Ultimate Vocal WBG playlist

fawm 2023

wbg wbg wbg

this moth likes the woebegone guy's voice

Stretch the fabric now
I was hoping you’d discover
where it tears and where it doesn’t
where I’ve worn it out

I will take it’s toll
and I’ll never tell you
I wasn’t told about
what I’ve been told about

stretch the fabric now
I was hoping you’d discover
how it hurts, how it hurts to learn
you’re successful now
and even more a beast of burden

A Beast

It’s too much
I pulled a muscle and so now I have to stay seated
or lying in bed for the most part
or I could walk with a fucking cane I guess if I really wanted to
oh, and my car won’t start
which is unrelated

I told this little lie to myself in my 20s
that my 30s were what my 20s were supposed to be
and then I said and did exactly the same things
except now it’s a lot easier to get injured
hence the pulled muscle

if anything I’m more prepared
for the slow creep of a sagging life
a casually pathetic future
a dozen people who tell me I’m doing a good job on the internet
shit like that

and I sound clear eyed right now but I’m soaking in it
I keep having panic attacks for no reasons and then not telling anybody
so I’m not really soaking, am I? I’m drowning
so that wasn’t that self-aware after all, was it?

And despite the 90s-era signifiers of someone talking over a song
I am not in love with dying
I am not doing it in Texas
I am not popular
and I am not going to ask you to kill me

but this song needs something
not a chorus, but a sign to hold
to say “look, this means something
we are all looking at something together
we are all looking at the most photographed barn in america”

symbols are profoundly inexpensive
so let’s just pick one: a dandelion
did you know that the word dandelion comes from the latin
for “lion’s tooth”? It’s about its leaves
It has nothing to do with the flower 
so if someone asks you what this song is about
tell them it’s about dandelions

I really like that song about dandelions
but I didn’t get the part about the barn?
It’s from the novel White Noise
There. You’re in on it. 
You’re in on everything. 

I do listen to King Missile
but there wasn’t time to reference them in the 2nd verse
my penis IS detachable
Martin Scorcese DOES make the best fucking films
Jesus Christ IS way cool
and I AM going to protest because its Saturday and there’s nothing else to do

You're In On Everything

It’s a bust
the dumbing down of love
and grief and hate 
for the sake of song 
has made fools of us. 

It is not
for making into art
we have been cruel
I apologize
for what it is I do
and I am doing

it’s a trick but
we have torn the flesh
and there’s no mending
we pride ourselves on pointing out
what it is we broke

it’s too much
ankle deep in shit
and still I’m thinking
how lovely it will be
once I have made a piece of art

my art isn’t worth it

recycled sound
you’re used to it by now
a crutch
I’m breaking windows quickly
there’s no time
to wrap my hand

in disgust
you’re right to point it out
there is sausage to be made
there are deals to be discussed

in the dark
the now and final dark
there’s a place where it is warm
and I don’t have to think so much

I forget
the strangest little things
I love you
and a song can only drag that through the mud

Art Isn't Worth It.

Moonlighting

Lately I’ve
been dreaming my
tongue was swollen,
bitten, eaten out,
oh, but they were kind,
they left me with my
eyes, soft and closed
and moving,
generating movies,
a shame to go to waste
if there’s nothing I can say.
If you’d like to be replaced,
we can replace you.

I was holding out,
you were managing your doubt
so well until now,
so well until now,
but I was holding out,
you were managing your doubt
so well until now,
oh, well until later,
but I won’t control my fast cascading temper
forever.

Were the trees shivering?
Or are you hiding in them?
Makeshift shelter
for inclement weather,
an eye in the sky over my head,
or are you leaving me for dead?
Frost forming out here
while I search,
light pouring in the corners
illuminates my breath,
dissolves every circumstance.

If you’d like to be replaced,
you could’ve fooled me.

I was holding out,
shelter held under the clouds
so well until now,
so well until now,
I was holding out,
shelter held under clouds
so well until now,
oh well, rebuild later,
but I can’t control how fast they fell the timber
forever.

