1. |
Cipher
05:24
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I'm just the cipher in your storyboard romance
ill-equipped for life and undefined
servant to this pompous labyrinthian drama
I'm only here to shove the storyline
if you need a lover or a stranger to stangle
my body is ready for your needs
deus ex machina or stuttering angel
tied up in the trunk of a limosine
my shadow has run
shadow has run
shadow has run away
my shadow has run
joysticks on the table of the lizard-faced boardroom
make dance and scream and bleed and moan
back alley president Beelzebub Jones
make me vanish, you need time alone
now I'm the laughing boy who leaps without looking
who cares if the fall leads to my death?
need a steady stream of debaucherous evenings
putting all my weary souls to rest
my shadow has run
shadow has run
shadow has run away
my shadow has run
I learned to love in pages long discarded
I learned to hate edits and change
in the dark and unaware
I crack that bell jar
and let in the air
let's etch our dreams on withered palms
turn the keyhole when voices calm
sell all those magic eightballs
nonsense staining the walls
my sylvia suicide doll
make me the villain in your low budget moments
make me complex, not black and white
divide the audience to love me and hate me
I'm putting all my faith in your tonight
my shadow has run
shadow has run
shadow has run away
my shadow has run
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2. |
Kid Narcissus
02:42
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the night is old
and you're feeling much younger
just counting cards
trying not to mouth the numbers
the coroner knocks on your door
but you never answer
the night is dead
and morning glory finally descends
why do you wait til all your glory days have passed
staring out from shattered mirrors and stained glass?
just relax some
it's not as dire outside your mind
the coffin shop closes
whether you choose to browse or buy
why do you wait til all your glory days have passed
staring out from shattered mirrors and stained glass?
with all the time to spend and waste
you tear the walls down a little bit too late
the night is young
and you've gotten much older
the coroner knocks on your door
won't you let him in like a friend?
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3. |
Helios on Holiday
04:23
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well the sun came down in silk pajamas
strolled through my town drinking and laughing
then the clouds rolled in
and my breath became thin and cold
I shake and wake to hammering rain
throw open the front door
start complaining
I see helios passed out in garbage by the side of the road
on a holiday
I gathered all those beautiful faces
for a huge soiree under a lazy sky
helios drinks my tequila
now he's face down in the kiddy pool
ultraviolet light brings bad behavior
under his heat I am charcoal flavored
I tie those chariot reins to his wrists
but he doth protest too much
he's on a holiday
helios get your ass back in gear
there are too many things to be done this year
the morning's too grey
the grass is too green
the fourth of july feels like halloween
I need the brutal fist of your solar waves
I want to court death in a heat stroke haze
tie me to the stake
let mosquitos take me
pray to the sun
crush me
crush me
crush me
on a holiday
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4. |
Chopper One
02:30
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chopper one
lost in the sun
chopper one, chopper one
where did you go
going west, going west
over the sea
if you crash, when you crash
swim back to me
I've made you a bed
tidy and warm
chopper one
lost in your head
chopper one, chopper one
raising the dead
going fast, going slow
buried in style
chopper one, chopper one
spinning your dials
I'm wearing your ring
I've shined up my shoes
I'll send you the news
the rooftops are alive
the dance is getting faster
the hills ask me when
the sun asks me why
I've long since forgotten to answer
chopper one
off course by miles
chopper one, chopper one
try not to smile
michelin man in town
can you get down
Castro and eighteenth
tonight
your lightly pressed footsteps
match my heartbeat
chopper one
it's best if you don't
disappear in a swift puff of smoke
at the swirl, thirty feet from
anchor bar door
I'll wait for you there
chopper one
the sound of the traffic
on solitary ears
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5. |
MxD2.1
03:24
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6. |
Pandemonium City
05:25
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the room was suffocating, I went out for some air
the winter was on life support but I didn't care a bit
I walked blindly through the trees
and stumbled into the abyss
well I fell into the city where they gave birth to cool
the people underground had finally tamed the blues
a mile below the surface
a perfect state of harmony
it was a rod serling cocktail
with an hg wells twist
the river was untainted by the gods and their piss
I couldn't find a crack
I couldn't find an unfriendly face
but even in this paradise I couldn't block out the creaking of my bones
in a multitude I found myself walking alone
on and on
on and on I heard them singing
you are unwanted in the underground
all you know will come undone
you are unwelcome in the underground
dry your tears and move along
they read my mind like a novel I forgot to destroy
my hidden thoughts were spread out like christmas toys
and the men turned to monsters
and gnashed their teeth at my tender flesh
a city hidden from the gods deep in the underworld mines
the heatmiser called the devil on the mainline
