crushing tins cans neath my feet
missing places I’ve never been
don’t smoke but I miss cigarettes
missing people I never met.
even though these cars aren’t crashing
I look away from the ashes
can’t stomach all the blood
a waste that I can’t fathom

every word’s emphatic
selling melodramatics
keys to hell while you’re at it
I’m a mellow addict
it’s a strange phenomenon
to board the plane and feel it take off
think of the days an the things I lost
home at a sickly polluted pond

walking slow in the wind storm
when and how was the wind born?
from the womb of the sky it has been torn
and taken on a violent form

and nothing keeps it away,
nothing keeps it away
when we sleep it stays awake
when we sleep it stays awake
all the faces look distant
all the scenery mythic
slap me, am i still with it?
and drag me over the finish

i dreamed when I’d fly, of a plane wreck
things start to die, when you save them. 

plastic bombs are going off
craters in family restaurants
swept off the way, by a swept off,
desperate flame, drawn to the moth
caves are bright, sun’s dimming
chain of life extending
anchored on the sea, ascending
blood and debris unending
it covers all the mind can reach
the streams, mountains, and every beach
DNA of everything
on a freighter heading for the reef

every joy is ordered
every ill co-morbid
heads collapsing in the vice
steel and concrete fills their minds 
slow and anxious we rotate
self aware of the charade
peeling proudly every bell
no onion to pull us from hell.

and nothing keeps it away
and nothing keeps it away
when we weep it doesn’t wait
when we weep it doesn’t wait
on the distant horizon,
there’s a slow bending skyline
there’s a foreboding timeline
we’re an eroding island

Days are cloudy and far behind
still shadows proudly dwell in my mind
there are doors that must stay locked
sad voices that must trail off
something’s cut through the deep cloth
electric brain just repeats songs
pathways like a tracked metro
through the dark and back it goes

ghosts in luminous grey dawns
places thinner than tarot cards
leafless maples in gold fog
skeletons of forgotten gods
and I cannot make out what they’ve said  
as the smoke fills our dizzy heads
northern forest burned again
and screened the weary sun dark red
and in the melancholia
as the smoke filled our hollow lungs
the wind was ripping out the seams
and we burst into everythings
and every atom whispered
there are no static pictures
melting arctics, acid rain
all catharsis is the same

nothing keeps it away
nothing keeps it away
what we keep it will still take
what we keep it will still take.
nothing keeps it away

Live at Empire Theatre

Ghosts - Live at Empire Theatre

when every eye is dry I cry, when every eye cries I’m dry
my emotions release like a biblical fleece
at odds with the ground and the morning light
When every eye is dry I cry when every eye cries I’m dry
my emotions release like Gideon’s fleece
and I don’t know how to get them back in line

but she’s on another night flight over this choking poor planet
she’s taken more red eyes than a disposable camera
she’s descending from the sky like fresh quail and manna
hoping to keep me alive as I crawl to the savannah 
she’s a remnant of an older, unassailable truth 
a vagabond’s shoe, a megalodon’s tooth
some ancient prey in the cold dark blue
had her stuck in its frame and pulled her loose
from that antediluvian brutal jaw
before the beast’s slow funeral by the future’s claw
but the prey escaped and the single tooth lived on
defying chains of language and delusions of clocks
primordial liquid, fire and dust, she contains what’s been lost in the rest of us

I wanna be a soul, and I wanna be an ornament
I wanna grow old, I wanna be Jim Morrison
in a manowar in a storm rounding cape horn again
every bit of chaos, and I want it in order, man
and I’ve pitched all my ideas down through the ages
in hieroglyphs, cuneiform, and notebooks full of satchel paiges
But I’m still a wretch who sure as hell deserves the hell that he gets
every second I’m afraid and I’m feeling like macbeth
all these c section babies got me holding my breath
but I’m still betting she can save me from this tea leaf death
at least I’m hoping she can save me yet

when every eye is dry I cry when every eye cries I’m dry
my emotions release like a biblical fleece
at odds with the ground and the morning light
when every eye is dry I cry, when every eye cries I’m dry
my emotions release like Gideon’s fleece
and I don’t know how to get them back in line

the promethean fire on the day i was born 
was a bright sailor’s sky that covered the morning
made of crimsons and whites and godfather oranges
I’m just now hitting the height of that prophesied storm
sometimes I think it’s dream, and that I’m tired of enduring this
I feel like a machine that can’t pass the fucking Turing test
just poison leaking outward in this concrete that contains me
thrown under yucca mountain by the nuclear crazies

she brings no arguments of language that i can survive on
over manuscript dating, over piercings or lions 
its something bigger than a multiverse and smaller than ions
it swallows me up in the earth, like Lemuria island
no she doesn’t come in peace, she breaks open my skull
she flows like a waterfall, or not at all
I keep her in the pocket of my mind, like Sinatra’s sad dimes, 
i don’t wanna miss it if she ever calls
to tells this Moses bastard boy, 
this woo paced two faced Castor Troy
another defector bastard from a basket boy,
falsely adopted by in a selfish master’s ploy
that she’s here to help me back to my begetter whom he’d been trying to destroy

when every eye is dry I cry
when every eye cries I’m dry
my emotions release like a biblical fleece
at odds with the ground and the morning light

because I’ve still got good intentions that I want to show you
I can still get redemption if she’ll let me through
I can still get redemption if she’ll get me through
I can still get redemption if she’ll get me back to you
she sings for the living in the hard times and easy
plucks strings for apparitions like the bard blind Hoichi 
I can still get redemption if she’ll come down to meet me
I can still get redemption, if she’ll come down to free me
I’ve still got good intentions that i wanna show you
I can still get redemption any second I choose
if I’m after redemption she will let me through
I will get redemption and she will get me back to you,
she’s on another night flight over this choking poor planet
taken more red eyes than a disposable camera
she’d descending from the sky like fresh quail and manna
hoping to keep me alive while I crawl to the savannah

Big Megalodon Tooth (demo)

if it’s so clear, if you’re so sure of the justice of
who’s owed their severance package in the open air
then you won’t fear when your home cheers 
as heads start rolling down
so dear, honorable Robespierre, are your robes pure
are your hopes here, your bros near, your foes near?
are your ropes learned, do you know for sure
that these walls don’t a load bear?
in case you don’t hear, this is cochlear for your broke ears, 
there are a million other Robespierres running around

monsieur, you didn’t want there to be so many monsters
in lawn chairs, that flaunt their obscene wealth like peacocks there,
while the commoners are impoverished here and locked out from the coffers,
you said it’s not fair, you’re right it’s not fair, you went and made your thoughts clear, 
(and soon you’d have your thoughts smeared,) in the city block square
 your great alter stood its ground

you were so principled, indispensable, but this is indefensible 
this is incommensurable and it won’t make you invincible 
to think back then, you thought it an evil sin
to kill men; then became your own villain
listen, Maximilien.. is your max a million? would you stop at a million?
there are en masse a million of you now
a million little Robespierres running round.
a million little Robsepierres running round.

but the problem sir, with the mob verdict is that it’s stronger
than the very ideals it fought for, the very ideals it chopped for,
before long, be sure, it’s not about right and wrong no more
you see the ones who always talk most turn the movement from a cause for hope
into a cannibal pot roast, licking every drop fallen
from the severed chopped bones, and now no one can stop them, 
the smallest act could cross them, they are hoping that you cross them, 
so they can drink your blood, man, you were dragged across the block, man, 
put up in the stocks, man, the rope pulled and the chop, man, 
by another Robespierre, just hanging around
with a million other Robespierres cheering loud,
a million robes-pure Robespierres chowing down
there’s a million other Robespierres running around

Robespierre (demo)

Lyrics:Some find their meaning in a good game of golf 
Some need a cosmic puzzle to solve
Some birds return with a branch from the olive 
Others get lost watching the earth revolve 

Some find their solace in beautiful sounds 
Some build it on metaphysical grounds 
Some birds return in a voice from the clouds 
Others get lost in the muttering crowds 

You used to look like a prophet back when we were young 
Being fed by a raven neath a tree in the sun
Roses and swords were both your native tongue 
Harmless when a serpent, wise when a dove

Some in all honesty never have doubts
Some win their soul back in angelic bouts 
Some birds return with a twig in the mouth 
Others seek sunlight and keep flying south 

