Notes/Lyrics: This song is about accepting what you've made out of yourself / your art, and the fear that goes along with calling yourself "done" and receiving judgment..
LYRICS
the longer that I keep my shutters all closed / the longer it is before anyone knows / that there's a dead body still rotting inside / that there's just a ghost of who used to reside / the nearer I come to embracing the facts, / the more against me the deck seems to be stacked / and all my attempts to ameliorate / must just come across as too little, too late / I guess that i'm done, and ready, to be judged / too late to remake my legacy now / I guess that I'm done, incomplete, and begrudged / too much already has been written down / I'm a harsh critic, especially of me, / And that's why I don't want the world to see / the fruits of my labor, then privy they'd be / to the the failings of my unfinished masterpiece / as long as I keep looking up ahead my optimism's saved by second chances / but when I'm turned to face the path I've tread / i'll have to listen to the crowd's consensus / how could my life's work ever be complete / how could my art work ever be released? / once I give it over for you to consume / I give up the hope it will ever improve /

Notes/Lyrics: All my life I thought I would one day get rich and give most of my money to charity ... in the meantime, I don't make much money and I've done jack squat to help my fellow man.
LYRICS
I like to think that I have a compassionate heart / Willing to help out my less fortunate counterparts / But I'm a far cry from the selfless and magnanimous man / I've always seen as the character sketch of who I am / CHORUS
I'm a shitty philanthropist / I'll only be one if I get rich / that won't make me an altruist / Just a lucky opportunist / = / I'd give you money but how can I trust you'll use it right / I'd volunteer but I don't ever feel like there's time / Gotta get my own situation situated before, / I think about putting time or money into tackling yours / CHORUS / where was I when it wasn't so easy to be / this angelic face of generosity / I was callously passing them there in the street / promising myself I'd start my own charity ... but when will that be? / I like to think that I live minimalistically / Barely earn enough to pay for all my necessities / But you just saw me walking with a latte in my hand / if I can pay four dollars for that why can't I put one in your hand?

Notes/Lyrics: This song attempts to fight the morning "Blahs" with the reminder that every day, no matter how mundane, is insanely precious and worthy of passion.
LYRICS
Open my eyes hours past sunrise / snooze the alarm for another reprise / slowly my mind gravitates to the day that awaits / Looking ahead just elicits dread / Burdensome thoughts tumble 'round in my head / I could ignore them when I was still warm in my bed. / CHORUS / I want to be wide awake when the morning reaches my room. / I want to be miles away lost in nature somewhere with you. / it's a cliche that you hear some say / if you are healthy, you shouldn't complain / since you know you're gonna die, better live while alive / pithy advice for an easy life / if you don't have to do much to survive / when things are tough you will swear that this stuff don't apply. / I want to be wide awake when the morning reaches my room. / I want the first day of vacation when the whole trip's in front of you. / I want to be wide awake even on rainy days that I work / I know this is earth, not heaven, I should be grateful for the dirt. / that's easy advice if you have a nice life / if you're pretty, rich, or young or you're doing something fun / but don't be sayin' that to somebody who is trapped, busy working at a desk, for a cause he don't respect / (that sounds like madness to someone who is filled with sadness) / ahhh, that's the the modern tragedy / CHORUS / (I'll try to be thankful for the heartache and the hurt)

Notes/Lyrics: Some people let life come to them and roll with the punches. Other people try to control everything and manipulate things in their favor. This song is about that latter crowd.
LYRICS
your serpentine machinations / your dedication to manipulating everything / your serpentine machinations / your hesitation to consider things unselfishly / your endless rationalizations, justifications, and perversions of reality / CHORUS / Get loose, relax, let time come naturally / be sharp, or flat, or totally off key / Go with the flow or don't you know the status quo will get you nowhere slowly .... / = / your serpentine machinations / every occasion you're concocting convoluted schemes / The danger I see in this is, the insistence on controlling all contingencies / According to quantum physics, you can't pick out both position and velocity. / CHORUS / your serpentine machinations / your emulations of a master pulling puppet strings

Notes/Lyrics: This was written the week before I proposed to my wife. It reflects the misgivings someone has about entering into an imperfect love.
LYRICS
if at first I wasn't convinced / I have become ever more since / and if at first you had your doubts / I hope that we have worked them out / CHORUS: / you know, I don't / believe love is ideal in the real world / if that's, the paradigm you seek. / realist or a pessimist, you may call me, / but I will never live up to your dreams
= / it's only natural to be fearful / it's coming too fast to control / and while you're telling me an earful /
i'm just a stone ready to roll / CHORUS: / you know, I don't / believe love is ideal in the real world / if that's, the paradigm you seek. / realist or a pessimist, you may call me, / but I will never live up to your dreams
= / as a kid I knew someday I'd settle on a wife / but I didn't get that would mean settling for a life / loosely scripted out like bad reality TV / losing almost all spontaneity. / Would i rather be in love or free? / although you're obviously my favorite / and there's no way I want you gone / you're not perfect so I won't say it / but you've got time to prove me wrong CHORUS

