1. |
Your Ward
04:09
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Recorded on a macbook in Paris, Summer 2014.
I wrote this song about the end of a long relationship. Sometimes things end and it's sad and it's awful and there is blame and guilt and anger and hurt but it works out eventually. And sometimes a dog is involved.
At the same time, it was written about moving away from a city where I had been living for two years, and moving to new places and the transitional times in the interim.
Things to know: the Louvin Brothers' River of Jordan.
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I am the pity after god's exhaustion
you were the calm before my storm
and though I weren't much to look at
I am glad you looked for more
so I fear I might regret this
but just put it on my tab
cause I aint never made a life choice
i didnt wish i could take back
i may be six feet deep in problems
i may have one foot in the grave
i may be making poor decisions babe
oh but i aint yours to save
i aint your ward, and you aint mine, and i aint sorry.
There is plenty of blame to go around
we've both got blood on our hands
you’ve got reason enough to hate me.
but I'm glad you understand
and for two years we was happy
and for two we was content
Things werent bad by any means
but you know we werent making plans
Wine can get me drunk enough
but i miss the taste of blood
you know I never took you for granted
but now I just miss my dog.
chorus
I was broken when i met you
and im broken now you're gone
i tried to find shelter
in an old familiar song
i went down to the river of jordan
for to mend my weary soul
but the current swept beneath me
and the fall bust open my skull
chorus
the devil does not jest
but he sure has himself some laughs.
and I know I am the punchline,
and he likes his jokes to last.
in an unfamiliar room i
burn the candle at both ends.
I put my guitar down,
clench my teeth, and go to bed.
I go to bed.
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2. |
Silver Spoon
04:14
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recorded on macbook in late 2013.
I tried to write a song about how great my mom and dad are. they are really great. but it ended up being more about how I feel guilty about my privilege, and maybe a reflection on the worst parts of me that judge others.
Things to know: christ driving the moneychangers from the temple and the red right hand of god.
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some folks need drugs and liquor to get by
others want nothing more than to up and die.
i got no way to comfort, i offer piece of mind
i can't relate because all i want is mine.
cause im a fortunate son
there aint no thing in this world i done
to deserve my momma, or my dad
i just got it good and you got it bad
oh i was born with elbow room
i been well fed from a golden platter with a silver spoon.
it weren't for any you that i was born
i take what i can get, oh and i take more
I got luck enough for ten men but i am smug enough for twenty-four
I am righteous and I am selfless, and I'm so much more.
chorus
cause I done checked my privilege and I deserve every bit,
and I'ma toot my own horn and tell the world about it
and I feel no remorse for all the stuff that Ive said.
And like peter at the gates I'll judge you harshly
and like jesus in the temple i wont hold back.
i'll grip my cat o' nine tails with this gilded red right hand,
and ill turn you away and ill beat you and i'll be glad.
chorus
I don't deserve what I got but I'm glad to have it.
I love my momma and daddy like a bad habit
oh I count on flying pigs every time that they've let me down
and I'm scared to death of the day they ain't around.
chorus
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3. |
Lady Killer
01:49
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recorded in 2011 in a kitchen in boston (except the drums recorded in ky shortly after). you can hear my housemate moving dishes around in the background at the end.
this song is about best friends, different strokes for different folks, trying to be someone you're not, and how good I am at dancing. also, i wanted to make a song with an analogy. it's not a great analogy. sorry guys. sorry SAT.
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I made deals with devils
and the owl took up my case
and i put up walls and then he put me in my place
and he said "i know you want to fuck and run
but im a lion and youre a cat
and we both know you just wasnt built like that"
one year later by the kitchen sink
i told him "you wasn't neither
you been runnin round town like you done caught the fever"
"because it takes two to tango
oh and it takes two to waltz
but threes too many and now we all seen your faults."
its a poor mans kind of alchemy
that keeps me satisfied
cause i read the all papers and they all gone and said you lied.
because if dancing is to making love
as what i am to being in charge,
then fathers hide your daughters cause i'm a ladykiller and i'm armed.
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4. |
Nothing Gold
04:10
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recorded on macbook in late 2013.
this song is about a weird non-relationship, and how long someone can stay in your mind after things end.
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It was 8 years ago when i first met you,
and it was 7 years ago i lost my faith
and though i seen water turned into wine and i seen the red sea part
i still believe that there aint nothing gold can stay
i was beaten gagged and bound before i fought back
and i was blackened blued and red the time i's done
I'll take a bullet for my friends and save a bullet for my gun
and I know it aint right but i am bound to shoot someone
and now some folks might call you damaged goods
but i been marked down once or twice myself.
oh i was born to be a sailor but i never learned to swim
and I ran my share of races but i never seen a win.
And it was 6 years ago you first forgot me
and it was 4 years ago our paths crossed again
and for you a chance encounter, was for me a chance to mend
then we went our own ways and we never spoke again
It was 8 years ago when i first met you,
and it was 7 years ago i lost my faith
and though i seen water turned into wine and i seen the red sea part
i still believe that there aint nothing gold can stay
I still believe that there aint nothing gold can stay
I still believe that there aint nothing gold can stay
I still believe that there aint nothing gold can stay
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5. |
Petty John
01:30
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recorded in a hot NYC apartment one night in summer 2009; this song has changed a lot since then. It is about Star Trek TOS love interest actress Angelique Pettyjohn:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelique_Pettyjohn
resistance is futile.
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Oh youre being petty john, its futile to resist
you died alone in a desert full of demons
i know you werent born yesterday, but you died a long time ago
long before you made your name out west
for thirty sequined sashes and a crown of plastic gems
you went and sold yourself and hid behind a saint
Oh youre being petty john
Oh youre being petty john
removing your sheep's clothing you entered heaven with a gun
by then the bells of hell were ringing day and night.
You found love in a ship's captain and had audience with the king
but still your legacy was in taking off your clothes.
Oh youre being petty john
Oh youre being petty john
Oh youre being petty john
Oh youre being petty john
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6. |
Middle School
01:47
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Recorded on my macbook with the computer mic in 2009, I think, in ky. Sometimes dealing with people as an adult can be petty and feel childish.
this is about that.
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this place it feels like middle school and though it aint over yet
i also know i was not born too young to die.
oh lord i was beaten for a week before i cried out
let me go i'd like a cool drink of water before i die now.
the days are growing longer but the year still moves too fast
if it weren't for you i would have left a long while back.
ive been awake for days, i feel im walking on broken glass
it's comforting to know you wasn't always hipster trash.
but if i dont take you home tonight, it's not that i dont care
it's just that self respect is an awful high price to pay
A sandbox built for two can at capacity fit fourteen
but it is crowded, and it's uncomfortable
so ill just defer my dream of taking you to the ball pit at chuck-e-cheese.
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7. |
1877
01:22
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1877 is partly about my AP US History class and partly about my introduction to folk music. Things to know: the corrupt bargain of 1877. Woodrow Wilson Guthrie. The wizard of Oz as Gilded Age politics. William Jennings Bryan's Cross of Gold Speech.
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And it was 1877 when i took up with your cause
and it was 1865 when i took notice
and it was the prophet woodrow wilson who did convert me to your god
and thats leaving quite a few names left unspoken.
And it was 1877 when i took up with your cause
and it was 1865 when i took notice
and it was the cowardly lion who saved us from our deaths upon the cross
but i still wear my crown of thorns just to show i lived it.
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