
[intro]

[instrumental]

[verse]
I am the gas station attendant
and always take the midnight shift
It's not too bad on summer nights
but winters feel like murder

[verse]
So few cars are going by
Even fewer will pull in
The men will stop and talk
They get out of their trucks
I always clean their windows
and they slip me a few bucks

[verse]
Sometimes a rowdy bunch of kids
Pull in drunk out of their skins
I would try to talk them down
Get them a ride back home to town
But it always was no use
They looked like they were lost
And had nothing left to lose

[verse]
Even worse a lonely drunk
They never would shut up
They could not find their card
And life always had been hard
At this time of the night
Most were angry, maybe scared
Some of them wanted to fight

[instrumental]

[verse]
But what always broke my heart
Was a woman driving alone
Looking broken and exhausted
Some not wanting to get home

I could tell that they were scared
They rolled their window down an inch
I would try avoid their eyes
And never say a word
I never knew what they might think
These days the risk is just too big
and being human is extinct

[instrumental]

[verse]
But what always broke my heart
Was a woman driving alone
Looking broken and exhausted
Some not wanting to get home
I could tell that they were scared
They rolled their window down an inch
I would try avoid their eyes
And never say a word
I never knew what they might think
These days the risk is just too big
and being human is extinct

being human is extinct

being human is extinct

[instrumental]

[outro]


The Attendant

This Old Dog
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

[instrumental]

It is two in the morning
I sleep down on the floor
A mattress and a blanket
Who could ever ask for more

I have a room down in a basement
It's warm enough all winter long
and cool enough in the summer
Not much light but feels like home

[instrumental]

I sleep down there with Elmer
I keep him warm on winter nights
He does not take up much room
And we never get in fights

He is a good bed companion
He is short haired and clean
He's always been a blanket hog
But never has been mean

People say "he's just a dog"
But I've never felt that way
He has feelings and ambitions
And so much joy when he plays

[instrumental]

It's a nice life we have down here
Sometimes he goes to work with me
When I can't take him along
He don't like it but stays home

After work we share our dinner
I am trying to lose weight
This works out well for him
He doesn't mind cleaning my plate

We go out for a long walk
Both of us need exercise
He can run me into the ground
But he always sticks around

[instrumental]

We come back, turn on the music
I just sit there or I'll read
Elmer listens, falls asleep
This is all we'll ever need

The days go by without counting
Our lives, a little strange
Sometimes I think it's sad
But there's nothing I would change

Both of us are getting older
I sure hope that he goes first
Who would want this old dog
And he cannot live alone

he cannot live alone

he cannot live alone

he cannot live alone

[instrumental]

[outro]


This Old Dog (B side)

[Verse 1]
Haven’t stepped outside in days,
Curtains closed like they’re afraid of me.
I talk to the shadows on my bedroom wall,
They know my name better than anyone at all.
I’m fading like a song that nobody play.

[verse 2]
I’m weird, yeah, I know — the mirror tells me slow,
“Kid, you’re built from pieces nobody wanted to know.”
Some nights I swear I’m disappearing slow slow slow,
Like the world wouldn’t notice if I let go.
let go!

[chorus/outro]

so alone, 
so alone, 
so alone.

(let go)so alone, 
(let go)so alone, 
(let go)so alone. 
(let go), 
(let go). 


[guitar backing solo]
(let go)so alone, 
(let go)so alone, 
(let go)so alone. 
(let go), 
(let go). 
  


(let go)so alone, 
(let go)so alone, 
(let go)so alone. 
(let go),
(let go).

aloneness (remade)

Old Man in the Basement
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

[instrumental]

[verse]
I see myself alone
With not much time to go
I live in a small place
Just a room, nothing more

My room is below ground
Steps down from the outside
Other people live upstairs
But there's little that we share

There's a couple with small kids
And three guys sharing a flat
And that girl that lives alone
I don't think she's ever home

[instrumental]

I'm the old man in the basement
No one talks to me
That is more than just ok
It is the way that things should be

I have nothing to tell them
I've forgotten my whole life
I live from day to day
I think that once I had a wife

A woman brings me food
She asks me how I am
I don't know what to say
I don't know "who" I am

[2:03]
[instrumental]

I may have had a dog
His bowl is still on the floor
He may have wanted to get out
There are scratches on the door

I have a card from the state
I think I have to keep it
But I don't know what it's for
I have it hidden in a drawer

I have it hidden in a drawer
But I don't know what it's for
I have it hidden in a drawer
It may be in a drawer

[instrumental]

I have thoughts that keep repeating
There are places I should be
Appointments that need keeping
There are people I should see
But they say they don't know me
But they say they don't know me

So I spend my days down here
I don't like being outside
With my thoughts that keep repeating
I need a place to hide

I need a place to hide

I need a place to hide

[instrumental]

[outro]

Old Man in the Basement

[intro]
In my subkoncious, nothing feels right,
Every small thought turns into a bite.
I keep pretending I’m fine, but I’m not —
I’m trapped in a war with the mind that I’ve got.

[Verse 1]
Under my smile there’s a storm I can’t name,
Cold little thoughts that all sound the same.
I try to act normal, try to stay cautious,
But everything’s rotten in my subkoncious.
It whispers at night like a cracked-up friend,
Telling me truths I don’t want to defend.

[Chorus]
In my subkoncious, everything’s breaking,
Walls bending inward, foundations shaking.
I keep pretending it’s fine, but it’s not —
My mind is a cage and my heart ties a knot.

In my subkoncious, I’m losing the fight,
Stuck in a loop with no exit in sight.
Stuck in a loop with no exit in sight.

subkoncious (remade)

[verse 1]
It’s raining again…
It’s raining again…
but only in my hallway
Puddles forming shapes of things I tried to say.
say,
Drips tap out a rhythm on the boiler pipes,
Like the house is writing songs about my life.
Found a flood in the cupboard where I hide my dou-oubt,
my doubt.

[verse 2]
Say it again, yeah Say it again,
Stuck in the same, yeah stuck in the same.
Drips in my head, drips in my chest,
Telling me slow, don't tell me to rest.

Say it again, i'm stuck in the same 
Stuck in the same, yeah stuck in the same.
Floorboards hum, heartbeat thin,
Pulled by the storm where I’ve always been.

[chorus]
It’s raining again…
It’s raining again inside my head,
my head.
yeah yeah yeah!
Clouds crowd the corners where my thoughts get fed.
I mop up the water but it soaks through the floor.
the floor...

[bridge]
And the storm keeps changing room to room,
Turning every empty space into a quiet tomb.
should I wash away the parts I keep?

[chorus/outro]
It’s raining again…
It’s raining again inside my head

It’s raining again…
It’s raining again inside my head

its raining again

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.

The Attendant

I and Ai

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