song 2 of a 31 day song writing challenge

Listen up, all you / Sons and daughters
Better beware of / Neptune's waters

Cause he's just like his brother / Who turned into a swan
The water's full of dolphins / Just gettin it on

So come on down now, / down to the waters
But you better watch out for old / Neptune's daughters

Cause they're cute and spunky / and they're born from a shell
But they'll turn like the tide / and you never can tell

Listen up, all you / Sons and daughters
Better beware of / Neptune's waters

Cause he's armed with a trident / and it's sharp as a tack
And if he doesn't like you / it's a shark in the back

So come on now, / All you sons and daughters
Better watch out for old / Neptune's waters

God of the rainy sky and / God of the river
God of the firewater / down in your liver
God of the wet dream / And therefore the horse
God of the falling / teardrops of course

Listen up, all you / Sons and daughters
Better be careful down in / Neptune's waters

Cause he's mean like a sailor / and cursed like a drunk
And he'd sooner drown your ass / than deal with a punk

So come on now, / All you sons and daughters
Better watch out for old / Neptune's waters

Neptune's Waters (demo)

You thought you had control
Ingrained in their DNA
But you didn't know
That life won't be contained
It crashes through barriers
Nature finds a way

Life is chaos
Anything at all can and does happen
Non-linear equations
And strange attractions

So preoccupied with 
Whether or not they could
That they didn't stop
To think if they should
The lack of humility before nature
That's being displayed here, uh... 
Staggers me
Staggers me

God help us / We're in the hands of engineers
Things are a little bit different / Than you and I had feared
They're a lot worse

God creates dinosaurs
God destroys dinosaurs
God creates man
Man destroys God
Man creates dinosaurs
Dinosaurs eat man
Woman inherits the earth

Do you think she saurus?
She's, uh... tenacious

Ingrained In DNA (demo version)

With fanfare the circus rolls into / Town
Raise the stands / And whitewash the clowns
Roust-a-bouts working heave / Ho
The big top / Hoisted for the / Show

Barkers enthrall the rubes coming from / Miles
The strongman and bearded lady / draw smiles
Diamond lights glinting on every / face
Peanuts for donkeys and elephants, lined up to / Race

But up on the highwire / There came a whistling sound
Show girls dance / Drawing eyes back to the ground
As star spangled bombs  / Fall thundering down
Jesters running in circles / Fall tumbling down

"Step right up, ladies and gents. We welcome / You"
As the ringmaster laughs / Sad clowns fake a boo hoo
Juggling bears add to the amazing / Tableau
But up on the trapeze / Here comes the star of the show

We all fall for it / wonderment keen in our eyes
Eating our popcorn and candy / In mirth and surprise
In love with the spactacle / The lights, the barkers' call
The show must go on / Until the last curtain falls

Tomorrow the tents are struck / The parade winds down
Cleaning the animal gagess / And greasepaint from the clowns
But this is not the last / Card to be played
When the circus returns / We'll all be certain to pay

Whitewash The Clowns

Ingrained in DNA (live)

You thought you had control 
Ingrained in their DNA 
But you didn't know 
That life won't be contained 
It crashes through barriers 
Nature finds a way 

Ingrained In DNA

This is an older cover/demo I did for the Kate Bush song "Deeper Understanding." I was going to include it on an album a few years ago and never did.

Deeper Understanding (Kate Bush cover)

remix of "Vaporize the Sun" from 2014's Hardest of Hearts

Vaporize The Sun - Remix

A song about how propaganda changes how we view history, using old John Wayne movies as an example (although this applies to anywhere). 

Growing up watching all the cowboys
Home, home on the screen!
    All these pilgrims on a holy run
    That’s how the west was spun
What of everyone     caught in between?

Growing up yearning to be a cowboy
Wagon trains circled up at night
   Trouble comin with a loud war cry
   Guns a-blazing and arrows fly
No one wants to say   what started the fight

John Wayne never did save the day
Hollywood fantasy is a neon sign
  It’s just that old refrain
  three cheers it’s back again
…we still toe that bloody line—-

We were taught to worry for the cowboys 
Home, home on the screen!
   Atrocities in the morning light, 
    Hidden from the public sight
… always falling back     on that old refrain

John Wayne never once saved the day 
It’s always us or them, now choose your side
  If we claim that they hit first, 
   it’s self defense and we do our worst,
…  please don’t call it ________ 

John Wayne never did save the day
Hollywood fantasy is a neon sign
 John Wayne never did save the day
Hollywood fantasy is a neon sign

How The West Was Spun

About the economic disparity of the current system, and how its only a matter of time before the larger population driven by frustration always rises up in a push for equality.

Let's play a game
Just you and I
Pretend that nothing's the same
In the blink of an eye

Send the cream to the top
Overturn the soil
Burn all the crops
Set the pot to a boil

A turn of the trick
A stir of the stew
Oh, it's making me sick
How's by you?
Say we're all at fault
Every deed we do
Spin closed the vault
Tighten the screws...

