The Best in New Punk  | Menzingers | Against Me | Spanish Love Songs

Rat King

Time in the Lighthouse

Tides Will Lead

Happy, Smiling and Living the Dream

Small Talk Champion

A Conversation With Billy Bragg About The Purpose Of Art

Take The Night Off

Wonder

Spark

Plastic Crown

This was another song I wrote during those same emotionally turbulent high school years in the mid-1980s. If "Breakin' My Heart" was about the immediate shock of betrayal, "Shattered Illusions" dug deeper into the aftermath - that hollow feeling when you realize everything you believed about someone was built on lies.

The opening line "Midnight shadows, a phone that won't ring" perfectly captured those sleepless nights, waiting for someone who was never going to call. I remember writing that verse thinking about how naive I'd been, how I'd "built castles on empty words." The metaphor felt so real to me then - all those promises and dreams just crumbling down.

What I'm proud of in this song is the pre-chorus structure. Adding that extra emotional build before hitting the chorus made the impact stronger. "Shattering my world" felt like the perfect phrase to describe how completely someone could destroy your sense of reality when you're seventeen and think you know everything about love.

The bridge represents growth - moving from victim to survivor. "I'm done with your lies, done with the pain" shows that progression from hurt to empowerment that I was learning to navigate as a teenager. The outro ties it all together with "Your love was fiction, but I'll rise from this fall" - probably the most mature line I wrote at that age.

Like my other lyrics from that time, this sat dormant for decades until AI technology gave me the opportunity to finally hear these words with music. There's something magical about bringing teenage angst full circle with today's creative tools. The song now has that dramatic, emotional sound that matches the intensity I felt when I first wrote these words.

Shattered Illusions

Metal with a hint of j-pop.

Lyrics:

Halloween is around the corner
My costume: no need to order 
Going trick or treating with my son and daughter
Were going out for epic fun and slaughter

Us kids really do get along
Our family bond is really strong
We're monsters who do delight 
In Halloween night

We jump at people, we cause a fright
Some people run, some people fight
All of this gives us delight
On Halloween night

Hallo

Hallo

Hallo......

Ween!

We skulk around with barely a sound. We find our prey, we then slay. We drink their blood, we gorge on their eyes, we make fun of their look of suprise.

We walk openly, silently and scary, but with appropriate modesty. We blend right in, they high five us. Let the night begin. Halloween is calling to us!

Hallo

Hallo

Hallo......

Ween!

Hallo

Hallo

Hallo......

Ween!



Rat King

The Flatliners

Related tracks