Inventiveness by my questionable standards

VIdeo: https://vimeo.com/545768158

If there was anybody’s heaven
I’d look for you in their restaurant
I’d order something long extinct 
and a drink 
and another drink

They roll up the streets in heaven
Everybody’s tucked in by nine
Everybody gets free rides on the subway
It don’t go nowhere but they run on time

Bully for you
You’re flying 
Bully for you
You’re flying high
Don’t you worry
The sun don’t set here, you got
All the time in the world

The cops patrol the streets in heaven
Everybody’s locked in by 9
Hell yes! There’s unlimited donuts
They don’t do nothing but clock out on time
And if I got the chance I’d bet it all on 27
And I’d win every time
I’d make a killing in that afterlife
’cuz it’s a goldmine

If you want a good table in Anybody’s Heaven
It’s not what, but who, you know
You sit right across from everyone you ever met
And the service is eternally slow
 
Bully for you
You’re flying 
Bully for you
You’re flying high
Ain’t no darkness, and no dawn, you got
All the time in the world

If there was anybody’s heaven
I’d look for you in their restaurant
I’d order something long extinct 
and a drink 
and another drink
and another drink

Georges Méliès April, 1926

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

Well the heart
It’s an anchor
And it’s dropped
Where it lies
Gale
Can’t disturb it or
Tides
Low or high

There’s a man playing saxaphone
At the grave of his wife
This girl has overlapping corgis
So she’s got one for life
This old man cries in the middle of the street about
What he lost as a child 
Neighborhood lunatic 
We let him run wild

Because the heart
Is an anchor
Dropped
Where it lay
Gale
Can’t disturb it
Tides
Low or high

A woman kept roses
A century old
Named for a pilot
Disappeared in the cold
She no longer lives there
She tended them still
Neighborhood lunatic
But we do what we will

Well the heart
It’s an anchor
And it’s dropped
Where it lies
Gale
Can’t disturb it
Tides
Low or high

Heart
Is an anchor
Heart
is an anchor
Gale
Cant disturb it
Heart
is an anchor

The Neighborhood Lunatics

I had the keys to the castle and the service was first rate
Had a sky full o waxwings and the tree they venerated
I had a long spyglass and the tea with the peppermint
And if you kept a secret I think you might just have dropped a hint

Now I got 
13 inches of a foot in my mouth 
On a train headed west yet I’m going south
And nobody tells me what the joke is about
I can’t hit rewind

Fit for king
But the king threw a fit
Imperial palace now
Imperial pit
I was mess and you were so nice
Dark all day  
But now I’m sunny at night
Sunny at night

I got two left feet and two right socks
Need a life ring, got a pocket of rocks
Stuck up in the time travelers’ paradox
Yet I can’t hold back time

Now I’m dark all day but I’m sunny in the night
Now I’m dark all day but I’m sunny in the night

With a long spyglass and the tea with the peppermint
I guess if you got a secret gonna bet you dropped a hint

Well I got three left feet and one right shoe
And I can’t hide what you already knew 
Your favorite’s purple and that’s why I’m blue
It’s what I can’t undo

Fit for king
But the king threw a fit
Imperial palace now
Imperial pit
I was mess and you were so nice
Met for a minute once
Now I’m sunny at night

Now I’m dark all day but I’m sunny in the night
Now I’m dark all day but I’m sunny in the night
Now I’m dark all day but I’m sunny in the night
Now I’m dark all day but I’m sunny in the night

Sunny In The Night

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

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

Cumulus

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

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

A desert rat from Bakersfield
 Wiped off his guitar 
And strummed away the sunset  
And made peace with the stars 
Emptied a Walgreens whiskey 
As is custom in these parts 
And slept the sleep of warriors 
Converted to the arts

At that moment in Wisconsin 
A man of just his age 
He had a fleeting memory 
Of a roadtrip and a rage 
Some things are kept a secret
 Some things just forgot
 Both hide among the meanwhiles
 And the elsewheres that we got

And I’ll carve my name in 
Antarctica 
I might make myself king 
Divine right to  Antarctica
 But I’ll still be the same

Somewhere on an island 
A woman far from home 
Exiled from the calendar
And the histories she owns
 Notices a black bird 
And in his wild yellow eye 
There seems to be a memory 
Of a roadtrip and a rye

Within the sounds of rushing surf 
Voices whisper black 
They make their accusations 
And she can’t answer back
Because
Some things are a secret 
Some things are forgot
Both hide among the meanwhiles 
And the elsewheres that we got