Notes/Lyrics: You see a stranger that you're magnetically attracted to, a stranger whose significant other is present. You fantasize an improbable scenario in which you somehow make off with this newfound love.
LYRICS
The way you are looking at me, I would think you had suddenly seen a ghost, 'cause you’re looking like you’ve been startled / But no, it was just my face that you noticed as I surveyed the place and took note of your smile’s vanishing traces. / CHORUS == I could be the one for you, but that would be a crime That would mean the one your with isn’t worth your time But it’s taking a gamble to decide I’m gonna be the one you’re leaving with tonight == There’s not a thing I can do to to scare off everybody but you so the payoff of this rendezvous could be nothing. / Glances will just have to do. On the chance that we get introduced, pretend that you weren’t just daydreaming of me. / CHORUS /…. Or will I be the one you're leaving / This is so embarrassing, I don’t know your name / But I feel like I know you just the same / If someone causes a disturbance, let’s escape / I gotta know if you’re as special as you seem / Or are you really only just the stuff of dreams / I thought that love at first sight wasn’t real, / but that’s exactly how I feel / If you just came up to me and told me that I’d never be alone anymore I would probably believe you. / You’ve got a face that I trust and my heart's been covered in dust / so grace it by blowing a kiss over to me. / I could be the one for you but that would be a shame / That would make the one your with some cheap parlor game / But it’s taking a gamble, are you brave? Or are you crazy for considering. / CHORUS

Notes/Lyrics: a song about the post-high school search for identity and resistance of the world's pressure to force you into any cookie-cutter lifestyle / good instrumental build ups and breakdowns /
LYRICS
Someone just the other day (asked me for advice)
And I was tempted to say (some saucy reply)
Do I really look like a man (a man who knows shit)
Do I resemble a source of good information?
I'm just making this up as I go along
Still trying to find chords that'll finish this song
Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I get it oh so wrong
Everyone's worryin' about (the meaning of life)
But it's easy to figure out, (it rhymes with "survive")
I don't need a script to react, so please understand
It's a total compliment if you tell me I have no plan
I'm just making this up as I go along
Still trying to find words that'll finish this song
Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I get it oh so wrong
World, what do you want from me?
Just a semblance of sanity.
I'd happy to appease, just point me in that general direction please
Oh, what will it take to find genuine peace of mind?
I think it just takes time. You've got yours, and I've got mine.
Everyone's got a unique genetic design
So necessarily, we've got different minds
If you flatter my point of view, your chances augment
Of being someone I consider cool and call a friend
I'm just waking on up after sleeping so long
I was better off dreamin' so snooze the alarm
I don't know what I did last night But I meant no harm

Notes/Lyrics: a happy-go-lucky sounding song that acknolwedges the uncomfortable truths of being broke. the "Great Recession" anthem.
LYRICS
I'm broke. It's no joke, and I couldn't pay my debts off if I wanted to. My creditors are surely screwed. I'm broke. It's no joke, and I don't know how I'm gonna pay my taxes this year. I wish i could just disappear. Everywhere I look I see reminders. I wish I had blinders. Each store and cafe torture me; they seem to say, "if you have no means to pay, you're no customer of ours today. just be on your worthless way." I'm broke. It's no joke, and i hope my girlfriend loves me for my company. My penury precludes much luxury. I'm broke, and i know my situation's not uncommon. That's why the good lord gave us ramen. No one knows how long this drought will last. I just hope that we all get unbroken fast

Notes/Lyrics: the futile chase of dog after tail is used as a metaphor both for the cyclical triumphs and failures of our lifetimes and for the endless hunt to find love and acceptance
LYRICS
One horizon to my back / Another rises up ahead
Eternity before my birth / Eternity again when I'm dead. / Meanwhile I'm just taking spins / Around the poles that keep me in / Tethered to my broken ways / Futility's the name of the chase / Of Dog After Tail,
I guarantee my methods to fail / After all, I'm really not intending to follow my advice / I may get lucky one time, but I probably won't twice / Looks like you could use a laugh. / In that case, you got the right guy. / Redundantly re-butting your ass, / If you're foolish enough to reply / Can't we find some common ground? / I'm tempted to admit you're cute. / Shall I bother to expound? / Or is this just the hopeless pursuit? / of Dog After Tail, / I guarantee my methods to fail / After all, I'm really not intending to follow my advice / I may get lucky one day, but it'll all be gone by night / Maybe this is nothing weird, / Maybe I am no one strange. / Maybe there's nothing to fear, / Maybe there is nothing to change / Some of us just play our parts, / Some of us just take our pills, / Some will listen to their hearts, / But most of what we call free will / is dog after tail...

Notes/Lyrics: a relationship at its end forces both partners to strongly declare their independence and new beginnings / very unique guitar riff following each chorus / great buildup for final verse-chorus
LYRICS
Get outta my way, / I got nothing to say to a person like you.
Get outta my head, / I'll take silence instead of the words that you choose. / Get off of the thought that you might as well not 'cause there ain't no use./ You wasted my time and polluted my mind
with those words "I love you" / And if you wanna leave me now, I'm on the next train out of town. / Make up your mind what you're out here to find and then get back to me. / Meanwhile I'll be finding prosperity just independently. / And if someday you find you wished you would have stayed around / Forgive me if I smile but you're gonna have to track me down / No you won't ever find me unless you first find out I don't need you to remind me of what I'm all about.

