Get all 8 A Metropolitan Guide releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The One That Isn't Burned, The Girls You Sang to Sleep, Alternate Histories Vol. I, These Hills Are Gonna Rise, The Grand Revolution of Lakeside, Simulation Avenue, Pioneering, and Lesser Tragedies.
1. |
Werewolves
03:04
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Let the legends flow from the children’s sight
And we’ll be rising in the moonlight
The Devil’s wearing his mighty fine clothes
Every chink in the armor is what he’s paid to know
Throw the dirt and let it scatter to the wind
It’ll sound like rain coming down again
That was always my kind of trick
Offer up something and watch the elements shift
God forbid, I’d say, is it such a sin
To stand in the light just to let the light in?
I’ll let that lunar sway bathe me in its light
When I’m basking in that glow and that Devil’s passing by
I’ll be something altogether different to make the battle fair
He may know the weakness but he ain’t gonna know where
But as the night rolls on and the daybreak creeping in
If you steal from the Devil is it still some kind of sin?
God forbid, I’d say, I’d do it all again
To stand in the light just to let the light in
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2. |
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I said I’m sorry that your mother died, but I never asked how on the steps that night
But I swore you said “thanks” underneath your breath because telling stories all the time
doesn’t bring what’s dead back to life
You said you’d seen this before, had run all the simulations and bolted the door
All the rain couldn’t wash it away and every voice that thinks it’s wise
Is fighting the flood with a hole in the side
So go ahead and close your eyes
This world’s better anyway on the other side
And if this mockingbird don’t sing it right
Just move along to the next in line
You said “write me a song for the road, I’ve heard you’re pretty good, or so I’ve been told”
But when you’re sitting down to write you gotta take what you can to get the lines
So beat me down or help me rise
And all the girls you sang to sleep with your lullabies
Just put ‘em in the tracklist and don’t wake ‘em on the way by
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3. |
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They're gonna come from miles around, they're gonna come
She said everybody loses their minds
I just presumed it was my time
She stood up and threw her hair back
and exploded like a landmine
A weapon doesn't need a timer to be right on time
They're gonna come from miles around, they're gonna come
The girls they love are at the waterline
under the Baker Bridge's light
And despite the claims of all the tough guys
They're gonna bring this place back to life
But all the lovers underneath the bridge never wanted the lights
because anything more than a glow will snuff out the life
They're gonna come from miles around, they're gonna come
They drowned them all at the water's edge
Saying there are things worse than death
Like all those economic downturns exploding across the Midwest
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4. |
Wanderer
02:02
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I woke up in the morning to bask in the sun
Made those preparations for that reckoning to come
I ride with a plan in place, kind of like a train
An idea of where I'm headed with some bumps along the way
Now no one ever knows where they're gonna' land
and I don't got some inside track on where the future stands
It's not about making every step some perfect little feat
Just about a little balance in a world of extremes
I'm not afforded that luxury to go with no direction
It's in my blood ferociously to carve out my destinations
See, I'm a guide, and I've got schedules to keep
and baby I ain't no wanderer, I know where I gotta' be
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5. |
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I could drown you in a bunch of metaphor, lord knows I’ve done that a time or two
Excavate some knowledge, I’ve got a wealth, so sit back and let me introduce myself
I ain’t gonna’ claim to know what puts the sparkle in your eyes,
I never had a clue, so I won't even try
We’ve all got those enterprises brewing on the side
Thinking that they might grow, but probably gonna’ die
Even if they find a way to struggle and survive
It's probably gonna’ spring from one big lie
A few hours is a long time if you measure it in just the right way
Time is gonna' stop when you unfurl the sails and go in search of your elusive white whales
See, there I go, just a minute in, letting those metaphors drip off my tongue cascading down around you and swallowing you up
Just beneath the surface you’re swimming through the tide
A harpoon’s in my left hand, a heart’s in the right
Thinking that they might grow, but probably gonna die
I let 'em both fall at my side
Brother, they say make a choice, what you got or what you plan to lose
The gallery is snapping their photographs, without concern or if they're gonna last
It’s not that you can’t start changing minds, just don’t pose for the picture on the wall and when the lights start flashing just forget about it all
Look into the photographs, look deep into the eyes
The stars all gather quickly and briefly they align
Thinking that they might grow but probably gonna die
And when the flashes fade it’s just another empty, endless sky
Because you put it in a frame doesn’t mean it’s art
Because you put a horse before it doesn’t mean you have a cart
Some clever little words won’t justify the part
And metaphors and dreams don’t pacify the heart
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6. |
Execution Style
03:31
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You can tell me a story, suffocate the page
Get into the bloodstream annihilate the veins
Cause a little damage cause a little pain
Blow away your narrator execution, close range
Don't let the dust settle before you're on your way
strategies and tactics don't matter in the fray
When the vipers come a snapping, let the venom flow
it doesn't matter without a narrator no one's going to know
When you introduce the characters let 'em scream and shout
So when you put them in the gutter you'll know what silence is about
When you think they're gone forever, bam let 'em reappear
and once you're getting comfortable make 'em disappear
And when one unexpectedly turns into a pest
No one will give a second thought when he's murdered by the rest
Make two more fall in love and then let them fall away
then they can kill each other, that's the best way
You can add in some betrayal but that's a little overdone
but if you do it do it quick with a crossbow or a gun
Have a few walk away into the great beyond
Then everyone can contemplate if they're truly gone
You'll need to go and add a few scattered bartenders
You know, someone to listen to the rest of your characters
And as for the setting you're gonna need their inn
Because that's pretty much where every single journey begins
At some point the hero will have to travel to grow
To find a teacher with knowledge that only they know
It's probably an old man or a female spirit tree
Or some mystic creature like a fox or coyote
Then add in a love interest who's after his heart
She's probably going to be terrible, at least at the start
Probably safe to assume they'll end up in bed
And then eventually she's gonna end up dead
At the hands of a villain, who used to be a friend
Whose loyalty somewhere was allowed to bend
And if you find the plot starting to wear a little thin, that's when you introduce someone's long lost twin
Maybe ones evil, maybe ones good
I'm not saying to kill one, but I'm saying you could
Make sure and leave the one who everybody likes
Definitely quotable but doesn't have to fight
Put them through the wringer, kill their friends too, then everyone will sympathize with their point of view
Your cast of characters is going to constantly expand that's why you got to kill him off while you got the chance
Perhaps you're gonna have the villain die in the end
that's an easy one to have the hero murder his friend
You can even have the hero die of old age
long after the story has move past the page
If there's a character lingering around
and you find them in the way dragging your story down
you can set one up with a dramatic trial
then you can put them down, execution-style
Your audience will scream and your audience will shout
But it's that raw emotion that what it's really all about
Whether it's blood or tears dripping from the text
It's only purpose is to set up what's going to happen next
With all these characters dropping kind of hard figure out
What exactly if anything the story is all about
But if you can't wrap it up and don't know what to do
That's all right it means you're ready for story number 2
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7. |
Raise the Banners
05:04
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You may be tired of waiting, you may be long for sleep, but a new day is dawning just over the hill
I know the cause has been a little stagnant and you’ve got better things to do, but revolution’s calling to you
We’re calling all the romantics and all their lovers too, and the ones who lost it somewhere just over the hill
Scour the hotel bars and scavenge every room, it’s gonna be all hands on deck by the time we’re through
It may not be the change we need, but it’ll do just fine
So, gather up your rifles and let out your battles cries, it’s the day you’ve been waiting for all your life
It’s been a long time coming but it’s finally arrived, raise the banners for the grand revolution of Lakeside.
When the dust has settled come to the other side of the field, you’ll find us with a smile just over the hill
We’ll probably be hanging from some ancient tree, our revolution swaying in the breeze
It was never about winning or changing all the world, just to add a little color over the hill
Go and tell the adversaries mounting their attack, tell 'em that once our story’s out there there’s no getting it back.
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8. |
A Dragon Song
02:53
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I’ve seen how they look in TV and books
But that’s not how I think they are
The ones in this sketchpad don’t seem all that scary to me
And things like these are only as scary as you imagine them to be
Maybe one’ll come and carry me away
I don’t much know where they’re from, or if my chance is gonna’ come
But I can’t wait to see a dragon someday
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