And I’ll carve your name in  
Antarctica
 Gonna plant me a tree
I’ll make big plans for Antarctica 
Be epic, you’ll see

One by one they disappeared
The woman left us last 
Made past a hundred years 
And it still goes mighty fast 
Sometimes she roosts and fixes  
A wild yellow eye 
Ocean whispers secrets
 You can hear them if you try

And I’ll carve my name in
 Antarctica 
Might make my self king
 Divine right to Antarctica 
But I’ll still be the same

Some things they are a secret 
Some things just forgot
 Both hide among the meanwhiles 
And the elsewheres that we got 
A teenager from Bakersfield 
Wiped off his guitar 
And strummed away the sunset  
And made peace with the stars

And I’ll carve my name in
Antartica
I might make my self king
Divine right to
Antarctica
But I’ll still be the same

Meanwhile Antarctica

Taper taper
Burning down
I got some more I can stick around
It's getting dark
But it gets dark early now

Left the family half past one
Had to get back get a few things done
Used to be a pit but
It’s a Christmas pig sty now

And I expect a visitor
A visitor

Taper taper
Burning down
Think Nat King’s the only sound
Neighbors window lights they're blinking arrhythmically

Apartments around us have emptied out
Still in sight and their insides out
Writing the candlelight and nobody knows about me

But I expect a visitor
A visitor
A visitor, she’ll be here soon
She’s making her rounds this Christmas afternoon

Taper taper
Burning down
Lights go out all over town
Sitting in a couch with a gift in the dark and warm
Headlights drive across the wall
Someone’s either stopped or stalled
Hushed in a miniture suit in a snow globe store 

But I expect a visitor
A visitor
A visitor, she’ll be here soon
She’s making her rounds this Christmas
a visitor
a visitor
A visitor, she’ll be here soon
She’s making her rounds this Christmas afternoon

@1989 Mikes Law Office

Visitor (Charlie Hopper Cover)

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)

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

LA Cozy

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

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

Umbers, ochres 
Sunsets toward the ceiling 
Umbers, ochres 
Less colors more like a feeling

A rustle in the butler’s pantry
The other day
I know there’s ghosts 
And what ghosts say (they say)

Every time I try to touch something I love
I pass right through

Every time I try to tell you something
I don’t know how
They don’t hear me now

So  go
Obviously I’m staying
That’s what ghosts are saying

Midnights, navies
Bopping above my head it’s hovering
Midnights, navies
Tattered casket clothes uncovered
Fifteen sixteen ribs
An ankle bone

I know there’s ghosts, cuz
When we’re home (they moan)

Every time I try to touch something I love
I pass right through

Every time I try to tell you something
I don’t know how

So  go
Obviously I’m staying
That’s what ghosts are saying

(It’s not so bad over here
we just get bored
Arguing which is worse 
to be feared or ignored)

Every time I try to touch something I love
I pass right through
   
Every time I try to tell you something
I don’t know how

So  go, go
Obviously I’m staying
That’s what ghosts are saying

That's What Ghosts are Saying, second demo (Charlie Hopper Cover)

I miss the way you talk with your hands
Imitate the singers of our favorite bands 
I love the look on your face when you decide to dance 
And life was just so good 

Now I'm thinking about the night we fought 
And ruined every meal in that restaurant 
When I said you don't appreciate just what you got 
Or treat me like you should—

(Today I’d take that back if I could ) Cuz

I suck at being your ex 
Turns out it's harder than a man expects
To say goodbye forever
I’d rather be together
I’m ready for whatever you say cuz
I
Suck
At
Being 
Your ex

I’ve been on dates I guess they went all right
If I tried to forget you sometime I might
But if I get through-the-day you're in my dreams at night
So. Why even try?

((I keep) thinking that I see you from the corner of my eye) cuz

I suck at being your ex 
Turns out it's harder that a guy expects
To say goodbye forever
Rather be together
And I’m ready for whatever you say, cuz
I
Suck
At
Being 
Your ex

Of course I remember your number
And work stuff 
Just called to say I still love you but I
(I don't like doing what I can't do well ) Cuz

I… I… I… I….

