Cumulus

VIDEO ANIMATION at https://vimeo.com/697211730

I’m in the mountains of the moon
Shining
In the mountains of the moon
Shining down

I got out
Maybe too late
From a city named after a state
Named after a mistake

And we’re sawed off
Against the grain
Traded rush-hour in a bumper car
For the A-train

And then, surprise, you’re 
Covered in signs you don’t recognize
What you think you need you realize is 
Stubbornly elsewhere
Stubbornly elsewhere

uh-hmm

You grow up
And you move out
Collecting success in another man’s
Knock down and drag out 

Then, surprise, 
The whole thing’s just been serialized
What you thought was near you realize is 
Stubbornly elsewhere
Stubbornly elsewhere

Elsewhere, stubbornly elsewhere
Elsewhere, stubbornly elsewhere

I’m in the mountains of the moon
Shining
In the mountains of the moon
Shining down
Elsewhere, stubbornly elsewhere
Elsewhere, stubbornly elsewhere

Boom, surprise, 
Look at how the time just flies
And every face you recognize
Suddenly elsewhere
Suddenly elsewhere
Stubbornly elsewhere
Stubbornly elsewhere

Stubbornly Elsewhere

Listen on Spotify

Back in -- who knows when -- a record-junkie friend of mine called Diana Mercer brought Dale Lawrence to a dinner at my tiny apartment in Broad Ripple. I didn't know him well, and he was a lovely, if bemused guest. We had fettucine, I think i overcooked the chicken. There were surely guitars around, but I don't recall either of us touching one. The evening was cordial enough – but about two weeks later, I heard Right to Left's "When Company Comes." and I thought – man! A missed opportunity, as this guy is the real deal songwriter. He went on to be part of the Vulgar Boatmen, probably one of the most well-regarded indie acts to come out of Indiana. While "Katie" and "Drive Somewhere" will always be favorites, seeing that one was "allowed" to do great stuff from anywhere meant a lot to me, and to the career choices I made. I'm covering this from memory, so apologies for lyrical and key mistakes, it's hard to find Right to Left vinyl in California. And hey Dale, if you're out there, Thanks!

When Company Comes (Dale Lawrence/Right to Left Cover)

There’s a room in a country that I don’t know
There’s a long dirt road and I’ll never go
There’s a church and a bar and a brothel, it’s filled with police
Where the least have the most and most have the least

Everyone toasting the movies that everyone knows 
As the sun swallows us whole

At King Edward Point ooh, they’re mowing the grass
In the middle of melting, they know they are the last
What remains of a fast food restaurant caught in the glow
At the end of a long dirt road where I’ll never go
They’re toasting the sum of the everything we’ll never know
As the sun swallows us whole

Everyone toasting the chisel, the Bible, the bow
As the sun swallows us whole

Paris was beautiful, but so was Duluth 
That’s what we remember, we gotta to assume it’s the truth
There’s a brothel, casino, asylum, in each there’s a priest
And the least have the most and most have the least
And the least have the most and most have the least
And the least have the most and most have the least

As the sun swallows us whole
As the sun swallows us whole
As the sun swallows us whole
As the sun swallows us whole

Sun Swallows Us Whole

In a camera
In a thrift shop
In Ohio
There’s a picture

Undeveloped
It’s a box cat
Did it happen
At all

You and me on
Lake Michigan
In between school
And the next girl 

For a moment
Was possible
Did it happen 
At all

In a Nikon
Worth a dollar
In Ohio
Decades later

We are burned in
To a negative
Buried nameless 
But alive

Oh
Trapped the light and lost it
Oooh
Trapped the light and lost it 
Again

You and me but
You forgot me
Like a glow stick
Like an ice cream

You and me but
On Ektachrome
On a film roll
In the dark

In a camera
In a thrift shop
In Ohio
There’s picture

Undeveloped
it’s a box cat
Did it happen
At all

Oh
Trapped the light and lost it
Oooh
Trapped the light and lost it
Again

You and me but
You forgot me
Like a glow stick
Like an ice cream

You and me but
On Ektachrome
On a film roll
In the dark

In a camera
In a thrift shop
In Ohio
There’s a picture

Undeveloped
it’s a box cat
Did it happen
At all

Did it happen
At all
Did it happen
At all
Did it happen
At all
id it happen
At all

