This song was recorded with my good friend and at the time, band mate, jonathan citrin.  Jonathan and I used to play music it seemed almost everyday back in the summer of 2008. If I was John Lennon, he'd be Paul McCartney. I've never met another musician who could understand what I was hearing in my head and be able to execute it, usually on his first try. 

This may not be the best demo, what with the awesome 80s casio beats and the cicada choir in the background, but we had fun nonetheless and I'm proud to have spent that summer cooped up that tiny room with my friend, creating.

lyrics:
I saw an old man walking down my street
He got hit by a mini-van and he dropped down to his knees
Screamin…

You can’t believe a, you can’t believe a 
You can’t believe a single word
You can’t believe her, yeah she will deceive you
And then she will leave you in the dirt

Then I heard a widow talking in her sleep
I ran up toward her window and she shouted right at me, 
Sonny…

You can’t believe a, you can’t believe a
You can’t believe a single word
I’ve been trying to warn you, you gotta ignore her
Cause she’ll be thorn inside your heart

Then I met that young girl who was pretty as the sun
She won my heart over and she didn’t lift a thumb
Then things got real crazy she acted so absurd 
She said, “you’re not my baby, infact baby you never were”
I’m thinking…

I should’ve listened, I should’ve listened
I should’ve listen to their words
But I never listened, I did my thing and
Now I am living in reverse

But at the end of the day you know I’m doing just fine
Sure, she may have broke my heart but hey, it’s not the first time

So I’ll get up everyday and eat breakfast, go on my way
I’ll live my life, I’ll eat my lunch, I’ll meet my friends, we’ll have some fun
I’ll go home and I’ll eat dinner, work out and get so thin
I’ll go to sleep and dream my dreams I’ll wake up and I’ll do the same thing again

Love may be hard but life still moves on (and so will I)

Samuel Fickie © 2011

Life Moves On [feat. Jonathan Citrin]

#our50statesproject

Let me start this off by saying that it was a huge honor to be involved with this project.  Back in in the early 2000s, Sufjan Stevens stated that he would be writing an album for all 50 states.  After releasing 2 albums (Greetings From Michigan and Come And Feel The Illinoise) He abandoned the project.  Fast forward to a global pandemic in early 2020, a genius on the internet decides with the entire world quarantined with nothing to do, it was time to finish what Sufjan started.  Joey Clift rallied the troops and gave us something outside of ourselves to care about in a really strange bleak time.  When I first contacted him I asked if I could be considered to write some songs about Missouri as that's the state I was born, raised and to this day, reside in.  As it was, I was late to the game and good old Misery was booked solid.  Joey was generous enough to offer me a few slots in some states that still needed love.  I started studying weird and interesting facts about the states on the list.  I put together a few song Ideas for each state and sent them off.  The one that he asked me to write was based on this one sentence. "Iowa: Nothing is better for me than thee (a hymnal about quaker oats)"

So here you have it.  A song about quaker Oats.

Nothing is better for me than thee, Or, The Ballad Of Earl Canfield, Or, Iowa, Oh Iowa, Or, I Know You’re Feeling Low Right Now But This Feeling Of Disillusionment Will Pass

Lyrics:
Integrity, purity, honesty and more
All thee three I offer me and into my cup I pour
That hardy oat
Milk from a goat
And classic Quaker garb
Giving me
All I need
To step out into my yard 

There are many different oat fields
Across the plains and to the seas
But the ones from home are better for a puritan like me 
I have tried a 1000 cereals, from all bran to flax seed
But nothing is better for me than thee
Nothing is better for me

Strawberry, blueberry, cinnamon and jam 
So many varieties choose one if you can
What makes me whole?
My favorite bowl
Filled up to the brim
I Feel the steam
I’m in a dream
And transported once again

To the many different oat fields
Across the plains and to the seas
And the ones from home are better for a puritan like me 
I have tried a 1000 cereals, from all bran to flax seed
But nothing is better for me than thee
Nothing is better for me

The other day while on my way to the general store
There was a man and in his hand was a sign held in the fore
“Did you know 
That PepsiCo 
Buys their oats from anywhere
But Iowa”, 
Oh Iowa, 
This atrocity won’t fare!

There are many different oat fields 
Across the plains and to the seas 
And Quaker Oats uses each of them
‘Cept from the grounds I’ve planted seed
I’ve been a cuck for long believing
That these oats were made me

Iowa

Nothing is better for me than thee....

