1. |
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In 1001, the military of Mahmud of Ghazni
Conquered Waihand and Peshawar
Enslaving thousands of youth for personal gain
In 1204, crusader armies sieged Constatinople
Destroying the city, raping women
And murdering its people
Racism, torture, greed, revenge, rape, sexism, and homophobia
Have been committed by all nations, races, classes, and genders
The horrors of humans is the history of the world
From 1805 to 1908
Under Leopold the II's administration
Of the Congo Free State
The Congolese were killed, mutated, or sexually abused
If their rubber collection quota wasn't reached
In the 1970's Idi Amin self-proclaimed ruling
Was synonymous with torture and murder
And he deported the country's asian descended population
Racism, torture, greed, revenge, rape, sexism, and homophobia
Have been committed by all nations, races, classes, and genders
The horrors of humans is the history of the world
In 2017, Zelim Bakaev was captured,
Tortured and killed by Chechen authorities
During their anti-gay campaign
In 2020, nation-wide protests occurred
Due to police killings of unarmed Black Americans
Causing both protestors and the police
To use acts of violence against one another
When we fight fire with fire
It proves that we are smaller
The horrors of humans is the history of the world
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2. |
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You’re an apathetic, sadistic, lunatic
Skull-crushing and dense
Your life moves in past-tense
You caught me off guard
With that mitt of yours
On that dismal Ybor day
All I wanted was to enjoy the show
But apparently I can’t stand in the front row
Without a fist, foot, or elbow to the nose
So don’t look at me
With that fece-christened smirk on your face
Crowd killing is deplorable
And tonight I’m smashing the state
Non-consensual violence at shows is nothing new
But your scowl lacks empathy
And your tantrums are killing our scene
When clubs stop booking our shows
Due to lawsuits and violence
Then who’s ass will you beat?
People on the street?
Women and children in the Florida heat?
We’ll all have to keep our guard up for people like you
Taking all the fun out of the things we love to do
You ruin our scene, you ruin our shows
I thought that music was the one place I could go
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3. |
Bryophyta
04:45
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Sometimes it seems like there ain’t anybody out there
And the older I get, the less hope there is for me
So pilot me to Autumn’s love, lush, breeze
The time where lips quiver and moss hangs proudly from trees
The warmth of a wooden ladder that’s been worn and had
The sceneries in fiction that make me feel so sad
Because I can’t imagine
Someone wanting to know everything about me
From my birthday to my favorite songs
Maybe there's someone who would like my songs
That would be a first
Maybe they’d even be interested in my words
But middle class hopes sedate souls
As common life goals unitize aspirations
So pilot me to Autumn’s love, lush, dares
Someone who rivals the short days of frimaire
Faded denim, buzzing cicadas, and moonlit lakes
A place in nature that fixes all of my mistakes
But individuality is as rare as a blood moon
And the end of Autumn means that I’ll be gone soon
So I’ll wish under this vast black sky
For a chance to live before I die
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4. |
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5. |
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There once was a rose with a beautiful last name
I had a dream about her
Since then I haven't been the same
Even stones can change
I wasn't aware of her before
But in my dream, she knocked on my door
I hadn't seen a smile in awhile
Intrepid and deceptive, guile with style
When I awoke from the dream
I was puzzled in bed
Why did this rose appear in my head?
Deep down there was notes in her life
That were missing from mine
I didn't know that at the time
With salt in my eyes, I started to see
Awakening a vision I never thought I could be
Even as a stem she was on her own
Driving down a highway all alone
That independent brat with the dyed blonde hair
Couldn't take school so she hit the streets of San Francisco
Don't worry about falling in love
It'll come soon enough
She spent some time crying after her first kiss
How do I relate my own life to this?
I've never lived a day in my life
But it's never too late to try
I saw that she moved to L.A. when she made it big
Learned some tough lessons from a couple of sins
Who do you trust when you're loaded and feeling blue?
What happened to that rose everyone knew?