Thrift Store Nikon

Elsewhere jets cut the cumulus silently
The heart beats a path up this hill so rapidly
They soar in circles till they roost at the last sight
Tracing out the minutes ticking down in civil twilight
Microscope periscope telescope stethoscope
Hundred ways to measure and there’s just no way to know

Cumulus
I’ll be lost in you
Now watch you
Erase the streetlights of a town I really never knew

And I can see her watching me watching her
Lookout for a signal on the sea as the scenes blur
Just when you think you might really own this real estate
accumulate and aggregate and watch the years accelerate  

White whales gassed up long cars and longer cars
Descended from sky gift of gods of the tiki bars
Microscope periscope telescope stethoscope
A hundred ways to measure and there’s just no way to know

Cumulus
See you cry for me 
Watch you
Erase the buildings of a town that could never be

That’s me escaping on a contrail (a contrail)
Twenty four exposures on a roll (right outta here)
And that’s me escaping like a swallowtail (a swallowtail)
Twenty four and seven in row (woah)

And I can feel you watching me watching you
and watching me watching you watching me missing you and missing me missing you
 
And I can feel it from the window seat
And I can feel it from the row 
I can feel it thirty thousand feet and
I can feel it from below 
I can feel it from below
I can feel it from below

And she can see me watching her watching me
These ideas they do not fall too far from the apple tree
Microscope periscope telescope stethoscope
A hundred ways to measure and there’s just no way to know

Cumulus
I’ll be lost in you
Now watch you
Erase the streetlights of a town I really never knew

Hundred ways to measure and there’s just no way to know
There’s just no way to know

She reconsiders turning thirty
Maybe pull up stakes and get things dirty
Always told
Bloom where you’re planted
But the petals fall and she recanted

A suitcase
A passport
Her ticket it’s all paid for
Elevators
Escalators
Untold miles of concourse
Everywhere
And anywhere
Maybe the world’s your oyster
Now

She made her mind up
Not to make her mind up
Where you’re born is chance
Not where you wind up
Now is now and here is here
But it makes her want to disappear
 
A suitcase
A passport
Her ticket it’s all paid for
Elevators
Escalators
Untold miles of concourse
Everywhere
And anywhere
Maybe the world’s your oyster
Now

She said all this to me
She said who knows where it might lead
Experience is where you find it
Where you’re born is chance
Not where you wind up

A suitcase
A passport
My ticket it’s all paid for
Escalators
Elevators
Untold miles of concourse
Everywhere
Anywhere
it’s a useless airport
I hail a car and find my way home

Departures

I-75
 In a walkman
 In the backseat
 Playing Rocketman

US 40
 Burns a coffeepot
 It was a restaurant
 It was a coffeepot

And on the Skyway
 We were racing snow
 It swirls in headlights 
As far as you can go

Hawaii-250 
Volcano Road 
Looking at the clouds below 
Thinking that we might explode

Memory Road

I-15 
West of Vegas
 East of LA 
See sea of cactus

405 
A couple of payments due 
Rattle of the pill refills 
And I’m next to you

Memory Road

We saw a story 
They can read a mouse’s mind
 Replayed A Touch of Evil
 That it memorized

Made the movies
 Stolen souls reside 
Machines just mix and match
 What they memorize

Memory Road

Memory Road

How high’s that mountain of money
How wide is your sacred ground and can you
Square your circle of confidants hm
When they’re not around

Thought you built
On sacred ground
But the wind is building
And that river’s going to turn around  

One day you’re up 
The next you’re down
But a hurricane is blowin  
And that river’s gonna turn around

Sliding in those
Howling sounds
Better bring in the dogs
Because that river’s going to turn around

