The Matter
​
1 - San Narciso
​
Out to sea we hear
Los Angeles calling
each one of us falling
into vorticist dreams.
In the air you see
the city cells sprawling
like circuits installing
these silicon dreams.
I run out of mind inside,
and so go out to find you,
but then something reminds you
Oh San Narciso shines
from sea to sea,
the message we’re sending,
we want to believe.
Oh concentrate
and watch us move the sea.
Entropically trending,
but we want to believe,
yeah, we want to believe.
I can work the phones
to sort out these demons
with some formal agreements,
or you could let down your hair.
I can feel your pulse
break free from surveillance,
now it’s the last thing that makes sense,
the only reason I care.
I ran out of mind inside,
and so I’m coming to find you
before something reminds you
Oh San Narciso shines
from sea to sea,
the message we’re sending,
we want to believe.
Oh concentrate
and watch us move the sea.
Entropically trending,
but we want to believe,
yeah, we want to believe.
2 - Piledrive
​
Piledrive,
you wrestle me down in no time,
clotheslined,
and onto the ropes where you climb,
and drop, attack, and fall,
our foreheads now collide.
I hit the wall
(but all of it’s implied)
whenever I talk to you,
whenever I talk to you.
Knee strike,
a bicycle kick to my eye,
chairs fly, and ear-splitting words
like goodbye.
My legs, my arms, my heart,
why can’t you see the signs?
We tear apart (but all of it’s implied)
whenever I talk to you.
It feels so real,
I know we’re only wrestling time.
You straight talk, headlock, scissor kick, and low block,
but you feel just fine,
whenever I talk to you,
whenever I talk to you,
whenever I talk to you.
3 - Information Runs On
​
Traffic lights fall to the street,
chandeliers start to swing,
crashing lights at our feet.
We drive through our lives like a dream,
how we long for release
from these nights of caffeine.
Isolate the neurons
the information runs on,
the gears your minds will turn on,
as information runs on.
The feedback of fools amplified,
engineers start to grind out the lens
in our mind’s eye.
We’re houses of cards
built in rows,
shuffling fears as we go
through these years, overclocking lost time.
Isolate the neurons
the information runs on,
the gears your minds will turn on,
as information runs on,
runs on,
runs on.
4 - Relatively
​
There’s only one thing
that you can be sure of,
I’ll never leave,
or if I do I’ll come back
relatively, relatively soon.
You’ll know to forgive me.
You’ll know to keep the light on.
Oh, forever’s relatively relatively . . .
Oh, forever’s relatively relatively . . .
Oh, forever’s relatively relatively . . .
Oh, forever’s relatively relatively . . .
There’s maybe one more thing
you can be sure of,
I’ll never lie, or if I do I’ll recant
relatively, relatively soon.
You’ll know to believe me,
how I was right all along.
Oh, forever’s relatively relatively . . .
Oh, forever’s relatively relatively . . .
There is a third thing
that you can be sure of,
I’ll never break your heart,
or if I do, I’ll mend it relatively . . .
So many million notes I wrote you,
I swear I sent them tomorrow,
so they should get there in time, oh, oh.
Oh, forever’s relatively relatively . . .
Oh, forever’s relatively relatively . . .
Oh, forever’s relatively relatively . . .
Oh, forever’s relatively relatively . . .
​
5 - Better
​
Better comes so slowly,
almost you forget
you’ll have no regrets.
You’d been looking
at the pages,
you could read them,
but not yourself,
not yourself now.
Letters written slowly
so you don’t forget
the last thing you confessed.
You’d been looking
in the mirror,
you could see her
but not yourself,
not yourself now.
Days were faring well,
the things you could not tell.
Dazed with atmosphere,
you thought you’d find her here,
but not yourself now,
not yourself now..
6 - My Magellan
​
Keep track, my Magellan,
write this conversation down.
Go back to our homeland,
write this conversation down.
Some of us are restless
in the winter,
for the lack of time,
for the darker nights.
Turn back, my Magellan,
and please record this final sound.
Old lands unsuspecting
please record this final sound.
Some of us are listening
at the shoreline,
to the gap in time,
to the sound of flight.
Postcards, open letters,
tell our families we have gone.
Flashback, fading quickly,
take these words into the dawn.
Some of us are waiting,
but it won’t be long
till all the maps are wrong,
‘cause our land is gone.
7 - First son
​
First son has come undone,
hard times for everyone.
