Platonic Best Friend

30 Plan

Lyrics:

Toeing a trench
In the mulch between
Your patch and mine
I stubbed myself on a treacherous thistle
And I cried out
If it were merely
A matter of a stray thorny bristle
A barrier screen could be laid
And I wouldn't miss you

We could go the distance
Were there more disease resistance
On your part
Nothing lasts forever
When you never
Let it start

Every day I pass this way
I expect to find you
Waiting for me
Beneath the branches
Of the buckeye tree
Waving a palmetto frond
Siphoning orange juice
With a barber pole-ish wand

Red horsechestnut?
Clever disguise
I, of course, guessed, but
Said you'd never naturalize

Species zag as seasons zig
Tough to keep plants in one place
Any chance they get, they diaspore
Or else transmutate
Traipsing looping garden paths
Chasing floodplain Tupelo
Tracing roots to Ponderosa
Tangling with a Strangler fig

Now in an old growth Bald-cypress stand
Knees locked in the strand swamp
Black- and yellow-crowned Night Herons
Abound in colonies
Conferring on me collective memory
My eyelids flutter
Orbits fill with water
Hemlock in my hammock
Limbs thrash, I spit and sputter
Alligator drags me under
Into the solution hole

To protect me from
Elements of fantasy
That thrive in shady reality
To offer respite from
The demands of gardening
To show me
Trees are just the fruit
Of an even bigger tree


Credits:

Produced by Josh Frigo
Co-produced by Stephan Nance
Stephan Nance - keyboard, vocals, backing vocals
Josh Frigo - banjo, guitar, backing vocals
Mathias Kunzli - percussion, drums
Josh Plotner - flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, bass clarinet
Yoed Nir- violin, viola, cello
Percussion arrangement by Mathias Kunzli
String arrangement by Yoed Nir
Strings recorded at Yoed Nir's Studios
Woodwinds arrangement by Josh Plotner
Woodwinds recorded at Josh Plotner's Studios
Lead vocals engineered by Adam Sweeney at Opal Recording Studio in Portland, Oregon
Vocal coaching by Nevada Jones and Adam Sweeney
Mixed by Josh Frigo
Mastered by Alex Dobbert
Artwork by Rebecca DeMoss
Graphic design by Chad Lowe

Arboretum

I Wanna Take You Home (2025 remaster)

"Searchlight", Only Son's second LP,  was released in 2011 and features guest appearances by Regina Spektor, Kishi Bashi, and members of The Strokes and Little Joy.

Call Them Brothers (featuring Regina Spektor)

Eleisha Eagle - The Quittin' Kind (Bass)

Hey, Runner! - The Arcadian Wild

Creature Of The Night - Air Traffic Controller

Melancholy Astronautic Man

Toddler With a Slingshot (Hell Yep), By Bug Hunter. This is the 3rd song on their 3rd album, Bigger Than Myself

You pay me to exaggerate, I think I've done enough
of turning bummers into heartaches and crushes into love
Sometimes our lives are mild, our stories: just okay
I'll set your expectations in the middle when I say: "Hell yep"
A hell yep

And knock me down a peg
when I wanna be a big shot
I'm just a toddler
with a slingshot

For example:
I got cornered by a salesman at a farmers market booth
selling cheap ceramic bowls meant for dogs to eat their food
I haggle like a master, I showed them how I do
I didn't want one, but I got a deal for two

Hell yep
I don't have a regret
Or a dog

Knock me down a peg
when I wanna be a big shot
I'm just a toddler with a slingshot

Don't have the strength
Don't have the aim
I'm building up my motor skills and everything's a game
You say I'm harmless (you're probably right)
But nothing is more trouble than a toddler going quiet
Keep an eye on me, keep your eye, keep your eye on me

... and knock me down a peg when I wanna be a big shot
I'm just a toddler with a slingshot

I asked for half your candy bar
you raised it in the air
and split it down the middle
made a perfect little pair
You smiled like a sweetheart
my hand extended out
You winked at me and popped
both of the pieces in your mouth

Hell nope

That one's a hell nope… no mercy with a Hershey ‘fore she

Knocked me down a peg
when I wanna be a big shot
I'm just a toddler with a slingshot

Don't have the strength
Don't have the aim
I'm building my my motor skills
and everything's a game
You say I'm harmless (so did Goliath)
But nothing is more trouble
than a toddler going quiet
Keep an eye on me
Keep your eye, keep your eye
and watch me well
or I'll raise a little hell

... a hell yep

They asked me for a catch phrase
I didn't miss a step
If their story's kind of boring
you can tell 'em: "Hell Yep," Hell Yep!

Knock me down a peg
when I wanna be a big shot
and I will kick it up the next notch

And if I work, put in the labor,
blood, sweat, call in every favor
Eat my veggies, say my prayers,
push myself to be a danger…

... I'll be a preteen with a Taser

Bigger Than Myself

Toddler With a Slingshot (Hell Yep)

Safe Word, By Bug Hunter. This is the 1st song on their 3rd album, Bigger Than Myself

A broken clock's right twice a day
but mine spins in reverse and may
have doubled odds and better luck
Now it's twice as good as worthless junk

My heart's as healthy as a horse
but my hard hat's lookin' hardly worn
That other steel toed boot'll drop
but I don't know when, or how to stop

I wish I had a secret code
to signal me to take it slow
I need a sin like calculus
'cos my limit does, in fact, exist!

So slow down, focus, do yoga poses and
learn to love the lull and just breathe...
Breathe… breathe…

Alright I'm good!

I think I'm smiling and nodding, but surveillance cameras caught me laugh maniacally 
headbutting every obstacle, I've got to turn it off... and pick back up when I am calm
Even with an invitation, boy, you gotta learn to knock (Oh knock it off!)
... And do me one favor: Remember the safe word

I get that passion motivates
and crashes down like ocean waves
but tunnel vision's toxic man,
you're not John Henry, take a breath

That might sound harsh when you are used
to head rubs, praise, and sugar cubes
I just hate to see you racing towards
behaviors that we shouldn't reward

So slow down, focus, do yoga poses and
learn to love the lull and just
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. (Alright!)

I think I'm smiling and nodding,
blending in and getting on
but no, I haven't fooled the cameras
in my camel camouflage
I'll take it off!

...and I won't spit on anyone
Even with an invitation, boy,
you gotta learn to knock
(Oh knock it off!)
And do me one favor:
Remember the safe word

And I have no construction crew
to build this introduction tune but it's sound and under budget, too...
The chords work, the beat works, the verse and melody works
and these words, they each work, have purpose versus knee-jerk
Safety first, let's be sure our neon PPE works
Now the only thing that needs work is the last bit of the bridge!

I think I'm smiling and nodding, mild-mannered, nodding off
It's just my neck is getting tired, so much nonsense to hold up
Just take a pause... but don't give up the dream
If they change the locks behind you, you can find another key
and hope a smile and a nod's the only signal they have seen
You're no machine but there's no shame
in blowing off a little steam, so hear me knock!
Hear me hammer, hear me yell
and don't knock it 'till you've tried it,
tried to knock or tried the bell (Ah, let me in!)
The trip has been paid for and you have a way forth
so don't waste the day or delay it for later

But do me one favor: Remember the safe word