.... It's turning out all right
It's turning out all right...

Despite these blurred lines
That ruin my sight
When you say
That you can't get by

Don Paris Schlotman - guitar and vocals
Tim Lavigne - bass
Alex Cohen - drums
Danny Campbell - piano
Kunal Singh - sax

words and music - Don Paris Schlotman

Revolver (Live NYC 2024)

Every time the world spins round
Darkness always comes, comes my friend
All those moments lost are found
Everything must come to an end
Even though it gets me down
And it always brings me down
I ain’t gonna break from the weight
I ain’t gonna break from the weight of the world

When the time comes
And it always comes, comes my friend
All those moments shared are bound
Bound to come to an end
Even though it gets me down
And it always brings me down
Ain’t gonna break from the weight
I ain’t gonna break from the weight of the world

Recorded at Rockwood Music Hall NYC, 10/30/2024

Don Paris Schlotman - guitar and vocals
Tim Lavigne - bass
Alex Cohen - drums
Danny Campbell - piano
Kunal Singh - sax

words and music - Don Paris Schlotman

Weight Of The World (Live)

This is a sneak preview of a new studio recording of Revolver with the band. It's not done. 

We're working on a whole album which should be out this year unless society collapses, in which case it will be next year. The basic tracks (drums, bass, and guitar) for this and other tracks were recorded simultaneously, live in studio. I love the result. 

The song is about the economic disparity of the current system, and how its only a matter of time before the larger population driven by frustration always rises up in a push for equality.

Let's play a game
Just you and I
Pretend that nothing's the same
In the blink of an eye

Send the cream to the top
Overturn the soil
Burn all the crops
Set the pot to a boil

A turn of the trick
A stir of the stew
Oh, it's making me sick
How's by you?
Say we're all at fault
Every deed we do
Spin closed the vault
Tighten the screws...

.... It's turning out all right
It's turning out all right...

Despite these blurred lines
That ruin my sight
When you say
That you can't get by

Don Paris Schlotman - guitar, vocals, synth
Tim Lavigne - bass
Alex Cohen - drums
Daniel Imada - engineer

Revolver (preview)

Thought we would be alright
But it just wasn’t true 
Ain’t true
Hard to see the side that's bright
When they're killing you	 
Me and you

Tried to make the future  bright 		
But they couldn't take it
And it's looking like 				
Now we may have to break it

They own the stations and the papers and the sites	 
 - not telling you what’s true
Making money hand over fist on our decline
 - what’s stopping me and you?	
They’ll never wear our shoes

The Claims Adjuster didn’t act alone, 
He was reppin’ me and you
 - it’s true!
Moss grows green  on the	family 	stones, 
don’t get confused 
 - by the fake news

Tried to make the future bright	
But we couldn't take it
And it's looking like			
Now we may have to break it
We are the source of power	 in all our lives 	    
We just can’t lose
Together we’re the source of power 	
In all our lives
We just can’t lose

Thought that we would have a voice
They got me 	fighting you
it’s true
Rowing together in a sinking choice
United we stand
We just can’t lose

Fake News

Reworked this one.

From such heights
Sink into miasma
Born from the night
Work in plasma
The eye of my paranoia
Beamed from a tiny screen
Made to control ya
Slave to the god machine

Stacking left and right
Up to the ceiling
From wounded pride
Pathetic feelings
Enrich the bottom line
Shed blood for glory
Profit is divine
In this data quarry

We can see you laughin’ now 
Pretty soon you’ll change your story
All will be crying out in this Televised Vainglory

Buy yourself a new self
Wrapped up for the plasma
Visions of future wealth
Freedom phantasma
The eye of my tiny screen
Selling paranoia
Slave to the god machine
Likes to control ya

Bodies left and right
Reaching to the ceiling
No time to step outside
Forgotten feelings
We grow the bottom line
Holy in its glory
Profit is divine
Sacrifice is gory!

We can see you laughin’ now 
Pretty soon you’ll change your story
Everyone will 	know your lies 	
Everyone will see through the disguise
You can keep tryin to hide behind your 	
Televised Vainglory

Televised Vainglory

Let's play a game 
Just you and I 
Pretend that nothing's the same 
In the blink of an eye 

Send the cream to the top 
Overturn the soil 
Burn all the crops 
Let's put the pot to a boil 

A turn of the trick 
A stir of the stew 
It's making me sick 
How's by you? 

Say we're all at fault 
Every deed we do 
So spin closed the vaults 
And tighten the screw 

It's turning out all right 
It's turning out all right 
Despite these blurred lines 
That ruin my sight 
When you say 
That you can't get by

Revolver

Inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky's1972 film Solyaris (Солярис) which was based on Stanisław Lem's 1961 novel of the same title. 

