NEW SOUND

Hey I heard you pulled yourself up out of the dirt
and looked around
I heard you put on a nice white collared shirt
I heard you found a way to profit from your chosen pursuits
monetarily
and picked a spot to put down your roots
metaphorically

Hey I heard you dug a hole in the ground
and filled it back up
with concrete and wood frames and bricks
all stacked up

I heard you decorated it
with paint and rugs and wedding gifts
and trinkets brought back from your trips
and lamps and sinks and light switches
a heavy black metal fridge
covered in some comic strips
that you consider relevant
and stuck under a magnet with
the name & number of a plumber
bills stacked on the kitchen counter
a fake tree, draperies
artisanal toiletries
a front door, some hardwood floors
take out napkins in a drawer
stack of books you'll never read
2 kids watching a TV

meanwhile I've been working on a new sound

Hey I heard you've sampled bits of all mankind's collected wisdom
& you're skeptical of deities but can't dismiss them
I heard you think society needs rules and altruism
so you give a third of all of your money to The System

And I heard they take your check, put it in a pot with all the rest
and then they filter all the money into things that you detest
like stuff to kill or spy or subvert or manipulate the truth
or cut down trees or cut down mountains or pollute your children's future

Yeah I heard you paid em money
so that they could pay somebody
to figure a way for you to pay for you to pay somebody
while some politician's buddy
looking for some real money
says we need a bill so I can bill you for the way I'm robbing you
and probably you've just given up
thinking at least some of it's cuz half of the population sucks
and should be given their own nation they can wreck
with their self righteous stagnation and their debt . . . oh forget here's a check

meanwhile I've been working on a new sound


while you've been at work
I've been working on a new sound
while you've been asleep
I've been working on a new sound
while you read editorials
I work on a new sound
while you call your mom a bunch
I work on a new sound

And while your marriage turned out to be perfect or is a complete joke
and your job is unfulfilling or the best or you're broke
and your kids impress you day by day with aptitude and grace
or you're just hoping they learn some shame before you pass away
or some robots came and took over your country's government
but turns out they're decent at it so a new era begins
or you win a nobel prize for preventing a recession
or you can't even update that stupid blog you started when
you thought you had something to say but now your mind is full of questions
and you're pretty sure that no one needs a bunch of extra questions

that's when i've been working on a new sound