You better start the car
Get to higher ground
Better hope you got gas in there
Because that river’s going to turn around

So you got to be president
Got keys to all the towns
You’re the pride of the gun show
Your voice, you do like the sound 


Thought you built
On sacred ground
But the wind is building
And that river’s going to turn around  

One day you’re up 
The next you’re down
But a hurricane is blowin and 
And that river’s gonna turn around

River Gonna Turn (2023)

My Christmas Wish
It comes once a year
This is the year 
that we’ll get it right

My Christmas Wish
It comes once a year
This is the year 
that we’ll get it right

My New Years Wish
It comes once a year
This is the year 
that we’ll get it right

My New Years Gift
It comes once a year
This is the year 
that we’ll get it right

Christmas Wish (John Scot Sheets Cover)

There’s a spark
It landed on the rug
And the kid on his own put it out
With his firetruck

It leaves a mark 
And he gets beat up
While I pretend to doze
And pretty soon it’s three o’clock

On December
Twenty seventh
And I 
I Don’t move

In my head
California
Where I’m inventing excuses and futures
Where I don’t come back

Add another year, add layers to that
And until new years day seems
Nothing’s longer than

December
Twenty seventh
And I 
Don’t move

Seven whales are beached
On the couches while the bowls bleat
On the couches while the sharks feed
Searching for a heart beat

The kid with the spark and the bruises
Is asleep
The kid with the spark and the bruises 
Will repeat

December
Twenty seventh
And I 
Don’t move

December 27

Well I woke up in the morning
And I knew it wasn’t autumn
Cuz the leaves had disappeared
Someone came along and got ‘em

And obviously
The season of giving is here
If you think I’m okay
That’ll be my gift this year

Well I'm sitting at my desk
And I’m getting nothing done
Drawing faces in the margins
And a grin on every one

And obviously
This is not a brilliant career
If you think I’m okay
That can be my gift this year

Don’t need us to fill up bars
Show just how in debt we are
And I’ll come over Christmas Day
If you still think that it’s okay

Well Pavarotti’s knocking off
Ave Maria 
I’m holding up the traffic
Just-a hoping that I see ya

Taking two looks 
at every off-white cavalier
If you think I’m okay
That can be my gift this year

They don’t need us to fill up clubs like
Artificial ornamental evergreen shrubs
Got to be a cheaper way
Long as you think it’s okay

I woke up in the morning
And I knew I wasn’t autumn
Cause the leaves had disappeared
Someone came along and got ‘em

And obviously
The season of giving is here
If you think I’m okay
That can be my gift this year

©1989 Mikes Law Office

That Can Be My Gift This Year (Charlie Hopper Cover)

We got boysenberry candles
I’ll give you that
Bought all the cards our cords could handle
I’ll give you that

Relatives in from out of town
Big naked flakes sticking to the ground
People in sweaters gather round
To talk and talk and talk and
Talk and talk and talk
I’ll have another glass of whatever that is

And I found a gold and stony necklace
I’ll give you that
It will be real nice but it won’t be reckless
I’ll give you that

And I just want to talk to you
I just want to talk to you
Get you alone for a minute or two
To talk and talk and talk and
Talk and talk and talk
And have another glass of whatever that is
Maybe I should just shut up

I’ll give you that
I’ll give you that
I’ll give
You that

Fa la la lala la la la la la
Fa la la lala la la la la la
Fa la la lala la la la la la

But We can turn this car around
We can go right home right now and talk about
What you want to remember remember  
Remember remember

I’ll give you that
I’ll give you that
I’ll give
You that

I'll Give You That (Charlie Hopper Cover)

I went to the mall sat on Santa’s knee
All the little kids were glarin’ at me
And Santa said what do you want this year
I said If it’s not too much trouble
I’d like a big recording contract for me
And all of my

Friends around town but I started feeling selfish
And I wished for peace on Earth instead
It’s the same wish every year but it still
Hasn’t happened yet