Aging and hymns are a part of life
Abhor criticism to periodic cat nights
There's a lesson under humor and she teaches it well
You can grow up and still be true to yourself
Now that rose has blossomed but her memories remain
I wonder if she looks back on those days
Of being young and scared that she'd never find love
She makes me want to make a change and live it up
So I'm going to go out and finally get myself a job
Do anything I can to get out of the grasp of my mom
I'm down for the count, but always counted out
That silly rose taught me what it's all about
Thank you, candid friend
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6. |
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7. |
Sand Spur
05:00
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It would never last
Specs are dazed in the past
Rides and drives of a premature cast
Pictures, screens, and scars
Force of drive in the car
Trapped in this glass house for the final time
Get out of my head and go back to bed
You don't need me, I don't need you
It's just dreams
Counting all I've never said to you
So get out of my head
Silenced from experience
Counting six years now
You'd think I would have found something to say
I've settled on dreams
Seems I get somewhere in them
It can either start
Or it can never end
Confessions from a sand spur
Pricking onto your skin
Waiting for signs of notice
And it'll always stay the same
Because I don't know how to play this game
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8. |
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Societal constructs have plagued the earth
Long before Lemaître’s had a theory
About the start of the universe
Evolution is an inevitable hassle
When your only point is to reproduce
Convulsions, contractions, and action
Lead to reactions of fatal attraction
Save your wit, spit, and counterfeit lies
Head to Williamsburg and do it or die
Progenitors say there’s only so much time
While women are coerced every day
To keep a man’s name alive
Draconian anti-abortion agendas
Thrive off religious propaganda
Which promotes a narrative of women
Unable to control their own bodies
The only sin I see is the inability of autonomy
And the lack of care that there are women out there
Who were born into cultures with a set-identity
It’s time for every country on earth to erase the prerogatives
Find a common way to respect women in the world today
Sexual jurisprudence runs deep through ruins of time
So we must remember that our time is now
The judicial system also pawns men and their rights
When father's only get granted child custody 18.3% of the time
There's a pressure to provide
And hide sensitive minds with masculine misadvise
In Afghanistan, there's an unsettling noise
Police have been known to openly traffic young boys
For an old practice known as Bacha Bazi
Where young boys dress as girls
And dance for men at parties
Which is synonymous with abuse and sexual slavery
Only in recent years has prosecution
Of these crimes been taken somewhat seriously
But it's still common as a status of power and occurs daily
To constantly be seen as a threat is a sexist concept
So I'm sending my heart out
To the abused and the wrongly accused
It’s time for every country on earth to erase the prerogatives
Find a common way to respect men in the world today
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9. |
Fly High, Ryder
06:45
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Back when I was a kid, I played baseball at Plumber Field
I was never any good, but I learned a lot from those years
One season I played was tougher than October’s fall
I was on a team with menacing young men
And I always felt so small
My teammates would cut me down to size
Intimidating the living shit out of me with their ice cold eyes
I was young as mud and as thin as a rake
On a team like that, there was no room for mistakes
Sometimes coach would put me at the start of the lineup
A place that was previously held by my teammate, Ryder
He would exchange words of fear to me while on deck
Fueling my nerves like a brigadier roughneck
I eventually quit the game when I found punk rock
But those emotions were soon brought back
When painful news spread throughout my high school
My old teammate had chased his girlfriend around with a rifle
He attempted to kill her but then shot himself instead
I started seeing stickers, flags, and shirts that read his name in a phrase
I didn’t understand why he was being remembered
With love and high praise
He was one of the people who ruined a game I loved
He was one of the people that made me want to give up
I didn’t understand it then, but now I do
I’ve learned from my nerved past and I hope he did too
Sometimes people will push you down to stand themselves up
Don’t hate them, embrace them, and never give up
Fly high, Ryder
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10. |
Spurning the Saddle
03:45
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I’m not mommy’s little liberal
Or daddy’s proud conservative
I was born in New Jersey by act of causation
I’ve yet to valet vestibules
Or beg to bystanders on city streets
But I’ve seen entrepreneurs evangelize diplomacy
While shunning people in need
Somewhere over the rainbow
There’s a beautiful world
Where greed and gain are not indoctrinated
And people look after one another
But I’m having a hard time seeing between the clouds
My view is blocked by a podunk town
The drug and alcohol industries sell addiction as prescription
As a stoned world claims it helps with their conditions
The music industry laughs at our underground
Until the second money comes around
There’s empty homes on the market
But people sleeping on the streets
As contradicting, gentrifying millennials stick their nose up at me
But there’s a subsidiary to the bustle
I’m alive and healthy
I can choose to think positively
I can stand my ground
I can refuse to give in to the things
That are dragging people down
I can see over the rainbow
I can see through the clouds
I can find a way to help people in my podunk town
I can be the change I’ve always wanted to see
I have the power to set people free
I finally believe in me
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Pootie Florida
A solo project by C.J. McKenna that started in 2013.
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