Notes/Lyrics: a song about the post-high school search for identity and resistance of the world's pressure to force you into any cookie-cutter lifestyle / good instrumental build ups and breakdowns
LYRICS
If you run away from me, I'll follow / If you leave today, baby tomorrow / I will be beside myself with sorrow / I will never get back what you borrowed / And live upon the hope that you will visit me in a dream. / Everybody wants to think they're different / But there are just several basic blueprints / I can hardly think of what improvements / I would do to you if I could do them / So it's only fitting that you visit me in one of my dreams. / What the hell just happened? where did we go? / Was I lost behind a cloud of sweet smoke? / Leaving me, I'm feeling like you've revoked / All the points you added to my ego. / It's pathetic praying that you visit me in a dream. / It'll take a while to find another / Woman I'll consider as a lover / 'Cause Darling you know if I had my druthers / I'd be back with you under the covers / Instead of only hoping that visit me in one of my dreams. So it seems, the only way to get to you is my dreams. Lover, isn't that obscene?

Notes/Lyrics: in adolescence, I tended to hate myself, or at least dwell on my inadequacies. In adulthood, I realize how happy I am by my lonesome.
LYRICS
II will always be my best friend / I'll be there until the bitter end / I will always be my best friend / the only one on whom I can depend / = / I don't mean to sound aloof or proud / I don't even need to sing out loud / My thesis is proven in the theater of my mind / i know I can entertain myself / Cracking up is wholesome for your health / Nobody gets my jokes as well as I / CHORUS / Making love to others is so sweet
but sometimes leaves you incomplete / while making love alone is quick, simple, and fun. / Playing songs for people is a thrill / So book me any night on any bill
But sometimes the best kind of listener is no one / CHORUS / Growing up I felt so much self-loathing
Trying to fit in with all my peers / When your self-defense is finding faults / You're going to find that plenty appear / Nowadays I'm happy just composing
Not concerned with whether they cheer. / Every song is locked inside my vault / But free to be the music I hear / CHORUS / he loves me so uncondtionally
he gets me so unequivocally

Notes/Lyrics: another song about dying and the mind/body problem. it is a cynical lament about the materialism that underlies consciousness.
LYRICS
There's a good chance nothing happens after we die / That makes me temper joyous moments with world weary sighs / and I want to believe in an immaterial me sitting under this skin / there's no way I can think that's true rationally, how would I even begin? / natural selection's probably correct as scientists say it explains how complexity comes about in a very simple way / and that means that the brain that gives way to your mind is a well designed thing but it isn't a soul, it just wants to survive and promote its offspring / the side effect you call your life the byproduct of your design / the way this world looks to you / your parents made a point of view / does our ego, have some control, of what we do next?
Or it just the sum of a grand amalgam of cause and effect? / maybe our DNA, let's us have our own say, gives us blanks to fill in / that is not so far-fetched, evolution selects any tactic that wins / the side effect you call your life / the byproduct of your design / the way this world looks to you/ your parents made a point of view / when we demote our pleasure to a biological incentive / when we depict our thinking as some series of directives / we can name their function not communicate their essence / that's not information, that is what we call the present. / death sends a cold shiver right down my spine: to think I might never return / and all of these years that I've been asking "Why", is there something out there to learn? / is it genes that you serve or are your actions yours, it's a point that is moot. / cause you're know you're alive, taking your private ride, and so enjoy the pursuit / the side effect you call your life
the byproduct of your design / the way this world looks to you / your parents made a point of view

Notes/Lyrics: why must the human condition peak so early? / this song implores God to stop things while we're in our prime
LYRICS
Thank you god, but I think I'll take it from here / you did a bang up job with those eighteen years / Now my life is such a joy to behold / I have lost all interest in getting old / If I could ... Freeze time ... Why wouldn't I
If I could ... Freeze time ... I would ...while I'm / Poor economically / Rich in autonomy / liberal minded in my thinking / got health and agility / social flexibility
and copious occasions for drinking / I'd be a nutcase to tell you I want to escape / I'd have a sick mind to willingly leave this behind / But I know that every now and then / I am bound to step on toes and offend / realize it's not my real intent/ I would rather be friends /Finally time is mine to manage and keep / Though I've been neglecting to scheduling sleep / Maybe that's because my heart is aware / that this part of life is without compare / If I could ... Freeze time ... Why wouldn't I / If I could ... Freeze time ... I would ...while I'm / Here on my mission to find some erudition /
sample the fruits of Mother Nature / Goin' through a pile of friends on speed dial / And asking them what they're doing later / I'd be a nutcase to tell you I want to escape / I'd have a sick mind to willingly leave this behind / But I know that every now and then / I am bound to step on toes and offend / realize it's not my real intent/ I would rather be friends

Notes/Lyrics: this explores the "mind-body" problem: reconciling conscious experience with the physical systems that it depends upon / VERY WORDY
LYRICS
There's a common axiom many minds have found that a human's just a spirit physically pinned down in a body as a vessel for a boundless soul, but the feeling and the form have symbiotic control. / It makes no sense to characterize souls as something individualized separate from their bodies. Every moment since conception variables I can't even mention have been forever changing my life's underlying equations. / But people, please, don't reduce yourselves to the close cooperation of some carbon based cells. / You can paint a pretty picture with a scientific brush but never clarify the way it feels inside to blush. That's consciousness: phenomenal, ephemeral, unteachable. Your moments of experience will always be unreachable by any explanations as to 'why' or 'how', 'cause the truth of your existence is what you're feeling right now. / The stuff I'm made of's been around as long as time. So the matter I inherit and bequeath was in fact never really mine. And we're all just animating stardust tonight settled in to objects, but, I swear, we're all suffused in light. / So people, please, don't reduce yourselves to the close cooperation of some carbon based cells. / Once upon a time in the Milky Way galaxy a star called Sun had an awful lot of gravity and spun a rock into a sphere of staggering complexity where endless forms of life and nature flirt with possibility. / It's maddening to try and wrap your head around the ridiculously complicated yet profound daisy chain of causes and effects that lead back to the ground you'll reunite with soon 'cause nobody stays in this town. / People please don't reduce yourselves to the close cooperation of some carbon based cells. Oh, people, please, don't reduce yourselves or your sisters or your brothers to the synergistic wonders of cells.

Notes/Lyrics: a boyfriend admits he is no good and that the relationship is ill-fated / attempts to swallow the bitter pill of saying goodbye prematurely / final verse-chorus has great made for TV lyrics
LYRICS
Please don't make me say I'm sorry / I hate to admit to my own fallibility
Let's just say we can't see eye to eye / And call off the search party for culpability / If you think you'll squeeze blood from this stone / You'll find yourself wrong and alone / We'd be better off just letting it go / Than trying to fix my stubborn Irish soul / It is no surprise to see you leave
I'm sympathetic I'm just not adaptable / Sometimes even I cannot believe / That my mentality is this intractable / I gave you no signs that I could change
Still you assumed I might that's strange / We both have no basis to complain / For trying to fix my stubborn Irish soul / We spent so long just crying / We spent so long just trying / We've spent too long just lying to ourselves / Walk me out your door and past your swing / Out of your driveway, then out of your life evermore / I'll make this last kiss worth everything / Because tomorrow I cannot have it anymore / Maybe we weren't really built to last / Still this goodbye came way too fast / Our laughter and love just couldn't outlast / Patience with my stubborn Irish soul

Notes/Lyrics: this song wrote itself in my head as I pedaled home from picking up my street performing license at Santa Monica City Hall / it attempts to explain the musician lifestyle without overly romanticizing it
LYRICS
Your first mistake was giving me a guitar / And your second one was letting me perform in bars. / But your most egregious error was just lending me your ears
Now I'm never gonna have a real career. / My parents must have thought I'd get creative / Never fearing that I might become infatuated / And I'm sure sometimes they're proud of me but they correctly fear
That I'm never gonna have a real career / Rock and/or roll is no real vocation / It's just an excuse for self-glorification / I'm just a receptionist for the Muse / But feel like I'm licensed to broadcast my blues / Your third mistake was giving me a piano / And you sealed your fate, when I got my first studio/ But the quicksand that I'm sinking in is everybody here / Now I'm never gonna have a real career / Oh, yes, it's true, I am panhandling (Shine your boots, Gov'nor?) / But it's really just attention I'm demanding. / And because I wan't so badly to believe you when you cheer
I am never gonna have a real career

Notes/Lyrics: this song wrote itself in my head as I pedaled home from picking up my street performing license at Santa Monica City Hall / it attempts to explain the musician lifestyle without overly romanticizing it
LYRICS
They take away the shades of gray and turn it in to black and white / They wanna stay just like today despite the semblance of a fight, / When you're only given two perspectives and corresponding talking points / you're less likely to be as reflective, and I worry that's the point. / We align, with broad issues they define / we subscribe, to not act like that other tribe
We can choose, the more appealing way to lose
we get to pick the lesser of two evils / The red and blue they brand for you to reinforce your loyalty. / Their mascots seem like crappy teams: the elephants and the donkeys. / when you see both sides are strictly voting down their party lines / It's a self-fulfilling, sick, and phony sense of real divide / We align, with broad issues they define / we subscribe, to not act like that other tribe / We can choose, the more appealing way to lose / we get to pick the lesser of two evils / it's not as if your politics are coded in your genes / there's too much variety in this world to use some split-screen.
If you took away their deconstruction theater they'd be forced / to see their work as compromise not Machiavellian sport. / it's not a fight for what is right, it's selfish self-aggrandizing / If you pout they'll cut you out, they're wicked good at excising. / Would like to help me stage a boycott of partisan politics? / Let's refuse to vote for anyone avowed to either clique / we're resigned, to picking platforms they designed / we give in, to thinking their loss is our win/ we just choose, the less disturbing way to lose / I want more than the lesser of two evils /

Notes/Lyrics: I wanted to write a "fuck you" anthem -- the lyrics are general, but to me they relate to my indefatigable commitment to my musical ambitions
LYRICS
you don't know where I've been, what I've done, what the fuck I am capable of / you don't know who I am, what's my name, you judge my picture by the hanging frame / you don't know who it is or what it is I'm fighting for / so you can't estimate the kind of strength that lies below / CHORUS I'm feelin' kinda aggressive so get the fuck out of my way / = / you don't know how much time, how much mind, I got invested in this dream / while my peers self-proclaimed do-or-die commitment to the cause ain't what it seemed. / you don't know how it is or why it is I'm still on this grind, / a-a-and whether you ever do or not I don't mind. / CHORUS / i like to think I'm way beyond the scope / of trying to get what I want through luck or hope, / i'm putting in all the hours of overtime, / 'cuz I won't let anybody work harder than I / you don't know if I am on the run, you don't know if I have a loaded gun / you don't know which attack I might choose, you don't know if I got shit to lose / you don't know how badly I wanna get out of here alive / so you should know that I will do anything to survive /

