Upbeat

Borrowed Time

Of all the Muse I play this is one of my favorite songs to play... It carries a significant amount of gravity, for me, anyway. 

Falling Away With You (Cover)

I realized, whilst peeling a kiwi today, that I don't even know for certain that kiwis come from trees. I wrote the rest of this song while I ate the kiwi. 
Also, I want the next album to have at least one track that is actually fully recreatable in a live setting—so here 'tis!
Written, Performed, and Recorded by Jonathan Hodges

Lyrics:

Have you ever seen the kiwi tree?
Well neither have I. 
But Wouldn't you like to eat one with me? 
We can certainly try...

If he wasn't a tool before he said "I do.” 
He certainly will be afterwards—as they all do.
If it weren't for secretaries 
where would our step mothers be?

If you tune out the mosquitoes 
they will suck your blood 
more silently.

But what do you know? 
But what do you know?
Not very much... 

I finally found a kiwi tree
Turns out their fur isn't for eating...
Our death was knowledge free... sweeter ends are meeting.

If I could die any slower I’d have to  blame you. 
Like a feral mange that perches on a yorkie... "you're cute!" Isn't helping. 

Are these few fruit properly rottening? 
They should sit a little bit longer…

The tallest blade of grass ought to be cut first. 

The blades have just been sharpened. 
The blades have just been sharpened. 
The Blades have just been sharpened. 


Every drop thinks it caused the flood alone...
But the clouds couldn't care less 

But what do you know? 
But what do you know? 
Not very much.

Intimatitudes

The Kiwi Tree

After a great deal of contemplation, with several of the most gifted minds I know, I've decided that my upcoming album 'Intimatitudes' ought not to end on the dreary tones of 'Merried'. Though my characteristically morose musings are certainly contained here as well, this song surely adds a necessary amount of exposure to the hope that I now look towards at the end of the wholly naked, and excruciating task that 'Intimatitudes' has now become. Hume be damned, I'll hope for the sun, even in the face of all of this——I'd just prefer to enjoy it from inside.

Written, performed, and recorded by Bomethius.
Featuring performance by Vivian Hodges.

Lyrics: 
My little ray of sunshine
You greet me in the morning time
The shape of your love is all through my vision
And it preys on my heart’s inclination

To move forward 
And not look backward
Our momentum will carry me away
At least for the rest of today

I'm glad for a few moments together
And beside me, you could reign forever 
This darkness is so lonesome                          
And I've seen all I'll need from
Today

Unto our arms we'll flounder
And sink above the laughter
Our hearts might take a beating
With the silver of our lies finally meeting

Today Today
Today 

I've had enough of the blinds and curtains
So cut them down and burn them
Crack the songs of birds wide open

Introduce your home to something new
Introduce your soul to something true
Introduce your home to the few
Introduce your soul to someone true

Hope Springs Internal

Hope Springs Internal (Feat. Vivian Hodges)

This track is dedicated to my good friend Travis Carroll.

On an especially fantastic evening this week, this melody occurred to me. It's been driving me crayzee, so I recorded it and here it is. I may still make some adjustments to certain lyrics... But at least, have a peek at the coming direction for Bomethius. Not everything is a rainy day—but without rainy days we'd get bored of the sun for sure.  

Written, Performed, Recorded, and Mastered by Bomethius
Photograph by Joseph Bates
Lyrics:
As roses a long line of blue
They smile indiscreetly up at you

The soul of the day in reward        
You’re all that’s left so please keep from getting bored. 

As roses a long line of red
They’ve fed off everything that’s failed that's dead.

And now all the dreams that you’ve fled, 
We’ll find another one in your bed.

So close your precious eyes little one
And seek comfort in the darkness, when you’ve done.

The flame burns from blue then to red
Now rest in the warmth restored 
Of what’s been read. 

As roses a long line of death
So cast out all the demons in your breadth 

The lame and the weak will implore
But you must please just keep from getting bored. 

Please just keep from getting bored.
Please just keep from getting bored.

*instrumental* 

As roses in their last waking bloom
Have flowered with a pluck of that finite loom
And friends to your side you recall
Whom will catch you at the first sign of fall?