My second song written for the non-sifjan 50 states project.  I'm really proud of this song.  Johnny Cash was and remains a hero of mine.  To try to chronical his childhood into a 3 minute and 30 second song was hard for me.  So you get double.  I sincerely hope you enjoy this track. 

be excellent to each other, 
- SF

V1
When you’re living in a dust bowl
And the Great Depression is on your tail
You gotta take the time to ease you mind
And keep your train steady on the rail
There may be gold in Cali-forn-i-a
Sears & Roebuck in Illinois
But here in Arkansas
We got Ma and Pa and us kids in their employ

I am the middle child of 5+2 
And you can call me old J.R.
I liked to fish and swim on sunny days
But Pa, he made me work that farm
So at the crack of dawn
We’d be moving on
Hopin’ quitting time comes soon
We’d make each other smile while we walked the miles by humming out this tune

CH
They say a slice of bread spread with a little honey
Is a five course meal when you ain’t got no money
And if the cotton don’t pick itself, I guess I will
We was raised and blazed in the hot fields of sunny
Dyess, Workin sun up til we were done-y
And that was everyday til Jack got himself killed

V2
Well my ma she played piano
And my pa he played the belt
And she would sing us songs all night long
While Pa chirped on Roosevelt
Cause there was nothing much to do 
When you were 12 in ’44
Living in a 4 wall shack, nailed up with slats and sleeping’ on a dirty floor


It was like any other Saturday
I was my brother Jack’s shadow
If he went here or there or anywhere
You know that’s where I’d go
He was working at the saw mill
Trying to earn us all a dime
But it was hot that day and so I didn’t stay until he finished up that time

CH
They say a slice of bread spread with a little honey
Is a five course meal when you ain’t got no money
And if the cotton don’t pick itself, I guess I will
We was raised and blazed in the hot fields of sunny
Dyess, Workin sun up til we were done-y
And that was everyday til Jack got himself…

BR
When we dug your grave on Sunday
I stepped on a rusty nail
And you were lowered down with a flowered crown wearing pennies like a vail
I stood barefoot at the opened earth
While my heart flipped upside down
And I began to fade there in the shade cause there ain’t shadows underground

A Boy Named J.R.

Music & Lyrics by Samuel Fick
© 2020

I've got demons in my closet that'd make your skeletons look cute
but still my mom thinks i'm a prophet and my dad is just confused
and I'm here trying to get through this life alive

I never claimed to have solutions for the problems of today
no answer for pollution or polar caps melting away
No I'm just trying to get through this life alive

And so I try, and I try, and strive
To find that split second of happiness
between the glitter and the gold
like the morning's when I wake to find your lips upon my throat
so that when I'm close to 90 and lay down for the last time
I can go knowing I live a life, alive

I never cared much for religion and politics are quite the bore
with the impending amalgamation that will no doubt end in another war
it's unlikely I'll get through this life alive

But still I try, and I try, and strive
To find that split second of happiness
between the glitter and the gold
like the morning's when I wake to find your lips upon my throat
so that when I'm close to 90 and lay down for the last time
I can go knowing I live a life, alive

demons

Get Through This Life Alive (2012)

Music & Lyrics by Samuel Fick
© 2020

It's funny how something that once seemed so stable
Could suddenly just fall apart
A classic case of brother Cain betrayin' Abel
My word's the spear that pierced through your hearts

It's much too late to say my sorry's to your mother
Cause you've run away, away with the night
Still everyday I say a prayer for my brother's
Lord lead him back into your  light

Where did you go?
My brother's a ghost

Cain and Abel (2009)

Music & Lyrics by Samuel Fick
© 2020

I awoke in a jolt to the sound
Of the jarring sirens rebounding
Off a nearby home and then directly onto mine
I arose to see a sky not blue
But green and dark and sad, but lovely
The temperature was warm as was the blood around my bones

Oh, the city scurried off in worry
The children grabbed their favorite toys
As the parents all said their Hail Mary's
And ducked for cover in the basement
But I just sat on my front porch and I waited for salvation
Cause if there's gonna be a twister then I've gotta see it
And if there's any chance of lift then by god, I wanna be in it

Cause I wanna go where Dorothy walked down that yellow road
Where nobody knows me, or any of the mistakes that i've made
I could find me some courage to face the day without you by my side
And maybe a new heart and brain to help me out along the way

And then the rain subsided in an instant 
As if it were almost never there
That's when I heard the rumble coming toward me like a train
And seven funnels formed before my eyes
And ripped right through them railroad ties 
And as if in a predetermined course headed straight into my arms

Oh, I closed my eyes and said a prayer
As I was lifted up in the air
And when my feet touched down again
This black and white life I used to live in was
Suddenly now technicolor and I felt I'd seen the face of god
Because I made through the twister and somewhere over the rainbow
Where the flowers are all little people
And my best friend is a scarecrow

Cause I wanna go where Dorothy walked down that yellow road
Where nobody knows me, or any of the mistakes that i've made
I could find me some courage to face the day without you by my side
And maybe a new heart and brain to help me out along the way

Well this is all a dream I had one night
A subconscious image in my mind
With a vivid presence not unlike anything that you could touch
But in reality I'm just a man
With a twister of a past at hand
And it feels like I just can't move past all the wreckage of my love

Twister [Cell Phone Demo] (2012)

Music & Lyrics by Samuel Fick
© 2020

Babe, I know that there's forces all around you
Trying to break you down right to your bare
Babe, I know that there's demon's in the atmosphere
Trying to trip you up into their snares
But honey, God made me to wrap my arms around you
and hold you til the breaking of the dawn

So when the walls of life come crashing down upon you
and there's no steady ground to plant your feet
when there's no more hands reaching out catch you
I will not abandon you
I will not abandon you
I will not abandon you

