track 10 of middle of a stage

lyrics:
They say
You're never coming back
You'll never have a dad
Refrain
I'll never give them practice
But the words hurt where they have been
Maintain
I'm sleeping on your mattress
Like I always have been
(Ignore that voice crack)
Okay 
Maybe I miss you bad
Maybe I miss you dad
Oh no

A bit after my birthday
We celebrated for
I was ready for winter
I only wanted more
I woke up to the screaming
Coming from my mom
And that's when I had realized
That something had gone wrong
Oh no

But look at me now
I'm doing so great
Even without
You
I'm making these songs 
And though not for long
It's all been without you
I kind of feel guilty
This computer you built me
I wouldn't have this without you
Sure, I did all the steering
But I wouldn't do a thing
If you never taught me all your little facts about engineering
Couldn't have done it without you

middle of a stage

without you

ribbit

Why Do You Care

PITY PARTY! (prod. nurture nurture)

HA HA HA HA! No transition
I'm a man on a mission
No pain in a pan in the kitchen
Mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah start kissin'
It's official. I love attention (Ha, ha, ha, ha!)
No pain in a pan in the kitchen
Mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah start kissin'
Eye-line girl into Bass Pro fishin'

Uh, they're all painting me stupid
Uh, long in the front like I'm Snoopy
Uh, don't say anything moving
Uh, I like her rolls like lumpia

(Ah, ah, ah)
Kevin alone like Macaulay Culkin
Your lies aren't you onta somethin'
All fake Ks like Oli London

Sometimes I say things that I don't believe in
Just to get into people's brains
And I have spread into lethal range
Sometimes I talk on things I have no degrees in
For no reason
Complex Napolean

See you this evening
I see you this evening
Like seasons I change and I age and I weaken
I passed her by, so just call me a deacon
Feel like Gaston with music from Sweden
Sometimes, I'm talking without meaning
Sometimes, I'm thinking without speaking
And sometimes I forget to say bye before I start leaving

Disintegrate, disassociate
Nothing's real. Don't create
No expressions-every face
Embrace nothing, leave no trace

Build our cities, fight the wars
Dance and sing, pandering (pandering)
All the while, we cannot shake
The nagging sense it's all a fake

Scurry, hustle, chase success
Trapped up in a horrid mess
Efforts frail, ambitions grand
watch him eat the specks of sand

He needs it by the month
He needs it by the month
He's from the South
He usually tells buddy to go back inside his house

(Hey, hey, look at me)
(Thanks)

HA HA HA HA! No transition
I'm a man on a mission
No pain in a pan in the kitchen
Mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah start kissin'
It's official. I love attention (Ha, ha, ha, ha!)
No pain in a pan in the kitchen
Mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah start kissin'
Eye-line girl into Bass Pro fishin'
Uh, they're all painting me stupid
Uh, long in the front like I'm Snoopy
Uh, don't say anything moving
Uh, I like her rolls like lumpia

(Ah, Ah, Ah Ahhh!) Cool new things I do
Haven't been outside
How is the sky because I think it's blue?

Let me just say let me just say something
Got one day and you all did nothing
Some of you need to meet me outsideeeeee
Okay, I'm just bluffin'
Follow my arrow like Musgrave loving
Get an A+ cause I gave something
So bored, I might just copy myself
We're jumping
We're punching
We're pulling seduction

You're bragging about cuffing season (Golden retriever...)
But your boyfriend's ugly
No money monsters looking like Michael and Sully
You aren't funny
And If you rate girls, then you won't find anyone loving
I like to go out the country
I got a two hundred quintillion inside my duffel
You know im not fronting, uh

NO TRANSITION

One
Two
One Two Three
Wow!

You wish you had a different name
Different game
Different way that you exclaim the way you're happy that I came
Got no shame
It's so funny, honey
Technicolor girls only see gray
When they're looking in the mirror
Say (Wow!)

I- I love so much that every time I feel so stupid
What you're doing to me now is why I only can say
(Wow!)
What am I doing
Moving either like I'm God or Cupid
Moving in a dream that's lucid
Now you got me spoiled and ruined
Now you got me dancing badly, madly
Off some kind of juice that you produced
For sake of movement through the valley
Caddy rallying a human
Get me loose and then I'll prove it
I said that I'm not the jealous type
Before I aimed my gun to shoot him (Chk chk, pow)

If your favorite sound is silence
Then I will not even speak
If you say we need to stay up
I'll say sleep is for the weak
And if you need me bilingual
Contigo, todo es unique
If you say you love photographers
Then pose
Say cheese!

