1. |
A Lot of Petty Stuff
03:39
|
|||
Surrender myself, a twilight mind
Vodka and beer help my consciousness subside
Step out of the club, a pale sunrise
Some primitive part of me still knows how to drive
A lot of childish stuff
Got myself caught for most of it
I've led a life of minor crime
A lot of petty stuff
I got away with some of it
But there'll be consequence this time
A grocery store where I've never been
Casually shopping, leaving fingerprints behind me as I go
Showed the young teller a toy gun
With armfuls of cash I strolled away in midday sun
A lot of childish stuff
Got myself caught for most of it
I've led a life of minor crime
A lot of petty stuff
I got away with some of it
But I won't get away this time
The cash would never be recovered
Paid off my debts and bought a sandwich for my brother
The next Saturday I got in a fight
And when the cops came they recognized me from the video
By the time I came to in a hospital bed
They had already turned me over to the feds
A lot of childish stuff
Got myself caught for most of it
I've led a life of minor crime
A lot of petty stuff
I got away with some of it
But there's no coming back this time
Not this time
|
||||
2. |
Second Hand Bandit
02:16
|
|||
In thrift store clothes --
Dark suit, trench coat
You stayed unknown
Reflective vest
A painter’s mask
Fake beard, hard hat
You left no trace
They didn’t even see your face
They called you the second hand bandit
From vaults and drawers
Your running score
Half a million or more
In handmade disguise
Twenty-one times
The law lagged behind
They’ve got a hunch you’ll slip up soon
On that they would bet
Agents dream of cuffing you
But it hasn’t happened yet
No it hasn’t happened yet
|
||||
3. |
Geosuff
03:34
|
|||
4. |
Past Present and Future
03:11
|
|||
This is not my lawyer
That's not my jury
I'm not subject to the laws
You put on me
I feel like Hannibal Lecter
When they strap me to a chair
They got tasers
I can't go nowhere
Kidnapped by the government
And been brought here subdued
Forcitated to stand trial for crimes
I didn't do
Show the jury videos
Cars, cash and DNA
It's all fraudulent
You know that I've been framed
Whatever evidence you bring
It's all hearsay and rumor
I object to everything
Past, present and future
In line at Village Discount
Thirty dollars in my hand
Buying the disguise
For the next heist
That I had planned
All the numbered bills
In my safety deposit box
All this proves
Is that I've got bad luck
|
||||
5. |
Beautiful Work
01:59
|
|||
Crude tools made from metal shards
Salvaged from broken pipes
Scraped, chipped and chiseled
At the wall for ninety nights
Through fragments of concrete
Golden points of pale street light
Jets of frost touch your hands
As debris hits the alley
And you arrange your bedsheets
And gather your supplies
Peered over the precipice
And dangled it down
Thirty extra yards of rope
Were coiling on the ground
Pooling on the pavement
Like the train of an evening gown
It was beautiful work
That you paused to admire
Before drawing your breath in
And squeezing your way out
|
||||
6. |
Suspended
02:51
|
|||
7. |
Pirate Code
03:58
|
|||
Blood propelled by terror
Is still thrumming through your limbs
Your badly mangled ankle
Barely registers a twinge
You thought that you’d emerge from this transformed
You thought if you dared death you’d be reborn
Drew up a list of allies
You could count on for a ride
Childhood friends, ex-lovers
Can’t cast history aside
To whom can you turn for such a need?
On whom can you depend for loyalty?
Bedraggled apparition on her doorstep
She was stunned
Vision blurred and doubled
Saw one fugitive, one son
Pain snapped like taut wire in her chest
She made the call before she caught her breath
If you put your faith in the pirate code
You end up out there on your own
You end up going it alone
You end up dangling alone
|
||||
8. |
Close Enough to Dream
03:38
|
|||
A disconcerting sight --
My face on a wanted poster
Exhausted mugshot
Of a man backed in a corner
The patrons pay no mind
To my menacing simulacrum
A face that isn’t mine
It’s a person I’ve turned away from
I got close enough to dream
Of a life freed from this drama
So close that I could see
The streets of Tijuana
No one looks up when
the screen flashes my specter
Newscaster softly says
the accomplice has been captured
On a California day
This news barely affects me
Two thousand miles away
No one would suspect me
Agents at Otey Mesa
Take me into custody
I couldn’t cross without
A passport or ID
Six hours in the pen, a divine intervention
They cut me loose again
On the verge of apprehension
At San Ysidro
Had my alibi in order
Spending the afternoon
With friends across the border
|
||||
9. |
Can He Come Home?
02:52
|
|||
10. |
Shove It
02:14
|
|||
Dressed in a long coat
You caught the bus home
It didn't look like the place that you know
Hid in a basement
Still walked with a limp
Dreamed every night of the weightless feeling
You gave a fake name
You led a foot chase
The manhunt ended a mile from your folks' place
In an ambulance
You saw an old friend
Told him defiant you'd do it again
The judge took note of your brains, your gumption,
and your incorrigible past
You waved your hand to catch his attention
and told him to shove it up his ass
|
||||
11. |
Twenty More Years
03:04
|
|||
An orderly hell
Of concrete and steel
Monotonous hours
Bleed into years
Beyond the walls
There’s splendor outside
But his only view
A sliver of sky
Even if I sit here for twenty more years
I’m never trying to get comfortable here
Jogging in circles with nothing to see
Ted Kaczynski, Al Qaeda and me
Land of the unknown
A life without touch
A barren expanse
Of tedium and loneliness
Falling back through
A familiar gray
Engulfs him again
Even if I sit here for twenty more years
I’m never trying to get comfortable here
Jogging in circles, with nothing to see
Ted Kaczynski, the Shoe Bomber and me
Ted Kaczynski, El Chapo and me
Ted Kaczynski, Al Qaeda and me
|
Axons Chicago, Illinois
Axons is the songwriting project of civil rights lawyer Adele Nicholas.
I Object to Everything out 4-8-22
Streaming and Download help
Axons recommends:
If you like Axons, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp