From June 2006.

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From a day in August 2006 when I wrote and recorded 12 songs in 12 hours. Lyrics rewritten in January 2010 & recorded earlier today. Featuring the worst fretless bass performance in the history of recorded music.

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Stand tall when you take a shit
Because animals squat, animals sit
Drag a sack that’s cut and hit
As if the outside knows what the inside is
Shine a light down a steaming pit
A scavenger list that doesn’t exist
All available evidence fits
How we start as mud and now we end as this

Mixed up in a wall of bricks
It cements and sticks – a permanent fix
Mixed up in a wall of bricks
It cements and sticks – a permanent fix
Mixed up in a wall of bricks
It cements and sticks – a permanent fix
Mixed up in a wall of bricks
Does the outside know what the inside is?

Does the outside know what the inside is?
Does the outside know what the inside is?
Does the outside know what the inside is?
Does the outside know what the inside is?

Yet another song from June 2006.

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Stumbled into light
What did you find?
Guns and knives?

Pins and needle strikes
No good tonight
Go, goodbye

Too late

Here we are, the ruined races
Here we are, the ruined races
Here we are, the ruined races

I can’t see to hide
Am going blind
Or am blind

Swing the window wide
It’s wintertime
Holy night

Snow day

To feel it
To fold it
To take what lives inside it
To reason
Without knowing
To grow completely silent
So steal it
So hold it
So treasure and destroy it
Conceal it
Console it
There is no right way

Here we are, the ruined races
Here we are, the ruined races
Here we are, the ruined races
Here we are, the ruined races

Another late post; this was meant for 2/26. Very rough demo of a work in progress whose lyrics I’ve been messing with in fits and starts since October and will probably continue to mess with for some time to come. Honestly the whole sentiment behind the song seems kind of trite and obvious now, though at the time (fall 2009) it felt like something I needed to get off my chest, and now that I’ve started it I may as well try to finish it. (The original first line was “Why shouldn’t life be hard and awful?” so, um, at least I’ve improved it since then. I hope.) Sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom because it was, about half an hour ago. Only the best for you guys!

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Animals fighting, most of them failing
To stay alive
Making like I was safe and different
Not out there with them
Have I been up here on the wire
All this time?
What did I make of the voice that said “Don’t look down”
“Keep your head”
“Tell yourself everything’s fine”?
I just assumed it was addressing that other guy

I used to hide behind the picture
And move the paint with my mind
It was the greatest most utterly weightless
And I tried to stay there
Rushing to sew shut the hole, my hand slipped
And went inside
All of my soft wet parts on the bathroom floor
Drying out
Bathed in unflattering light
And this is the chorus that sings you to sleep tonight

Forget or remember – you live on a wire
Day and night
Forget or remember – you live on a wire
As do I
Forget or remember – you live on a wire
Day and night
Forget or remember – you live on a wire
As do I

Post #2 of the day. Originally written/recorded in June 2006, then remixed in 2009 with all-new lyrics.

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Say you’ll sing for me, you old alarms
Protect me from the things I want
Contain my love in walls and floors
Whatever else I say, ignore

Didn’t feel like sitting in front of a computer last night, so nothing was posted. I’ll do a double-post today to make up for it. Here’s #1.

Written and recorded in June 2006, using a sequencer loop I made way back in 2000.

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In parallel lines on the ridge
I chafe away my life carving things in
She says it may not be a legitimate job
She says it may not be a legitimate job

She’s right
She’s right
She’s right
She’s right

A finite amount: these are my days
I do what I can to make them the same
It’s my work – it’s my line
Some people say it’s just a way to kill time

And they’re right
And they’re right
And they’re right
And they’re right

Recorded June 2006. Re-edited sometime last year.

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Open-tuned guitars are fun to play; I’m not sure why this is the only song I’ve written on one. Also not sure why my singing sounds so mopey, or why I thought it’d be a good idea to drown it in echo. Another one for the I’ll Probably Re-Record It Someday file.

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Did something touch my face?
Of course it did
Is the outside rigged to fall away?
Of course it is
Will something grow in its place?
Of course it will
Am I walking away?
Of course I am

Rising through your shadow
Flying for a hundred years
Rising through your shadow
Flying for a hundred years

Will he come home again?
Well, yes and no
With a bag of bones and skin?
I suppose so
Will one last time do the trick?
I hope it will
Did he do all the things that they say he did?
I don’t know…I don’t know him

Rising through your shadow
Flying for a hundred years
Rising through your shadow
Flying for a hundred years

This is my 2/6 post, a few minutes late. Heavily post-produced guitar thingy from early 2006. Probably not finished yet.

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On a weekend in August 2006 I wrote and recorded 12 songs in 12 hours, just to see if I could do it. For this song I decided to just set up a single mic and record one take of myself improvising lyrics over a simple repeating guitar part. It’s a fun way to “write” songs; I don’t know why I don’t try to do it more often. (Yes I do: because most of the songs would be terrible.)

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I pressed a hot coal
Into the rocking horse’s eye
I pressed a hot coal
Up against the rocking horse’s eye
I lined up the birds’ nests
Everyone lost their sense of direction
I clapped my hands
Everything went according to my plan
Everything went according to my plan
Everything went according to plan
I walk down the road
Cars pass by
That’s okay
I’d rather they did
If only today

Hundreds of grim reapers
Have lost control
Hundreds of grim reapers
Have lost control
Again