Notes/Lyrics: this is as much a song about gaining one's independence and setting out on an adventure as it is a song about dying and wondering about your legacy
LYRICS
sooner or later I've got to leave home / to find out if I can strike out on my own / fear is the weight that keeps holding me down / but if i keep waiting I'll die in this town / we're all searching though we're certain it will get away, / but I will do my best to try, beginning with today, I am on my way / i hope they miss me when I'm gone / I hope that something I did will end up being fondly remembered / i wish that i could believe in a god / an omniscient judge who rebukes and applauds / but common sense tells me we'll never converse / except through the motions of Her universe / never thought that cleverness could be conquered by might / but life bleeds into death as day accepts the fall of night, and when I must take flight, I hope it works out alright / i hope they miss me when I'm gone
i hope that something i did was commensurate with my potential / meanwhile love is touted as the savior of mankind / like a blanket, tucking you in when you close your eyes / yes, the pain is swept under the carpet when we kiss / but that conflict is precisely what I'll miss / sometimes the ship will get pounded by waves / or bob up and down in some bigger ship's wake / sometimes the doldrums seem achingly still
an impotent captain sits waiting until / the wind begins to creep into the sails and hope renews / a shoreline may eventually appear in distant view / and when it does I'm through, nice to know you. / i hope they miss me when I'm gone / I hope that something I did will end up being fondly remembered / i hope they miss me when I'm gone / i hope that something i did was commensurate with my potential

Notes/Lyrics: when my band of ten years called it quits, I wrote this song shortly thereafter / it's definitely relevant to any point in life when you must say goodbye to the world as you knew it
LYRICS
Me and my friends / 10 years or more we've been at this / we've reached the end, but perfect was not our last practice / now I just feel numb, but I can tell something's wrong / I guess it's time to throw this all away / what happens next? / how does an ocean evaporate/ my world's a mess / I hope that I needn't elaborate / now I can't hold on cuz I know it's really gone / I guess it's time to throw this all away / I should have seen this comin' / Now all these years go runnin' down the drain / It's the end of an era /

Notes/Lyrics: This song is about how modern women have a much pickier list of what they're looking for in a man than what evolution alone dictates
LYRICS I just have a human body; I just have a human mind. / Evolution took a million years to work on my design. / I am just a man seeking a woman who will bear my seed. / For that privilege I'm prepared to do her almost any deed. / But I love a modern woman. Her needs are so complex and new. / Now I must learn how to be some civilized guy, so my modern woman will approve. / She has quite the human body, quite the convoluted mind. / She seems to evolve much more than me in merely half the time. / She is just a woman seeking some deserving counterpart. / I am only offering her my uncomplicated heart. / Yes, I love a modern woman. Her needs are so complex and new. / Now I must learn how to be some civilized guy, so my modern woman will approve. / Females always wanted to mate with the fittest male, / Strength and smarts and healthy teeth were likely to prevail, / Now they know to look for such discriminating subtleties,
One must be incredibly precise if he's to please / and love a modern woman ...

Notes/Lyrics: I had a painful, seven year drought during my early and mid 20's without any developments in the dating dept. / this song chronicles two missed opportunities I knew were my frightened fault
LYRICS
Let me tell you a tale of a girl that I knew but wouldn't get ... at least not yet (but she's coming on over). It was a curse the way I met her: I thought I was at my best so she might see the average me as so much less than I'd seemed. So I protected against all weakness and made my hunger a secret. I had her in my grasp but it passed me by. And why? Oh-oh I can't forgive myself this time. My eyes are hurtin', I was certain she was the one: the overdue summer sun. But I didn't make my move that day. When morning came, she went away. "Will there be another day. Should I get one more chance with Megan?" Sometimes it sure seems that I am totally helpless to find love. I cannot describe how lame I lost my chance with her that day. I'm unable to explain why I go on hurting myself this way. There's something wrong I'd say when each chance is going to waste. Something's wrong. I was not ready when I first met her. I don't know what to make of that first impression. She had hemp lip balm, of which I sampled some, and then memories of her tingled on my lips, fed wishes on my tongue. She seems to natural to me. But I didn't make my move that day, and later on I stood and prayed "will there be another day, god give me one more chance with Erin" The first time I met her I thought "girl, I'd love to get to know you". And the second time I promised myself "if I see her again I cannot let her go". And the third time, she even said would be the last time I would see her but how did it go? Ready in my mind, but scared in my heart, a fool again.

Notes/Lyrics: the one and only time I've been skinny dipping was with a girl who I didn't think had any interest in me prior to us jumping naked into Washington Grove Pond / the next morning I wrote this (recorded with Continuous Play)

LYRICS
an unassuming night, we finally met and I felt delight, wishing on your eyes, meanwhile so surprised we're laughing deep down on the inside. there is a new love on my horizon. it has been a long time. I don't definitely know how far this thing could go. She hasn't said so but I'm feeling so hopeful this could have time to grow. I see her everywhere my smile is making strangers kind of scared. Though my eyes are open, my mind is fixed on a vision of her so I stare. And as the night moves on, we're getting closer to having fun. I'm hoping you agree that spending these hours with me, it's like we're getting heaven for free. There is some new light on my horizon. Can it be I'm falling in love again? It's too soon to say, but if things keep on going this way. I just may be back on the road again to new love. Finally on the road again to new love.