(Wow!)
(Wow!)
(Wow!)
(Wow!)

I don't give space, I give hot
Call me Mister Misses Maker
Majoring in nature physics
And if you do one thing today
Then please understand
That I could give you anything
Except a well-made plan

I- I love so much
That every time I feel so silly
What you're doing to me now
Has got me changing up my style
What am I really, really doing
In a busy city
Acting off the way I'm giddy
Guess you're really my Achilles

If you say you love adventure
I will climb the highest peak
If you say you love a patient man
Then I will wait for weeks
And if you say you're sentimental
We'll be dancing cheek to cheek
And if you say that you love flowers
I will give you a boutique

If your favorite sound is silence
Then I... Ahem
If you say we need to stay up
I'll say sleep is for the weak
And if you need me bilingual
Contigo, todo es unique
If you say you love photographers
Then pose
Say cheese!

(Wow!)
(Wow!)
(Wow!)
(Wow!)

(Wow!)
(Wow!)
(Wow!)
(Wow!)

Say Cheese!

Butterfly

Failed

ARE YOU HAVING FUN?!

RAISE THE MIC!

In February, I was inside one of the practice rooms at my university. It was my second semester of my Freshman year, and I felt like exploring the buildings I hadn't yet seen. The rooms were, by all accounts, imperfect. Each had different chairs, different levels of acoustic padding, varying levels of damage on the walls and pianos, occasional trash, and the slightly out of tune upright pianos, with, luckily, most of the keys and pedals working. None of the acoustic provisions mattered. Most rooms didn't have it, and the walls were thin enough to hear everyone else playing anyway. None of that mattered to me. I spent my first day in the room just playing piano for the first time in what felt like forever. After playing for a little under half an hour, I got a call from a family member. She was asking whether or not I could attend some event back home. I responded, not really thinking about it, and after some further small talk, we finished the call. Once I put down the phone, it hit me -- small and large changes in my life and family, even the ones that just happened recently, will impact how I go about parts of my life forever. That's when I asked the question: What do you do when you know that it's different forever?


I then went back to my dorm room and fit what I could in my backpack: a Shure SM58, an audio interface, my laptop, a desk mic stand, and some cables.

This was not perfect. I'll be posting behind the scenes on my social medias so you can see the process (probably Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok). My username is kevinkempt on all of those. There's a clear room reverb and very audible piano from other students practicing in the background. All this tied with the cheap gear I used are not ideal conditions for a """studio""" recording. I couldn't be more happy about it, though. The song would not exist any way other than how it was recorded. Figuring out the chords and melody on the piano and practicing my lines for hours in that room honestly made me attached to it. The song was recorded in two sessions, one being in February and one being in April (mainly for adding more background vocals and figuring out ideas for the bridge and final chorus). When I went in April, I went into one of the practice rooms without really thinking about it. This one had slight acoustic padding. I recorded for around an hour, and kept experimenting, but when I listened back, I kept hating the result. It took me so long to realize that I wanted the sound of the other room. Before that, I never really considered how these similar spaces could have such different sounds, let alone how I could like one of them more than the others.


I wouldn't trade the process of this song for anything, and I hope it connects with you in the music. Maybe you can answer what to do when you know that it's different forever.

Lyrics:
What do you do when you know that it's different forever?
What do you do when you see someone else's family portrait?
When do you say you're beyond a lost cause?

Maybe I was a ghost in the frame
Reaching out while you lost my name
Maybe I was the last to know
Everything leaves. I should've let go
(I called but the number changed)

What do you do when you know that it's different forever?
What do you do when it feels like a blur in the rear view mirror?
Where do you go when the road never rotates back to home?

Maybe I was a ghost in the frame
Reaching out while you lost my name
Maybe I was the last to know
Everything leaves. I should've let go

I called but the number changed
I knocked but the house was estranged
I walked past the place we stayed
Until my reflection gave way

Maybe I was a ghost in the frame
Fading out while you learned my name
Maybe I was the last to know

Everything leaves. I should've let go (You should've let go)
Everything leaves. I should've let go (You should've let go)

Everything leaves. I should've let go

What do you do when you know that it's different forever?

Different Forever

Fear in value

The struggles and communication of new love.
Another track off of my 2014 album Smiling. This is the 2025 remastered release!

Smiling

Finding Our Way

off the dream, i dream the happiness with you

Like I am a prophet

19

http://kevinkempt.com

contact: k@kevinkempt.com