1. |
California
03:52
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i'm living in a fishbowl
spent last year looking out the window
staring at the neighbors across the way
can't tell if they see us
maybe they don't have the mind
they never seem to notice the way we stare
you got into your dream school
i'm still working at a 9-5
it's not that i've been jealous
it's just that i'm afraid of losing my mind
california.
i'm living in a cesspool
spent a fortnight in our filth
my apartment's below us
so i can't seem to figure out
a reason we spend all our time here
it's just a place
why can't we just hang out anywhere
it's just my life
if i waste it who would care?
california.
---
words by Cj
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2. |
Pinky
02:57
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wandered down came back around got hit with a fee
left a piece of my pinky in a car door back east
you don't need a lot if you can talk em full of steam
we're all dripping just a little till it's spilling out our ears.
put time in on tackling what's right and what's real
figured out there are rules about breaking rules you can't read
wouldn't waste my worrying if the worried couldn't hear you see
it's hard to believe in anything that you're never gonna feel.
---
words by Nathan
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3. |
Sea Breeze
05:16
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all i want is a pretty girl to break my heart
i wanna see stars behind my eyes
when my knees are kicked out from behind
and when I’m level with my feet
i’ll curse the earth for its apathy
the dirt will wallow in my piss with me
my pitiless company
sailing over concrete crouching low to pick up speed
the breeze is cradling my eyeballs gently squeezing me to tears
i see the ocean straight ahead of me, the highway right behind
i got that upside-down-inside-out sea breeze wheelin’ through my mind
i’d like to feel the tide break on my back
i’d like sink beneath the surface, suffocate in bliss
i'd like to empathetically relate to relations systematically implied
i’ll be fine when i feel that boot heel pressing down right between my eyes.
---
words by Nathan
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4. |
Things Could Be Worse
04:48
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walked into your living room
potted plants where nails hang on the walls
feels like a movie to me
one where a different life took place and i don’t belong
called out of work today
get a paycheck and checkout for moving my hands about
never notice glassy eyes
office chic anesthetized
fall apart too many times
not connected, cauterized
mom and dad i hope you’re proud of me
god only knows, i think you’re supposed to be
shrugging off entropy, behave so responsibly
things could be worse
counting lights from your westside laundromat
watch for cops, i got plates that aren’t from around here
feeling out the best route to ride my bike home
hypothetically making use of my time alone
nom and dad send in the calvary
god only knows I behave so responsibly
walked into your living room
noticed that your liquor cabinet is stocked better than mine
your throw rug just stared at me you yuppies love your tapestries
i know this is not my life and that’s all right
cause things could be worse.
---
words by Cj
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5. |
June Gloom
06:40
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i swallow my finger nails
try to pick them out of my teeth
scratching on the inside my throat
oh well, everybody’s gotta eat.
summer vacation, spend my adult years indoors
“Hollywood piece of shit” hard to argue with the man.
depravity of scale
smog rolls through my door
something’s not right i know i shouldn’t care
keratin festers away
it’s all so sadly predictable
give it a rest
not quite iris blue skies you came to expect
don’t believe everything you hear.
---
words by Cj
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6. |
The Day
02:53
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today's the day
tonight's the night
this year's the year
you're never right
so strike the luminescence from the sun.
heavy eyes won't open wide
no thirsty lips can't speak my mind
it's time to turn the lights out on the sun.
in my mind i try to keep my focused fixed
deep inside i know too well i'll likely slip
so let me slip it can be quite alright to miss
i'll slip inside to a place i might not otherwise find.
---
words by Nathan
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7. |
Michael Knows How It Is
03:51
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michael knows how it is
he's got new hips and two cracked teeth
he's been to war and raised a kid
he wrangles props in the movie biz
he likes to joke got a big red face and a goofy voice
he's got a goofy voice.
he's got a mind for the right
hears their cries and lives their fight
lit a man on fire once
who gave his brother shit for living on his block.
michael knows his heritage
he descended from the thirteenth tribe of israel
he don't get mad no he don't get even
he'll opt instead to make you wake up screaming.
he talked to god in desert storm
saw broken men lose to the VA hospital
spent a year drunk then got back on his feet
now michael says what he thinks and knows what he means.
---
words by Nathan
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8. |
Sweet
03:32
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babe you're sweet like me i taste it on your cheeks
i snuck a peek or three i guess i don't know better
you say what you mean i say it ain't a question
babe you're too good to me i guess you don't know better.
babe take me by the ear god willing i'll be listening
whisper what you will i won't go spilling secrets
i know you like to tease i hope this time you mean it
babe i'm on my knees you got me down and begging:
please please baby sweeter than an apple off the tree
hanging just outside my reach
please please baby sweeter than an apple off the tree
dropping gently to my feet.
---
words by Nathan
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9. |
Jackhammer
03:40
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talk a lot about whatever you want chalk it up to reaffirming grins
nod off in a parked car underground rest in disbelief
eat up from the taco truck drink pop to wash it down
shove your day to the back of your brain make room to fill it up again.
when the jackhammer sounds reverberate throughout the walls the whole mall shuts up and when the ambulance goes racing down the block and every car just stops i dare you to talk
please shut up.
put me in a room without walls and watch my back rise to twice its size
plant me in a minivan with an FM radio and watch me weave around the suckers on the road
am i so sinful to keep to myself?
when the clouds roll in and i peace out.
two weeks to notice how
i didn't notice how anybody else felt
Last Call written on the wall
last call for a steady job
didn't listen when i heard my name
didn't do a damn thing they said
shook my head before i walked away
turned around so i could see their faces
looked back to see their faces break
but they smiled instead
said "come back again."
---
words by Nathan
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10. |
Sleep
05:35
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i'm all messed up i took a walk i thought
i might as well wash my clothes
the corner laundromat was closed
so i walked home and wore dirty shorts.
i saw you turn to me and tell me everything i hoped to hear
then I woke up and asked again but what you said was not the same
when you’re living the dream what do you dream about when you sleep?
i'm a toddler chasing birds, i'm a mother buying shirts for her son to wear to work
but he still needs a job, and what would i want with a bird
if i ever caught one?
when you’re living the dream what do you dream about when you sleep?
when multicolored lights shine at once to fill a room with peace?
so a blanket takes a familiar shape, so i'm shocked to find there’s no surprise
but then again how can you blame a guy with a mind lost behind sleeping eyes?
---
words by Nathan
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birdluck Los Angeles, California
Avian brand of punk brought to you by Cj, Cam, Nate and Lexi, straight from our fingertips to your ear holes!
birdluck recommends:
<selftitled> the unending thread </selftitled>
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Mathy, yet smooth. I dig the dual vocals and hope you do too. Cesar from TUT is a buddy of ours who we have played several shows together with in LA! They're a lot of fun.
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