“Wild Blue” from John Mayer’s album ‘Sob Rock’ out now: https://johnmayer.lnk.to/SobRock

Wild Blue (funk cover)

From Wikipedia: "Toss a Coin to Your Witcher" is an original song from the Netflix TV series The Witcher, composed by Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli with lyrics by Jenny Klein, and sung by Joey Batey (as Jaskier) in the second episode. It became a viral hit shortly after the series' release in late December 2019. The song was remixed by fans in YouTube videos and received new covers within days.

Toss A Coin To Your Witcher (funk synthwave cover)

Effigy
(music and lyrics © 2022 Bayard Russell)

Effigy you will never burn for me
I will put the witchcraft down
There is no more time to clown
Effigy you will never burn for me
I would burn the whole place down
But I am a new man now

I love you I need
The air that You breathe
And that’s what I thought
The lesson I taught
I planned my Revenge
And plotting Your end
But it was Pretend
Yeah it was Pretend

Thought I’d spend my whole
Life with you
Then in the end I felt
Spite for you
I’ve been hanging on to a 
Thread of you
But now I cut the cord
I’m dead to you

Crystals channeling my Anger
Put one in the chamber
Now you’re just a stranger danger
Fateful you should just be grateful
Pulled out all the staples
From the doll I made for you

Pins and needles I lobbed them like grenades
Gave the limp in your walk that you blame on middle age
Set the stage for paranoia, did I do that?
Watch out for any crack, any ladder, any cat
Every spell, every wand, every candle and athame
Every single tool destroying you is being put away
Your effigy, baby, is high on the shelf
Every pain that you feel, well you did it to yourself

Effigy

"Wilderness"
Music and lyrics (c)2023 Bayard Russell

I’m in the Wilderness
I’m in the Wilderness
I’m all alone out here
I’m all alone out here
I’m in the Wilderness
I’m in the Wilderness
I’m all alone out here
I’m all alone out here

It’s so Wild
To just do what I feel
But what I feel right now
Is that I want you here
It’s so Free
To be lost for a while
Want to find your smile
I want to find your smile

It’s so Beautiful
Walking out in the light
But I can hear the Wolves
When its late at night
I’m still Here
Technically on my Feet
But I still miss your Heart
And I still miss the Beat

I got cans of bread I got salt cured meat
I can last a whole month or at least a week
I got a tent in the back of this old rucksack
I can hear the birdcalls but I cannot speak
Will I ever come back
To this rusted out shack
On this one way track
Do we ever come back

Wilderness

"We Did it All for Love"
Music and lyrics (c)2023 Bayard Russell

You’re getting nearer to the autumn of your Summerstage
You never took an improv class so you can’t act your age
Your schoolyard buddies went and 86ed it out of here
The number’s dwindling but two’s enough to drink a beer

You’re not the center of the universe or your own bed
Your family tree is thinner than the hairs atop your head
You thought you’d be the one to change the world not dirty diapers
But you look back in laughter knowing why you paid the piper

Love we did it all for love
Love love love, we did it all for love

Your Katy Perry stole the cherry of your teenage dreams
To be replaced by Wells and Chase and small transaction fees
It’s hard to pray because your knees not what they used to be
It’s hard to stay the pony show’s not what you paid to see

You right the ship, you stiff the lip and face reality
This slow pandemic just sped up what is eventually
The lonely lives of old and wise who miss their young and foolish
Previous selves but fare thee well you know just why you do this

Love we did it all for love
Love love love, we did it all for love

Did It All For Love

A tribute to The Kinks "Strangers" - may this track bless all those who listen, you are never alone but always strange.  

For you metronome-heads out there, the song itself is rhythmically deceptive, it's mostly in 5/4 but shifts towards the end of choruses into 4/4. Haunting tune, like the witch decoration I took a pic of at a nearby mall!

Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One

Strangers

Strangers (The Kinks cover)

I wanted to see how Your Body Is a Wonderland sounded like in minor key. It hits different... I don't hate it!

Room for Squares

Your Body Is a Wonderland (in Minor, John Mayer cover)

Cover of Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine, except I switched into sevens to see what it would sound like. Mostly works! Didn't try to work out Slash's solo though.