Some long to be holy, yet plunder and kill
Some are nearly born saints, but don’t have the will 
Some birds return to perch on the sill 
Others are wandering o’er the flood still

When I heard they found you facedown in a pond 
It was hard to believe your old soul could be gone 
Your friends and I wept, but the earth only yawned 
It swallowed you whole, then meandered on

Some will return to perch on the sill 
Others are wandering o’er the flood still

Birds (demo)

Written in 2025

“I caught a glimpse of the specter whom for years
we’ve been evading 
In the morning mist, where the sunrise cast its spears, 
he was just spectating 
and hesitating
To scatter back into air 

(Where you going? Where you going, little ghost?
In the morning, in the cold gleaming frost
After all this time, are you still lost?

Where you going? Where you going, my ghost?
In the morning, in the cold gleaming frost?
After all this time? Am I still lost?)

now i’m convinced that in these old river-runs-through towns
time is distorted
the water’s swift, and since it’s always hurrying on down
time in town moves slower
and all the lingering ghosts here 
 - as if held by ropes here 
so they dissolve real slow here -
are just the way it evens out

and that explains, yes
don’t you agree that that explains
the way we’re feeling?
it’s not the rain
no for too long we’ve blamed the rain
and our cloudy ceiling 

that explains, yes
don’t you agree that that explains
these things we’re seeing?
it’s not our shame,
no, there is no place for shame
in this new theory

after all these years, I am still lost

and that explains, yes
don’t you agree that that explains?
these things we’re seeing?
these things we’re feeling?
these things not healing?”

This New Theory (demo)

Loser/bummer anthem. Always wanted to write one. Here it is.

Written in 2024

I tend to make a mess of things
and not the kind in which you dine
but I haven't failed at everything
there are still some things that I haven't tried

how sad a spectacle is it 
to try and keep indifferent friends
it feels like half my life's been spent
trying to loose up tied ends

and I'm going nowhere
but that is nothing new
I guess I was kind of hoping 
this time I could go with you

I'm going nowhere 
just like I've always been
would you like to be on my team
even if we never win?

Well I might be unlikeable 
but I'm also cold at heart
and I might not be that handsome
but I'm also not that smart

they told me I need gravitas
but of this they can be sure
I've been falling on my face and ass
since I first started misunderstanding words

and I'm going nowhere 
but that it nothing new
guess I was sorta hoping 
this time I could go with you

'cause I'm going nowhere 
and I'm leaving soon
first thing when I wake up
at three in the afternoon

now I feel like a jack o'lantern 
a big ol' toothy pumpkin
I got a head of flickering lights
but no executive function
and you've been doing so much for years
now you're finally doing nothing
our roads are not quite parallel
so I'm hoping for an eventual junction

'cause I'm going nowhere 
but that is nothing new
guess I was sort of hoping
this time I could go with you

I'm going nowhere 
and I got no trust fund
would you like to be on my team
even if we get ten-runned?

and I'm going nowhere 
but that is nothing new
guess I was sort of hoping
maybe I could go with you

'cause I heard you're going nowhere
and I might be a fool
but if we're both going
we may as well carpool

Going Nowhere (Acoustic Demo)

Always wanted to write an eerie space song. Here it is. Artwork by Jeremy Geddes.

Written in 2021

seems like just yesterday when his mind exploded in pieces and you wouldn’t believe what 
a mess was made of rhymes that he spoke ex cathedra on gut strings and cedar 
while the sections played in time but most were just knee jerk reactions to fever pitch 
trepidation sighs, lying broke on the  easel, a truckload of adhesives 
could never shape him right and fix that rogue synesthesia so en vogue to be seasick on this 
every day streamlined show of stroking thin egos, while bellowing TVs glowed
with flesh to glaze his eyes as he opened the freezer and unthawed the meat and 
the war was advertised and he made his decision on some vague patriotism
and a bitter ache inside he felt so angry and useless and he forgot what his mother said to him,

their minds of wire spool, beneath those sunken eyes
Henry don’t you be a fool, with those devils in the skies

