Who’s been sifting through garbage out in the street? 
Who’s been spiking my bong rips with THC? 
out of all that I have come to know, it was probably me  

Who’s been serving me coffee when I need tea? 
Who’s been lifting my eyelids when I need sleep? 
out of all the friends that I have known, it was probably me  

who’s been making up wars then, when I need peace? 
‘Cause when they call their lawyers, I call to the trees… 
who’s taking a picture that I’ll never see 
how long will it sit there in your imagery? 
out of all the Luke Sweeney’s I know, only one of them’s me.  

Who’s been spending my money on gasoline? 
Then thinking it’s funny, but don’t know what I mean? 
Out of all the stories I’ve been told, 
The missed connections and the UFO’s 
Out of all that I have come to know 
It was probably me  

(it was probably)

-
written & performed by Luke Sweeney
produced by Robin MacMillan
engineered by Joe Santarpia, Roberto Pagano & Robin MacMillan
mixed by Robin MacMillan

Novel Tea

Probably Me

Doesn’t anybody get high anymore?
It’s a little lonely here at the top…
Pushers don’t hang ‘round, they go door to door
and they’re the only friends I’ve got
Whatever became of the Sunset Grill?
Is the number on the back of a dollar bill?

Oh hey, oh baby, what can I say?
When the royalties waiting to be paid…

We’ve got daytime events 
to spell our lives, subsidize our rents
when shit gets hard… so hard…

Neighbor’s monkey’s aunt wants to be a star,
Her tugging at the carpet won’t stop…
once she’s pushed enough it’s just gone too far,
and no one can remember the plot
Somebody please bring me a souvenir,
From the looks of it I’m playin’ too cavalier 

Oh hey, oh baby, what can I say?
when the royalty’s waiting to get paid?
One day oh baby, we’ll get it made
when the royalty’s making our lemonade…

We’ve got sports teams and beers
to numb our lives throughout the years
‘cuz shit gets hard… hard… hard… so hard.

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Young Kids

Burn'n Ambition

“Some songs I write quickly without really thinking at all—and this is one of them,” says Bay Area psych popsmith Luke Sweeney. “There’s no right-brain interference between my stream of consciousness and the page.”

About as unfiltered as it gets, “The Mercy Mile” was written in a single night by lamplight, with passing trains as the only distraction. It’s the latest single from Novel Tea, Sweeney’s fifth full-length, available Friday via Yours Unruly Unlimited. With roots in San Francisco’s garage-rock scene of the 2010s, Sweeney earned high marks for 2022’s Rishi, funneling his grief over the loss of a baby daughter into a mesmerizing panacea of synth washes, jazzy textures and Eastern influences acquired during his travels in India. “The Mercy Mile” leans more toward the nimble, warmly nostalgic ’70s-inspired craftsmanship of previous releases.

“It contains images, observations and feelings from two lives—my dream life and my waking life,” says Sweeney. “They intertwine in a ghost-like dance that hopefully leaves the room with a new light and a little bit of inspiration to live unedited: raw, emotional, honest and free.”

—Hobart Rowland, MAGNET Magazine

The Mercy Mile

Marigold Sneaking Off to China

Ruby

15  Flowertown - “Clara Bow”

“Sum’r Nights” is a campfire anthem for restless souls, blending folk and French pop to send heartfelt notes across the universe like a message in a bottle, cast out to sea from my sandy legs to yours. I hope it lingers in listeners’ ears long after the final chords fade—like the last light of summer slipping below the horizon—and maybe even sparks some spirited sing-alongs for years to come.  This is the clean version of the song, which will appear again later this year as the closer to the ‘Novel Tea’ LP, out August 29 on Future Gods.

Sum'r Nights (Radio Edit)

luke drops by the garden to share some tracks off his up coming album called novel tea

luke sweeney 5-21-25

“Sum’r Nights” is a campfire anthem for restless souls, blending folk and French pop to send heartfelt notes across the universe like a message in a bottle, cast out to sea from my sandy legs to yours. I hope it lingers in your ears long after the final chords fade—like the last light of summer slipping below the horizon— and maybe it'll even sparks some spirited sing-alongs for years to come.  This is the clean version of the song, which will appear again later this year as the closer to the ‘Novel Tea’ LP, out August 29 on Future Gods.

Ruby

Yea-Ming and The Rumours