Smile (making of)

The Other Side

Our civilization is agonizing, suffering from several incurable diseases. 

Meanwhile, clinging to the past like barnacles on a rotting hull, our fearless leaders only have eyes for the entrancing T.I.N.A.

99% made on an iPad with GarageBand 1.1. Crooned with a cold.

T.I.N.A.

Mars (Say Yes)

Lyrics:

It didn’t have to be you
Could have been anyone
Could have been your brother
Could have been your son
Man you don’t know the rage
The sorrow and the pain
That your sisters and brothers
Got running through their veins

You don’t know that for you
People took to the streets
You were the wake up call
That got us all on our feet


You could have been jogging
Just a few blocks from home
You could have been watching TV
With your front door closed
They could have a badge
They could have a gun
Or they could be a small time neighborhood vigilante
Looking for some cheap fun

We don’t always get footage
But it happens every day
Millions of hunters
Looking for their prey

I hope you rest in peace
Down in your silent grave
And while you’re fast asleep
You might feel the ground shake
Nobody will forget you
We knew you weren’t a crook
You’ll be together with Rosa Parks
Down in history books

But this won’t bring you back
You life is over for good
Cause you were on the wrong day
In the wrong neighborhood

I have never been stopped
By flashing lights blue and red
Not even when I drank
Not even when I sped
But if one day they stop me
They’ll let me off with a warning
It will all be forgotten
When I wake up the next morning

But Johnny Law had his knee
Crushing, crushing your head
And you were lying face first
On your asphalt death bed

_____________________

A raw take on an event that happened to shake the nation like few others. Had it not been recorded, life would have gone on as if nothing had ever happened.

Didn't Have To Be You

Lyrics:

I don’t believe what they say
I don’t believe what I see
I don’t believe anything
Unless it agrees with me

My child won’t have no vaccine
Jesus is your best medicine
And I will cure every ill
With hydroxychloroquine

And the Earth is flat
And 9-11 was an inside job
Obama was never born in the US
So let me join the angry mob

Guns are safe and I will keep mine
I don’t care ‘bout Columbine
And I might shoot up a school
But don’t you tread on my rights

Wake up sheeple, break your cage
Sandy Hook was clearly staged
But I’ve only ever read about Sandy Hook
On my brother in law’s Facebook

There’s a secret society
Building towers for 5G
Using Airplanes to leave chemtrails
That plant robot chips into our brains!

I won’t wear a mask don’t force me
I’ll stand closer than 6 feet
It doesn’t take being a sleuth
To know we’re not being told the truth

Coronavirus don’t exist
Ain’t no such thing as a specialist
If somebody proves me wrong
I’ll just remove them from my list




Hard facts don’t touch me
If they come from NBC
I have this gut feeling in my bones
To only ever trust Alex Jones!

I’ll vote Trump and you won’t stop me
I’ll hack into the DNC
Trump will stay till ‘24
And he’ll close the CDC

When Joe Biden ain’t sleepy
He watches child p*rnography
His son’s in trouble in Ukraine
He’s just as bad as Hillary

B*tches, you rot in hell
For calling me an incel 
Women are the public enemy
Because they keep rejecting me

I don’t believe what they say
I don’t believe what I see
I don’t believe anything
Unless it agrees with me

I wish there could be a cure
For when I feel so insecure
When someone in their right mind
Tells me I’m full of horse manure

But I feel so happy
In this alternate reality
Where I can always claim
That someone else is to blame
_______________________

Trigger warning: if you are into conspiracy theories, you might not understand the song the way I intended it.

I Don't Believe

Lyrics:

I love you more than anything
And I show it every morning
When I wake up by your side
No, my love I cannot hide

No I can’t hide my love for you
No, my love I cannot hide
No, my love I cannot hide

And if I wake up every morning in bed with you

With you
Yeah, with you I want to be
Yeah, oh, for eternity
Yeah, each day I love you more
Than I ever did  before

No, I won’t settle for anything less
Than your sugar-sweet caress
Yeah, your sugar-sweet caress

And nonetheless, I feel I should confess

There is not a single string attached
No way for you to latch
On to me for evermore
Yeah, I’m always free to go

But why would I go,
Why would I go
Yeah, anywhere else than home?
Yeah, why would I be alone?