so many broken bones, never being set
for so long now we’ve grown ever misshapen 

now he’s lifting off the ground through the layers of atmosphere, to the nations proud battle cheers
he’s staring toward the clouds as the engine breaks through the sky bloody orange hues behind
the captain shouting loudly, “take your weapons and rations, your methods of madness
we’ll make our planet proud, now suspend your rank doubt, son, don’t be a coward,
we might never touch back down,  [IMPLIED TRAVEL TIME] take your weapons in hand, we’re approaching our landing”

but the enemy was wise
ambushed on descent
the hull split at the sides
the oxygen all spent

and when the asphyxiated craft exploded into slivers, he was pulled toward the river
that rolls around the tracks of a celestial sphere, never resting its gears…
for eternities and back until he’s cast from the circle like ash from an urn through 
the currentless shadow cast from the circle a mass of clay earth cold

No more shall shackles hold my ankles to the earth
far into vastness cold inside my pallid hearse

and I’ve never felt so cold adrift in form’s unthought 
Henry don’t you be a fool..untethered cosmonaut

so many broken bones never being set
for so long now we’ve grown ever misshapen

Misshapen (demo)

Painting is "Heraclitus" by Abraham Janssens

Written in 2020

Nothing ever stays the same
Everything is bound to change
And that's the same as it's always been
That's the same as it's always been

There's no clear line through life and death
Both reside in every breath
And that's the same as it's always been
That's the same as it's always been

When walking in that dry valley
The carcasses sang out to me
"Don't matter what name they're calling it
It's still the same as it's always been

We pull apart back into dirt
Just like the stars that gave us birth
And that's the same as it's always been
That's the same as it's always been"

I've got some sadness that always stays
I'm in the kitchen smashing plates
Breaking ground with new earthquakes
But it's a shadow I can't shake

I'm sad when those I love aren't near
But I miss you most when you're right here
So future posthumous appearances
Are no kind of a cure

Keep pushing up that eternal stone
Keep reconstructing Eeyore's home
Keep finding ways more knowledgable 
To proclaim that we don't know

No moral math or trolley train
Will ever accurately explain
The justice or pain wrapped in all of this
And that's the same as it's always been

Where the ship is going, no one's sure
But we keep rowing together
And that's the same as it's always been
That's the same as it's always been

That's the same as it's always been
Beautiful, insane, and it's always been
Lucid and plain and it's always been
Don't matter what name they're calling it
All is vain and it's always been
Worth everything and it's always been
That's the same as it's always been

First Principles (Acoustic Demo)

Artwork by Vladimir Kush

Written in 2028.

I’ve been an addict all my life long
to games I can’t win and puzzles I can’t solve
It’s been some kind of sick fascination
to find myself in impossible situations 
-
and this one is one of those
I’m a deep sea fish reaching for a desert rose
I’m a parking lot, hoping that a garden grows
I’m me and you’re you and my only way through is to divide by zero

you don’t like me much but I promise you this
if you knew me better you’d like me even less
If you could see what goes on in my thoughts
I think you’d personally lead the firing squad

but even though I wouldn’t agree
I’m so flawed, I’d assume I deserve it for something
this song just needs to be worthy of suffering 
I just want you to want something you can’t get anywhere except from me

It puts me out of sorts, but I think you’re my twin
and I ought to sue you for copyright infringement
but i’m sure at the court you’d have this winning defense:
my best is your ground floor, you do all I do and more, you’re improved at the core, so I’d best be out the door, with my obsolescence 
-
but you don’t know the thing you’ve offered
for a minute my sadness has an object
before this it hung shapeless as fog upon me
Now it’s fenced in a daydream that I can keep and smother by slow degrees
(And I guess you'd call that "sorrow laundering")

so even if it’s been in your mind
and even if there were enough time
and even if it’s true, what I swear I have seen
what you’d have to do would split you at the seams
-
it’d never be worth the risk
a dream gambled for so much less
just come clean, a daydream is all this is
some scene, from a movie we probably all saw as stupid kids

I’m sure you can tell most of this is an act
It can all go to hell, as a matter of fact
If I even thought this one could be solved
If I even thought the words could be carved
If I even thought I had something you want 
I’d ruin my life for those lottery odds.

