1. |
||||
|
lets go
what do i owe
i’m caught
between the water
and you
what do i do
i thought
i could stay here
forever
i thought i was so clever
that he’d never notice
like the sun or the wind
or whatever
i can’t see through
out of the blue
we fought
as if we were two
when we were
pale blue
way past due
we bought
what we thought would
save us
the price was high
but so was i
and you taught me to
find a way to
break through
out of the blue
so softly
you taught me
how to
make do
between the water and you
|
||||
2. |
||||
|
oh sophia you never fit in above
oh sophia so you joined us down below
to show how far you could go
your daddy told you you’d not last a day
his little stowaway
your mama told you to stay
but you can’t wait
to miss them
you’ve lost the plot
your brow is hot
in the yard is a tree
hung with toys
for dead little girls and boys
that’s their fate
but one always hangs oneself too late
you asked me how does the story end
i said all stories end the same
if you take them far enough
you’ve got them eating out of your hand
but now you fear for your hand
you always go without saying
your sweet smile is fraying
splintered on wooden teeth
they’ll peel you like a grape
oh sophia you come from such great wealth
oh sophia now you are beside yourself
i’m a close friend of a friend
and i loved you as much as i could
but i think we can agree
if it’s down to you and me
id choose me
if it’s down to me and you
you’ll choose
you are full of something good and bad
you are stuffed with your own predator
as you flee your creditors
death minus god equals science
death minus science equals god
but god minus death equals nothing
you lay upon the earth as upon a man
buried alive in the air around you
but the sunlight lays upon the earth
as upon a woman
this is your lucid dream
youve lost the plot
your brow is hot
in the yard there is a tree
hung with toys
for your dead little girls and boys
that’s their fate
but one always hangs oneself too late
don’t ask me how your story ends
all stories end the same
if you take them all the way
he lay upon you as upon the earth
buried alive in his afterbirth
but the sunlight lays upon you
as a child upon your breast
its kiss seemed obscene like a lucid scream
let me hold you and help you sleep
for we are all geniuses
oh when we dream
oh sophia your child was born of hate
oh sophia i’ll hold you til it wakes
and turns to see your face
|
||||
3. |
||||
|
i dreamed in a meadow and when i woke
i lay on a pillow of poison oak
this is my dream
come november the weakest of us all will fall
and he will refuse to leave the oh so white house
he will be dragged from his golden bunker
and cast down before lincoln’s graven image
who shakes his head in disbelief
with a massive grinding grief
then mitch mcconnell i presume
will be forced to consume
the weak one’s living flesh
when he vomits as he must
it’s only just that in his mouth be thrust
the golden vomit of him
thus the diseased body will pass through mitch’s gut
and resolve itself into a stew
a kind of vile fondue
this is my dream
that he will again be forced to eat
this is my dream
and again excrete
this is my dream
this is my american dream
that night under the cover of a blood red moon
pale white unvaccinated children in golden balaklavas
will pluck his gleaming hairs and shattered nails
from the hardening piles
and pass them from tiny hand
to tiny shit-stained hand
across this great and venal nation
new communities decimated by turd immunities
will spring up like fungi
from the moist and unholy relics
like lowly psychedelics
for example
a single dyed pubic hair will inspire prayer
from a sleeper cell of senior-supremacist swingers
this is my dream
and his big toenail will blaze a trail
for an unintentional community of anti-vax gluten-free karens
this is my dream
this is my american dream
straight-acting high-yellow gay black uncut gun nuts
tell you what
will rally around a splinter of his arthritic trigger finger
a cathedral for pro-life half-price vol-cel asswipes shall rise over his shrivelled foreskin
then and only then shall the final vengeance begin
the mad ones shall tear each other limb from limb
and descend in their final rapture
to a heaven where they can safely destroy each other
for eternity
without disturbing those who remain
the strong the loving and the sane
who will establish a dream
oh the new american dream
this is my american dream
oh my american dream
dream dream, my american dream
dream on dream my dream machine
dream dream dream on with me
a dream of an equitable caring society
that speaks truth to powerlessness
and welcomes and honors all those
who honor their fellow humans
and their terrified home the earth
this is my dream
dream dream american dream well come on
you got me dreamin baby this aint no meme
dream dream…
|
||||
4. |
||||
|
i know how to say don’t leave me
i know how to say don’t go
you knew how say it believably
that you needed me
oh no
i know how to say don’t fuck with me
i know how to say i’ll go
but you knew how to say you’re stuck with me
good luck with me
although
you took an ambien an hour ago
now i say that i’m ready
i bit your neck and said tomorrow we’ll know
if i recall
the source of such a small
wound
i can’t wait to say i don’t miss you
i’m practiced at i told you so
but this house has survived three wildfires
two hurricanes
a tornado
i tried to say - it’s over
as aretha sang going down slow
but you said
hey john let’s have a baby
but please don’t blame me
if i roam
i was the last one to get a cell phone
now i’m texting and crying
i don’t believe in things til they’re shown
not a big fan
of love that i can’t
see
a hummingbird uses geometry
draws blueprints between bluebells
impatiens mapped so patiently
a sip here
a sip there
moving on
when things are good
i know how to say i’m sorry
when years have softened the pain
we’ve both had our share of mortality
and vanityin vain
now we fly in not quite parallel paths
einstein might say we’ll converge
i was never that good at math
yet i pray
we’ll find a way
to stay when things are good
|
||||
5. |
||||
|
you thought you had some time
just enough to wait for it again
there was love that you could find
might not be too late for it but when
oh no, they took it too far
they took your life away
my friend
they’ll never know who you are
that you might have loved them
but then
they cut you
they told you not to speak
told you not to move
your hands
they thought that you were weak
but you carried more than any man
oh no i see where you are
i see where you ought to be
and when
they killed you they killed themselves
now let us live in your names
Layleen Polanco, Tony McDade, Monika Diamond, Serena Velázquez
Ramos, Dominique Fells, Yampi Méndez Arocho, Nina Pop, Layla Pelaez
Sánchez, Johanna Metzger, Alexa Negrón Luciano, Jayne Thompson, Dustin
Parker, Penélope Díaz Ramírez, Helle Jay O’Regan, Lexi, Selena Reyes-
Hernandez, Ríah Milton, Brayla Stone, Elizabeth Montaño, Mercy Mack,
Tatiana Hall, Bree Black, Shaki Peters, Luz Clarita Zúniga, Draya McCarty…
i see where you are
i see where you ought to be
my friend
when they killed you, they killed us all
now let us live in your names
in all your names
you thought you had some time
just enough to wait for it
again
there was love that you could find
it will not be too late for it
but when
|
||||
6. |
||||
|
over the sea
over the sea
i’ll get there
i wanna see
there’s gonna be
no debt there
i need a disguise
i think it wise
to color my eyes
kiss my lips away
burn my fingertips
cut off the lips
that kissed you
shatter my teeth
and the bones underneath
reset them in the shape
of a good man
of a good man
give me a new name
give me a new name
i’ve always liked cosmo
they’ll never find me
they’ll never know me
got a new passport
i want to go home
my woman has changed
her face rearranged
since i met her
i’m scared of my kid
and the things that i did
to get him to like me
i wasted my whole life
but i love my wife
cause she only wasted a short time
with me
nothing i could do
made her love me how she used to
before she really knew me
over the sea
over the sea
over the sea
i’m gonna get there
i’m gonna see
there’s gonna be
no debt there
no debt there
here’s an idea
shut me up in a cave
let it be my grave
with just a hole for a straw
til i forget what i saw
and all i did wrong
help me self-embalm
pour me in a mold
paint me gold
put me high on a shelf
watch over you
in sickness and in health
finally true to myself
i’ll do no harm i’ll do no harm
watch me through a rolled up dollar
ain't moving but i’m getting smaller
over the sea
over the sea
over the sea
there’ll be
no debt there
no debt there
never sing a song that you can’t sing to a dying man
oh no debt there
no debt debt debt debt debt
oooh etc.
|
||||
7. |
||||
|
be on your guard
be on your guard
beyond the masking of your scars
you must feel so all alone
if i don't see you tomorrow
i know that i will see you again
i know that i will see you one day again
and if you have no shelter of your own
no place to call home
you are like a child the world has disowned
you are unknown
be on your guard
be on your guard
beyond the brutal and the dark
your only path is through an empty park
if i don't see you tomorrow
i know that i will see you again
you know i will see you again
for if on the day after this ends
i don’t call you friend
we will never learn how to mend
we are condemned
and if this plague has seeds that are sown
we must atone
i pray our rulers hear your moan or be overthrown
and be overthrown
be on your guard
be on your guard
upon the unmasking of your scars
you may still feel so all alone
if i don't see you tomorrow
you know i will see you again
i know that i might be you some day
i pray that we will see each other again
|
||||
8. |
||||
|
mommy mommy
i can see
i can see inside you
i can
mommy i can hear
i can hear inside you
i can move
mommy mommy mommy
don’t wanna go out
mommy mommy mommy
wanna dance and shout
mommy mommy mommy
don’t wanna go out
mommy mommy mommy
wanna dance inside you
not outside you
inside you
why do i have to be a man
to save the fucking world if i can
or maybe i will be a woman
or something else in between
something better in between
something better in between
i don’t wanna go etc
i wanna stay right here
won’t ya let me
why do i have to be a man
to save the fucking world if i can
or maybe i will be a woman
or something else in between
why do i have to be a man
to save the fucking world if i can
or maybe i will be a woman
or something that’s in between
na na na..
