The Dog & The Rat
Daniel and I recorded this record in the summer of 2005, and we finally had a completed record in the winter of 2006.
It’s loud, it’s a little angry, but I think it’s mostly a lasagna of sound. There are various songs where we really couldn’t contain ourselves and recorded upward of 55 tracks.
We since have vowed to never do that again. Not because the results were bad, but because it’s really, impossibly hard. To keep all that stuff in mind was much harder to mix than I had imagined it would be (”Where’s the sixth tambourine!? It’s buried under the 14 guitars!”)
At any rate, I enjoy it, and hope you do too. The best game to play (which you will never win) is: Guess Who’s Singing?
LEMONADE
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You feel it too
You know why I’m feeling blue
Oh yes you do
Because no one understands
You don’t love anyone
But yourself
You’re so afraid
Of being the only one who stayed around
And drank the lemonade
Alone
SUBTLETY
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Playing subtle again
Messin’ with my head
Well two can play that game
I’m waging war on your brain
Told all of your friends
You can’t keep up with the trends
And your mama said
That your daddy’s dead
You look fat
You look fat
You’re wearing that?
You look fat
THE GREAT AIRBORNE ATTACK
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There’s a sense
that something’s wrong with the air
So we go underground
Unaware
That the strike is on
It’s a matter of days now
Until the wind
Turns around
Oh this depression
In the ground
Will hide us until the boats run aground
The Head of State
has hopped a ship into space
He promised us
he wouldn’t end the human race
It doesn’t mean that he won’t
It just means that’s what the news feeds
We’re measuring radon by counting leaves
We hope this note will reach you
Before we run out of time
The smell of greed is in the sky
Oh this depression
It is our season
Don’t need no reason to feel low
Of this correction
Will take its toll
The corporation has control
BE MINE
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I’d have no trouble loving
If I had any way of knowing
That you’d love me back
I’d be a lot more forgiving
Of all the lies you’ve been living
If you loved me back
Oh you’re so unloveable
Who could love a girl like you?
I’d be sorry that you’re leaving
If I had reason for believing
You ever loved me back
You never loved me back
Oh you’re so unknowable
Who could love a girl like you?
Oh you’re so unloveable
Who could love a girl like you?
Yeah
SHE’S HAVING FUN
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She’s always wanting to have fun
She’ll get high and dance with anyone
She makes a point to stay out late
I watch the light under the door and wait
She laughs a lot and never sheds a tear
She’s only ever down when I am near
They say if you can’t beat them, join them
I tilt my head back and drink the poison
We down some drinks
She starts to stumble
Her latest fix is always quick to crumble
I hold her close and tell her nothing lasts
That hearts collapse when bodies move too fast
She pulls away from me
to find a boy who’s happy
to tell her lies
And I’m tired
But she’s having fun
EVERYBODY KNOWS
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When did art become a shoe size
How did we get to this place
You’re a product and your value is your eyes
Glued to an ad for toothpaste
You don’t know what I know
Now
Everybody knows
that you’re wrong
And everybody’s sure
That they’d like to be friends
With people who are just like them
Who will bleed blue until the end
At the mall
Oh
Ah
Ooh
In forty years we’ll be discovered
Demo tapes and all
And the rubble will be uncovered
by corporations who
decide to market
all our songs as the latest craze
You don’t know what I know
Now
Everybody knows
that you’re wrong
Everyone wants to be friends
With people who are just like them
Who will bleed blue until the end
Oh
Ah
Ooh
PRETEND
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You went for a drive to clear your head
She’s yelling and screaming about
the time that you forgot her name
When introducing her to your
ex-wife’s kids
It wasn’t that you forgot
It was simply that you had hoped
that she would happen
to disappear
If you ignored her entirely
Now the Prozac’s kicking in
And her patience is running out
but you won’t change a thing
Because you know without a doubt
That forgiveness is a sin
And you were raised to be strong
Could you have known
that there was a knife on the tracks?
Could you have known
that there was a light in front of you
that was worth a try?