Sorrow Laundering (Acoustic Demo)

Painting by Ferdinand Knab

Our vision was prosperous - strong, proud, and vast
The Bones of Colossus above every mast
You know it was, you know they were, I swear that they were.

No longer so lustrous; not such clever hands
The bones of Colossus asleep in tall grass
You know they were, you know they were, I swear that they were.

Soul disembodied, diffuse in dark past
The bones of Colossus sold off for scrap
You know there were, you know they were, I swear that they were

Is it really so awful? All greatness shall crawl.
And the bones of Colossus; just bronze after all?

Colossus (demo)

Between Suns

Arrivals

California Rain

Ellipsis

Just a folk song I wrote in 1993. Artwork is "Almost Spring" by Nataliya Bagatskaya

I've Never Loved a Thing (demo)

Love Just Isn't

Journal #26 (Humpty-Dumpty)

Octavia

Track 10 of Between Suns album

Excuse the rude interruption, but I've got to tell you
This thing’s sinking quickly and it’s gonna kill you
It's too late to solve it with an intervention
But there are some ideas we’ve yet to mention:
Sacred string of words, holy manuscripts
Healing energy fields, electromagnets
We’ve got to get you cleaned up and out of those dress clothes
I’ll explain to you now how the sickness will unfold

It starts with insomnia and a gradual pneumonia
And when you start to cough blood, they’ll quickly disown you
And you’ll have to be open to an uncertain surface
To put your tired feet on, while we perform the surgery

Let’s get you better friend
Let’s get you better friend

When your ligaments break and your anger is toothless
With Antigone’s shame, knowing you didn’t choose this
Some will kick out the ladders, but most are indifferent
When your ashes are scattered, they’ll quickly forget you
The other night I looked up at Orion, and though he has no eyes
I could tell he’d been crying...
Up in darkness undying, I recalled the time when
You held up a lantern to a face on some money
And with comic perfection, declared its bankruptcy
Friend, I wouldn’t worry about which direction
Waters are all murky and all connected
And I wouldn’t fret who comes to your shores now
The windows are blurry inside every lighthouse
But my God! I said more than I meant to say
I just get on a tangent, get carried away...
I shouldn’t worry you all about the future
So often I get lost in all the minutiae
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But let’s get you better first
Let’s get you breathing first
Let’s get you water for your thirst
You’ll be up and at it again
And the wheels will start to spin
And we’ll worry about this then

Then

Track 12 of Between Suns album (the best song on here by far, if you ask me)

Sloganeers

Where the Noise Still Hums a Tune (For Ennio)

First track of newly releasing album: Greatest Hits: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Reissue (disc) 3

Everything Lives!

Wrote this one in 2023 and forgot about it.

I was out of pocket, then I was out of line
then I was out of socket, then I was out of my mind,
I was out of gas, I was out of cash, 
I was out of merchandise in the back, I was out of whack
I was out of hand, now I’m out of time.

I was out of ought, I was out of should
you were out patience and you were out for blood
Fresh out of stock, out on the block, out of any original thoughts
you were full of cant, because you were out of could
I’m out of the house, but I ain’t out of the woods

This is the worst, there must be something I can do
I’m sick of playing with words, rather be playing with you
thought too much, now I can’t feel this through
If I thaw too much, I can’t keep my cool
so it’s out of range, and out with the old

I was out of pages, and I was out of warnings
I was out of angles, so I was out of corners
I was out of space, I was out of shape, 
I was out of soul and I was out of ape
I was out too late, and you were out of mornings

I was out of order, I was out of luck
I was out of quarters, in my worn out Chucks
I was out to sea, I was out for weeks, I was out on the beach
you went out to eat, and you’re still out to lunch
Now I’m out on the deck, in sweats, 
eating berry colossal crunch

This is absurd, there must be some way through
I’m sick of playing with words, rather be playing with you
I saw the signs, now i can’t follow rules
I’d have covered my eyes but I’m out of wool
they’re out of control, now you’re bored out of your skull

I was out of doors, you were out of hope
I stood out at second, you hit a frozen rope
it was out to left, i was out of step, I ran hard but I was out of breath,
I was out of my depth and I was out at home