Call off the dogs,
call off the knocks,
I know you sent them,
I could use a little privacy,
call off the ambulance,
call off the avalanche,
you know I give into my paranoia easily.

Where are you going?

I know it’s you at my door
and I know what you want.

I was holding out,
checking locks and standing ground,
so well until now,
so well until now,
I was holding out,
so well until now,
checking locks and standing ground,
oh well, you’ll find me later,
but I can’t control my finger on the button
forever.

Call off the dogs,
call off the knocks,
call off the search for answers,
call off the graceless fruitless chase,
call off the dogs.

Dogs (Until Now)

We could clean it up
Starry-eye my desperation
It looks better as romance
And I could counter-argue
But I don't think that I will
'Cause I don't think that you care
You don't care do you?

'Cause even if you did
I'd unpack half-truths and fix the latches
They get a little easier to open every time
And even if you wanted to act in my best interest
You'll get fooled
You don't think that I'm interested do you?

It'll take a little to get between myself and my self-diagnosis
And I won't step back gracious
And I know there's little belaboring the point
When your size outpaces me

You think you got the cure to being bitter?
Well the pill tastes just as bad as the real thing
And I hope you don't expect me to get better
You don't think that I intend to help myself, do you?

'Cause even if I did
I would provide my own superstition
And it would make sense while I dwelled on it
And I know it sounds like I am stuck on being stubborn
But that's okay
You don't expect anything
Do you?

Michael - Do You? (Crowdless Version)

I hope 
it’s not insensitive
to want to be done with this
it has me by my throat
I really oughta go
but I’m drawn
to the middle of
the superstition so
bleed the circle closed

make it address me by a name
that I wouldn’t give myself

it pulses because it loves us
bear witness to it
full-throated spirit
it pulses because it loves us
this is the end of the time
of our lives

it was fine, it was fine
the door darkened briefly
I was wondering if you would notice it
there was time, so much time
extending past the limits of our sight
the stone melts while we admire it
and what better way to
end unpleasant days
than to pull the curtain back and show you
how little remains to be seen?

It Pulses Because It Loves Us

There's a forest near my house and I can smell when something dies there

there is a sound
to the panic-stricken lower bound
convinced I’m pulling, 
you’re just plunging down
the backwater you have waded into
is waiting for you so it can freeze
i’m standing on the surface
so you can witness me

but I shouldn’t compare
the chill in the air
to the sound of you shivering

you will give me your attention
I know how to take from you
you think you can cast a stone and be done with me
but you don’t understand, you foolish little child
I’m here to bore a hole in your head
and I will not be calm
and I will not be reasoned with 
you’re gonna have to deal with me

a vessel seldom knows what it contains
a pickled brain, I am the dowsing rod
that’s picking up your pulse
and you can hope discerning eyes
of observant passersby
can spot the difference
but indifferent gods are
plucking you from here

you shouldn’t complain
the thoughts from the day
have a way of fogging up the air

I'm here to bore a hole in your head

You begged me 
take it to the grave
and I held my tongue
but I can not relate
I hope you resolve it
before it dissolves you

whom among us here  is being honest?
Whom among us here is being honest?
Because I can give you what you want
but you, you had better want it.

Did they found you cowering?
What a coward you must be then
you will never find me shivering
I’m wrapped wrapped in fur like a heathen
on cold night it pays
to be a beast

wrapped in fur like a heathen

Tourniquette

it’s minuscule
down to the easiest ask
enough of rolling your eyes
and batting your eyelashes
word’s out
the wrong people know and they have our addresses
what was that safehouse you told me about
do we need to call in advance

yes i’m tired 
but i’ve done this dozens of times
relax and keep your voice low
keep your head down and study your lines
too bad
sometimes things get out of hand
there’s no predicting the plan
we’ll get em next time
are you ready? I am
 
