1. |
Trauma
04:31
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Trauma is as trauma does
The afflicting of innocent morons in the crooks of their guts
Trauma used to be passé
Now everybody’s talkin’ ’bout it in the expensive cafes
What once used to be a respectable, hushed-about malady
Is now the means by which the professional class determines salary
See, trauma itself comes in all sizes, shapes, and colors
But what’s true about all trauma is it commodifies the other
Freak out
Trauma forged into a glue
Caked on and crammed into every crack that makes us me and you
Trauma used as an excuse
Absolving ill-equipped baby men of all that they can’t do
All the party people now have got the syndrome
That tells them they do not belong and no one listens to ’em
The varying degrees of horrors that this lot has seen
Are stretched out thin like bubblegum and tacked onto the backs of seats
That line all institutions, from your college to your DMV
To office buildings far and wide, where corporate dweebs will moan and cry
Until they’re heard and seen by every HR-convert beauty queen
They’re patting backs and kissing ass
Buying Himalayan salt lamps
And sharing tools with other fools to educate them on the rules
Of how to get away with such a life that turns neurotics into narcissists
I don’t know much, but I know this:
You’ve tried so hard to define trauma, that oh God, I think it’s meaningless
Fuck!
Don’t let me catch you saying no to me
I’ve worked too hard on this to make it here, you see
I am in charge of my own tragedy
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2. |
Cat
02:05
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You are wiser than your cat years
And you’re over all your cat fears
Worn out all your cat ears
And you’ve cried all of your cat tears
You’re like a sphinx, old enough to drink
Old enough to know there’s more to you than what
Other people think
I don’t wanna jinx this moment that we’ve got
Permanent or not
You don’t run aground
For fear of missing out
Listen for that sound
Of you purring on the couch
You are wiser than your cat years
And you’re over all your cat fears
Worn out all your cat ears
And you’ve cried all of your cat tears
You’re such a tease, staring into me
Wondering what you see:
Suffering or peace?
You don’t run aground
For fear of missing out
Listen for that sound
Of you purring on the couch
You are wiser than your cat years
And you’re over all your cat fears
Worn out all your cat ears
And you’ve cried all of your cat tears
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3. |
Alternate Timeline
02:24
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Remember that one time we slipped into
That alternate timeline back in '22
We crashed through the guardrails and veered into
Some kind of wormhole that I guess we're still moving through
Might as well stay for the show
Well, we talked about it and got stuck between
It's either a grand illusion or some kind of dream
I think the conclusion is somewhere upstream
But we're moving fast and we don't have a paddle, it seems
I say we try for the shore
Well, we're so damn bored that we're burning the stage
And we're laying down the tracks for a bullet train
And we're all fired up, but we're trying in vain
To bridge the gap between the heart and the brain
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4. |
Put a Lid on It
03:22
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The widower is doing fine
But he's packed away the ashes of his wife
A total of three full urns, counting the dogs, in the closet tonight
But that's alright
"This room is full of death and dead space,"
He says as if it weren't the case
It's only been three full years since he called it a coup de "grace"
But that's OK
Just put a lid
Put a lid
Put a lid on it
Put a lid
Put a lid
Put a lid on it
Smoke 'em if you got 'em, they say
So he'll do it 'til his lungs turn to gray
Already lost three of his brothers and his mother and his father, to date
But he's OK
I think I'll try to talk to him tonight
Refer him to some quack who knows his psych
But what would that mean for a man of 61 in the '20s?
And me, I do my best, but I deflect by being funny
We've all got our ways of making heavens out of hells
Like when we're telling ourselves to just, well
Put a lid
Put a lid
Put a lid on it
Put a lid
Put a lid
Put a lid on it
Put a lid
Put a lid
Put a lid on it
Put a lid
Put a lid
Put a lid on it
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5. |
Standing Guard
04:14
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Well, all I want to do is trust someone
Enough to save a spot for two
Relieve some pressure from the mask I wear
Allow some life into these tubes
Well, all I want to do is burn these cards
Don't bother dealing out of hand
I can't remember why this game was fun
I can't remember where I am
Look around at all the little humans
Breaking each other's hearts
Satisfied to trade the chance to make it brighter
For the freedom to keep it dark
And maybe someday, Jesus or the aliens
Will save us from what we are
But in the meantime, I'll be here, standing guard
Well, all I want is equilibrium
I hate the concept of a chase
An evolution in the paradigm
Another way to interface
Well, I want to do is burn this bridge
And yet I know I never will
I want a world in which there are no walls
No reason for them to be built
Look around at all the little humans
Breaking each other's hearts
Satisfied to trade the chance to make it brighter
For the freedom to keep it dark
And maybe someday, Jesus or the aliens
Will save us from what we are
But in the meantime, I'll be here, standing guard
Yeah, look around at all the little humans
Breaking each other's hearts
Satisfied to trade the chance to make it brighter
For the freedom to keep it dark
And maybe someday, Jesus or the aliens
Will save us from what we are
But in the meantime, I'll be here, standing guard
Standing guard
Standing guard
Standing guard
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6. |
Boom and Bust (Spiders)
03:21
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Boom and bust
Make it bigger
Make it bigger 'til it's all grown up
And when it's all grown up
Make it bigger still
And what'll happen to us when the bubble busts?
