Bonus Songs
I have been writing a LOT since my last project, but I'm not quite sure yet how these songs fit into a project. Most of these recordings are the ones I end up sending to my pals to hear, so they are often conversational and VERY imperfect, but I hope you like the glimpse into the process nonetheless :)
Daylight Savings
Reflection on being alone on halloweekend for the first time. Wooly bear caterpillars prophesize the severity of the winter, and this fall I found them frozen on the side of the road next to the cigarette butts. I took that as an omen, but I used the dueling timelines in this song to reckon with the fact and remind myself that a lot can change in a year.
Lyrics: Marlboro Reds line the side of the road Keeping company with nature caught in riggor mortis A prophecy rigid from November cold The only glimpse into the future life will soon afford us Nobody loves me here But I still slip up and call it home Guess I thought it was a year ago When I was Making up secrets Just to have something to say God it feels like yesterday Marlboro reds smoked outside in the night The porch is full of people and their dying embers The house bellows deep, it glows a soft orange light It’s just past halloween but we’re all still pretenders Can’t show up to the party as yourself Maybe that’s why I feel extraordinarily bold Can’t show up to the party empty handed I brought all my secrets so I have something to hold But someone replaces them with a drink So my hands have something to do When work up the nerve to tell you High school kissing games People remain nameless Climb up to the roof In bloomers and I’m shameless Every banister that I seamlessly slide down I hope you’re at the other end Catch me before I hit the ground Every single party in our town feels the same But I’ve got an extra hour I might use it if im brave Daylight will come later than it did the morning prior So ill find you and your reds lighting up at the fire The clock is giving you Time to work up the nerve But the clock will always steal What you feel you deserve Marlboro reds line the side of the road As I walk in the fulfillment of a prophecy Maybe next year I’ll be walking with someone I know Daylight savings, come and save me Don't a pattern in repeat Daylight savings come and save me
Space Dog
This started as a song about Laika, the space dog, the first verse is all about her life and death. What happened after that is the song sort of spiraled into a greater commentary on what it means to hold power vs what it means to be gentle. There's a metaphor based environmental/animal framework throughout the song, but really it's about how billionaires will destroy everything to hold on to their power. I'm really proud of the chorus here, it's concise but biting.
Lyrics: easy trust and easy temper gentle nature, control center one way ticket space dog flying away made a martyr of a mutt gave her hope turned her to dust she’ll never understand when you try to explain make a cut to the carotid make it easier for you to read all her emotions entering in the centrifuge make a judgement call it’s worth it for we have to end a life beg for her forgiveness but never change your mind tell me what could stop you when you’re racing towards the night another destiny to find a new ambition to fulfill tell me would you die? or will you just kill? tell me are you looking for comfort or are you looking for glory? you care enough for the reverence to risk a ghost story are you starving for knowledge or reaching for power how anonymous are we from the top of your tower? another destiny to find a new ambition to fulfill tell me would you die? or will you just kill? another goal come to fruition another acquisition constant jockey for position you come out on top another competition to gain you recognition sacrifice pawns on your mission will you ever stop you put the deer into the head lights let the moth burn in the flame what wouldn’t be worth it to earn the acclaim another destiny to find a new ambition to fulfill tell me would you die? or will you just kill?
American Pope Party
God I love this song. American Pope Party is the current title, though I could change it to Cheerleader for Cetaceans at any moment. This song is a collage of all my favorite college party themes and memories, but it centers around my second to last one, a party where we accidentally capsized a canoe while "celebrating" the new American pope. Really the night was not about him at all, sorry to you Mr. American pope. One day, this will be a MUNA/Lorde style synth pop banger I truly believe that.
Lyrics: We sunk the boat at the American pope party You gotta get home There’s nothing worse than wet jeans So it’s time to decide if you’re leaving the party As you entered the world You gotta get out fast So you punch out the screen You jump out the window Cuz it come on Eileen There’s fireworks at the end of the world This is the oyster, we are the pearls And everybody’s out on the dance floor Kissing in a new combination A marionette, a cowboy, a cheerleader for cetaceans Everybody’s piled in the bathroom Discussing the death of a star Victorian corsets, captain Morgan, electric guitar Guitar solo We sunk the boat at the American pope party might as well swim, mascara down your cheeks Join the circus join the parade Bathtub baptism, masquerade Put him in his place If he think he’s Gatsby Til the table breaks Never ending dancing Ended up in a strangers room You look like if madonna Made love to the moon Unlawfully wedded Outlaw in my bed Fell asleep with a candy ring as a wedding band To death do we part If we die tonight Or we’ll get it annulled The knots not that tight Secrets Lies Untold Truths Lipstick stains On open wounds Fell out of a tree Fell asleep at the roots Woke up with my guitar Ashleigh’s humming a tune Have you ever kissed somebody in a crowded room? Or cried on the curb from the certain doom? We start in the middle of the conversation (repeat), do we have to leave before it’s over too? We sunk the boat at the American pope party Gotta get home, there’s nothing worse than wet jeans And maybe im just delusional There’s twice as many moons as usual You gotta get out fast So you punch out the screen You jump out the window Cuz it come on Eileen There’s fireworks at the end of the world This is the oyster, we are the pearls
Evergreen
I wrote this after I received a prompt to write about the Pacific Madrone, a tree I knew very little about beforehand. I went in to the writing session, my first one in a while, desperate to create. I’m lucky that the Madrone had so much natural poetry in it, it meant the song came together very quickly.
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I was struck by the tree’s dependence on disaster to thrive. It needs the occasional forest fire to clear out the Douglas Firs that tend to surround it. The song personifies the Madrone and the Douglas Fir and looks at their “relationship”, growing side by side until one of them has to give up their livelihood for the other to survive. There was a compelling guilt that I was surprised I was able to tap into when I had just set out to write a song about a tree.
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The Madrone’s bark has medicinal qualities, which stood out to me as well. A tree that could heal others, but who needs the trees growing near to burn created interesting tension for me. I didn’t address that tension in the lyrics of the song, but I attempted to convey it in the vocal line and the guitar (which I feel like I’m really getting better and more creative at playing)! I also feel as though this song needs to be a duet, I hear the harmony in it already. Let me know if you want in :)
Lyrics: twisting skyward depending on fire. to find your way through, everything must burn down down downward spiral, evading trial no light at the end of the tunnel, if the worlds burning around your fragile edge precarious ledge promise that you can be sweet promise you’d never burn me evergreen evergreen digging deeper deals with the reaper growing side by side together intertwined til we’re unwound and i’m found guilty by nature but how I hate the stars for how they cross both of us won’t make it off our fragile edge precarious ledge patterns will always repeat promise you’d never blame me evergreen evergreen tell me one more time you won’t resent me if i’m the one destined to be evergreen tell me one more time you won’t regret the sacrifice if I’m the one who gets to be evergreen tell me, evergreen tell me, evergreen