told him all about the sons of adam stealing their hellish charms
I heard him sing
you are unwanted in the underground
all you know will come undone
you are unwelcome in the underground
dry your tears and move along
they marched up through the streets a thousand soldiers wide
and they dashed the brains of each citizen on the buildingside
you can't know the secrets of the devil
and expect to survive
well, I stood there in horror, I couldn't cry or laugh
the general of the legion saw me ready to crack
he said, "when you meet your maker,
just remember who's got your back"
I heard him sing
you are unwanted in the underground
all you know will come undone
you are unwelcome in the underground
dry your tears and move along
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7. |
O.S_MFB
03:44
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ledora may birthed a bad magician
milk fever blues and mad statisticians
on sunday mornings no more war
between the patient and the proud
pantsuits and hellfire
sex workers, holy sisters
walk arm in arm with their matching blisters
leda cracks the swan king's neck
skirt of Cambridge in the breeze
there goes the neighborhood
here she comes, original slave
rose from her elysian grave
ophelia held her breath for five hundred years
compounding interest on the sum of your fears
here she comes, original slave
glitter crown, oh beauty behave
conquering the castle
and banishing the beast
make him the ottoman that props up your feet
she trickles through your rituals
makes you obsolete
throws your limp body over seneca falls
she hides outside her home
and strangles would-be kings
she got the fury
she don't need the balls
I know you are an animal
free from paternal lies
I want to feel the savage inside
got your own weights and measures memorized
never forgive the ones who wounded your pride
above my level
you wield the gavel
I'm penitent
I'm petulent
I'm a revival tent collapsing
I'm cracked obsidian
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8. |
Animaniac
04:28
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the smear in the sky appeared discretely to me
dead colors and blank space where the starlight should be
each step that I take advances the looping scenery
the line work of my cartoon hands defines me
tied up in three panels
flip the pages
flip the channel
watch me dance
the pencil marks are being erased in the minds of animaniacs
I watch all your pretty faces melt on the street
while babalu hunts down two long pigs to skin for the feast
lean over fat the paint starts to crack
have mercy on the animaniacs
reactions scripted
death as lessons
30 fps keeps you guessing
now you're steamboat willie trapped in neo tokyo
spill the water and you'll blot out the sun
as fictions copulate with the facts
in the beds of animaniacs
animaniac
animaniac
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9. |
Postscript
02:03
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after the berlin wall
the chain had swung open
but I couldn't move
after the berlin wall
I hear the high voltage
the blood thirsty mobs
I'm trying hard just to catch you, my dear
I keep leaving lines in the dust
I keep turning down those dark alleys
it's the wrong way, now I'm lost
I've been digging up the same dead man
I make him a marionette
I bash my head on the same wall again
it's the wrong way, now I'm lost
and I can't see the berlin wall
I can't find my way home if I'm not in chains
in front of the berlin wall
I know all my limits
I know to obey
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10. |
go to hell
03:38
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as you wave from the highlife
stand up tall and go to hell
if your breath catches fire
pack your bags and go to hell
the mirror shines from the violence
every time we go to hell
the ambiance of a riot
all the world can go to hell
behold the chalice of silence
stand up proud and go to hell
welcome arms of defiance
hold my hand and go to hell
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11. |
Kid Icarus
04:12
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such a pretty boy
sleep in my pretty arms
cause the streets are too loud
you'll be crushed by the crowd
a little bird caught out in the street
helpless
such a pretty boy
sing me your pretty song
if I freeze you in time
through euryale's eyes
will you sing the same song for me everyday?
what will be your space race
when the rockets turn to rust?
hold on to those illusions
keep blowing off the dust
then back and forth
from earth to sun to the moon
I'll watch you glide away from it all
just a pretty boy
locked in an ugly room
have I held you so long
that all the death squads have gone
fame and fortune turn to dirty words
with a hammer and steel
in a third act reveal
you are icarus rebuilding his wings
will I fall to my knees
as you rise from the ash
the question lingers on my lips
what will be your space race
when the rockets turn to rust?
hold on to those illusions
keep blowing off the dust
then back and forth
from earth to sun to the moon
I'll watch you glide across the sky
take me in your arms
don't let me fall
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Joshua McCormack Tucson, Arizona
From the odd acoustic pop of Joshua Mccormack Presents Holiday Girl , to the electronic-tinged rock of The Phantom King , to
the collection of sonic oddities on The Dunce Cap, he’s been restless for years.
His recent album Lights Out 4 Baby Grand, shows a more personal side, while The World, Just For You is a collection of cover songs he recorded to survive the dystopian ambivalence of 2020.
... more
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