No worries, because
There's a line out the door of fresh young recruits
And they ain't looking to fuss
Boom and bust
Make it bigger
Make it bigger 'til it's all grown up
And when it's all grown up
Make it bigger still
And what'll happen to us when the bubble busts?
No worries, because
There's a line out the door of fresh young recruits
And they ain't looking to fuss
Boom and bust
Boom and bust
Well, they tell me that my worst enemy should be me
And I should be what frightens me most
So if I had to be an animal, I think I'd be a spider
'Cause spiders really rattle my bones
If I was looking in the mirror and I thought I saw a spider
You know I'd disappear like a ghost
And if I stayed long enough, I'd still look like a ghost
Pale as the Ivory Coast
Well, arachnids and humans aren't so different, you know
We're both spinning webs wherever we go
And when we want to settle down
We just clear a little ground
And build the most extravagant homes
And then we sabotage the lives of everything that flies
We tie 'em up and don't let 'em go
And when they're too tired to fight
We come along in the night
And we eat 'em 'til there's nothing but bones
Well, I wish we could discover
That we could all be lovers
Survival's really all that we know
And I want to make love
Without the fear you might devour me whole
Well, arachnids and humans really like to get down
They multiply, and then they take over town
And when the maximum capacity's been pushed to its bounds
They pack their bags and wander around
And when they think they've found a spot to start a town of their own
They murder everything in the zone
And then they give birth to millions
From the tops of pavilions
And their children go wherever they're blown
And they build a dynasty of their own
Yeah, they build a dynasty of their own
Boom and bust
Make it bigger
Make it bigger 'til it's all grown up
And when it's all grown up
Make it bigger still
And what'll happen to us when the bubble busts?
No worries, because
There's a line out the door of fresh young recruits
And they ain't looking to fuss
Boom and bust
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7. |
Glenn's Last Day at Work
03:00
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It's Glenn's last day at the Lyndhurst Castle of Medieval Times
Past the ticket gate he'll herd his final gaggle of lords and ladies in line
His camera a-danglin'
From his neck down to his red cotton tights
He'll take our picture at the Lyndhurst Castle
While he's rolling his eyes
Glenn took a job aptitude test
Told him he's smarter than the rest
Glenn is an artist and a leader, so it seems
Tomorrow he'll start sending out CVs
In Mallrat Country where the kiddies are hungry for a feast and a show
Old Glenn makes pennies in his mid- to late-twenties snappin' photos by the velvet rope
His buddies are squires
And a few have been promoted to knight
While Glenn prints copies in the grand old lobby of the Medieval Times
I took a job aptitude test
Turns out they robbed me like all the rest
I was an artist and a leader in my dreams
Now I sit and talk into a screen
"If we all had healthcare," I tell my friends
"I'd take up clerkin' at the service station then"
No cares about money
No cares about clout
No longer performatively pledging loyalty to the crowd
On Glenn's first day at the new tech startup he's awash in the glow
Of a hundred fresh faces who will onboard and train him, and do all of this from home
He's packed up his lenses, now he's setting up his company phone
At 12:00 midnight at the Speedway off the turnpike I am working alone
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8. |
Smoke 'em if You Got 'em
02:57
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Smoke 'em if you got 'em
If not, it's not a problem
I'm reaching for the bottom
Only finding things that I'd forgotten
Forgot my name
Remembered that we're all the same
Forgot my friends
Remembered that I'm one of them
Forgot the fam
Remembered who I really am
Forgot my limitations
Remembered patience
Smoke 'em if you got 'em
If not, it's not a problem
I'm reaching for the bottom
Only finding things that I'd forgotten
Smoke 'em if you got 'em
If not, it's not a problem
I'm reaching for the bottom
Only finding things that I'd forgotten
Forgot the time
Remembered it's a state of mind
Forgot where I came from
Remembered where I'm going when I'm done
Forgot what I'd forgotten
I think my brain is rotten
From smoking too much pot
In my teens and early twenties
Wasn't something I invested much thought in
I'm thinking like a child
A cripple in the wild
I'm pissing off the party
And I'm throwing out my style
I'm putting on a dress
I'm cutting off my dreads
They're never gonna find a way to get inside my head
You tell me I'm confused
I think you've been abused
By all the shit you should be letting go
But you refuse
I'm running in the dark
I'm swimming with the sharks
I'm redefining sin 'cause all my arrows find their mark
Do what you gotta do
At the bottom of the bottle is you
And hey, there's me too
Cheers, there's a lot to be feared
If you choose to be through and done
That's true, and then some
I don't wanna be that guy
I don't wanna be this guy
I don't wanna be this high
Got a lot of history to rewrite
And the story's supposed to be done in the morning
Warning you it's full of plot holes and pot ash
Irrationally scattered like the remains of a pet that mattered
Flattered, you think I'd care for a cat of mine
Like a hat I might hold on my lap the whole damn flight
Thought you might like that
Self-deprecating and all
I will holler if I fall
And I'll pick up when you call
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9. |
