer:
Leave me alone, Conrad
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8. |
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Small, looking dumb, you feel outnumbered in the clamor for crumbs
In a pile on the floor in an artless war, you suck your thumb
You’re a babe, you’re a foal: all survival, no control,
and you feel old
Smile, do a flip, do something interesting before they dip
You’ll be absolved of the bind, no sight, no mind... and a friendship slips
You were once beamed aboard, now you fell on a sword,
without reward
Ancillary in your story, you look better out of sight
You’re in a backseat every night, a backseat every night
Always stuck in purgatory, always barking with no bite
You’re in a backseat every night, a backseat every night
You thought life was fair!
You need a ride somewhere?
You were once called to come out of the cold
They sent you off with a secret; you went and told
You’re forgetting to pray, you eat 5 meals a day
You’re not okay
Ancillary in your story, you look better out of sight
You’re in a backseat every night, a backseat every night
Always stuck in purgatory, always barking with no bite
You’re in a backseat every night, a backseat every night
You thought life was fair!
You need a ride somewhere?
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9. |
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Try not to laugh
Try to keep a straight face
He fell on his ass, let the giggle fit pass
What is going on?
Why is he smiling?
A pleasure center touched, don’t pity too much, he is happy
You’ve caged up your heart
You wanna feel protected
You hold the controls for the sails of your soul,
but look to the left
He’s always surrendering
He bows and he gives for as long as he lives in your shadow
The pig that wants to be eaten
Don’t turn away, he said it’s okay
The puppy that don’t need no feedin’
Forget who you are, just let him starve
What is wrong? What is right? Just take a big bite
He will not be denied
The pig that wants to be eaten is waiting outside
The pig that wants to be eaten
Don’t turn away, he said it’s okay
The puppy that don’t need no feedin’
Forget who you are, just let him starve
What is wrong? What is right? Just take a big bite,
and ask him for more
The pig that wants to be eaten waits at your door
|
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10. |
||||
You’re doing it again
The sun is not enough
You’re talking like you don’t exist
You don’t wanna go out like this
In and out of love with light
You’re on a dreaming line
You don’t approve your own design
You’re parked on empty interstate,
wondering, “Will it detonate?”,
In and out of love with light, love with light
This isn’t you
but it sounds like you
And still, it doesn’t sound like you
Edit every interview
Pinch a phrenic nerve
The car that you’re imagining swerves
You’re coughing, but you want to cough,
sober, but you’re nodding off
In and out of love with light, love with light
This isn’t you
but it sounds like you
And still, it doesn’t sound like you
Edit every interview
|
||||
11. |
Conspiraboomer Suite
08:22
|
|||
I.
You haven’t been told to stop since the Millenium Ball dropped
If you’re a man, you look Cabinet-of-Caligari-type crazy, or off-duty cop with Oakleys on the back of your bald head
If you are a woman, you look very upset at your new favorite phenomenon, hair witch wiry and your brand new t-shirt on
One can be assured, there are no trans clansmen of QAnon
You grew up Cold War clammy; I’d imagine that the duck-and-cover collective stressed blessed your present mentality
White as Wonderbread, kept in a cultural bed, a whole tide pool that’s scared of the ocean
See a black human, and you stifle emotions
You might see a Muslim and cause a commotion
Floating levels of threat; you’re conspiratorially-minded, and the irony is, America designed it
9/11 made you red white and blue, then you found Alex Jones 4 years later on YouTube
You voted for Bush on a party line vibe
You didn’t vote in ‘08 due to knucklehead scribes
You’re not traditionally bright, but you get patterns
Algorithms fit your education while the Limbaugh station plays in your ‘01 Saturn
Fragments scatter
II.
Hate on your tongue
You’re a mess, you’re no fun
You think everybody’s got a hand on your wallet
or a plan to install their demands in your gullet
You bark and you bray
at engineers that you say
are the ones who will spray a delirium fog
Make you marry a dog; you are only a cog
in a fucking machine
Now your house isn’t clean
Now you’ve got a big truck with a bumper sticker
Like a power figure in a nuclear winter
Are you being drugged
by the White House thugs?
Are you just going to shut up and take it!
“No one’s home!
No one’s home!
And no, I don’t vote!
I didn’t get any rest,
let my browser attest
I was deep in a hole a blog is digging.”
How deep does it go?
“David Icke says so,
and Copernicus was always fibbing.”
A wellness check gets sent to your door
The police Wanna know what you’re staying in for
Are you good?
Can we go?
So they go
The pariah on the block, will you talk to your family now?
The messiah on the rock, will you talk to your family now?
III.