I suck at being your ex  
Thought I’d figured out the opposite sex
But no I’m not that clever
I wanna be together
And I’m ready for whatever you say
I
Suck
At
Being 
Your ex

I Suck at Being Your Ex (Charlie Hopper Cover Demo)

Well, on the day I read his obituary 
I won’t be sad and it won’t be scary
We’ll drink champagne and a glass of sherry
In our west coast sanctuary 

On the day his obit hits the press
I’ll put on the dog and the fancy dress
And dance because that date is blessed
Then think about him less and less 

Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone
Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone
Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone
Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone

And when he’s in the dirt I’ll be elated
And this cannot be overstated 
He’s fertilizing, unabated
But the worms won’t be associated 

They’ll plant him in the ground that day
Won’t hear his voice, won’t hear him say
The million lies he fountain-spewed 
Just joyous, quiet solitude 

Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone
Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone
Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone
Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone

And to those he swindled and those he stiffed
To all those women and all those kids

To those ashamed of what they did in their uniforms
or wedged in double wide recliners and uninformed

I hope you find your peace now
I hope we all find peace

But for right now

Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone
Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone
Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone
Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone

When they carve the year after that hyphen
And the sucking stops from his giant siphon
And they give his mug that last paint job
And sew him up from neck to knob

I’ll be respectful, yeah, I’ll be nice
You better carve his tomb outta toilet ice
You better build a rope line 10 miles long
As folks queue up to irrigate his lawn

And pin him in his final diaper
Blow full time on the swindling piper
And tie that red tie in a bow
And shut the lid on his reality show

Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone
Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone
Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone
Ding Dong… Ding Dong Gone

Obituary (Ding Dong Gone)

Look what the cat dragged in
Look what kicked in the door
Looks like you’re loaded for bear or
Maybe just a little more  

I see you piling matchsticks
A proxy for your rock n roll
Might keep my head together but it
Won’t save the soul

You can find a miracle in a piece of toast 
But it don’t look like nothing to me
And you can say about your time that you made the most  of it
But it don’t look like nothing to me

What you got, gotta be contagious
And I hear you coming
Here’s the spotlight here’s the stages
On you go I’m done

Here’s your shiny battle saddle and
Here’s the flag you fly
Here’s where you make your stand
And look ‘em in the eye

I escape to the city
But the city bites back
I escape to the country 
The country really bites back 

But it don’t look like nothing to me
Well it don’t look like nothing to me

Let’s  escape to the city
But the city bites back
Let’s escape to the country 
This country really bites back yeah

Argue all day what do you prove
But it don’t look like nothing to me
And you say what you say and move what you move
Well it don’t look like nothing to me 

You can find a miracle in a piece of toast 
But it don’t look like nothing to me
And you can say about your time that you made the most  of it
Well it don’t look like nothing to me

Yeah, sooner or later, we all gotta pay
But it don’t look like nothing to me
but if i don’t see a bill, it ain't today   
Well it don’t look like nothing to me

It don’t look like nothing
Don’t look like nothing
Must be like something

It don’t look like nothing
don’t look like nothing
that must be something

It don’t look like nothing
don’t look like nothing
must be like something yeah

It don’t look like nothing
don’t look like nothing
that must be something yeah

Loaded for Bear (2025)

All 
Around the parking lot
Chase goodbye to Chris
And all 
Our boring days fold  into one dull afternoon
And I remember this

Stories and vacation slides
Chimes songs lines and distant bells
And all 
Our boring stories fold  into one dull one
That no one ever tells

That’s just science, that’s how memory works
We’ll always be as we are now
Me sitting with you you sitting with me
And us sitting here
As close as science will allow

And all around your neighborhood
Porch lights hide the girls
And all 
Our boring nights fold  into one dull evening 
All around the world

But that’s just science, that’s how chemistry works
We’ll always be as we are now
Me sitting with you you sitting with me
And us sitting here
As close as physics will allow

Yeah, that’s just science, that’s how microbiology works
We’ll always be as we are now
Me sitting with you you sitting with me
And us sitting here
As close as science will allow

Written by Charlie Hopper for Mikes House ©Mikes Law Office

Scientific American (Mikes House cover)

When they harvested the sky
And left us without stars
The difference in our hearts
Played out in our timelines

Now, in this valley of the dolls
The curtain never calls
Ring in notifications
Instead of educations

Crashing down
Crashing down
Majestic

Oh, from the fruited plain
To a dirty subway train
Why let the man explain
Why rich men live much longer 

And who am I to say
With these matches all in play
And no way to repay
The debt we all owe forever

Crashing down
Crashing down
Majestic

Crashing down
Crashing down
Majestic

When they harvested the sky
And left us without stars
The difference in our hearts
Played out in our timelines

Erase the night with glows
of a billion mobile phones
and everything we know
grasps the unimportant

Majestic
Majestic
Majestic
Majestic

Crashing down
Crashing down
Majestic


Majestic

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

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

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

Jenny takes that dreaded bus downtown
(Just a little hungover)
Oh, just thirty six minutes to work 
(Three stops to go)
Used to say that a guy with a wandering eye was par
(Hey baby)
When your paycheck’s signed by jerks
(Can you work late)