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Fistful of sandalwood incense
Hair done up in a bun
Run through with a chopstick or two
Fine young yogini from uni
Answers first to Megumi
But born Megan Anna Rose Smith-McHugh
She'll pull out her guitar and she'll sing
She'll be half a step flat with her bra strap askew in a sling
When she lays out the cards
From which she'll gather information as so cosigned by the stars
She'll zap you with her LED ring light
Then ask you if you'd mind if she went on IG Live
Your session costs a good 50 big ones
But that's a pretty good deal if you consider she's real
Here comes the spell
Here comes the curse
She's putting hexes on your exes all while rifling through her purse
You wanna tell her
Just as you leave
"While this is quite the enterprise, you're not a witch, girl, you're just 23"
You're not a witch, you're 23
You're not a witch, you're 23
She may not be a witch
But she is most likely rich
At least by proxy
Her sense of magic is a fad
But she's the best you've ever had
So here's to that
You wanna tell her
Just as you leave
"While this is quite the enterprise, you're not a witch, girl, you're just 23"
You're not a witch, you're 23
You're not a witch, you're 23
You're not a witch, you're 23
You're not a witch, you're 23
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10. |
Little Black Box
03:49
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Dead town
Gets the Gacy treatment now
Creep teacher with a train set
And a happy hand's a shriner clown
Break down
On the shoulder of a thoroughfare
Made an episode of Jeopardy
'Cause of the shale formation there
When did I see violence coming down?
Were you with me? Was I with you?
As you brought me up, it toppled all down
Now I hand you the little black box and frown
Slow down
Whatchu running from now?
Heard you came up in a house fire
And you're toiling for the empire now
A shoutout
On the all-hands call will hold you now
Flip you over, burp you, swaddle you
And raise you as a Roman louse
When did I see violence coming down?
Were you with me? Was I with you?
As you brought me up, it toppled all down
Now I hand you the little black box and
When did I see violence coming down?
Were you with me? Was I with you?
As you brought me up, it toppled all down
Now I hand you the little black box and
Frown for no one
Bow to no one
Except for all the newspapers and GIF reacts of congresswomen
Live to chasten
Stay impatient
Your oversocialization's got you looping on a glitchy circuit
Know you're worth it
And you deserve it
And for dessert, we all burst into flame
When did you see violence coming down?
The planet's smoking and it just fell asleep
As we built it up, it toppled all down
Now the bomb robot will pry that little black box off of me
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11. |
What's With the Shotgun?
04:09
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When they come for you
And they come for me
Let's scroll way down to the bottom of our Twitters and hit delete
Because we can't see
From this crowded bus
What's up around the bend
But I bet there's a roadblock waiting for us
Well, I let myself get lazy
And you let yourself get a little crazy
Buckle your seatbelt, baby
Because we're going for a little ride
Well, you sure can't wear your hair like that
And when we time-travel back to audit your past, you'll recall this chat
So I'm thinking we might set up a purity test
Where the answers change just a little each day
Come and try your best
Well, what's with the shotgun, darling?
Is this the firing squad, no pardon?
What's with the sudden hard-on
For a world of only absolutes?
From some 64 inches worth of steel throat down
She lifts her practiced smile over the cheek pad
With all the secondhand grace of a fiddler dismounting her chin from the ebony rest
After fraying up her 24th caprice
This is an artist and a technician
A lord and a servant
The body politic and a body politicked
Into sickening repose, the proof of concept for our latest marble Wall Street fixture
The warrior, as she was once known, here finding respite in our eons-long standoff as the sun boils down and turns us all to tumors
She is a fat white vampire with a squirrelly tuft of purple fuzz atop her conk
And when she dispatches me to yesterday
She cackles sycophantically in chorus with a following she cannot see, or hear, or touch
Because reality holds her to this moment, or to the sofa
Slumped over like a rotting pear as she hunts for dopamine in a magnetic rectangle
And everyone makes money
Though the same poor fucks get groped and killed
As I, her latest clay pigeon, give myself to this shooter
Like a newborn chick to a factory floor blender
A selfless act of nourishing the machine that keeps her sporting
I let myself get lazy
And you let yourself get a little crazy
Buckle your seatbelt, baby
Because we're going for a little ride
What's with the shotgun, darling?
Is this the firing squad, no pardon?
What's with the sudden hard-on
For a world of only absolutes?
A world of only absolutes
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12. |
Sixth of July
06:34
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If you were me,
What is it you'd do?
A question that gets thrown around
Less often than it used to
Funny, don't you think
People try to pick
What it is that haunts them
And what they will forget
You died
On the sixth of July
The day after the day
I always called the worst day of all time
The cleanup of shrapnel on the fifth
Brings with it a sense of "Ignorance is bliss"
On the part of the pyros who have not yet lived through this
Or who have and who are better at fighting it
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