Ahh Ahh
Hanging out on Christmas Day
Hiding out from those cliches

My brother stuck a candy cane up his nose
For the fourteenth year – 
He does it just to get Mom’s goat
It works real well

To all my cynical friends
This Christmas spirit I still will defend
Just as long as we all get what we’re worth

Ahh Ahh
Christmas Day and Christmas night
You say I’m tough and I won’t bend
All those cards that I won’t send

The only card I sent this year was to you

I guess it is still my favorite season
and I can still find a reason
Christmas night I’ll spend with you
It may sound corny but I want to make your Christmas 
dream come true


Ahh Ahh
Christmas Day and Christmas night
Ahh Ahh
Christmas Day and Christmas night

Christmas Day and Christmas Night (John Scot Sheets Cover)

The house where I was born
I can’t recognize any more
Trees tower over its gables
That weren’t even there before
There before 

And five thousand miles and more
We’ve run out of places to store
The memory souls and keepsakes that
Weren’t even there before
There before 

But these considerations come
Blood relations go
You could fill up six Great Lakes with all 
The things I don’t want to know 

The things I can’t want to know  
And all I can’t bear to know 

Ooh 

The light in our eyes may set
And tallying up regret
Maybe walking a path with you that we
Claimed we never set

But these considerations come
As blood relations leave
You could fill up a whole bible with all
The junk that I don’t believe

The stuff I can’t believe
The things that I can’t believe in
The news i’m not receiving
The junk that they keep repeating
For all the years they’re breathing

But the house where I was born
You can’t recognize any more
And these trees tower over its gables that
They weren’t even there before
They weren’t even there before

Considerations

Podcast Theme Demo, full length; used for the Writing Criminals Podcast

LA Cozy

Ain’t it just a big machine?
'Round the gears
And in between
Amazing that we ever met
After turning up
By accident
But 
Would you ever let it lift you– 
Would you ever let it lift you, lift you up? 
Would you ever let it lift you– 
Would you ever let it lift you, lift you up? 
Seems so random that I fit you
Yet it matters that I lift you, lift you up
After showing me, I bid you
Can we bear to let it lift–––

Oh, carry me long,
O, carry me ‘long. 
(ah…) 

And 
Is it just a big machine?
We’re born we die 
And in between
Amazing that we made a pair
When we could have missed it 
Only by a hair –

But would you ever let it lift you– 
Would you ever let it lift you, lift you up? 
Would you ever let it lift you– 
Would you ever let it lift you, lift you up? 
Mad as a hatter that I fit you
Yet it matters that I lift you, lift you up
After decades, oh I bid you
Can we bear to let it lift ––

Oh, carry me long,
O, carry me 'long.

Buy on iTunes

O' Carry Me Long

Fifteen
For a minute
And it’s gone before you even realize you’re in it.
Summer bleacher summer cigarette
Waiting for a nothing thain’t happened yet

Then I was sixteen
Overnight 
And I floated through it all without oversight 
A year that ended with a tolling bell
Floating through the hallway of some Florida hotel

But where the stars are at the horizon
Where they melt into the sea
Where you find your forever finite
With decades still to be
Can you see
Can you see

Seventeen
for a moonlit hour
Seems like its sweet til it all turns sour
A year ended with me city bound
Always passing through and not around

But where the stars are at the horizon
Where they melt into the sea
Where you find your forever finite
With decades still to be
Can you see
Can you see
Can you see
Can you see
Can you see

I was eighteen…
For a leap year’s month
When you try to be her everything for everyone
And by nineteen…
It all evaporates
Quick as the steam inside a Chevrolet 

But where the stars at the horizon
Where they melt into the sea
Where you find your forever finite
With decades still to be
Can you see
Can you see
Can you see
Can you see
Can you see

The stars at the horizon
Where they melt into the sea
Where you find your forever finite
With decades still to be

Biography

My eyes
They’re open
Before my dream is over
And I still feel
I’m holding on to you

My eyes
In orbit
And strain to find the twilight
And I still feel
These fictions might be true

Since thirty It was all surrender
You’re my mask, and a good pretender  

Yeah

Indentations in the bed we share
Dreams embedded in it by the pair 
oh yeah.