But her city 
It’s a scroll
And she watches it unroll
Shes young and then she’s old
She’s reflected in the window

Unwind a tornado
Unwind a tornado

She contemplates she just might miss her stop
(Who’ll pay the con ed?)
As the coffee shops roll by
(Flat white decaf)
Escape into the mirrored canyons
(Gotta find new roommate)
May not win, thinks she oughtta try, to

Unwind a tornado
Unwind a tornado

These clocks they move so fast 
Except on the days they don’t
So much to unload 
Where there a will there’s a won’t

But her city 
It’s a scroll
And she watches it unroll
Between timid and too bold
She’s reflected in the window 

Unwind a tornado
Unwind a tornado
Unwind a tornado
Unwind a tornado tornado

Jenny takes an uber home
(She’s got five stars)
Neon flashes through drops of rain
(Instagram it)
Tho my heart is sinking like a stone
(She won’t pick up)
Tomorrow she’ll try again, to

Unwind a tornado 
Unwind a tornado (gonna blow you around)
Unwind a tornado (sucks the life right out)
Unwind a tornado tornado

Jenny takes that dreaded bus downtown
Oh, just thirty six minutes to work 
Used to say that a guy with a wandering eye was par
When your paycheck’s signed by jerks

Unwind a tornado 
Unwind a tornado tornado

Unwind a Tornado

Down on the street a caravan of supercars 
Announce the night has turned 
To 
Day

They rattle drafty windows that strain to keep the golden morning light 
At 
Bay

Upstairs there’s a forgotten man
He broke his hip, he starves, and then he
Fades 
Away

A floor below a woman secretly wishes
That the boy she dates would learn 
To 
Stray

Oh

And on a phone a text arrives 
We’re sorry but you did not get 
The part

It sits inside a gym bag that gets stolen
As she suffers for 
Her art

And somewhere at the studio a producer’s niece
Instead becomes 
A star

After paying all the dues she did during
That tough two weeks at 
Julliard

Oh
It’s a gilded age
it’s a gilded age
it’s a gilded age
it’s a gilded age

And in a small town angry fingers
Punch expletives at the west coast 
“libtard”

As his favorite hunting dog is choking on his chain
Out in the 
Front yard

And in the inland empire there’s a man 
Who was in pictures in the 
Seventies

He’d found a missing extra in a trailer once
He tried but she just would not 
Breathe

Oh
It’s a gilded age
it’s a gilded age
it’s a gilded age
it’s a gilded age

Our inland empire dolly grip 
He worked just inches from the 
Stars

And he’d spend hours wrapping up 
As they departed in their 
Supercars

One day the phone got quiet 
And the call sheets didn’t call for just his 
expertise

So he sold all of his autographs his stock and trade 
And now he’s just like you and 
Me

Oh 
It’s a gilded age

Gilded Age

Someday they’re gonna look up
As they kiss their babies’ cheeks
Tell ‘em what the moon once looked like 
To the poets and the Greeks

Before they smoothed it out
To a silver ball
And cut it into countries
And built the wall

Back when it used to wane 
Until it disappeared
Before the lights of its cities
Kept it bright all year

Ooh they’re gonna miss it
Yeah they’re gonna miss it
They’re gonna miss 
The way they kissed 
Way back when no one could resist it
Ooh they’re gonna miss that poets’ moon

Ooh. ooh.

And in the movies 
They’ll add a stand-in moon
That felt the way it did
In some old Gershwin tune

And the actors will pretend
To recognize
The way the moon reflects the truths
In a lovers’ eyes

And afterwards this moon will win 
Academy awards
Walk the carpet with the starlet
And be adored

In his speech he’ll say, “we miss it
Yeah boy do we miss it
We’re gonna miss all that we risked
Way back when no one could resist it”
Yeah we sure do miss that poet’s moon

ooh. ooh.
 
From the sea of tranquility
We’re always centered in the sky
Longing from much greater distances
Than meets the eye

And what does heaven mean now
And what does heaven mean now

Someday they’re gonna look up
Free of the mystique
They’re going wonder what the fuss was about
To those poets and those Greeks

After all it’s just a mirror
They got kin up in New Houston
That web of lights and billboards is
just something you get used to

Saw how it was in a movie once
And on that moon that script relies
It must have put on quite a show back then
You could see it in their eyes

Ooh they’re gonna miss it
Yeah they’re gonna miss it
They’re gonna miss, miss
Oh how the memory persists
Yeah they’re gonna miss that poets’ moon

Miss the Moon

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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