“Suddenly, doesn’t he look so good on the TV?
Suddenly, suddenly, I believe his voice could cover me
He doesn’t read, doesn’t read; he’s still covered in money
Money tree, cover me, let him do the work til they believe
Suddenly smothering every little punk on debate teams
Suddenly recovering, i don’t like the liberal daydream
Nobody will believe he will do anything
But I believe
Suddenly, it won’t seem so funny”
“He’s kidding! Kidding! Kidding!”
IV.
Four years later, you feel like a fool
You thought you built something; you were only a tool
It was empty, empty
Four years later, you feel like a fool
You thought it was a favor, but they’re calling you cruel
It was empty, empty
Empty is the dream that’s filled to the brim
with “Put her in jail!” and “Unmask him!”
You just press on, you don’t wanna eat crow
Now all of your babies feel left in the snow
Threat was empty, empty
Everybody’s begging you to put the glass down with Kool-Aid in it
You tell them you did it, but you really think they’re keeping a pitcher for themselves
You think you’re drinking from the well of the real world, drinking from the well of the real world
V.
When the spider egg sac breaks
you will find that your enemy lactates
You can drop your reptilian backaches
from bending over backwards,
trying to memorize your attack words
When the other shoe drops
you will feel embarrassed when you call cops
and you will try to hide til it all stops
The thought that you were lied to then forms
So much for the Big Storm
You are uninvited to dinner
now and forever
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||||
12. |
Getting the Blues
04:08
|
|||
“What was the purpose of your swim?”
In the ocean, in a test tube; either way, I don’t wanna be rescued
If I’m in it, I’ve never been innocent, “being” as the experiment
Man of letters gotta watch out knowing that the smallest bit of water’s gonna blot out the point
of why I plot out on the points on the axis I float
Lovecraft in aft, Carol Oates in the lifeboats
I can’t help but laugh when the bills come
I must be alive, otherwise they would not keep sending ‘em
Swaying back and forth, Foucalt’s Pendulum; fuck that, I keep way too
much junk science in my gut; I wave frantically, I yell, “Cut!”
Some think the glass is half empty, some half filled
I don’t like the glass, and I don’t know if I ever will
I’m always looking for exits; it’s the exegesis of a colicky baby
Anybody else suffering from cholera lately? From Hera to Hades in a black Mercedes on the
River Styx, twine on a board connecting myths,
King Arthur on a saucer with ancient glyphs written on the side; I beam with pride,
step back and observe this stupid piece of shit
I used to beg for cootie-catcher fortunes, prophecy without distortion, in my control,
to cover up a big hole in my paw; I thought I saw an owl, now I don’t know what I saw
I can’t even drive without panicking, backseat every night and saying “thank you”
way too quietly, petard of my own sobriety, of stupid piety
I should get the lead out, but I won’t let it
I get the blues, but I’m still not getting it
The heart wants blood, but I won’t let it
I get the blues, but I’m still not getting it right
If I see God, I’ll slip the bill to him
“What was the purpose of your swim?”
Imagine a kid, then yell at them, put a little trauma in their brand new brainstem
with a big blow to the back, big grownup attack, then go see if that contained them
All that deprivation of heart, all of the newly-broken parts,
all will live as a meta-dermal, tetra-thermal energy in their performance art
But it ends bad, pretends it doesn’t
They say they had a vision, but we tell ‘em that it wasn’t what it was
We think it’s the right thing to do when they think it’s an ark when we go to the zoo
Try to live with that confusion
The light’s dimming
Don’t ever ask why I go swimming
I should get the lead out, but I won’t let it
I get the blues, but I’m still not getting it
The heart wants blood, but I won’t let it
I get the blues, but I’m still not getting it right
I see Hermes hanging off the rim
“What was the purpose of your swim?”
I’d be lying if I told you that it wasn’t always on my mind
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13. |
"The Outsider"
07:04
|
|||
All wound up and all alone,
seeing hands on your shoulders in the mirror
The break of dawn with no clothes on
See a man getting older in the mirror
Creatures stirring, Shroud of Turin,
nothing made the image any clearer
You made a mistake
You went and turned the trauma into God again
You’re seeing little symbols where they’re not again
Don’t go playing with your shadow no more
Don’t go playing with your shadow no more
Up all night and all alone,
seeing hands on your shoulders in the mirror
The break of dawn with no clothes on
See a man getting older in the mirror
Creatures stirring, machinery whirring
If someone built an angel, draw them nearer
You made a mistake
You went and turned the trauma into God again
You’re seeing little symbols where they’re not again
Don’t go playing with your shadow no more
Don’t go playing with your shadow no more
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