if you weren’t so hard to figure out
and easy to pick apart
we’d have the hard part done by now

just watch
these situations have a tendency to cascade
from my experience sitting in the mess I made:
the makeshift hatch I made over us
will suffice in the place of a fire in a cave
till we pass where the barricades are
but no one knows where the barricades are
when they discover us
I hope they discover us
looking down where the barricades are

newsflash
it’s vital you never ask
we could be digging a grave or a garden
knowing which won’t make the job go faster
get down
it’s like you wanna get caught
we changed your name and colored your hair
and I didn’t learn how to do that for nothing

good job
I don’t get to say that a lot
so focus on your heartbeat, slow it down some, now it’s your turn
shift’s up
it’s time that you get some rest
close your eyes and think about the future but don’t count on it

barricades

restless enough to rattle my bones apart
the blast radius of collapsing potential 
drawn out of sequence and then put together as art
a fragment of a fragment that you can hold onto

but don’t expect my sympathy
to run dry where it should
you’ll never run aground
that devil in the distance
could use some defending

scrawled into my ribs
was a message
I never did decipher it
don’t ask me what it means
i’m still processing
i’m a vintage machine

sunlight-sent signal to body to waken up
finger along the edge of my mug with my coffee
passed through a paper to filter the solid parts out
and then thrown in the compost to rot with the other mornings

but don’t expect my energy
to maintain where it should
my eyes are heavy now
the dreams I have mentioned 
could use my attention

printed on my skull
were instructions
I never did decipher them
don’t ask me what it means
i’m still processing
i’m a vintage machine

vintage machine

it starts innocent enough
euphemistic synonyms
my advice: it’s time to toughen up
but now 
there’s admission of some guilt
and a weakness of the will
that finds you prostrate at my door

wish you had somewhere to hide that I could find

I wasted many anxious years
peering between the blinds for you
but the changing of the guards couldn’t come quickly enough
sleeping shift or albatross
I don’t remember what I was
Before this form got in the way
what I say? Clocks are ticking us down, cover is getting sparse
return  fire now

I know the middle of it all
is such a tempting time
to propose calling it off
but now
that the blood is on my hands
the Calvary demands
 a swift finishing blow

Albatross

true love will find you in the end
or at least the end will find you
and you might fall in love with that
fine-tuned images of youth
will follow you to hell and back
fueled by good intention

I hear you weeping in your bed
pipe down, we could all use the rest
tomorrow is ruthless

 and who’s fault is that?
Who let the wind steal their whisper?
who’s fault is that?
When the time, I wonder who faltered

magnanimous
has never described me less
I know that it isn’t healthy to hold on
bad analysis 
you can’t be serious
how am I supposed to work with kids’ gloves on
these hairy palms

I see the hatred in your eyes
keep them closed lest they keep me up at night
tomorrow is a fight

 and who’s fault is that?
Who wrote the wrong directions on the map?
who’s fault is that?
Who forgot which way the river’s running?

sometimes
revenge is just a lie, “just lead a decent life”
but I don’t the advisers taking their advice
try harder
clench your fist and turn your hips
you’ll land a decent punch
in time to leave your mark

"""true love"""

Unearthed pages
of epigraphs to leave on
legacies to look back
fondly before moving on
coming up short
it really wasn’t that bad
I made a good run at it
I was proud sometimes (I didn’t look like it)

thunder warned me off
before the wind could erode

half-ideas
I scrawled so I wouldn’t forget
you held them like a gem in your hands
I was embarrassed, I got over it
week after week
if I were smart I would rest
I stay awake for this
I’m afraid of what I’d miss

the lightning warmed me up
i’m on my feet, it’s time to go

any time you felt something
I pulsed because I loved you
warning shots across the bow
I pulsed because I loved you
when you made something out of me
I pulsed because I loved you
when you were careful with my light
I pulsed because I loved you
I pulsed because I loved you

wrapped in fur like a heathen

GUIDE DOG