1. |
Double Decades Pt. 1
02:03
|
|||
|
I’m not great with feelings and I don’t read minds
I take off this weekend you know that, right?
I don’t wanna lead you on or give you any false intentions
she said “sometimes a girl just needs a little attention”
and that’s alright
We hit double decades at record pace and I swear to god these months feel like days
I’ll miss you before you’re even out the door
and if I walked home now I’d be alright but
I refuse to say goodnight so lets hang out till I can say good morning
|
||||
2. |
100 MPH
04:35
|
|||
|
Well I woke up naked next to my best friend
she said, “it’s different with you
because you are my best friend”
and our ex’s will say “oh I told you so”
but we won’t tell ‘em
at least not for a while
the night I picked her up she said, “would you stop speaking in clichés
I’d like to speak with the person not the artist if you don’t mind”
I was avoiding eye contact while singing Zelda & Scott
It was not about you when I wrote it
but it was about you when I sang it
when your boyfriend was bartending down the block
I had a gig at a different bar
and you showed up to watch
And I got drunk that night and rode home in the bed of my friends truck with all our amps and guitars making a kind of cocoon around me
and I watch the street lights streak across the sky like shooting stars I wanted to be driving too fast with you in the passengers seat
and our middle fingers out the window
I would drive anywhere in this car with you
as long as I was driving somewhere in this car with you
she said “shut up,
What’d I say about clichés?
I don’t fuck with that romantic shit so much”
the night that I came over I had sunglasses sunburn
I must have looked like
a pink and pale raccoon
and she says, “oh my god, what have we done what if we can’t go back?
You’re only honest with me when you’re sleep deprived
or have had too much to drink”
|
||||
3. |
Fossil Record
03:51
|
|||
|
The siren blared
saying “this is not a test
go home be with your friends and loved ones with the time that you have left”
a sergeant stares
at a button labeled “Launch”
His mind is on his daughter at home who’s too young to be aware
of the intricacies
of a political climate
that could lead to this putting it all to an end via nuclear warfare
David is calling his ex-wife
saying, “I’m sorry how things turned out
there is no time for pettiness now
how are the kids? does any of that matter now?”
And the recovered alcoholic hears the news that it’s all over
“lets go raid the liquor store, I do not plan on dying sober
if I choke on my own vomit, at least I went out on my own terms”
it’s the end of days baby, who on earth has time for self worth?
and the politicians begin to cry
because the legacy that they will leave behind
is one of gridlock leading to our demise
but there’s no legacy, nothing will survive
David’s still calling his ex-wife
Librarians trying to write stuff down
put it inside of a bomb-proof box
hoping that one day it will be found
cuz when the aliens come to put our bones in their museums
there will be holes in the fossil record
holes in the fossil record
holes in the fossil record
|
||||
4. |
Blisters
04:02
|
|||
|
Fester in my emptiness
hope something will come out of it
there’s just so many thrilling ways
for me to waste time today
when it makes more sense
creator of my own darkness
just angry with god I guess
So drive a little slower we’ll have more time to talk
bout how we could possibly be what we want
how our melancholies are complementary
every finger’s a blister and blisters are what I need
a slurred proclamation after several vodka tonics
We were just perfect when we were platonic
but you held me on New Years Eve
The way drowning sailors hold driftwood at sea
Are you dizzy enough to honest with me?
so we wont talk for weeks
So I have that dream again I’m driving home from the bar
you’ve got rope burned wrists and suspicious marks
and the sirens call me so I crash my car
And I go screaming though the windshield into the dark
And if I sing loud enough maybe god will hear me
and if I sob hard enough maybe I can fall asleep
and I’m angry at god because when he built me
he left out the parts that allow me to feel happy
The neighbors down stairs are at it again
if I turn off my heater I can hear the argument
she thinks he is a monster he thinks she’s screwing his friends
same time next week nothing will be fixed
and I know
its wrong for me to listen
I guess
I was excited
for the silence to be broken
|
||||
5. |
||||
|
None of my friends are alright
all of my friends are just scraping by
maybe we’re just young and lost
maybe the darkness has become our new gods
maybe we’re days away from breaking but we’re probably just faking it to get therapy dogs, therapy dogs
We make jokes about suicide
cuz we’ve all thought about suicide
it’s easier to laugh then it is to cry
it helps remind us that it’s gonna be alright
I tried to claw out my eyes
the night that you screamed, “I hope that you die”
I am the ugliest of my friends
they keep me around because I sometimes sing for them
I know that my parents worry a lot but its probably all a show so I can get a therapy dog, therapy dogs
|
||||
6. |
Idaho Spring Time
03:50
|
|||
|
she held my fathers hand for balance as we shuffled through the labyrinth
I walked behind them on carpets with inoffensive floral patterns
she says, “they treat me fine there’s always activities and movies on Sundays before dinner time”
my father and I shorten our step size so she don’t feel rushed take all the time you like
and it was raining and sunny at the same time
that’s the sort of thing you only see in the Idaho spring time
photo album on my knee
state champ 1980
placard reads debate team
she points to the picture asks “who is he?”