The car stalled
It wasn’t your fault
But then again nothing is these days
She’s yelling and screaming a lot
For you to let her out of the trunk
She can hear the train is coming on
It isn’t that you’re a violent man
You just needed someone to pretend
that you were on top of your plan
But she wouldn’t understand
That your vein is closing up
and your pulse is slowing down
But you won’t change a thing
Because you know without a doubt
that your father is to blame
And you’re just like him
Could you have known
that there was a knife on the tracks?
Could you have known
that there was a life in front of you
that was worth a try?
THE BREADWINNER
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All the food tastes the same
But such is life in a cage
I drove around your block for days
But there is nothing left there
but decay
I wouldn’t pretend to think that you would wait
I think I’m shorter than before
I think I should have slept
on the floor
But I will come back
and you will regret
can you recall
all the times you held me down
Because I’m missing now
Relearning to use my tongue
but there is nothing that my mouth could say
to relieve my brain of this
tremendous weight
But I will come back
and you will regret
can you recall
all the times you held me down
Because I’m missing now
LIFE AS A PAWN IS NOT SO BAD
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Are you alright, are you okay?
Don’t attempt to go against our ways
Alright
We take care of you, you see
You learn our rules, we make you comfy
Alright?
There’s no point in breaking out and wanting to be free
Don’t you see?
Just do what we say
Work when we say work
Work when we say play
Your steady progress makes us proud
It’s good to see you take our predetermined routes
No one’s going to hurt you if you stay in your place
We will not dessert you
So put a smile on your face
You are just a pawn
but it’s not that bad
You’ll never harmed
so don’t be sad
There’s no point in breaking out and wanting to be free
Don’t you see?
Just do what we say
Work when we say work
Work when we say play
And if you choose to tempt your fate and make attempts to
leave
Then you’ll see
We’ve met all your needs
You’re our little pawn
You were never free
JUST ANOTHER NIGHT
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There was a time when his heart would flutter
at the sound of your voice on the phone
and he’d be filled with a swarm
of butterflies in his stomach
when you were alone
He wrote you a note
with a poem in it
professing his love for your beautiful smile
You put it away and forgot about it
He never asked but he wondered a while
if you had any intention of giving him a chance
It felt good to entertain notions of romance
Then one night it occurred to you
while you and he were alone
“He has grown too close”
what were you to do?
I can’t say I blame you
You said goodbye
and left him behind
He swore he’d die
But he turned out alright
Don’t apologize
Now he’s doing fine
He realized it was just another night
PEOPLE TALK
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In this world, there’s a lesson to be learned:
If you don’t care, you don’t get hurt
And if you spend your life
pretending to make friends
then all your friends will be pretend
And in your dreams
you see yourself part of the scene
Like a pee-wee soccer team
Or happy kids on Halloween
And when you wake, it’s almost more than you can take
It’s not true
Stay awake
Because people talk about you
Your heart’s in your chest
Keep it safe, wear a bulletproof vest
You’re stuck in the ground
Fell in love just by running around
Now you bleed every beat your heart pounds
But you can’t turn away from the sound
People talk about you
And they say what they want
if it makes them look good
PLEASE
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When you walked out
you left me with no doubt
that our lead walls that
are thick enough to stop a mushroom cloud
were not strong enough
to keep you around
I know we don’t have long
and that’s what makes it so hard
to tell you that I need you
even though you broke my heart
Because we’re both growing older
even though we stay
the same is true
on the other shores
the lessons learned
never applied to us
I can’t breathe
It has been some time
since I’ve gone outside
I would go and find you
but the poison gas has made me blind
to the fact that
you were never by my side
I wrote you a letter
that spells out the way I feel
It says i’m feeling better
but you know that can’t be real
It tells you that I’m sorry
and hopes you feel
The same is true everywhere
but we the people
We just don’t care
I want what I want what I need
I am the only one who bleeds
Please
And my doctor says
I’m not better off dead
He said life’s worth living
and something else
but I forget the rest
I won’t live forever
But I want to remember
Please
I didn’t go outside
I am made of skin and bones, you know
Why can’t my mind let my body go?
Do you feel it too?