here i’m ready
i’m ready to go
ok here we go
oh shit
did anybody see my earring?
|
||||
9. |
||||
|
i have the american sickness
i’m never satisfied
i wanna buy the experience
i will be denied
always at the window
but never inside
i have the american sickness
i’m feeling endless pain
i have the weight of atrocity
it’s done in my name
i’m not to blame
it’s done in my name
how
did it come to this
i know for some
shame no longer exists
but i’d
like to reminisce
about a time
when a sin was a kiss
between god and money
i seek total forgiveness
i’ve outlived all my friends
i feel like the final witness
didn’t think i’d last
never thought i’d last in a land
with no future or past
and i don’t care about loyalty
i run and i run from my humanity
an earthquake
an outbreak
oh what will it take
just to shake me
wake me out of this feverdream
and i long for purity
but nobody comes out clean
baby there’s nowhere left to hide
unless the mob is on your side
and i miss the days of a secret life
someone’s always watching you
watching me
and i should take my own advice
but i no longer believe
in what i was about to say
so i pray
i have the american sickness
i don’t know who i am
i don’t know what afflicts us
behold the man
he’ll do what he can
to finish what we began
|
||||
10. |
||||
|
i’ve had it with presidents
i’m done with the news
i’m finished with governments
you know they give me the blues
i’m weary of conspiracy theories
when the simplest answer is true
and when identity becomes escapism
that’s a subscription that self-renews
also i’ve had it with you
i’m not in charge of your happiness
it ain’t no fun
i don’t want to be trapped in this
wanna be a nation of one
oh oh oh oh I wanna be a nation of one
oh oh oh oh I wanna be a nation of one
i’m done with white noise
and proud boys
and god-given killing toys
and fascist divinity
i’m over cancel culture virtue vultures
profiteering victimhood and toxic femininity
can we incinerate the tik-tok houses
by the thousands
influencers might allow us
to watch them burn for free
if the content i provide ain't nothing new
well i’m content to blame you
and i think that we’re through
we are like siblings at best
it ain’t no fun
when we kiss it’s like incest
i wanna be a nation of one
oh oh oh oh I wanna be a nation of one
oh oh oh oh I wanna be a nation of one
i wanna secede from this union
fission is better than confusion
we’ve come to the natural conclusion
of late stage capitalism
new age socialism
polyamorous anarchism
i think i’m having an aneurism
a soft breeze used to strum our bodies
like a guitar
the sun lay its head on our knees
we were so near and yet so far
we survived every disease
i hope that god sees all the good that we have done
but every time it was you that i pleased
now i wanna be a nation of
one to wake when i want
two to eat at restaurants
three to fuck whom i will
four to have no one to kill
im talking
five to cry at a movie alone
six to raise my very own clone
seven to give him everything when i’m done
oh yes i want to be a nation of one
oh oh oh oh I wanna be a nation of one...
|
||||
11. |
||||
|
you can call me someone whose number
you once used to know
but darlin' when you’re up there
think of me down below
you can call me someone
you knew from a summer years ago
oh but darlin' when you're callin,
you can call me joe
sometimes i hear your voice at night
sometime it seems to come from a great height
hope you’ve laid your burden down
lay it down
its a diamond in your crown
in your crown
you can call me someone whose number
you once used to know
but darlin' when you’re up there
think of me down below
you can call me someone
you knew from a summer years ago
oh but darlin’ when you're callin’
you can call me joe
sometimes i feel that death is dogging me
seems like everyone i know has fallen
fallen around me
sometime i wake and reach for you
but you’re not there there’s only air
wanna lay me back down
lay me down
you can call me someone whose number
you once used to know
oh but darlin’ you ain’t gone
you’re just further down the road
you can call me someone
you knew from a summer years ago
and darlin', when you're callin,
you can call me joe
you can call me joe
joe
i hear you calling down below
you know all is well here
everybody you know says hello
me and brian mom and dad
and everybody else
knows you’ll come through
we’re waiting on you
you can call me someone whose number
you once used to know
oh but darlin' you’re not gone
you’re just further down the road
you can call me someone who never
wanted you to go
oh but darlin' when you’re callin’
you can call me joe
i will call you joe
|
||||
12. |
||||
|
Once eden is gone
When summer has ended
And all of the children have grown
One slip of the tongue
Could turn to catastrophe
One we have already known
Leave the kid alone
Leave the kid alone
Leave the kid alone
Leave the kid alone
Is it the love you want
Pray tell little dreamer
Pray over these seeds we have sown
Or will you run away
Escape this tragedy
Now tell us where will you go
Do you recall a kind of place
Before we ever knew the taste
Of good and evil
when they were equal
where we who sing and never age
and crawl upon an empty page
in rage primeval
in this cathedral
a pair of floating
cherubs quoting