Not gonna lie, when I have you by my side

It is no fortuitous choice
Yeah, cause when I hear your voice
I know I’m in the right place
‘Cause I feel your sexy ways

Mmmh, your sexy ways
Yeah, I know I’m doing this right
By sleeping here every night

I don’t need a ring on my hand
To know I’ll be your man
No need the gov’ment involved
Yeah, to anchor my resolve

That’s what I call, what I call a problem solved
Yeah, that problem has been solved (x2)

We can grow old, ‘cause I know you’re made from gold

I love you more than anything
And I show it every morning
When I wake up by your side
No, my love I cannot hide

No I can’t hide my love for you
No, my love I cannot hide
No, my love I cannot hide

When I wake up every morning in bed with you
It’s love

My Love I Cannot Hide

Lyrics (explicit):

I like to look at you
When you read your daily press
I like to look at you
When your hair is a mess
I like to look at you
When you relax and when you stress
I like to look at you
In your dandelion dress

I like to look at you
When you bend and when you stretch
I like to look at you
When I hear your heavy breath
I like to look at you
When you lead and transgress
And you dress to impress
In your dandelion dress

I like to look at you
See the fabric flex
Stretched out by the curve
Of your wonderful breasts
I like to look at you
And see the fabric press
On your waist and your thighs and your hips and your legs

I like it when you
Bite me like a lioness
Pouncing at my body
In your dandelion dress
If you’ll pardon my French
I like my hands on your fesses
No BS, I confess
Your dandelion dress

Is like a second skin
About to give in
And when you begin
All my gears are grindin’

I like to look at you
From every angle such finesse
I like to look at you
When you give me your sweet caress
I like to look at you
Bounce up and down on my bed
Sudden death and I mess
Your dandelion dress

_____________________________

This song was originally composed by my dad, in French. With considerable modifications and my blues/rock touch, I "translated" it into English. Original song: "Débardeur Blanc" - https://soundcloud.com/vincentknobil/debardeur-blanc

Dandelion Dress

Lyrics:

If you’ve tried, then you’ve failed
And you’ve cried, and you’ve wailed
For it doesn’t always end
Just the way that we pretend

And when it doesn’t end the way that it should
It does more harm than good

Chorus:
If you have to get on a plane to see your lover
Or if you have to take a train
Spare yourself the pain
If you have to get on a plane to see your lover
You will try and you will fail
You will cry and you will wail

Don’t go around thinking you’re so special
That you can do what others can’t
Because success stories of this kind
Are all, all but scant

All of this time spent in line at TSA check
For a few days of love is time that you won’t get back

Bridge:
Honey, we have both been here
Our faces have been soaked in long-distance tears

__________

A song I wrote last year, after once again hearing about the flaws of long-distance relationships. So many of us have experienced this nonsense, and thought, in the aftermath, that it was bound to fail. This is what this song expresses. But if you have had a successful long-distance relationship, good for you, you've won the game!

Recorded using GarageBand, a steel-string guitar and a tremolo harmonica.

I will be posting an alternate take of this song on my YouTube channel, so go ahead and look me up on YouTube if you want to listen to it!

A Plane To See Your Lover

Trois fois vingt, c'est un  nouveau Podcast qui tend le micro à la génération Covid, celle qui a eu 20 ans en 2020. J’ai eu envie d’aller à la rencontre de ces jeunes pour entendre ce qu’ils avaient à nous dire sur cette année de pandémie. Ils m’ont confié leurs doutes, leurs états d’âme mais aussi leurs projets, leurs envies. 
Alors en vrai, c’était comment d’avoir 20 ans en 2020 ?

Smile (making of)

sknob