I was out of fashion and you were out of nice
the sun was out and burning and I was out of ice 
I was out for summer, I was out from under, I came right out and acted dumber
I was out of onramps, I was out of options, now you’re out of sight
I was out of slack I was out of alternative facts now I’m out of light 

This is a curse curse, and there must be some way through
I’m sick of playing with words, rather be playing with you
I’m out of circulation, now I can’t feel my toes
I’m out of rations, so now I’m eating crow
I’m out of context..and you.. are all out of bubblegum

I was out of wishes and I was out of ink
I was out of clean dishes and I was out of sync 
We hung out like vines, hung out all the time, now I’m hung out to dry, 
I was Winnie the Pooh, and I was out of think, think, think 

I was out of answers, I was out too much
I was out of awwww you were out of shucks
I was out of commission, out of ammunition, out of overarching visions
I was out of bed, I was out of debt, I was out of my element
I was out of assortment, out of proportion, but now I’m out of distortions:
Now you’re out of reach and I’m out of touch 

Worn Out Chucks (demo)

Lyrics:

When I was 12 I went to a summer camp
out by a lake in the mountainous Northwest
played basketball, swam, and ate chili mac
paddle boated to an island, found a geocache

but I was ruminating over a puppy-crush
she was a family friend who’d come and visited us
but only for a couple weeks, then she was gone
and I was woebegone over it all summer long

but every day I was alive then I felt entranced
it was even exciting to be sad
I knew which side god and i were on and I knew
which people were bad

the boys all slept in the same big dormitory
it smelled of sweat and was 94 degrees
a kid I knew took several sodas from the kitchen fridge
and stored them in the drop ceiling over his bed

and as I lay wide awake in the sweltering heat
with my adolescent brain swimming in caffeine 
every hour I would hear hear him push the ceiling up
and crack a wolf cola open like a chime in a clock

but eventually I fell asleep, and he kept drinking till near morning
when he seemed to find, that he’d exhausted his supply
so he got, micturated, and then called it a night

16 on my first day of public school, 
was king kong of ping pong but otherwise uncool
until then, my childhood had been a mashup
of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Captain Fantastic

It was then that I first began to feel the weight
of melancholia as childhood evaporated,
bus rides, my teammates listening to pump up songs
but in my headphones “song for you” by Alexi Murdoch 
(“filling up your head with rain”)

I pitched and pitched even though my elbow felt
held together by a half melted vacuum belt
said I was fine, even though my arm burned
gave up 7 runs a game but only two were earned

that summer, back at camp, in another funk
when surprised, I realized I was in that same bunk
as the kid who’d made the ceiling a vending machine
I reached my hand up in the darkness and to my disbelief

caked in dust about two feet to the right
a remaining relic from that pseudo-apocryphal night
three years expired and flatter than the Altiplano
felt like rust and fire pouring down my throat

a girl nearby watched with horror and disgust
as if I were Dracula drinking blood
she was sure I’d get sick and throw up
she was embarrassed for me that I wasn’t quite grown up

but rapidly, I fell asleep, and when I awoke I was 20
on a gurney in motion, my sternum sawed open
the surgeons were joking, they were blurred then in focus
with their cutters and pliers, an electrical fire,
a mess of sparking, shorting, finally burned out wires

bye baby bye, no crawling back this time
blew through my savings, at Lacuna Incorporated 
it was all a waste

24 now and I’m doing alright,
a few friends bailed, a few new ones arrived
you can hang on with more rigor than a canine corpse,
but there’s not sense in being bitter at what’s run it’s course

when someone makes up their mind to stay mad
all the good memories turn into hanging chads
they still exist somewhere deep down in the core
but I guess to them, they just don’t count anymore

and there’s always just one more thing to add
this and that, another grain of ampersand
but you can’t hold anything forever in your hand
let it slip, and don’t pretend it’s ever coming back

and it’s juvenile, but still sometimes I
want to go find that bunk and push up the ceiling tile
there could still be one more left, of that aluminum innocence
but I’d rather never know and besides I don’t really want it 

there’s no going back, and that’s the way it should be
there’s no puking up apples for Adam and Eve. 

Put away childish things
put away childish things

Wolf Cola

Corvidae

Wrote this back in the day for a friend who was having trouble letting the pizza cook properly. Song is of the more emo-ish persuasion, I'm afraid. Artwork: Cover to FD's "Demons" (or "The Possessed") by M Gavrichkov.