my dad chimes in “Mom that’s me”
ooo memory is not her long suit
and she has the strangest head pains
please describe what your feeling
she puts her hands to her temples and makes fire work shapes
we put her cloths in
black plastic bags
a life time of fabric in
thrift store donation bins
|
||||
7. |
Good Mourning
08:59
|
|||
8. |
None of Us Are Saints
05:29
|
|||
|
I wanna drink too much
so I have an excuse to call you
so I’ll get drunk
drunk enough to say, “ I adore you”
“come on shut up
cuz there is nothing that I owe you”
I’m not quite enough
I knew that I would eventually bore you
but did you forget that I was crazy?
and don’t you remember when I stripped naked?
I was sprinting thorough the streets like an asylum patient
my teachers saying,” that boy needs medication”
I tore a page
out of an atlas
so if I get lost
I’ll know exactly where a map it
I’ll spend this year
chasing ghosts
on the same page
but different coasts
I got this memory like a Polaroid
of you throwing ice cubes in your mouth
they shimmer against the sunset for a split second
then miss to make puddles on the ground
and with this memory in mind I fly down I-5
toward the place with the sign that reads
“welcome for a day or a life time”
Balance is impossible
best friends in the hospital
nothings really stable playing
cards under table
legs week and knees are shaking
for weeks and months and days and at
night I’m chasing ghosts of the people that I know
and none of us are saints
so when we die
we’ll go to the same place
oh take a good look at me this is the youngest I’ll ever be again
and I’m honestly worried when the drugs wear off
you won’t wanna be my friend
and it just two years time we wont come back here no more
our biannual reunions will transform to our weddings and funeral
and he tells me this and he looks at the ground he seems pale
like he might pass out
“I live with too many ghosts right now I gotta see everyone before I leave town
it’s amazing that we can still hang out and be sober and be happy and be sober and be honest and honestly be our most honest self’s”
And she tells me
“I can’t believe
that you
are still friends with me”
but none of us are saints
so when we die
we’ll go to the same place
we are different species then we were back then
we are different species then we were back then
|
||||
Carl Christensen Seattle, Washington
Singer/songwriter/ composer.
New singles on the way.
Seattle Based.
If you like Carl Christensen, you may also like:
I Wish You Could See Yourself Right Now
by Gentle Organisms
The aptly named Gentle Organisms specialize in quietly radiant songs centered on tender melodies.
go to album
Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO
by Juliana Hatfield
It’s a match made in heaven: Juliana Hatfield tackles the classic ELO catalog on a road that leads to power pop bliss.
go to album
Sweet Tooth (Extended Version)
by Kaycie Satterfield
Can’t-miss, sunshine-y vocal melodies glide through warm guitar pop for a surge of summer in the midst of winter.
go to album
The Convincer (20th Anniversary Edition)
by Nick Lowe
Released in 2001, “The Convincer” is a gentle gem in the Nick Lowe catalog; an anniversary edition provides opportunity for rediscovery.
go to album
The Woman You Want
by Eliza Shaddad
Haddad returns with cinematic soundscapes that include introspective folk, post-grunge, and indie-pop influences.
go to album
Pete Yorn Sings The Classics
by Pete Yorn
On his new LP, Pete Yorn offers his take on classic songs by The Pixies, Roxy Music, The Beach Boys, & more.
go to album
Pete Yorn Live At The Troubadour
by Pete Yorn
A sprawling, 25-song set from Pete Yorn complete with covers of Springsteen and The Smiths capture him at his unguarded best.
go to album
