Not technically an ilyAIMY tune, but performed by an awful lot of ilyAIMY at an ilyAIMY show - I wanted to showcase Joey Jenkins' song about today's political climate and it's done with permission!

Unreleased - recorded Live at Seeker's Church in Washington, DC

Don't Say Anything

First track for 2018 FAWM. I'm late to the party. Late and sloppy.

This year’s been an exercise 
In just how much we can sympathize
With the fallacy of compromise
And knowing when to duck

Who’s in who’s out
And knowing when to bail out
This year’s been an exercise
And I’m all worn out.

It’s crazy that this town is thriving
But we do feed it
With blood and with sweat
Who cares how we got here
Who cares where we get

So paint it red make it green 
Cause we can fix most anything
Make it big make it small
Make sure it can take
A 3’ fall
Don’t blink don’t stare and whatever you say 
Don’t look away
This year’s been an exercise
And I’m still worn out

It’s crazy but this town is dying
They think they can fix it 
With blood and with paint
Who cares how we got here
Who cares what it takes


Distant sirens wake me up
I’d been dreaming a song where it all made sense
My arms were nice and big
My heart was nice and big
Sirens come around the bend
The sirens push from my bed
I’ve been out for 13 hours
And I’m still worn out.


This year’s been an exercise
In just how much I should empathize
With the seductive whisper of supplication
When you’re all worn out

We think we can fix it 
With blood and with paint 
I’ve found they don’t care how they got there
They don’t care what it takes.
They don’t care how they got here
They don’t care what it takes
They don’t care how they get there
They just care what they make

It’s crazy but we might all be dying
We think they we fix it 
With blood and with sweat
Who cares how we get here
Who cares what we get

Exercise

I'm apparently enjoying pretending I'm once again a college kid with a four-track.

The map it is just dots and lines
A model of both space and time
And folds may work on paper
But now it gets us recalculating

And Michigan is calling
Though it’s impractical to go
In March the mileage is just half the story
I hear they’re expecting snow and sleet

And every town and street
Is calling just a bit of me
But Michigan in snow
Sounds Romantic as Hell so let the cold wind blow
Us free

And though Michigan is calling me
It’s still cheaper not to go
15 years and fiscal fears
Have kept me south of Ohio


Kevin thought the whole thing up
Kevin with his black and white
He never taught me wrong from right
But he taught the math to get there

Never met the man
Just every book as was allowed
By teenaged kids’ allowance
He taught me how to make it up

Oberlin is snow bound
And you and I are west bound
And Toledo makes a lot of sense
Look it’s right there on the line

But if we kick north without a plan
And put it on the credit cards
We’ve always been a bit adrift
And Michigan’s last on the list…


My mom thought the whole thing up
She taught us about black and white
She tried to teach us wrong and white
And all the math that gets there

But she met a man
A stranger down from Michigan
It was some late teenaged kid’s defiance
Or she might’ve made the whole thing up



The map it never treats us well
It’s space and time never dollar signs
And mileage measures gasoline
Not the stories that we tell

So let’s head up to the lake
And let the schedule take a break
We could go and call the whole thing off
Fold the paper and Recalculate.

Michigan

Many thanks to Artem Bank for the addition of piano (https://soundcloud.com/artembank)

I
Give up
Give up
they whisper to you
they implore you
just give up.
II
Hands up
Hands up
they don’t need you
they’ll all forget you
just give up
III
Heads up
Heads up
your children need you
your brother needs you
heads up
IV
Stand up
Stand up
your children need you
your brother needs you
please stand up.

Supplication

A scratch version of a new song called "No, It's Me".

unreleased

No, It's Me

A scratch track for a new rob song called "New American". Sloppy overdubbed baritones as I try to get the slap part SOLID. It's getting there - with the band it's pretty close to GOTTEN there!

robilyaimy