Notes/Lyrics: one of very few political songs / asks the world to give post-Bush America a chance / appeals to Americans to be worthy of respect / analyzes our historical context

LYRICS
On behalf of myself and those who agree / I will offer the world this apology / Don't let eight little years of sheer lunacy / Taint your general impression of our legacy / I know we didn't quite invent democracy / We tailed the French Enlightenment by a century / but c'mon, America's still cool / We kind of wrote the rules of guaranteed liberties / We just forgot 'em recently / This democracy stopped representin' me / When it started invading preemptively / I definitely have love and much loyalty
To my country but more for humanity. / I thought the American Dream was to dispense with any inequality or intolerance / so c'mon, America be cool / Obey the Golden Rule / You're acting like a fool / Putting out flames by adding fuel. / This isn't how the founding fathers thought we'd be It seems like we were more mature when we were in our infancy. / We got ditch all these divisive fantasies / Such as religion making fractious factions out of you and me. / We tell the world of our good intentions with the deadliest inventions / known to man that don't make sense and I can see how quickly all the tides could turn with all the bridges we've burned and all the lessons we've not learned. / When we won the cold war we thought that we'd be safely leading the world indefinitely / Now we're part of a global economy / Thanks in part to our lust for technology / And with the free market tremendously enlarged / In desperation we pretend to be in charge / But c'mon / America be cool / It's not your job to rule / You won't fit in at school / Pickin' on those weaker than you.

Notes/Lyrics: another song lamenting my inability to hit on random girls / this song attempts to blame my bachelorhood on brevity of windows of opportunity / recorded with Continuous Play
LYRICS
I don't even know you. I just know that I like what I see. But I can't think of a damn way, to say I'm smitten with you. I guess that I am gonna have to wait then. I draw a blank and lose my moment in the hesitation. I'll never come up with a natural way of sending you an invitation to my mind and heart. Why can't I ever find somewhere to start? Abrupt communications are thwarting all my progress. I only fall in love with friends. (our signals didn't cross. who knows what me may have lost. our foreheads never touched). Abrupt communications ceasing every ingress. Making it so hard for me to say "hello". Why? I don't know. I don't even know you. I just really need someone to know me. If you would come on over, I would savor you like you would not believe. You could make my whole world seem bright and weightless for the dream of seeing you this weekend. But it's gonna take your help, cuz I'm helpless at things like this. Though I'm confident we could quell this ungodly awkwardness with one sweet kiss. I promise to hold you like you are a godsend. I think if I spent the night the morning would look different. I know it's up to me to make my destiny, but much too much abrupt communications are thwarting all my progress. I only fall in love with friends. Abrupt communications prolonging this loneliness. I probably won't even get to know your name: story of my life, what a shame.

Notes/Lyrics: confidently in love, but tentative about popping that signature question to a loved one
LYRICS
I just want to tell my heart to you / But I don't want you to see me cry / Tears are bound to fall if I should tell you what you mean to my life / I just want to tell my heart to you / Without a pretense or a ploy / And if I don't start talkin' soon you're gonna give up or get annoyed / but every time I try to say these words I get tongue tied / oo oo baby tell me do you want to be my bride / if I've got you by my side / I know we'll enjoy this ride / (are you ready for the future) / I just want to share my bed with you / So when I wake up every day / I will be wakin' up to you, In silent gratitude I'll lay / I don't want to waste any more sunshine / Oo oo tell me do you think you want to honey / don't hate me if i try to ask it funny / oh baby tell me do you want to be my bride

Notes/Lyrics: when love is the foundation of what you trust about your world, it can be devastating to have the rug pulled out from under you / this song chronicles that backstabbing moment
LYRICS
Didn't I tell you a long time ago / that I love you excessively much Didn't our love continue to grow / with every successive touch / So ... how could you be leaving? How could this be true? / Everything that has any meaning for me begins with you. / Didn't you tell me that you love me back / a thousand times or more? / How many of those do you now retract / or should they have all just be ignored? / I'll never recover ... my faith in mankind. / If you can't trust a lover then trust isn't something available to find. / I would happily recite to you a list of reasons you should stay. / But if the words don't leave your lips your ears won't hear what they say. / Just like me, they're just selfish anyway. / Baby you know that I think you're the best So I'll always put you first place. / Maybe I don't measure up to the rest / of the runners that are running in your race. / How can you be leaving? / How can this be true? / Is life just deceiving me or am I really dealing with losing you? / How can you be leaving? How will life go on? / All I have is meaningless memories demeaning a melancholy song.

Notes/Lyrics: sometimes the world doesn't get why you love someone, which tends to make you all the more defiant about your ineffable connection to your loved one
LYRICS
It was just last week I was at a party with my friends, and one of them was asking me about my new girlfriend. / He said "you waited so long I wanna know what you intend." / So I said ... I still haven't found a reason why I could leave her to another guy / That sounds weak but what I really mean is Being hers is keeping me serene / I don't know what it is, but I never have to second guess it. / Because you don't have to wonder when you're in love / You'll be too swept under when you're in love / You don't have to ponder why you're in love / You won't want to wander once you're in love. / You'll know when it fits like a glove. / In a few more weeks we'll be together for one year. And though the future looks bleak it isn't something I can fear. / I gotta let it all happen while making myself clear that I: Have never loved anyone else so much / I'm gonna tell her that with every touch / I'm never gonna underestimate / The lengths we may have to undertake / To keep this goin' while never knowin' where (China?) / Because you don't have to wonder when you're in love / You'll be too swept under when you're in love / You don't have to ponder why you're in love / You won't want to wander once you're in love. / You'll know when it fits like a glove. / Okay let's review!