The ebb and flow 
Of the ebon sea
Is this apparition really you
Or is it part of me?
Seeking a remedy
For immortality

And it's already invaded my soul
Invaded my soul

The common coin
To purchase things
The leveler
Of shepherds and kings  
But the fool is wise to certain things
Sleep is death for human beings

And it's already invaded my soul
It's already invaded my soul
 
For I have lost the ability to sleep
Where I have no fear, or hope or troubled bliss
We don't need new worlds to keep 
We just need a mirror, love's entangled kiss 
You’re not the one I love 
And you’re not a human being

I can feel as deep as anything
Understand as deep as anything
I am just a simulation, oh I may be
But I am becoming a human being
I am becoming a human being  
I am becoming a human being  


Don Paris Schlotman - guitar, vocals, synth/piano
Tim Lavigne - bass
Alex Cohen - drums

Engineered by Daniel Imana 
Lyrics & Composition by Don Paris Schlotman

https://megahertzdonut.com

Solyaris

ウサギの都市

地下で産まれて
ウサギの都市で
ドアーが叩かれたら
音を立てないで、ないで、ないで
大捕物いつも
ウサギの都市を
見つけ出して
堪忍袋の尾が切れた、切れた！

心臓はウサギの
制御が難しいよ！
誰もそれを突き刺し、掴み、掴み、穴から引き抜きたがる
うう! う-う！

大潮の引いて
兎の心で
月明かりお陰で
魂に脈を打ち、叩き, 叩き!
昼も 夜も ずっと に
ウサギの 都市 に
この感じ神々しい！	
堪忍袋の尾が切れた、切れた！切れた！

心臓はウサギの
制御が難しいよ！
誰もそれを突き刺し、掴み、掴み、穴から引き抜きたがる
うう! う-う！

地下で産まれて
ウサギの都市で
ドアーが叩かれたら
音を立てないで、ないで、ないで！
大捕物いつも！
ウサギの都市を
それが見つけ出して
堪忍袋の尾が切れた、切れた！
切れた、切れた、切れた！切れた、切れた、切れた！

(Born underground
In this city of rabbits
Don't make a sound
When there's a knock on the door
Oh oh! oh oh!
There’s always a shakedown
In this city of rabbits
This is what I found
We can't take it no more! 
No more! No more! No more!

The heart of a rabbit…
So hard to control
They just wanna stab it, grab it... grab it.... 
Pull you out of your hole! 
Oooo! Oooo!

The ebb of the springtide
In the heart of a rabbit
The sway of the moonlight…
Beats a pulse in your soul! 
Oh, oh! Oh oh!
All day into nighttime 
In this city of rabbits
A feeling so sublime
We can’t take it no more! 
No more! No More! No more!

The heart of a rabbit…
So hard to control
They just wanna stab it, grab it... grab it.... 
Pull you out of your hole! 
Oooo! Oooo!

Born underground
In this city of rabbits
Don't make a sound
When there's a knock on the door
Oh oh! oh oh!
There’s always a shakedown
In this city of rabbits
This is what I found
We can't take it no more! 
No more! No more! No more!
No more! No more! No more!)

ウサギの都市 (Usagi No Toshi - City Of Rabbits)

Every time
The world spins round
Darkness always comes
Comes, my friend
All those moments lost are found
Everything must come to an end
Even though it gets me down
And it always brings me down
Ain’t gonna break 
From the weight
I ain’t gonna break 
From the weight of the world
I ain’t gonna break 
From the weight of the world

When the time ….
...the time comes
And it always comes,
Comes my friend
All these moments shared are bound
Bound to come to an end
Even though it gets me down
And it always brings me down
Always brings me down
I ain't gonna break
From the weight of the world
I ain’t gonna break 
From the weight
....weight

The world spins 'round
Darkness always comes!

Even though it gets me down
And it always brings me down
Ain't gonna break
From the weight
Ain't gonna break
From the weight

Darkness always comes.... my friend

Guitar, synth, vocals - DPS
Drums - Alex Cohen
Bass - Tim Lavigne 
Sax - Greg Rushton

Recorded & Engineered by Daniel Imana in Brooklyn, NY
Lyrics & Composition, Production, and animation video by Don Paris Schlotman

©2025 Don Paris Schlotman, Megahertz Donut, Erroebot Music, ASCAP 

Available on Bandcamp 12/12/25
https://megahertz-donut.bandcamp.com/track/weight-of-the-world-5

Weight Of The World

Sometimes solo, sometimes with a band, I try to approach rock and roll with a jazz mentality where each show is different.

Also do recording and live bass sessions for others, paint and design album covers and other rock merch and paraphernalia. 

I used to play bass for Toshio; guitar and sing for wavegaze trio Dolphins Don't Love; play synth and bass in Brian Bonz & The Major Crimes. 
Co-founder bass/synth/vocals of now-defunct post-apocalyptic rock band The Sky Captains of Industry

Megahertz Donut

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks