1. |
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Existence is exhausting and the cost of getting up and getting by is going through the roof
And if the landlord doesn’t fix that leak in the ceiling that same roof is gonna cave in too
My bootstraps are covered in shit, it’s hard to get a grip, but thanks for the advice
I’m on a steady diet of caffeine, dead dreams, fingernails, beans and rice
I make just enough to pay my rent
And keep myself and my addictions fed
I make music with my friends
We play shows on the weekends
And I try and see my family when I can
Living well is the best revenge
Walk along streets the sun don’t reach, admire houses I will never afford
I’m working 60 a week just to sleep in sheets on a damp carpeted floor
All my time and money wasted on an education qualifying me to bag produce or pump gas
A piece of paper hanging on my wall I’d get more use out of if I wiped my ass
I make just enough to pay my rent
And keep myself and my addictions fed
I make music with my friends
We play shows on the weekends
And I try and see my family when I can
Living well is the best…
“Smile wide through every little tyranny
We’d rather have a worker than a human being
Work until you forget how much your body hurts
And Christmas is just another day of work”
I make just enough to pay my rent
And keep myself and my addictions fed
I make music with my friends
We play shows on the weekends
And I try and see my family when I can
And I treat myself to a warm meal now and then
And maybe someday I’ll be able to afford a bed
But ‘til then…
Living well is the best revenge
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2. |
Destroy Myself
01:27
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With your every declaration of vicarious pride
I will destroy myself
There’ll be no celebration, no wedding wine
When I destroy myself
A spiteful move, done just to prove
That my recovery had nothing to do with you
And I’ll pin you down, pry open your eyes and spew
When I destroy myself
I have a constant compulsion to piss in your punchbowl
And destroy myself
With a manic propulsion I’ll tear down what I’ve built
And destroy myself
I’m poking at a blister until it bursts
It must be a nice view from your high-horse perch
Is it a blessing or a curse of something worse?
When I destroy myself
You wanna take credit for my hard work
Bloody palms wanna grab you by the collar
And smear the excess on the linen, stain your white shirt
And leave you with a painful reminder
I’ll push my thumbs deep into your open wounds
When I destroy myself
I hope you feel the poison creeping through
When I destroy myself
I’m embarrassed by your patronage
The only reason that I haven’t done it yet
Is that I wouldn’t even get to see your reaction
When I destroy myself
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3. |
The Great Enabler
02:38
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The newsprint leaves a stain on your fingers
That you can’t get off with a flame or a trigger
And you can’t heed warnings you’ve only half-heard
It’s a punchline to a joke that nobody remembers
Lie in wait ‘til you’ve lost any nerve or pulse
While sticky fingers clean up the messy results
They’re so brazen these days, no need for a disguise
How does it feel to finally be a man out of time?
I can’t tell what’s worse:
The fact that it happens or the fact that you’re used to it
It all sounds absurd
But I guess you’re more complicit than you’re willing to admit
All black eyes get turned
Until they’re so swollen that they can only squint
It’s none of your concern
But the militia’s at your door and they want in
When your fortunes come to claim you
And they will, oh they will
Will your neighbours try to save you?
They’ll be too busy eyeing up the fresh meat, the easy kill…
One last thing before they put you to the screws:
Will you try to hide or just cower in servitude?
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4. |
Babysnakes
03:02
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Babysnakes, you hurt me in more ways than one
Some were inconvenient, some were devastating, others were just fun
Babysnakes, the scent of you still lingers on my sheets
Climbs inside and stings as if the memory is mocking me
You’re on my mind so much it’s getting on my nerves
It’s been a year since you left and I still can’t seem to purge
Babysnakes, you’re a nagging little riff I can’t get out my head
You occupy the real estate but never pay the rent
Babysnakes, I’m done with love, it leaves me unfulfilled
I know I never mean it but I always repeat it in the hopes one day I will
You’re on my mind so much it’s getting on my nerves
It’s been a year since you left and I still can’t seem to purge
And I haven’t had a decent dream in so long, baby…
Evict this apparition
I’d cut off my own head to stop the ache
Resist the urge to call you
Your voice was a good way to fill the space
And I haven’t had a decent dream in so long, Babysnakes
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5. |
The Dentist
03:40
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I slept 17 hours straight last night, I’m pretty sure my girl thought I was dead
And I heard relief and joy in her voice when I finally lifted my head
She said, “It’s easy to feel like a failure when all your friends seem fine,
But you’ll find when you peel back the layers, we’re all just scraping by”
But if you want me to see a dentist, you’ll have to kick me in my teeth
I can’t ask for help unless it’s an emergency
Lately, baby, I’ve been struggling with the idea that I ain’t any good
You spent ten months with a fucked-up mutt trying to convince the world he’s pure
And it’s gotten so late that I don’t think the bloom is gonna come anymore
And the sun on my face feels like a cheap insult that I just can’t ignore
But if you want me to see a dentist, you’ll have to kick me in my teeth
I can’t ask for help unless it’s an emergency
And if you want me to see a mechanic, you’ll have to set my car on fire
I’ll probably just bask in the glow of the flames
I’m sorry, but it’s just the way I’m wired
“Stop feeling sorry for yourself
Get help or shut the fuck up”
I interrupt with an eruption:
A bottle thrown at the wall
Baby, if this is where we’re headed
Let’s call it now and say we’re through
Are you sick of me?
Yeah, baby, I am too
Clean the apartment in tandem
The shards of us in aftermath
Through the haze and the confusion
I forget what I said
But if I ever said I never loved you I hope you know it was a fucking lie
It’s something you’ll say to make the other person feel as bad as you at the time
And I know you’re sick of me and all the places I really should have been by now
But if you want me to see the dentist, you’ll have to punch me in my mouth
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6. |
Pep Talk
03:40
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Your mangled visage, how can you stand it?
You’re not a person, you’re barely human
Your girl’s gonna leave, all she needs is a reason
You know it shouldn’t be too hard
Four years ago, you were poorly educated and oversexed
Now you’ve graduated and you’re over sex
With nothing to show for your time but a debt you can’t pay off
Thousand-yard stare, straight across the couch
You’re all curled up and full of doubt
You only wake up to keep breaking down
And you wanna be alive, but not right now
The folly of youth was a handy excuse
You’re nobody’s first choice and you always knew
So now you douse your cowardice in chemicals to feel any kind of way
For most people, dreams just don’t come true
But the rest are stuck with the ones that do
You’re on the sunny side of failure, so just…
RELAX! You’ll never be happy
RELAX! You’ll never be satisfied
Settle down, mellow out
Take comfort in the fact that you will die
And your body will return to the earth
To become food for the worms
Who will become food for the birds
Who will shit on unsuspecting passers-by
Take comfort in the fact you’ll die
You could leave or you could stay
But every decision you make will be a fucking mistake
So just shut your mouth and be thankful you never tried
Take comfort in the fact you’ll die
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7. |
Oblivious Boy
01:57
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Wit, wisdom, cataclysm, off-topic, catastrophic
(ARE YOU REALLY NOT PAYING ATTENTION?!)
Veins packed with vitriol; doesn’t it get exhausting?
(ARE YOU REALLY NOT PAYING ATTENTION?!)
Absolutely obsolete, all-encompassing, incomplete
(ARE YOU REALLY NOT PAYING ATTENTION?!)
Thirsty while we’re drowning, poisoned water rising past our cheeks
(ARE YOU REALLY NOT PAYING ATTENTION?!)
(ARE YOU REALLY NOT PAYING ATTENTION?!)
Oblivious boy
The world is ending
Haven’t you read the paper?
Every page it gets a mention
Oblivious boy
History’s repeating
I know we say it every year
But this time we really mean it
Nostalgia’s the new opiate
Well, except for opiates…
(ARE YOU REALLY NOT PAYING ATTENTION?!)
Even the abyss is bored with all this useless content
(ARE YOU REALLY NOT PAYING ATTENTION?!)
(ARE YOU REALLY NOT…)
Oblivious boy
The world is ending
Haven’t you read the paper?
Every page it gets a mention
Oblivious boy
History’s repeating
I know we say it every year
But this time we really mean it
It’s not apathy, it’s just hard to believe you
‘Cause every time it rains, you proclaim
That every situation requires the same urgency
Whether it’s a light drizzle or a hurricane
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8. |
Fresh Hell
01:51
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I see you clutch your gun like a bible
Hoping that it’s loaded with the truth that you seek
And you’re eyeing up the bride like a rival
The wound in her gut distracting from her perfect teeth
As the fire consumes
You, along with the room
Did you ever assume it might be your fault?
You didn’t ask to be perfect
You never wanted the pain that beauty brings
You had to suffer in silence
‘Cause no one wants to hear complaints when they’re going extinct
The bullet wasn’t a stray
Like you always claimed
You had nothing to gain but anonymity
For your sacrifice
We can only pay you inattention
Look for your name in the credits
But you won’t even get a passing mention
You can’t escape from the licking flames
No, you can’t escape from yourself
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9. |
This Might Be Music
03:26
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Let slip little things, come to conclusions on your own
An explanation for why I’m usually alone
Attempt to reconcile who I am with who I’ve been
It’s still an open secret among my friends
I’d ask you for forgiveness if I thought that I could change
But this won’t be the last time I feel ashamed
You must know by now if you ever knew me at all
But saying it out loud still sounds like an insult
I tried to keep unspoken what I thought was obvious
My spine is feeling like a phantom limb
I’d ask you for forgiveness if I thought that I should change
But this will be the last time I feel ashamed
I wanna be well-liked by those I love
I’m still your brother, I’m still your son
This might be music in my guts
But I just can’t sing it
I know I’m broken but I’m clean
This world is dirty and it’s mean
There might be beauty in-between
But I just can’t see it
Will you still love me when you find I’m something you don’t understand?
Will you be upset at the way that I became a man?
Will you still want to see my face after you learn the truth?
Will you look at your three kids and think you should have stopped at two?
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10. |
Swindled Again
04:24
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How appealing was the deep end when you finally decided to go off?
Did you impose a narrative in a vain attempt to find comfort in the chaos?
There were sinister designs to weaponize your good intentions
To prey on your lack of purpose and your need to make a difference
I lost more friends to conspiracies than death
I know you’re upset and you want it all to make sense
But you sold your mind to grievance merchants
It’s hard to admit you’ve been swindled again
Unity’s a fine idea but only depends on a shared reality
And I keep getting asked to see the forest fire for the trees
Facts and figures left to be carefully misconstrued
And a deeply held belief in something provably untrue
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Less Miserable Calgary, Alberta
Less Miserable specializes in self-deprecating post-emo pop-punk. The kind of tunes that are perfect for drinking cheap beer and shouting along to in a sweaty basement with friends, old and new.
Less Miserable recommends:
Check out our Split EP with Detractions and other releases from Rhodehouse Records
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