I’m You

My Name Sounds Sinister

Hello I am the person singing this song
And if you think that might be you well you might not be wrong
Trying out new points of view
Just like we used to do
Hello I am the person singing the song

Good luck if there is such a thing as good luck
And if doesn’t hurt to say it, then say it until you’re struck
By all the fortunes gold and soul
And pass it forward as you grow old
Good luck if there is such a thing as good luck

Don’t quit, it only makes your enemies glad
They’d celebrate your decision, then feast on what you had
The rolling hills of lifer-arcs reflect the light from distant stars
Don’t quit, it only makes your enemies glad

Hello I am the person singing this song
And if you need some more specifics
You might be taking this wrong
The push and pull of love and hate
Has stripped away my name today
Hello I am the person singing this song

Every time you say my name
Every time you say my name
Every time you say my name
It sounds sinister

Folk Music Is Insane

it started with contraband
wandering
the poet blinked twice
she can see
the deepest impossible sea
and we’re walking together
singing the songs of
some SOB stuck in a dream
with a dancer
and a praying monster
don’t you know
there’s a killer on the road?

Slam cut to present day
America
there’s weirdness in the woods
i’m alone
and I can’t stop looking at my phone
now we’re cheering on assassins
adjusting our glasses
pretending that a verse would set us free
or a bad joke
or a single helix
it’s all the same to a ghost with a guitar

folk music is insane
folk music is insane

we’re back in a different time
who knows where
i’ve been here before
hear those chimes
of the brand names washed out with the tide
and you’re better than ever
your mood like the weather
is overcast with a chance of regret
prepared piano
and tape loops
and the rarest of b-sides have absolutely ruined my life

folk music is insane
folk music is insane
folk music is insane
folk music is insane

it’s something to behold
but it’s out of reach
and you can’t explain
you’ll never get close
folk music is insane

I know it’s not nostalgia
won’t you meet me in the parlor
we can’t escape forever
and there’s something in the water
folk music is insane

Running Hot with Fate

Trisha went to Washington and lit up like a Christmas Tree
Adrian got busted but he‘s always been a friend to me
well i‘m fine, but i‘m not ok
Sarah saw a shooting star but kindly gave her wish away
we‘re running hot with fate

Alice wasn‘t kidding when she said she saw a UFO
Elliot was ripping up his letters out in the snow
well i‘m fine, but i‘m not ok
Nathan‘s finally floating and it happened in the USA
we‘re running hot with fate

Dori’s finally being who she always knew he was inside
It’s hard here without Jay but his memory stays by her side
well i‘m fine, but i‘m not ok
if you think you’re at you’re limit just remember what some folks survive
we‘re running hot with fate

Jamie’s back in rehab & this time he says it ain’t no joke
Zadie said she’d leave him if he ever goes back to dope
well i‘m fine, but i‘m not ok
Met a fortune teller who told me it would turn out this way
we‘re running hot with fate

I’m running hot with it
And you’re avoiding it
We’re both arguing which one attracted it

Can u carve a new world
From some old clay?
I keep waking up surprised I get another day

Is this free will
Or is it destiny?
It doesn’t matter who the fuck’s in charge of me

we‘re running hot with fate
[hot fate! Hot fate!]

(I don’t believe in it / but I’m running hot with it)

hot fate

Born to Blow It

You’d think I’d be a doctor by now
With all this self medicating
You’d think I was an x-ray machine
With everything that I been radiating

But I wasn’t born to blow it
But I wasn’t born to blow it

You’d think I was a master magician
The way that I keep disappearing
You’d think I was a bellboy
For all this baggage that I’m bringing

But I wasn’t born to blow it
I’m my own great destroyer

You’d think I was a prisoner
With all these bars that I walked into
You’d think I was the king james bible
With all this bullshit I been slinging

I wasn’t born to blow it
Don’t have a steady employer
I’m not a doctor or lawyer
I’m my own great destroyer

Honey, You’d think I was an astronaut
How I been acting so spacey
You’d think that I was a diplomat
With all the conflict I aint been facing
But I can picture a time and place
Where I can defeat this defeating side of me
And bury him out in the plains where the wind blows so wicked and wild

Can’t seem to get it together
Feel like I’m becomin’ untethered
And I’m not trying to annoy ya
but here’s comes the spoiler
I’m just my own great destroyer

Transparent Chart of the Heavens

Transparent chart of the heavens
I see your beauty so bare
Transparent chart of the heavens
How you do you get those sunspots, black hole, comets
Out of your hair?

Indexed map of new England
I trace your borders with care
Indexed map of new England
How do you push those lighthouse beacon ray beams
Out through the air?

Anthology of American folk songs
I’m overwhelmed by your weight
Anthology of American folk songs
How do you keep those banjo murder love tales
From becoming your fate?

Nostalgic dream of an old love
Bringing comfort then waves of regret
Nostalgic dream of an old love
How do you come to access feelings once felt
Without getting caught in its net?

Venn diagram of two people
The overlap expanding now
Venn diagram of two people
Can you be sure that I’m me, you’re you
And not the other way around?

Once you’re born that’s where it starts
Once you’re born that’s where it starts

Cuz even inside forever, can’t you feel time running out?
You know we’ve been here forever, so let’s go home

Cuz there’s a weird reassessment coming down on top of us

People Keep Dying (And No One Can Stop It)

By the light of a pinball machine
In the suburban houses that I dream
In hospitals and hospices
In the darkest god damn hearts you’ve ever met

I am exported
To another dimension

People keep dying and no one can stop it
People keep dying and no one can stop it
People keep dying and no one can stop it
People keep dying and no one can stop it
Their souls break free of their bodies
We etch their full name on a stone

Ahhhhh
Ohhhhhh

They shoulda sent a poet if they don’t wanna blow it
Well honey this time they did

Ahhhhh
Ohhhhhh

In my car on route 128
In the offices were I negotiate my fate
In the pages of these books I’ll never read
In the corners of a song nobody needs

I am exported
To another dimension
People keep dying and no one can stop it
People keep dying and no one can stop it
People keep dying and no one can stop it
People keep dying and no one can stop it

Are you there god? it’s me.
Are you there god? it’s me, you.

It Still Floors Me

I just now started to take my own advice
I know you sent the message over twice
this is the way the old gods entice

it still floors me
it still floors me

Sometimes I did drugs I found on the floor
kept the search on point evermore
pounding out words on a door

it still floors me
it still floors me

when you solve the mystery you become one yourself
as you sink into everyone else
you ask, “is this how it feels to be you?”

it still floors me
it still floors me

confused by classics / mistaken for miracles
I was trying to read myself my rights
I was trying to embrace endless nights

it still floors me
it still floors me
it still floors me
it still floors me

time travel is real
but there’s a price you pay
I came back to check out
the places you stayed

there’s something in the water that’s driving us out of minds
this only counts if I stay alive
I know that Karen’s on our side

it still floors me
it still floors me

you’re only harmless when you’re asleep
and darling you’re never asleep
and darling you’re never asleep
and darling you’re never asleep

it still floors me
break light / all night / try to go out of your mind
it still floors me
somebody nobody knew: that’s me
it still floors me

I’m You

I’m gonna spend the rest of my life telling this story ain’t I?
Where’s my stability asked the man actively driving himself into a ditch
Am I crazy or is the world really organized this way?
Sometimes it’s hard to know precisely who you really are

Play your own music for the end of episode montage you run out in your head
Show what you’re doing / show what she’s doing / show what we’re doing
They are both deep in thought wondering “what if”
So roll the end credits, don’t forget to thank the dolly grip

Change your name / Cut off your hair / but stick to the plan
I know there’s no guarantees, even Bob Dylan lost his dream girl
This is our story / this is how we go here
You can put your hands on the brick and inhale slowly and ask yourself
Who am I?
Who am I?
Who am I?

Nostalgia flooded the room like milk poured over religious figurines
I didn’t share this simile with my therapist worried she’d get worried and write something down
But then again who’s to say anyone can say something + alter the timeline
I’m just sick of pretending
That I don’t believe what I believe

We know the dangers of one person using another person as a muse
But surely there can’t be nothing wrong if it goes both ways
Like lightning bolts bouncing between two consciousnesses trapped in jars
I called it “Dual Muses” and walked down to the corner store

Rock n Roll improved my chemistry
And prog rock got me out of bed
And punk rock made me hate the government
Then heavy metal became my friend
And R n B let me dance with you
And Zydeco seemed like a strange dream
And hip hop made me trust the universe
And psych rock pushed me past the point
But the one thing they all taught me is…

I’m you
Don’t freak out
I’m you

I Went Through Hell (But Now I'm Back [From Hell])

Ok pop quiz
What I’m trying to ask you is
“how am i like a summer storm?”

You say what’s that mean?
And I squirm and shift my shoes
I say, “I got a soul and I’m gonna use it”

I point to my foot
And say “here’s where my body ends.
Is that a useful thing to say?”

And when you reply no
I can’t think of another place to go
So I say it again but point to my hand

We’re avoiding truth
Like two detectives who refuse to search & sleuth
Afraid what we’ll find behind locked doors

The side effects were worse
Losing you had me running towards the hearse
Askin’ could you drop me off just down the street?

I was first in line
For the Solipsistic Sad Guy Seminar
But inside it just turned out to be another bar

I ordered whiskey neat
Fifty thousand times in the summer heat
And figured this is how I’ll defeat my victories

We couldn’t say goodbye
So we practiced every weekend til we died
And even then it didn’t seem quite right

I couldn’t play them blues
or any genre that could fix ol’ me & you
so I was about to start a song that never ends

But inside the bridge I found a note I left to myself
Saying, “don’t forget to love yourself
And don’t forget to come back from hell
And don’t forget to end the song.”

I went through hell
But now I’m back from hell
Hi, hello how are you?
Hi, hello how are you?
Hi, hello how are you?
Hi, hello how are you?

The Memory Tree

This all happens outside the space continuum
You’re alive in Phoenix wondering what we did to ‘em
You hear what happened to me?
I was pronounced lost at sea
But in truth I’m just hiding out won’t u come look for me?

I was a sleeper agent before you woke me up
Playing classic tapes for some gurus we rounded up
But when I got in the room
I wasn’t sure what to do
The domestic zones I was used to
Didn’t prep me for you

Can you make a memory?
Without choppin’ down the memory tree?

And it’s a transaction, sure
But don’t it sometimes feel like it’s something more?

I found a timeshare in the unified field
I lived there with you until forever got peeled
The neighborhood filled with ghosts
Was more spooky than most
With The undead department of dreams and our immaculate hosts

I’m finally a poet but you know that don’t matter now
Here comes a siren to review them wedding vows
I may appear rapt with fear
But Don’t you dare disappear
When the going gets tougher than nails you know I’ll always be there