children choking
gates are closing soon
And so the flaming swords
lock the gates of the garden
In holy eviction sealed
So now we
Leave the kid alone
Leave the kid alone
Leave the kid alone
Leave the kid alone
|
||||
13. |
||||
|
i’m sorry
but your body’s
about to give out
but oddly
i’m a hard copy
of what you’re about
you can go now
cuz i vow
to write down all your jokes
and finish all your smokes
i’ll sow what’s left of your oats
and heat them up for the folks
that never knew ya
i’m sorry
but my body
is holding up fine
and you’re not me
you’ll never top me
even as i decline
quit your performing
and your nonconforming
your therapist’s allegations i find deeply boring
i don’t care to look at that sour face
over a boiled egg every morning
you can’t remember a thing i just said
all you can say is you wish you were dead
i’m lucky i can recall anything at all
but i remember you never wrote
you never called
you told im going to hell for my sins
i wept and you said bring on the violins
no what i said was you can go to hell
i always gave you options
god i feel unwell
a gin toddy
in our bodies
would even the score
i’m sorry
my memory’s spotty
have we met before
i can’t quite place you
but with that face
you will do fine in this world
you’re stronger
you have lived longer
than i ever wanted to
i know you
want me to go soon
my heart just broke in two
oh but when it breaks you
gotta to make sure
it breaks open
and everything that is unspoken
all the things that i’ve shown no one
the hurt and hope has awoken
to tell you that you were chosen
to carry on my son
what i set
into motion
|
||||
14. |
||||
|
como una gota fui de la marea
la playa me hizo grano de la arena.
fui punto en multitud por donde fui
nadie me detectó y así aprendí
cuando creí colmada la tarea
volví mi corazón a casiopea
cumplí celosamente nuestro plan
por un millón de años esperar
hoy llevo el doble dando coordenadas
pero nadie contesta mi llamada
qué puede haber pasado a mi señal
será que me he quedado sin hogar
hoy sobrevivo apenas a mi suerte
lejano de mi estrella, de mi gente
el trance me ha mostrado otra lección
el mundo propio siempre es el mejor
me voy debilitando lentamente
quizás ya no sea yo cuando me encuentren
English translation by JCM:
i am a drop in the tide
the beach made of me a grain of sand.
i travel in crowds
no one notices me
and that's how I learned
when I thought my mission complete
i turned my heart to cassiopeia
i carefully fulfilled our plan
to wait for a million years
today I transmit the double coordinates
yet no one answers my call
what happened to my signal
have I lost my home
I have survived my fate
far from the star of my people
the trance has shown me a new lesson
one’s own world is always the best
i slowly weaken
when they find me
will I still be me
|
||||
15. |
Amber Martin - Geniuses
05:33
|
|||
|
There’s a boy below
he lives three floors down
He like to sew
He’s knitting a scarf that’s brown
when he gives it to his mom he hopes she’ll cry
and he’s making her a birthday pie
who ever heard of a birthday pie
and why why why
won’t the other boys leave him alone
though he tries tries tries
to invite them to his home
does your daddy know you’re a fag
well he’s dead so yeah
I don’t remember his face
but I’ve seen him when I sleep
he lays down next to me
tells me that love is never weak
then mom wakes me
to break me free
from his many arms
mommy he would never harm me
daddy take me back
silence me before I scream
for we’re all geniuses when we dream
he loved santa best
left him dates and a bottle of wine
mom came down undressed
slapped him and drank it down
when he cried she laughed
she said there’s no santa silly.
he said nothing for the rest of day
he even threw all his presents away
and wondered why why why
does she never tell him the truth
he tests her lies lies lies
by pulling out his own tooth
tucking it under his pillow
he went out to play that day
and he didn’t come back til dark
his mom said where you been
he said with my best friend quinn
what you never mentioned a quinn
finally you have a friend
i’d sure like to meet him
he told her
silly silly there is no quinn
and now you stare at me
as if I broke free
from your many arms
I’m gonna sleep all day
oh daddy won’t you take me back
kiss me before I scream
for we’re all geniuses when we dream
i heard him sing
from the window below
it was early spring
he whistled to an old black crow
as if it understood
what it meant to be alone
then he heard the notes
i whistled back at him
stuck his head out
he saw me grin
he sang high high high
I sang harmonies from above
our notes entwined
sounded like a kind of love
we slip back into our beds
as our song comes to an end
but there’s no need to dream
we both found a friend
|
||||
John Cameron Mitchell & Friends
John Cameron Mitchell is an American writer, director, performer, songwriter. He directed, starred in and wrote w/ Stephen Trask the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. His other films include Shortbus, Rabbit Hole, How To Talk To Girls At Parties.W/ Bryan Weller he created the acclaimed musical podcast series Anthem: Homunculus.He’s currently a cast member of Hulu’s Shrill and CBS’s The Good Fight ... more
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