this song Can't Look Past Ourselves is Sensational you deserve way more attention, im famous on social media my contact is in my background photo on here, reach out

The lead-off song on my brand new album, "Up Higher," this track reflects my commentary on the relevant challenges that we always seem to face in our society and the never ending plea of "why can't we be better?"

Listen to the whole album here: https://danbaileyak.bandcamp.com/album/up-higher

Or, stream the entire album at my music page: https://danbaileyphoto.com/music

Lyrics 

How can we keep our brothers 
From dying alone in the street 
We’ve always had the answer 
But we’re locked in a battle with greed 

Fighting for no man’s land in our trench 
Cause a truce would be worse than the blood and the stench 
We can’t seem to recognize heaven from hell 

How can we see what the future will bring 
How can we see what the future will bring 
How can we see what the future will bring 
If we can’t look past ourselves 

We light our own world on fire 
Then we’re surprised when it all starts to burn 
Striking the same matches again and again 
You think that we’d all start to learn 

Following fools who make us dig our own graves 
Falling for lies and expecting a change 
And we all wonder why it never ends well 

How can we see what the future will bring 
How can we see what the future will bring 
How can we see what the future will bring 
If we can’t look past ourselves 

Sometimes it seems like kindness 
Is becoming a fading antique 
In a world that's consumed by fire 
We’d rather yell at each other than think 

It’s no surprise that’s were in such a mess 
Where this all leads is anyone’s guess 
We’ll never get by til we put all our fears on the shelf 

How can we see what the future will bring 
How can we see what the future will bring 
How can we see what the future will bring 
If we can’t look past ourselves 

What if we all stood together 
Helping each other succeed 
Above all all else, trying to be good, 
where do you think that would lead 

Closing our eyes is not an excuse 
And yelling is only verbal abuse 
We’ll never get by until we put our fears on the shelf 

How can we see what the future will bring 
How can we see what the future will bring 
How can we see what the future will bring 
If we can’t look past ourselves

Up Higher

Can't Look Past Ourselves

Buzzsaw

End of Level

Phoning It In

Some folks make hasty decisions
They live their life on the go
I can’t be bothered to give a damn bout anything and
Some people say I’m a pro

You’re busy climbing the ladder
I’m busy lying in bed
It doesn’t matter if anybody calls me names and
I’m gonna fuck off instead

Because

We’re gonna phone it in
We’re gonna phone it in
We’re gonna phone it in
We’re gonna phone it in
Don’t care just phone it in
Get bored just phone it in
We’re gonna phone it in

You busy yourself with fashion
I busy myself with fun
I’m busy painting these mini metal skeletons and
You say I’m dressed like a bum

You say that you’ve got a passion 
About what you’ve gotta do
You say you can’t wait to buckle down and start your day and
I’m less excited than you

Because

We’re gonna phone it in
We’re gonna phone it in
We’re gonna phone it in
We’re gonna phone it in
Don’t care just phone it in
Get bored just phone it in
We’re gonna phone it in

We are the ones
The ones who never give a damn
We are the ones
Without even a basic plan
Out in the sun
We are the ones enjoying it
You work too hard
I quit
I quit
I quit
I quit and

I’m tired of people complaining
My best is not good enough
I’m only doing the minimum to get me through and
If you don’t like it then tough

Because

We’re gonna phone it in
We’re gonna phone it in
We’re gonna phone it in
We’re gonna phone it in
Want pizza phone it in
Hate work just phone it in
We’re gonna phone it in

We’re gonna phone it in
We’re gonna phone it in
We’re gonna phone it in
----
Phoning It In. I’ve always loved the phrase and I was just inspired to write a song with it. To keep in spirit with the title of the song, I made sure not to try too hard on any one element. I wrote the riff quickly, wrote the lyrics quickly, we got the guitar sound quickly, and there was no overthinking or really changing anything. My only complaint about it is that I think it is a little too fast, so it forces me to sing harder to keep up, and it doesn’t fully sound like I’m phoning in the vocals. So I thought about slowing it down and delivering a more laid back vocal take. Just ever so slightly. I played the guitar, sang, No bass yet. Doug programmed the drums. Every once in a while we will have someone play drums on the songs, but usually only when we are finishing something for release. Otherwise, all the drums in the demos are programmed by Doug, and I think he does a really good job of making them sound kind of real and natural. I get attached to them. All of Hesitant Alien started as demos with programmed drums by Doug. He and I have a cool relationship, and have evolved together over the years since he engineered Black Parade, Danger Days, and engineered and produced Hesitant Alien. We work in the same space, the studio at my house, called Milk Friends. I just let him have the space I’m not using and he brought in all of his gear and works on various projects, recording, and mixes, and I would be in the other room, the office, writing comics. And every so often, when neither of us is too busy, we record things. I like sharing artistic spaces with people, especially Doug. It’s nice to have a friend that can record you when you have an idea, because I’m terrible at recording and I barely even know how to use Garage Band. So all the singles you have gotten from me over the last couple of years have been done with Doug and I, and then various musicians who would replace certain things, making them real, and sound better.

Distraction Or Despair

Phoning It In (2) VOC

I'm definitely not in the same league as Eddie Van Halen but I'll just say that this song is a bit of a tribute to him. I was messing around with an EVH inspired effects patch and this song just started to come together quickly.

I was already halfway to Van Halen so I wanted to go further. I picked up the EZ Drummer 2 Classic Rock Expansion Pack and tried to match Alex's drums using the Amber kit that's part of that Expansion pack. It's actually pretty close since the cymbals and snare are the same brand/models that Alex used during the VH I/II/Fair Warning era. I used an isolated Mean Streets drum track audio to tweak the snare's pitch so that I got it close. I wish the hi hats were better but that's a limitation of using EZ Drummer vs Superior Drummer.

Anyways, 'nuff said. Thanks to Eddie for all decades of great music. RIP.

Can't Look Past Ourselves

Dan Bailey AK

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