Morning light
Eternal but not quite
Eternally 
True

Finding something that is California
An addiction and no one to warn you off
Yeah

Like an earthquake we are stirred and shaken
Saving something for the give and taken away
Oh yeah.

Morning light
Eternal but not quite
Eternally 
True

Eternally True

Put your eyes upon the rod 
To prove it
You’re a mounted trophy head 
Shoot it
Planet in your pocket 
End of the Earth
And then you say
Shoot it, Shoot it.

We’re drinking tonight, 
We’re drinking tonight,
Shoot it, Shoot it.

We’re drinking tonight, 
We’re drinking tonight,
they’re gonna want to meet you, meet you

Who can you trust,
What’s on the menu
Who’s got a hymn
Who does it sing to
She said “I should ring him," 
"Didn’t you bring him?
He’ll walk Central Park
Make noise at dark
He’s crazy"

We’re drinking tonight, 
We’re drinking tonight,
Shoot it, Shoot it.

Buy on iTunes 

Shoot

Hit by a circus truck when she was five
And she’s alive
And I heard once upon a time
She had a twin that didn’t survive

She walked a Peru tightrope
Not unusual in that town
Still it’s harder staying up
Than it is to plummet down down down down down down

Down down down 
Down down down 
Down down down 
Then around

Oh, Can you hear me
Will you echo through the wall
And with apology
Is she haunting you at all

Ghosts, me and you
So we see through
fables not what true
Bourbon and ballyhoo 

Nahh Naah Nahh Nahh Naah Nahh
Nahh Naah Nahh
   
Down down down 
Down down down 
Down down down 
Then around

Kidnapped once in Portugese
And another time in French
But the man with the zune tattoo 
Left her perched upon a bench 

Oh, Can you hear me
Do I echo through the wall
And with apology
Am I haunting you at all

Will of the whispers
Of the secrets and the shouts
Will it make a difference
Or is just the sounds of the heart that 
makes it out

Ghosts, me and you
So we see through
fables not what true
Bourbon and ballyhoo

Bourbon and Ballyhoo

Lyric Video at https://vimeo.com/136985653

Electric copper calls, it crawls the buzzing hives
Bleat, siren, pinhole lights, within: a million lives
A million stories and not one of them is mine
And not one of them is mine

Fading, fading

A gleaming pinpoint writes new clouds across the sky
Within it, ten score histories from hello to goodbye
Below are clusters that are loneliness defense
We want to be together, and then we build a fence

I saw an island from a window of a plane
I saw the places where they shelter from the rain
Where they shelter from the rain

Fading, fading

Westerly

Sky Harbor

It’s hard to see how blind I’ve been
If i could score it up to ten
I get around and trust the sound I make to me
I’m an expert at my own mythology
But it’s a rare day when the gale rages
All that floats by are my novel pages
(No flood ever washed anybody clean)

And then I see you
And then I see you
And what is what is what?   
When you can’t believe your eyes?

Some days (become your watershed)
A revolution (in the head)
All that you get (is my amity) 
And it becomes (a calamity)
it’s never quite enough 
or everything it seems to be
when everything I know 
is everything I’ve known

So i don’t seem so remarkable
I’ve emptied out my arsenal
A gale that’s spun my house around
And mixed together sight and sound
Mixed it around and around and around

And then I see you
And then I see you

What was so rare’s now commonplace
Add scars and seams at a rabbit’s pace
What’s down is up, too much, enough!
And what is what is what? 
When you can’t believe your eyes?