As Roses

I'm quite excited to share this demo off of the coming album. 

Written and recorded by Jonathan Hodges
Trumpet performance by Christopher Stubblefield 

Lyrics:
  
Twisting and twirling 
The bounding and swirling 
Is strides ahead of
The life I had planned
And furthers its span 
In the nonsense of living
Where everyday is for giving.

And a winter’s chill reminds us
As roses dormant close
Let's please just stay composed
While we reap what's been sown

The fireplace crackles that we’re forgiven,     
As the kettle said to the stove.              
Its whistle is ringing  
in ears that heard singing
Once not so long ago
      
And though we’re alone, 
our hearts are still pining 
For that we which we can never know.

A Winter's Chill

A Winter's Chill (Feat. Christopher Stubblefield)

Here's a single off of the forthcoming album. I'd love to hear what you think of it!

No. 3 or 5

Petrified Putrefaction

Two nights after devastating tornados tore through his hometown of Dallas, Texas, Bomethius wrote and recorded his latest single. A sincere folk ballad with a simple, repetitive structure recalling the early releases of Paul Simon and Leonard Cohen, “Tornados in Dallas” captures the city’s atmosphere of fear, opening with the lines: “Death was knocking on our door / To remind us that he’s waiting.” However, it also celebrates the mystery and power of disasters, which destroy lives even as they bind people together. Bomethius recorded the single in a hallway inside South Side on Lamar, an historic Dallas landmark.

Lyrics:
Death was knocking on our door
To remind us that he’s waiting
Wailing through the sirens
Whistling down the alleys

These riddles in the dark
As all the trees fall in the parks
Lightning's running through the clouds
Tornados in Dallas are touching down

To spend a perfect day together
But end it so far apart
You left these lives scattered and bound
Tornados in Dallas are touching down

The summer’s turned to frosted roses
And the petals still born to fall
Lord come down as something common
Make thin spots of us all

Make the ordinary sacred
In this laughter and the songs
Reveal some light in this darkness
Help us just to get along

Help us just to get along

Tornados in Dallas (Single)

Tornados In Dallas - Live

Lyrics:
By a pool reclining
Just our friends, you and me
But it’s so far away
I’m overcome thinking
Goodbye Covid19

We thought you’d play the piano
And they that I would hold a violin
Just when I think we know the answer
Then it looks like goodbye, cried covid19

Grandpa this is serious
Please cancel your flight
This isn’t the flu, and no it’s not cancer
Let’s not say goodbye because of covid19

The parks are all closed
No matter we’ll be married where we are
Everything’s looming around the corner
But we won’t say goodbye, Covid-19

We’ll meet again soon
I can’t say when or where
But when we do, I’ll hug you a bit longer
And we won’t say goodbye because of Covid-19

Goodbye Covid - 19

Lyrics:
When the traffic all turned red
And someone was most certainly dead
We all stopped just to catch a glimpse
Of the one who startled our trance

We ignored you alive
But now we want a view
Just some little clue
Of what’s waiting Around the bend
I have a feeling
It might look like you

When the sirens come for you Will you feel like
The other victims do
When the sirens come for you Will you feel like
The other victims too

Everyone’s hurting all the same
But those on the street are more plain
Suicides and smiles but life remains
A pain that can’t be tamed

We ignored you alive
But now we want a view
Just some little clue
Of what’s waiting
Around the bend
I have a feeling
It might look like you

When the sirens come for you Will you feel like
The other victims do
When the sirens come for you Will you feel like
The other victims too

Performers:
Jonathan Hodges: Electric Guitar, Vocals, Piano
Luke Blase: Electric Guitar Solo
Jeff Tullis: Bass
Matt Shaw: Drums

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Bomethius is the lo-fi baroque pop alias of Jonathan Hodges, a Dallas-based composer and multi-instrumentalist. Mostly self-taught, Hodges handles the guitar and piano with skill but truly excels with the violin, an instrument he started playing at age 3. A former protégé of violinists Chee-Yun Kim, Alexander Serafimov, and Ivan Ženatý, he studies with Diane Kitzman at Southern Methodist University, where he is a member of the Meadows Symphony Orchestra.

Bomethius

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