End of the day and as he’s driving home
he’s writing another valediction poem 
Maybe it’s just his empty stomach, who knows? 
But it’s the best one that he’s ever composed 

Home alone and he’s writing down
all the reasons he can think of to stick around 
And he’s having some trouble right now 
Cause none of them feel very profound 

Evening out with Rocinante for errands,
the day was wrong and now the night is errant
but the sun’s setting now as the clouds are disappearing 
Maybe he can forbear just a little forbearance 

do it for me now, just do it for me now
just do it for me now, in a while you can do it for yourself
do it for me now, do it for me now
don’t you…go blow the candle out

It used to be just time to time, 
but these days it’s his waking mind
Dreams about it 9-5,
Used to scare him now it’s a lullaby

Hard to explain in simple terms 
But every month for years has gotten slightly worse 
Despite Every plan in the universe 
Still followed around by a hungry hearse 

1 am his face stuck in the spine
of a 19th century British guy’s mind
and all the marshland plots fit together just right
so maybe he could push on just to see if something might

Do it for me now, Do it for me now 
you can do it for yourself if you’ll hold on for just a little while
do it for me now, Just do it for me now 
don’t you go bring the curtain down

“what other way have we
but to wait where the dark eclipses be?”

so do it for me now, do it for me now
don’t take the pizza out, before the cheese is golden brown
yeah do it for me now, do it for me now

Do it for me now, Do it for me now 
Don’t bring out the grounds crew now, Before the 27th out 
do it for me now,Just do it for me now

For Me (demo)

Began writing this song this summer in the parking lot of an Idaho truck stop. Finished it this week. Artwork is, "The  Sun" by the inimitable Edvard Munch.

Sunshine Hymn (demo)

Lyrics:

Above the chimney tops
the smoke ascends to view
as if all the house’s thoughts
were in a cloud like in cartoons

it’s true we are in pain
there’s no use in lying
but if we can’t smile while in flames
then really, what’s the use in smiling?

the more I learn and grow
the more I realize
if I knew all there was to know
well then, I’d always be surprised

with the ocean to our west
and the mountains to our east
it’s the places we know best
that we understand the least

I’m aching and I’m shivering
 in my flesh
I’m banking on this river
to stop and rest
I’m making a decision
at long last
to not make a decision
just yet

there’s a diamond in the sky
made of diamonds in the sky
in summers slept outside
I’d pitch a game there every night

and I’d ponder it a while
how wondrous and bizarre
that folks from every time
had wondered up at those same stars:

an ancient mariner lost at sea
looking for directions home
a peaceful forest glade where friends
around a fire eat and smoke

or a bloody battlefield
with fallen sons strewn all about
where mothers weep beneath proud Leo
while fathers carry their boys out
and they say, 

‘they’ve put out every light
again
they’ve poured away the wide
ocean
they’ve packed up the moonlight
into wood
and nothing now can ever come to good

no stars are here welcome
anymore
go rip apart the sun
banish warmth
stop all the instruments
close the books
for nothing now can ever come to good
nothing now can ever come to good’

and as I’d gaze about
at all those flaming spheres
the more I’d try to count
the more and more that would appear

and I’m not sure but I would guess
all wells are infinitely deep
and if we’re not diving toward the depths 
we’re cursed to think they can be reached

it’s the people you love best
that you understand the least

Auden

This is an acoustic live track I recorded! It's a simple song about moving on. It was on here before and I accidentally deleted it.

Recorded by Britton (The Reverend) Holman at BigPencilStudios

We Can't Tell (Live Acoustic)

What Gives

New album coming soon, called Transcontinental Tracks: Central Pacific. Stay tuned! I am now out of space on here, so I'll be removing all official releases that can be found on other streaming services such as spotify, apple music, etc, and soundcloud will be exclusively home to demos and b-sides that will otherwise not be published elsewhere. If you want to keep listening to the Between Suns tracks, they can be found on my bandcamp or spotify or anywhere else you might listen to music. 
Cover photo by Nan Young Lee

I write songs about things I care about!

Joel Martin from Toledo

Pinned to spotlight

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