I Can Be Nice - Vol 1

The Note
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

[instrumental]

[verse]
It is just what you think
It is my message, a final kiss
No need to worry
Or take the blame
I don't feel pain or any shame
It is just what it is

[verse]
I don't want to stick around
And see everything go bad
I won't be feeling any better
I won't be moving any faster
I won't write a great new song
And bit by bit and day by day
all my systems 
will go wrong

[verse]
I don't have any complaints
Not for you, but some for me
Things were always pretty good
Always shelter, always food
I cared about you all, 
You did well, I'm satisfied
Now its time for the last call
And its for me to take the fall

And its for me to take the fall

[verse]
I could have done a little better
I could have tried a little harder
You can blame me if you missed out
Or if I wasn't always there
Don't you think I did not care
I did so then and I do now
Sometimes I am a little unaware
Get caught up in my own thing
But that's me, 
I take the blame

[verse]
It is just what you think
It is my message, a final kiss
No need to worry
Or take the blame
I don't feel pain or any shame
It is just what it is

[instrumental]

mea culpa, 
mea culpa,
mea maxima culpa

mea culpa, 
mea culpa,
mea maxima culpa

But that's me, I take the blame


mea culpa, 
mea culpa,
mea maxima culpa

mea culpa, 
mea culpa,
mea maxima culpa

But that's me, I take the blame


mea culpa, 
mea culpa,
mea maxima culpa

mea culpa, 
mea culpa,
mea maxima culpa

mea culpa, 
mea culpa,
mea maxima culpa

[outro]

The Note (same note)

The Silence in the Static
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[instrumental]

A signal deep under the ice
and the silence in the static
These are always the same story
To decode them will take magic

I think I hear a sound
Some say you're still around
But it could be only static
You never will be found

The static hides the silence
The noise drowns out my senses
But buried in the spectra
Is only empty silence

Any sound would give me hope
Any sound would be a rope
I would stretch and try to reach it
I would think I hear speech

But can you hear silence?
I'm thinking that I can
But buried in the static
There's only silence
only silence

[instrumental]

But can you hear silence?
I'm thinking that I can
But buried in the static
There's only silence
only silence

only silence

only silence

[outro]

Claude says:
This is a haunting meditation on loss, hope, and the human tendency to search for meaning in emptiness.
The lyrics explore the paradox of listening for something—or someone—who isn't there. The central metaphor of "silence in the static" is particularly effective: static is noise, yet the speaker recognizes that beneath all that interference lies only absence. This captures how grief and longing can make us strain to detect signals that don't exist.
The opening image of "a signal deep under the ice" evokes something frozen, preserved but unreachable—perhaps memories or the hope of contact with someone lost. The assertion that decoding these signals "will take magic" suggests the speaker knows rationally that what they seek is impossible, yet they continue searching anyway.
There's a psychological authenticity in lines like "Any sound would give me hope / Any sound would be a rope"—the desperation to grasp at anything, even false positives. The repetition of "only silence" at the end drives home the stark reality the speaker must ultimately accept.
The song also touches on how we can become trapped between two states: the noise that "drowns out my senses" and the silence beneath it. Neither offers comfort—one is overwhelming, the other is absence. It's a moving exploration of how difficult it can be to accept that someone is truly gone, and how we might keep "listening" long after there's nothing left to hear.


The Silence in the Static (Chloe)

Long Enough
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

[instrumental]

mmm
mmm mmm mmm
mmm mmm
mmm mmm mmm 

Words flow unguarded
The meaning wanders off
Only sounds that seem to flow
With nowhere else to go

With no specific thought
And the days slipping away
I drift and lose all track
With nothing more to say

I no longer care for reason
I throw it all into the mix
I add more to meet a quota
To create sufficient substance
And consume the standard time
To call the words a song
But only 'cause they rhyme

[instrumental]

I think I've said it all
Thoughts seem to repeat
Rearrange the same old words
Lay them down to a new beat

The combinations may seem endless
But the ideas are very few
Like cards in an old game
New hands, faces the same