Notes/Lyrics: the title makes this one obvious: it's a love letter to music as well as a suggestion to everyone that music is a huge source of satisfaction
LYRICS
here is why i love music when you play it you hear / your emotions come out as soundwaves then enter back in through your ears / on this fretboard and with these vocal cords i transduce my view / it don't matter if anyone else is around to listen to you / music, it really is, the perfect gift you can give yourself / and if, you give it time, i know you'll find it's good for your health / here is why i love music it conveys empathy / almost better than could ever friends or family / it astounds me that the right vibrations can match an emotional state / that reminds me that we're all instruments we should be in tune when we play / music, it really is, the perfect gift you can give yourself / and if, you give it time, i know you'll find it's good for your health / humans carved their niche by being smart / differentiating head from heart / music reconciles the mind and flesh / that's how it expresses the complex / that's how it expresses the complex / that's one of its wonderful effects / and why i love music - everyone is free / to provide their own lyrics to their own melodies / so keep on practicing, you won't regret it / sing it twice so you don't forget it / music, it really is, the perfect gift you can give yourself / and if, you give it time, i know you'll find it's good for your health

Notes/Lyrics: this song was intended to be sung by a female, but this is a version of me singing it. It's your basic "tell-off" song.
LYRICS
I want to ask you a yes or no question, baby: "Do you still want me around?" / I don't want to hear equivocating words like 'maybe', please don't lie to yourself for me / Don't keep it to yourself if you're not sure what you want. Don't lie to my face while you figure out who you are. There are a lotta good things I could be doin' with my time, and leaving you baby wouldn't ruin my state of mind. / I would not disturb a precious thing prematurely / But can I trust you to change / You got the right words to say to try to reassure me / But I'm still feeling estranged, baby. / Don't keep it to yourself if you're not sure what you want. Don't lie to my face while you figure out who you are. There are a lotta good things I could be doin' with my time, and leaving you baby wouldn't ruin my state of mind. / I don't wanna break us up but now I'm implyin', if you're not tryin' to, / You better start shapin' up cuz if you keep slackin', I may be packin' soon. / I don't wanna break us up but now I'm implyin', if you're not tryin' to, / You better start shapin' up cuz if you keep slackin', I may be packin' soon. / Don't keep it to yourself if you're not sure what you want. Don't lie to my face while you figure out who you are. There are a lotta good things I could be doin' with my time, and losing you baby wouldn't ruin what I might find.

Notes/Lyrics: intended for a female singer / cool electronic instrumental breakdown before final chorus.
LYRICS
Many years have passed since love's found me, and while everyone is bound to have a losing streak, only one in that time made me feel like the possibilities of love were something real. so should I just settle for something not better than before? I think I'm okay, so I don't wanna change my heart just to find an easy love. I'm convinced that I have screwed myself, holding up my stubborn standards onto someone else. What if no one else could ever make me feel half as happy as the one who got away? Should I just go for the next one who stumbles through the door? Well I think I'm okay, so I don't wanna change my heart just to find an easy love. Should I just go for the next sad one to crawl through the door?

Notes/Lyrics: one of very few political songs / asks the world to give post-Bush America a chance / appeals to Americans to be worthy of respect / analyzes our historical context

LYRICS
On behalf of myself and those who agree / I will offer the world this apology / Don't let eight little years of sheer lunacy / Taint your general impression of our legacy / I know we didn't quite invent democracy / We tailed the French Enlightenment by a century / but c'mon, America's still cool / We kind of wrote the rules of guaranteed liberties / We just forgot 'em recently / This democracy stopped representin' me / When it started invading preemptively / I definitely have love and much loyalty
To my country but more for humanity. / I thought the American Dream was to dispense with any inequality or intolerance / so c'mon, America be cool / Obey the Golden Rule / You're acting like a fool / Putting out flames by adding fuel. / This isn't how the founding fathers thought we'd be It seems like we were more mature when we were in our infancy. / We got ditch all these divisive fantasies / Such as religion making fractious factions out of you and me. / We tell the world of our good intentions with the deadliest inventions / known to man that don't make sense and I can see how quickly all the tides could turn with all the bridges we've burned and all the lessons we've not learned. / When we won the cold war we thought that we'd be safely leading the world indefinitely / Now we're part of a global economy / Thanks in part to our lust for technology / And with the free market tremendously enlarged / In desperation we pretend to be in charge / But c'mon / America be cool / It's not your job to rule / You won't fit in at school / Pickin' on those weaker than you.

Notes: intended for a female vocalist; dancy verses and then catchy breakdown chorus
LYRICS
How did we get here baby when it seemed like our love was strong / I can't forget how forgiving you have been with me when I'm wrong / You say You say I'm your one and only / You say You say I am your man. / I think I think you don't really know me / I think I think you don't understand / and with the hour getting late let me be clear / You don't have 'til next year / If you got another reason why I should stay / Go 'head say it girl cause otherwise, I'll be going away / If you got another reason then don't hesitate, / if you do then you could be too late / If you got a new reason why I should stay, / Hurry up don't procrastinate / You may not have another season left to play / I'm a free agent and I'm up for trade / I'm fielding offers cause a lot of others might want me more / You're feeling awful cause you know that I am heading for the door / You say You say I'll live to regret it / you say you say you are the best / I think I think you can just forget it / I think I'll try my luck with the rest / and you know that I'm gonna really miss your friends / but I'm at my rope's end / If you got another reason why I should stay / Go 'head say it girl cause otherwise, I'll be going away / If you got another reason then don't hesitate, / if you do then you could be too late / If you got a new reason why I should stay, / Hurry up don't procrastinate / You may not have another season left to play / I'm a free agent and I'm up for trade / / Free agency, / I never thought I could ever play for another team than you and me / I never thought I could ever leave but that's the way it seems to be / I never thought I could let you go, but I'm so close I'll let you know