Sweet Child O' Mine (In 7/8, Guns N' Roses cover)

Get Your Hands Up
Music & Lyrics (c) 2015 Bayard Russell

CHORUS
So get your hands up
And put them down
Come on just stand up
Drop to the ground
Let's all go crazy
Let's all be sane
Let's all be different
And stay the same

VERSE
You're giving me
terrible advice
You say something that sounds so sweet
Then something not so nice
I can't trust
What you say
You're certain what you think right now
But you'll go the other way

PRE-CHORUS
Say it's a new beginning
But then you never seem to change
Say you are leaving me
But then you never go away

VERSE
You're giving me terrible distress
Say you just need one more thing
Then say you need the rest
I don't know
What to give
Anxiety is killing me this
Is no way to live

BRIDGE
Believe in yourself
Gotta get way better!
Money doesn't matter
Gotta get that cheddar
Plan for the future
You only live once!
Drugs are bad
Legalize those blunts!
I'm popping my pill packs for longevity
And I'm Lowering my carbs But I need energy
Eating nothing but protein ketosis for me
I'm feeling so dizzy my mind's in a tizzy
Tried homeopathy don't trust my therapy
Don't know should I purchase an iMac or PC
Or Netflix or YouTube or Hulu or TV
Or crossfit or fitbit or Just accept my body
Do I go to Twitter for Insta company
Or Tinder for booty or Snapchat my Wii
Or delete my Facebook protect privacy
Or live in a hole in the ground eating berries
Better yet, just maybe, why don't we,
Sit down on the carpet slowly
Watch the world unfold and gently
close our eyes and just breathe freely

Get Your Hands Up

Brave Face - Music and lyrics (c) 2017 Bayard Russell

How do you stay strong
When change is taking so long
How do you stay strong
When the right is feeling so wrong
So I put on my brave face
Though my heart is in a bad place
How do I stay strong
When change is taking so long

What do you say
We only listen to our own voice
What do you choose
We only care about our own choice
I'm biting off my nails
Watch in disbelief at our epic fails
But take a look out there
You're still here
And I still care

What do you fight
Our leaders pay us no mind
What do you write
We only read the headline
I'm pulling out my hair
Asking myself why the world's not fair
But take a look out there
I'm still here
And you still care!

Change happens every day
Nothing stays the same
If we keep chipping away
Nothing set in stone
Just work it to the bone
You are not Alone

Come on let's stay strong
Change will come before long
Come on let's stay strong
Dancing to our fight songs
Put on your brave face
Your heart is in the right place
Come on let's stay strong
Change will come before long

Put on your brave face

Brave Face

Fomo
Music and lyrics (c)Dec 2017 Bayard Russell

I have no fear of missing out
Don’t really have a home
But I don’t need one
I just need a room in yours

And as the world is turning
And as the world is burning
And as the people fearing
What in the world is coming
But you still stay here

And I cannot say where this is going
But I am unafraid of not really knowing

I just won’t judge on how to feel
And there’s no place to find 
a deeper meaning
I just find my next meal

And while the crowd is betting
And consciously forgetting
And I am reminiscing
But also deep regretting
But I still stay here

I have no fear of missing out

FOMO

JUST GET BETTER
music and lyrics (C)Bayard Russell

If you really want to get hired
If you really want to shoot the moon
If you really want to get fired
Let me push you, let me squeeze you
Let me make you swoon

Just get better
Manage this, manage this
You need to get better

Do you wanna find out what you're made of
Do you wanna get put in your place
Do you wanna have yourself some breakfast
Have some egg on your face
How's it taste?

We're only worth as much
As revenue we touch

Just get better!

Just Get Better

Wake up in the morning already wired
Check outside my window if the world is still on fire
It’s my desire that we all feel safe again
Drag and swipe the panels feeling the news
Touch of red and yellow and a metric ton of blues
And that’s my cue to give up and phone a friend

These are just the things that cut us quick and make us slow
These are just the things that make us stay and make us go

Don’t know what to do my mind is blown
I’ve got information overload
Cause it’s typed it doesn’t make it so
I’ve got information overload
I just want to get us off
...This technology

Work through my depression starting to sink
Noticing the difference what I say and what I think
I want a drink that makes this all go away
Turn notifications off with the tube
Snooze my closest buddies Sorry if you think I’m rude
My attitude is I need my space today