When Can't Believe Your Eyes

When You Can't Believe Your Eyes

Oh oh oh, did you see, did you let ‘em know
it’s  quite a thunderhead framed in the window
Sunny here, yet a mile away tornado blow
Out of a clear blue sky, hey, you just never know

Oh, oh, you are the rainbird
That’s the song you sing, you only sing before it pours
Oh, oh, you are the rainbird
It's gonna rain, gonna rain on poor me

Not every little dream you might have can come true
Give it a chance, enough of them do. 
Storms will blow, surrounded by a hurricane
Not so bad that it’s never gonna be the same

Not every little dream you might have comes true
Give it a chance and enough of them do. 
Not every little dream you might have comes true
Give it a chance and enough of them do. 

Rainbird

I guess there’s life in the old boy yet 
Looks like you better call in 
And have them all delay the sunset

I guess there’s life in the old boy yet 
Though his head’s in the clouds of the smoke
That rises from her cigarette

The money and the math
Is the math and the money and 
The money in the math 
And the math in the money
The money and the math
Is the math and the money and 
The money in the math 
And the math in the money

It’s the nonsense in our babbling heart
It's the nonsense in our babbling hearts
Yes our babbling hearts
It’s the nonsense in our babbling heart
It's the nonsense in our babbling hearts
Yes our babbling hearts

Ooh, be careful not to break your neck
As you mentally undress her 
And you haven’t even met yet

They put a ring around your neck
Crawling up the down escalator
Chasing after your final paycheck

It’s just the nonsense in our babbling heart
It the nonsense in our babbling hearts
Yes our babbling hearts
It’s the nonsense in our babbling heart
It's the nonsense in our babbling hearts
Yes our babbling hearts

The money and the math
Is the math and the money and 
The money in the math 
And the math in the money

(Serenade at night, serenade you all all all all)

I guess there’s life in the old boy yet 
Though his head’s in the clouds of the smoke
That rises from her cigarette

The Money And The Math

I will brace you from the storm
Breaking blows or bullet swarm
I'll warmly shine as the cold wind blow
’til there’s just my embers’ glow
Love with you is all i'll know
’til there’s just my embers’ glow

How can I be equal to
The love that must reside in you
It’s a question that will hold me low
’til there’s just my embers’ glow
Love with you is all i'll know
’til there’s just my embers’ glow

Taste the air
And breathe the sweet
Until we're statues
Obsolete
Furrowed field
And littered street
Dying young 
And incomplete

“Cause mountians fall and rivers dry 
We forget the things we glorify
I’ll watch these treasures come and go
’til there’s just my embers’ glow

Love with you is all i'll know
’til there’s just my embers’ glow

The Embers

Backlit, summer cut
I know you’re really into it
‘cause nothing changes

Oh, oh, you got a glow
hey you know you gotta go ‘cause 
It’s contagious

I guess it’s relative ‘cause
Everything is relative
its just geography

But it’s a big sky,
it’s not that big a lie –
that we know everything

So hey, let’s race the moon.
Let’s let our dragons and our tigers and our horses roam free.
Hey, let’s race the moon. 
Let loose the wild and windy over our heart’s sea.

Whereat with a blade
He knew – he thought – he had it made
He's sweetly stupid

Seems a lot we paid –
A century we had it made
And we were the “good” kids

Yeah, yeah, so, so young,
Maybe we were saving some but
Let’s not waste it.

“Cause it’s a big sky,
It’s not that big lie
– like we know anything

So hey, let’s race the moon.
Let’s let our dragons and our tigers and our horses roam free.
Hey, let’s race the moon. 
Let loose the wild and windy over our heart’s sea.

Race The Moon Remix

Uh-oh, the feedback and crackle
Sacrifice another string
Sounds like maybe it’s too much to tackle
All bumble but no bee sting 

Maybe it’s the light show
Maybe it’s the no-shows
Maybe shoulda written it all off
From the get-go.