Babe, I know that there's psycho's in our city
and they're caught up in some history that's now gone
Babe, I know that the nights are now too scary
that your sleeping with your lights on and fully clothed
So remember that I will be your blanket
And my warmth will protect you from the cold

So when the storms so thick that you can't see the ending
and the tunnels just too deep to see the light
When everyone you know throws reason out the window
I will not abandon you
I will not abandon you
I will not abandon you

Sometimes our love is circumstantial
and sometimes you don't want me at all
but I would be naive and foolish to believe you
when your pride denies my gentle helping hands

I Will Not Abandon You [Cell Phone Demo - w/ Bronchitis] (2012)

Music & Lyrics by Samuel Fick
© 2020

Lately your blue/green eyes have been saying much more than your pretty mouth
Lately your body has been gesturing things you're too afraid to shout
Like someone please come save me
From the pit I've fallen in
It's cold and I am lonely
And I'm so tired of throwing punches at the wind

Lately my blue/orange eyes have changed to shades of cold cranberry red
Lately my body has shut down on me like as if I were dead
And I see no chance of revival
In my heart or in my brain
But when I'm with you I feel stable 
So tell me girl, would agree with me that you feel the same?

When then, what if we just ran away
Find the place where east meets west and stay
And what if we were happy there
We could build a world with nothing but tomorrow and each other to call our own

Gas the Wagoneer up and let's leave before the sun can see we're gone
I'll take the first shift while you lay beside me steadily dreaming on 
And with some cold coffee in a paper cup
I'm feeling footloose and fancy free
And I don't care really where we end up
Just so long as it's far, far away from St. Louis, Misery

Honey let's just run away
Find the place where east meets west and stay
Cause what if we are happy there
We can build a world with nothing but tomorrow and each other to call our own

Maybe it's way too far fetched
Maybe I'm just dreaming
Or maybe it's just the thing to do
Maybe it's not the safest bet
But sweets I'll keep believing
That when you wish upon a star sometimes it comes true

What if we just run away
Who cares what the people say
We'll be off, alone, unchained and free
With a future with no history
We can build a world with nothing but tomorrow and each other to call our own

St. Louis, Misery (2012)

Music & Lyrics by Samuel Fick
© 2020

I awoke in a jolt to the sound
Of the jarring sirens rebounding 
Off a nearby home and then directly onto mine
I arose to see a sky not blue
But green and dark and sad, but lovely
The temperature was warm as was the blood around my bones

Oh the city scurried off in worry
The children grabbed their favorite toys
As the parents all said their hail mary's
And ducked for cover in the basement
But I just sat on my front porch and I waited for salvation
Cause if there's gonna be a twister than I've gotta see it
And if there's any chance of lift off 
Than by god, I wanna be in it

Cause I wanna go where Dorothy walked down that yellow road
Where nobody knows me or any of the mistakes that I've made
I could find me some courage 
To face the day without you by my side 
And maybe a new heart and a brain to help me out along the way

And then the rains subsided in an instant
As if it was almost never there
That's when I heard the rumble coming toward me like a train
And seven funnels formed before my eyes
And ripped right through those rail road ties
And as if in a predetermined course, headed straight into my arms

Oh, I closed my eyes and said a prayer
As I was lifted up in the air
And when my feet touched down again
This black and white life I used to live in
Was suddenly now technicolored
And I felt like I'd seen the face of god
Because I made it through the twister 
And somewhere over the rainbow
Where the flowers are all little people
And my best friend is a scarecrow

Cause I wanna go where Dorothy walked down that yellow road
Where nobody knows me or any of the mistakes that I've made
I could find me some courage 
To face the day without you by my side 
And maybe a new heart and a brain to help me out along the way

Well this is all a dream I had one night
A subconscious image in my mind
With a vivid presence not unlike anything that you can touch
But in reality I'm just a man
With a twister of a past at hand
And it feels like I just can't move past all the wreckage of my love

Never Be Your Man [Cell Phone Demo] (2012)

Music & Lyrics by Samuel Fick
© 2020

The Preacher says you’re up in heaven
Whether you are, I don’t know
If you are I bet you’re happy
And if you’re not, then where’d you go?

But saying you’re up in this “heaven”
If you happen to see god
Could you for me, just once mention
That since he took you I feel lost

So I’ve been thinking I might join you
For an eternity of bliss
Where we’d both stay young forever
In an everlasting kiss

I got my finger on the trigger
Darling, I will see you soon
I close my eyes and pull it gently
And stain my walls a dark maroon

But when I open them you’re not there
All I can see is black and red
The temperature is steadily rising
And there’s a pounding in my head

I wander aimlessly through darkness
Thinking about what that preacher said
And then I see a sign before me
It says, “Welcome all, ye dead.”

I hope you’re happy up in heaven
While I’m burning up in hell

A True Story (2010)

All I Want for Christmas Is You - mp3

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

All I Want For Christmas Is You

Last Christmas

I'll Be Home For Christmas

Blue Christmas

My name is Sam. I'm married to Katy.  Together we made Max.  Be excellent to each other.

Fam Sick

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