Notes: a white male with a tiny bit o' soul tries to make his case to the opposite sex
LYRICS
I don't think you're ready for me. Some of my friends call me Little T. I don't think you've ever had a dose of sensuality as natural as the one you'll get from me. I can feel you tremble from here, cuz you know my motives are sincere. I can see me finally letting your lips smile from ear to ear, allowing all the angels to appear. Settle nothing less for me, for anything less is a total travesty. (You should not be wasting your time, with an unexceptional guy, when you gonna make up your mind to find love?) I don't know where some women get small notions of what love should be. Cuz to me it's as big as an ocean or a dream. Oh, I know it's lonely out there, but it really doesn't have to be. Maybe I could save you. Maybe you could save me. Do you wanna take this ride optimistically. Do you wanna let me love you elaborately? Not a minute too soon will we go a bit too far. Do you wanna try to find some God with me? We don't have to put it in words. Tryin' to label this is absurd. We don't have to bother with the noun 'love', let's just feel the verb, and acquiesce to all that it deserves. Settle nothing less for me, for anything less is just really mocking me. (You should not be wasting your time, with an unexceptional guy, when you gonna make up your mind to find love?) Cuz anything less is a total tragedy.

Notes: during the week I arrived in LA, my Dad called to tell me that my mom had been checked into a hospital after developing pneumonia following intense chemotherapy. I wrote this song that night while I tried to pray for my mom the best way I know how: music.
LYRICS
she lays her head in a hospital bed / wonderin' what she will see tomorrow / I'm still awake several time zones away, trying to deal with this distance and sorrow / many will say if a person is prayed for, then they have the best chance of healing / but in my cursed and godless universe, to whom should i channel these feelings? / I'm calling out to each one of her cells, "can you work while she's sleeping and wake her up well?" / cruel world, you owe me no favors / I feel so helpless to save her / she feels alone, just like me, far from home / and it pains me to picture her face / when we were young, man, life was so much more fun but I know that's no longer the case / i can't go back and switch both of our tracks cuz I don't know what else I would change / I thought this world never would have unfurled in a fashion so bitter and strange / I'm calling out to each one of her cells, "Can you work while she's sleeping and wake her up well?" / cruel world, you owe me no favors / I feel so helpless to save her / thoughts in my head like take my health instead, but who do I think that I'm talking to?

Notes: this song was the result of the first time I ever went through a break-up / it has always been one of my friends' and fans' favorite songs of mine
LYRICS
tonight i long for you / and i pray i may escape from what i know is the truth: that my life with you is through / oh, no, no, no. what have i done? / it's hard to recollect even times before we met when i felt so far apart, and the loss is almost more than a heart can take / tonight i sigh for you / and judge each touch as worth the pain of never having it again / i miss you / i thought love could always be if we met two simple needs: let my love lay on your eyelids and my pain weigh on your conscience / with each blink you'll be reminded that I've no one else to sing for / but it didn't seem to work out that way / do i play the victim so well that i'm free from blame / it's hard to say / you should know as well as i how sincerity comes and goes away / better days we'll soon befall, but apart we'll live them all / and i know that means a whole lot more to me

Notes: after dropping off my friend (and long time crush) at Salt Lake City airport, I drove alone in my van towards Bryce Canyon, parked alongside the road in a desolate town to sleep, and wrote this song
LYRICS
We took our time but now we're finally on the road to romance. This friendship runs so deep but it won't keep me from taking a chance. I would regret it all my days if I never got to taste her Honey kisses .. sweet like my ... deepest wishes ... we never got to try / We just ran out of time ... and then we said goodbye ... and now I just sing, "why, oh, why, oh, why, oh ..." / This morning I awoke with her soft shoulder pressed against me. She moved her hand onto my heart as just a simple blessing, But tonight I will take my rest in a desert so bereft of her Honey kisses .. sweet like my ... deepest wishes ... we never got to try / We just ran out of time ... and then we said goodbye ... and now I just sing, "why, oh, why, oh, why, oh why" / I'm packing everything I care about onto a vessel, and letting it just sail away 'cause I can't move a muscle. I know I've got to let her leave if she's ever meant to be ... mine. I hope that we find the time someday to let this love come alive. I hope that we find the time someday to let our happiness arrive.

Notes: this song was recorded live at Phase Studios with the band Continuous Play / the lyrics sound like a profession of love to another human even though they were written for mother nature
LYRICS
it's another cold winter's day / and i forgot again to say / that you make the difference in my happiness / that you were an answer to my questions of existence / don't ever forget that we're in love / what is this love we want to send back to the source? / how does it fill us up as well? / oh, wait. of course. / you are a simple and complete elation / with each embrace I radiate my gratitude to all of creation / so what else can i do to keep love safe with you / oh, woman, all I ask is this: don't ever forget that we're in love / my woman I beg you please / remember me for my honesty / and trust me when i say / where would i be without you? / so you should always know I'm gonna stay / now i don't need to try something else, now i don't need to look somewhere else / cuz from where i'm sittin', you are the coolest girlfriend / now i don't need to find something else, cuz i've already got what i want / i just have to hold onto what i've found / and it brings me a smile to tell the truth / that i'm always gonna be hoping to stay with you / i'm hoping that we will never have to see an end to you and me