I felt low
broken
static
black & white nothing but noise
 
Now my heart’s been 
pumping 
stronger since you turned on the color.
Your Mona Lisa smile it captured me.
made me stand taller
and I believe that something real lives there beneath your skin.

CHORUS      
it’s been awhile 
since I felt something real
well you’re something new
I've got a taste for you
and here's something true
you taught me how to feel brand new

If we rewind
recall
The truth is
a sober revelation
how your words
landed 
hard and your face frozen forever
Your painted plastic wood grain smile is placed so perfectly 
I almost believe that something real still lives there underneath


CHORUS
it’s been awhile 
since I felt something real
well here's something new
I've lost my taste for you
and here's something true
you taught me how to feel bad too


my feet are heavy planted in the garden of our memory
if I stay still I'll take root, an angry weed choking the flowers
put on a plastic wood grain smile and pretend graciously
And make believe that something real still lives there underneath

WK 05 Wood Grain Smile

There's an early anesthesia in the atmosphere 
Keeping only underwater people free & clear
This might knock you out

Though I look alive I'm only skin and bone
This action figure comes complete but for a soul
This might knock you out

Like a long deep breath of chloroform
You're bound to hear a truth that you can't ignore
And it will knock you out

I’m a mocking bird
A talented actor
I am not the author
Not a thing I say is true. 

The truth is I am only what the mirror sees
Reflecting all that moves me now I'm coming clean
This might knock you out

Every word I write belongs to someone else
My voice is just an echo and there’s nothing left
This might knock you out

Like a long deep breath of chloroform
You're bound to hear a truth that you can't ignore
And it will knock you out

I’m a mocking bird
A talented actor
I am not the author
Not a thing I say is true. 

I am chloroform
You are not adored
Does this kidnap you?
Not a thing I say is true. 


WK 06 (Knock You Out) Chloroform

I want something new
I need something new
I'm driving with my eyes closed
just to get a different view
and make sure my blood flows
from me and back to you
Am I alive?

I want something new
I need something new
Kiss you with my eyes closed
recall secret rendez-vous
to get a thrill from living
that I haven't had in years
Am I alive?

I don't know if I feel a thing
I might be numb from my head to my
might be numb from my head to my heels

I want something new
I need something new
Pull off a string of robberies
in the three one two
take a turn in the big house
all for a prison tattoo
Am I alive? 

I want something new
I need something new
Learn to see with my eyes closed
every things still deja-vu
running me in circles
til my shoes are worn through
Am I alive?


WK 07 Driving with My Eyes Closed

the streetlights are Stars
in a lonely galaxy
the neon in bars
gives no direction home

The pilot a heart
Imperfect easy machine
So simple to start
Can't seem to keep it clean

Missed calls and a stack of mail
monuments to insecurity
fragile girls & clever boys
hide away before the wide world sees
Hide away before the wide world sees

Everything you're feeling
Everything you mean
Emotions too revealing
they can learn to read between
All the lines you're selling
don't equal
A monument to me

Nothing is wrong
should be inked in your skin
But a screaming alarm
would be more apropros

of the look in your eyes
when they finally lock in, to mine
and your broken facade
crumbles to the ground

A missed call, unanswered mail
monuments to insecurity
fragile girls and clever boys
hide away before the wide world sees
hide away before the wide world sees


Monuments

He's pulsing like the mercury
Of a cartoon thermometer
He's ready to explode through the glass 
From one or a hundred other
forgettable suburbs
His entire existence is crass

Collects the world's attention
His required voltage is the end

We are witnessing a wildfire
And We are reduced to a grey plush piles
And We will all burn down
We all burn
and blow away

Grunting and ejecting now
in varying cadences
to a Ryan or a Tyler or a Kyle
He's electric like you'll never be
He's pinstripes and full Windsor knots
conquers things, "Rolls deep bro" all the while

he doesn't need connection
To witness his consumption is the end

CHORUS



All Burn Down (Grey Plush Piles)

This started out as an exercise for a small group of songwriters.  Take the phrase "Woodgrain Smile" and write a song around it in one week.  From there it good worked up and produced by some talented friends in Indianapolis and Chicago (Jeff Libey, Brent England, Marc Blackwell).  This is nearly finished, but these are still the vocals I recorded into my iPad from my couch some random Sunday night (the deadline for that week).

WOOD GRAIN SMILE Scratch Vocals

This is a work in progress.  This used to be a song called Chloroform (which may still be up on my Soundcloud somewhere).  It used to not really have a chorus.  I thought that was an issue, so now it has one.

I think it's better. But I always think things are good when they're freshly finished.  Let me know what you think though.

KnockYouOut(formerly Chloroform)V2 Work Tape

A preview of one of the songs from my new collection of songs...to be released....someday.

Wils Bach