They wanted him to find it hard
to live without their dreams.
Old school, he’s back in town,
the factories are closing down.
They wanted him to find it hard
to live without their love.
He’s grown his own wings and flown,
and he says I’m happier on my own.
Engines on,
hear them humming like an ancient song.
And when I’m driving does it turn you on,
or just the thought we’ll go away?
The thought we’ll go away?
The thought will go away?
First love, he went too far,
on Sundays, they’d ditch the car,
and climb the hills,
and warm their skins,
and break each other’s hearts.
8 - Holy Smoke
​
Your eyes burn,
but you’re far from the fires of Rome.
Your head turns,
see everyone dance in the holy smoke.
You say,
play me one for all my lovers,
play me one for all my brothers,
play me one for all the others
who will finally come home tonight.
Life in real time,
take me outside
from the screen time
feigning sunshine.
Glowing pages,
golden ages,
can you feel the fire
as the whole world starts again?
It’s automatic,
write your dream into overdrive.
It’s so erratic,
but everyone wants to be on your side.
You say,
play me one for all my lovers,
play me one for all my brothers,
play me one for all the others
who will finally come home tonight.
Life in real time,
take me outside
from the screen time
feigning sunshine.
Glowing pages,
golden ages,
can you feel the fire
as the whole world starts again?
9 - Pointing at the Moon
​
On my way to the east,
saw many signs,
I remembered things from before my time,
yeah, before my time.
On my way to the west,
surveyor lines,
cross methods of love I could not define,
yeah, so where would I find you?
Don’t understand
why you point your finger at the moon.
Oh, there’s no jeweled sky to fly to,
no mythologies to guide you,
but if you want me to
I’ll come out
to watch you point your finger at the moon.
On the trail of your ghost,
uncertainty,
the world isn’t small like it’s supposed to be,
yeah, supposed to be.
Still lost in your words,
obscurity,
the world isn’t mine like it’s supposed to be.
Yeah, so maybe that’s why
we were stuck on what could be,
pointing figures at the moon.
Oh, there’s no jeweled sky to fly to,
no mythologies to guide you,
but if you want me to
I’ll come out
to watch you point your finger at the moon.
10 - Avida Dollars
​
We’re boxers in cardigans,
outfoxers, avant-guardians!
We make the art cliques,
we have the lip tricks,
ooh lalalalalala,
to leave you deep-six.
Avida dollars, Avida dollars,
Avida lalalalalala, ooh lalalalalalala.
We’re shockers we’re mannequins,
sleep walkers with fire under our skins!
We make the art cliques,
we have the lip tricks,
ooh lalalalalala,
to leave you deep-six.
Avida dollars, Avida dollars,
Avida lalalalalala, ooh lalalalalalala.
Art for the sellers! For the Bonwitt Tellers!
Oh lalalalalalala.
Art for the takers!
For the window breakers!
Oh lalalalalalala.
11 - So Far Out
​
When those clouds of stars
collide
they’re really so far out
they never see each other.
Oh how dark
almost all is outside,
all is outside.
Oh, see we are all all all
already outside,
already outside.
12 - Questions
​
Do you have an affection for Questions?
--James Lee Byars "World Question Center"
​
Walkways into darker shades of bliss,
opening the last door and nothing exists.
Wavering at the edge of sleep we flinch.
Watch now, keep yourselves apart,
or tear like the papier-mâché in your heart.
Come around then,
wake the town then,
and tell them we are not
chained down.
Come around then,
wake the town then,
keep the sirens flashing,
eyes drawn to the sound.
Strange ways, things you never thought to wish.
Sleeping through the last call and still you resist,
wondering at the starry hieroglyphs,
watch how they keep you apart
for fear of the fire it could light in your heart.
Come around then,
wake the town then,
and tell them we are not
chained down.
Come around then,
wake the town then,
keep the sirens flashing,
eyes drawn to the sound.
13 - Pantechnê driver
​
Pantechnê driver,
exiled outsider,
landlocked he dreams
of turbines and steam.
Pantechné driver,
motorbike rider,
on lost roads he hides
an east west divide,
in wastelands of time.
Old pantechnicon dreams,
we wanna be right.
Back up to the old world
and into tonight.
Programmed into our nerves
and over the sky,
concrete forms in our minds,
exhaust in our eyes.
Stop, sketch the scene,
the past comes clean.
Easy rider, older, wiser,
come with me,
come with me.