Falling flat and sounding thin
It falls to hell by stumblin’
And then she walks in
And then she walks in

Now watch them boy they got some action
Put a tap into those Beatle boots
Now you got the main attraction
You got the soul, you got the roots, yeah

Maybe its the perfume
Maybe it’s the sweater
All I know is since she appeared
All the world is all the better now

It falls to hell by stumblin’
Or taking it square, all on the chin
And then she walks in
And then she walks in

Now watch em boy they got some action
they’re filling up the dance floor
Now you got the main attraction
She’s  all what we’ve been waiting for

-Montgomery/Johnson/Emhardt
Written and field recorded in Saint-Remy-De-Provence, France and Santa Monica, California

And Then She Walked In

And Then She Walks In

Cindy slammed the door behind her
Said “do you have something that’s sharp?
Don’t think that he followed me here
But you can’t trust people from these parts”

Another midnight car alarm
Another man from mars or some such
Escaped from a body farm
School cufflinks and a button up

Ha Aye Ya Ya! Aye Ya Ya!

Because the 
Needle keeps skipping on People Are Strange
Needle keeps skipping on People Are Strange
Needle keeps skipping on People Are Strange
Needle keeps skipping on People Are Strange

Cindy spraypaints the windows all black
Tapes up the cracks and the vents all shut too
Up the chimney from atop the barstool
I see her brand new staccato tattoo

Explains how we own our own air now
Explains that there’s power in the color blue
Explain how the vapors are electric
Can’t explain her staccato tattoo

Another midnight car alarm
Another man from the watchdog government
Escaped from an E-Street cubicle
School cufflinks and a button up

Aye Ya Ya! Aye Ya Ya! Aye Ya Ya! Aye Ya Ya!

The 
Needle keeps skipping on People Are Strange
Needle keeps skipping on People Are Strange
Needle keeps skipping on People Are Strange
Needle keeps skipping on People Are Strange

Staccato Tattoo (The Needle Keeps Skipping on People Are Strange)

See the video:  https://vimeo.com/253991592

A smile from the surface of a photograph
Spectator at a lost parade
Frozen, it’s like a sesquicentennial
Fresh as a lemonade

Wave as you glide by
A sash and a paper cup
Wave as you glide by
Look down like things are looking up

17 and 33
Seems a good bet to me
17 and 33
stack em up we’ll spin and see 

Its spins, it spins around
Its spins, it spins around

A smile from the surface of a swimming pool
Spectator at a lost parade
Achievements and a bonus
And a 401(k)

Wave as you glide by
A sash and a paper cup
Wave as you glide by
Look down like things are looking up

Seems a good bet to me
Seems a good bet to me
Seems a good bet to me
Stack em up we’ll spin and see

It spins, its spins around
It spins, its spins around
It spins, its spins, it spins

The Lost Parade

iTunes/Apple Music

Video: https://vimeo.com/301394027
In sleep you’re always beautiful
A pillow full
Of flying dreams
And revised futures glittering
And in the twilight
I can see

Your hair is flowing and 
You’re all-knowing
And I
I can see you sleeping sweetly hidden
Your eyes fluttering beneath their lids and
I know
The dawn will come to send you low 

Well you get up
And then you walk the straight line
And you get up
And then you lock the door behind
And you get up
And then you wake to find
That you get up
To get up one more time

 
I come home we’re trading stories 
And replacing
Things that happened
With things we wish
That would have happened
Instead what we know that happened 

And I
Will clear the dishes
Snuff the candles 
Dim tomorrow
Let go the handles
And fall asleep
Hours before you do


Well you get up
And then you walk the straight line
And you get up
And then you lock the door behind
And you get up
And then you wake to find
That you get up
To get up one more time

Dream Cycle

Apple Music

I don’t remember what i dreamed exactly
But it left me heartsick
Didn’t leave me with a million dollars
Left me carrying a big big stick

Don’t remember what you don’t remember
Remember even less each day
If it’s gonna leave a bittersweet nothing
Why remember nothing anyway

All I know is I’m a morning older
And I can really see I need a shave
And I could never really be your hero
Romatic lead who will save the day

I don’t remember what i dreamed exactly
But i know if felt like high school
Everybody was smiling sweetly
Or maybe laughing at this fool