What I do seems like a game
At a table set for one
To play is my compulsion
Start again when I am done

Now and then, by mere chance
The patterns strike a chord
A brilliant moment in a dance
But to wait, I can't afford

[instrumental]

[outro]


Long Enough (Leni)

A Day Spent Alone
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

[instrumental]

[verse]
All day long I spent alone
It does not happen often
A day spent on my own
Without the interruptions
Without the small excuses
I can keep my thoughts in order
and work on one idea
I can string some words together
and try to make things clear
But as the day wears on and on
and nothing great appears
the fear sets in again
I have run out of ideas

[instrumental]

[verse]
But for now I need a reason
I can put the blame on others
If they would just give me some time
I could make all these words rhyme
But when I have the chance
When I get to dance
It is not quite that easy
The answers don't appear
I find reasons to worry
and waste most of the day
I start writing in a hurry
But have nothing more to say

[instrumental]

[verse]
And maybe that's the answer
I have nothing more to say
Maybe I should review
Revisit old ideas
Did I get all of it right
Did I make everything clear
I could make a few revisions
I could release a great new version
And so, lost in the past
I have found a new diversion
But I think my die is cast
I better try to make it last

[instrumental]

[verse]
This one had better last

This one had better last

[outro]

A Day Spent Alone (Leni)

Somewhere Out in Space
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

[instrumental]

[verse]
I still have space for you
and always set a place
I look around in this old house
And always see your face

I cook a little extra
Put extra blankets on the bed
Your lamp comes on at night
At the chair where you read

[instrumental]

The feeling in the evening
That you cannot be too far
So I go out and move my car, and
Leave an empty parking space 

Any moment you'll arrive
Your headlights on the wall
The only reason I survive
and care for life at all

[instrumental]

There's the crunching of the gravel
The clicking of your steps
And the twisting of the boards
As you walk up on the deck

Everything is a reminder
And it all rings so very true
But I don't believe a word
There is no sound
No sound that I just heard

[instrumental]

You will not give me a hug
Or muddy up the rug
No smile, no warm embrace
Not a thing and not a trace

Somewhere in outer space

Somewhere in outer space

[instrumental]

[outro]

Somewhere Out in Space (Buck)

The Quiet Kind of Loneliness
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey
Based on the work of Hasriani

It was another Sunday, 
There was a world outside my window 
Like always, 
was too loud. 
Children screaming, motors roaring, 
the sound of someone’s life 
moving forward,
maybe soaring, 
while my stayed still
The grist trapped in the mill


I made coffee just for me
something warm to hold. 
It didn’t taste like anything. 
Maybe nothing does anymore.
Over time it all grows cold

[instrumental]

My laundry was still hanging
by the door 
from two long days ago. 
I told myself 
I’d fold it later, 
but lately “later” 
has become 
my favorite lie
The clothes stay
wrinkled, quiet, waiting. 
Like me.

The Quiet Kind of Loneliness

Chattanooga Lemon
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

[instrumental]

Her name is Chattanooga
But her friends they call her Lemon
In my dreams she's all I see
A vision I can't shake
Chattanooga in the evening
And Lemon when I wake
Lemon when I wake

Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
She's the Chattanooga Lemon
Chattanooga

And she knows how life should be
She knows much more than me
She knows much more than me
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
She knows much more than me
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
more than me

[instrumental]

Her scent fills the room
Lemon flowers in full bloom
Chattanooga in my mind
She is one of a kind

Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
She's the Chattanooga Lemon
Chattanooga

She's the Chattanooga Lemon
And she knows how life should be
She knows much more than me
She knows much more than me
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
She knows much more than me

She knows much more than me

[instrumental]

[outra]



Chatanooga Lemon (Leni)

I write the lyrics; Mr. Alfonso Suno composes the music.  Working with the lovely Ms. Ai Ongaku, they create the arrangements.  Ms. Ongaku and her crowd are responsible for the performances.  My part in creating these tracks is very small. Nonetheless, I am to blame.  Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Chatanooga Lemon (Leni)

I and Ai

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