(photo credit: Eric Pickersgill)

Information Overload

I Believe
Music and lyrics (C) Mar 2020 Bayard Russell

I believe I believe I believe in an empty fate
I believe I believe what you think is great is great
I believe I believe I believe there are no mistakes
But if you wait too long is it worth the wait

Endless choices you got
Endless voices you got
Endless options but
Time will never wait for you to choose

I believe I believe I believe in an endless mind
I believe I believe That the world gives endless signs
I believe I believe I believe you can’t rewind
You just might find you’re left behind

Slow day
I’ve been thinking bout my problems in my
Own way
Trying to come up with a plan but at my
Own pace
I’ve been cooking something big but I’m like
No way am I do it
Today
This hesitation got me facing my mortality
Only got so many years
Balancing so many fears
It appears need to take my eye to sky
Ask the birds why won’t you let me fly

I believe I believe I believe eventually
I believe I believe you will not wait for me

Going Through The Motions

Mar 22, 2020

I Believe

"Cloud City" music and lyrics (c) 2017 Bayard Russell
Michael Muller - guitar
Jason Lang - drums
Dave Florey - organ
Andrew Gilchrist-Scott - bass

Hey hey hey
Don't try to kick me off my cloud
I know you're feeling bad but hey hey hey
Don't try to kick me off my cloud
Don't try to kick me off
Get away get away get away get away

I had a good day and I can tell you had a bad day
And maybe I could try to help you
And make you feel like there's a new way
But I know you're gonna bring me down
And make me feel exactly like you do
Because you want the world to feel like you
You want the world to feel like you

I made a promise that I would focus on the good things
That I would take care of myself sometimes
That I would be a little stronger
But I feel like you're a wrecking ball
Who wants to tear down those around you
So I am feeling sorry for you
I'm feeling sorry for you

Something's pretty sad about the way you try to pick my flaws
Apart I know if I would let you start I would collapse inside your jaws
But now I know the way to go is just to never go at all
I know you're trying to stand up but I don't need to take the fall
So if you feel a little big by making me a little small
Then you can find another sucker cause it's time to heed the
Call to find another kind of way to face the day you know that
There's another way, there's another way, there's another way!

Cloud City

It's Fine
Music and lyrics © 2014 Bayard Russell

Just a lovely day
In the month of May
With the kids outside
9 to 5 work overtime
Just a lovely time
With the daily grind
But it's all okay
Work it up and drink it away

But it's fine it's fine
It's fine it's fine
It's fine
to me (kill me baby)
cause I'm happy with this
Lovely bliss
For now

Just some lovely fools
With their favorite rules
Not the game I chose
Play along like Dominoes
Had a lovely dream
bout a big machine
And it ate me up
Spit me out in a Dixie cup

Maybe we could go for a ride   (fossil fueled ride)
The countryside
Wind in my hair				
Nothing to care for
Spend my week days
Out in the sun   (ultraviolet sun)
Having some fun
Happy and free
What a fantasy-eeee

It's Fine

Social Robot's new album "Outreach Program" dropped April Fools, check out https://SocialRobot.HearNow.com “Brooklyn band Social Robot's sophomore album "Outreach Program" brings tapedeck 80s synthwave vibes as vocalist Bayard Russell sweetly skewers the attention economy and data overload” says Nagamag Magazine. "US outfit showcase their debut album with this smooth and sweeping pop-rock delight, with hints of The 1975", said Mystic Sons of Social Robot's debut album "The Botz Sessions."

Social Robot is the musical project of Bayard Russell.  Bayard grew up in the suburbs of Indiana, influenced equally by The Beatles and Ice Cube. Classically trained in piano from age four, he discovered the guitar in high school and his passion for pop music blossomed. He moved to NYC after graduating from Dartmouth College with a major in philosophy and a minor in music. He has previously written for and performed with the bands Karess, Clean Slate, Funkelstiltskin, The Very Nerve, Matt Jones Band, Negative Ken, The Botz, Mark from 3A, Blindfolds Five, and Atlantic Animals. He has a solo album "Selftitled" available on CD Baby and iTunes, about which Neufutur Magazine has said, "All that individuals need to do is stick the album in and be placed on clouds of indie rock that will float them along for the better part of an hour."

socialrobot

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