I didn’t know her but she took my hand and
Read me something, maybe Hemingway 
If it’s gonna leave a bittersweet nothing
Why remember nothing anyway

All I know is I’m a morning older
And now I feel like I need a pill
Couldn’t even be your understudy
In this imaginary playbill

Can’t remember what i dreamed exactly
But it left me with questions
Don’t recognize those fading faces
But I’m open to suggestions

Don’t remember what you don’t remember
Remember even less each day
If it’s gonna leave a bittersweet nothing
Why remember nothing anyway

I don’t remember what i dreamed exactly
But it left me heartsick
Didn’t leave me with a million dollars
Left me carrying a big big stick

Don’t remember what you don’t remember
Remember even less each day
If it’s gonna leave a bittersweet nothing
Why remember nothing anyway

All I know is I’m a morning older
And now I feel like I need a pill

Bittersweet Nothing

May gray dawn 
Is hanging silk 
Happy birthday 
Happy pill 
Security lights a halo glow
Visibility warnings it won’t show
The air it only offers 
A cold blue cold
 
And I remember bravery
Move more slowly 
It’s telling me

And when you walk under water
You keep from drowning
You walk under water
You breathe the sea
You walk under water
You keep from drowning
Breathe over me 

Lion hearted 
Weak in the knees
It’s in my animal naturally
Mist of morning light of day
But in the darkness
We make our way  
And over and over and over and over
We stay

And it’s been years since the bravery
Moving under it’s showing me

And you walk under water
To keep from drowning
You walk under water
And breathe the sea
You walk under water
You keep from drowning
Breathe over me 

And you walk under water
To keep from drowning
And you walk under water
You breathe the sea
And you walk under water
To keep from drowning
And you walk under water
You  breathe the sea

Walk Underwater

Video: https://vimeo.com/448738001

When I’m gone, pretend I’ve gone to Spain
When I’m gone, pretend I’m in Majorca and feeling no pain
When I’m gone, pretend I’m learning secrets the rest of us have lost
And every memory we have, is etched in a star someplace

In evening clothes
A champagne bucket and an orchestra
Tides receding
Playing songs we’d both forgotten we adore
Painted ceiling 
Of the Constellations freeform
Where I’ve gone

When I’m gone, pretend it’s only temporary
When I’m gone, pretend I’m not with every cat we ever knew
When I’m gone, pretend I finally know how everything works now
And every memory we had, is etched in a star so blue

In the evening glow
A champagne bucket and an orchestra
Tides receding
Playing songs we’d both forgotten we adore
Painted ceiling 
Of the constellations freeform
Where I’ve gone
Where I’ve gone

Pretend I nap with every cat we ever knew

When I’m gone, pretend it’s only temporary
When I’m gone, pretend mean people all wised up enough
When I’m gone, remember no one tells a better joke
And every memory we had, is etched in a star so 

Champagne bucket and an orchestra
Playing songs we’d both forgotten we adore
Playing songs we’d both forgotten we adore
Where I’ve gone

Oh pretend I’m learning secrets the rest of us have lost
Oh pretend I’m learning secrets the rest of us have lost

The Constellations Freeform

VIDEO ANIMATIONS: 
Chimney: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awBu3XskCFA
(Three Stars For) Anybody’s Heaven: https://vimeo.com/545768158
Like Clockwork: https://vimeo.com/472825527
The Constellations Freeform: https://vimeo.com/448738001
The Same River Twice: https://vimeo.com/461991945 
Dream Cycle: https://vimeo.com/301394027 
JetBelly is a project of bassist Scott Montgomery, based in Studio City, CA; It's #indie #powerpop #rock #folk and sometimes #psychedelic in various combinations, most of it written and recorded while traveling. Scott takes a guitar, recording interface and a Neumann TLM107 mic pretty much anywhere in the world, if they'll let it on the plane, so songs or pieces of songs have been recorded in odd corners of Nashville and Paris, Providence and Provence, Kauai and St Martin and dozens of other cities. Mostly in rentals and hotel rooms.

JetBelly

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