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Pulling on Strings

by -k

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1.
For the first time in my life I am not afraid Of what waits me in the end when they lay me in the grave If I rise or just decay Because before I was born I knew nothing of the world And when I die I’ll know nothing more And if I find myself on trial before the Lord and all his angels I’ll stand and I’ll ask Him, Tell me what’s your angle now? Did you set me up to watch me fall? For if you knew before you made me that I would surely burn in Hades Tell me now: Did I have any choice at all? Is there an effort to conspire against the nature of desire? They say somewhere up in Heaven God is watching all the while And He’s gonna judge you in the end But if you threaten me with fire and hold my life on trial Don’t try to tell me you just wanna be my friend Cause I ain’t waiting on a halo. I ain’t putting life on hold I say now what good’s a soul if it ain’t got no bone?
2.
All Together 04:34
Living in a gated flat, Sharing walls with folks called neighbors I hope they never stop to chat You’re not supposed to talk to strangers There’s a knocking at the door And I feel like I’m living in danger (chorus) All together we’re lost and blind The sun won’t shine and the love won’t bind Separate lives of a kindred kind Like broken strings of a rope untwined Straining at the weight of a lonesome weary mind Living in a cardboard box Wrapping plastic round my socks Carrying a sign of shame People tell me I’m to blame So hang me on a cross And bless me in Jesus’ name (chorus) Living in a micro mansion Following the latest fashions With every kind of pleasure pill Depression’s just a lack of thrill But it’s lonely on the hill and I still feel rather ill
3.
Son of a Gun 03:36
Congratulations, said a father to son, Now that you’re older I bought you a gun It’s your very first pistol, keep it holstered and hot Never hesitate or be the one to get shot But look out kid, there ain’t nobody you can trust Keep it close; never let your pistol rust But now it’s up in the closet, tucked in a box A broken down pistol with a trigger guard lock It sits and it waits ‘til it’s back at the range Shooting paper targets that will never engage But look out kid, you see it on the TV screen Why it’s another killer going on a shoot’n spree Walking my sidearm, late out at night When a stranger approached me and gave me a fright There was a twitch of the finger and a reach for the hip A flashing of lightning and a crack of a whip Look out kid, there ain’t no way to hide what you did You can try and try, but lead ain’t something you can forgive When you carry your gun, well you always can find A reason to use it in the peace of your mind There’s a bullet to send, there’s a means to an end, A threat to attend, and a will to defend But look out kid, everybody’s too damn spooked They’re just sitting at their windows, looking for somebody to shoot
4.
You were the first true love I ever had and though you weren’t my last I never thought I’d come to see you pass But now your life line’s etched straight down your neck and it’s stretching ever slow As the fracture grows, your time will come to a close (chorus) But until then we’ll do your favorite things We’ll sing your favorite songs Cause when you love someone you can’t love long You better love them strong Well I’m sorry for the times I made you spend the night in the car I should’ve carried you up the stairs when we’d come home from the bar You always know just what to say to comfort my heartaches But whose gonna be there when the fault line breaks? (chorus) We should’ve gone to Nashville baby, but instead we played it safe And then I left you for a while in a storage space Well I hope you can forgive me for the time spent in your case And I hope you don’t feel like your life was a waste (bridge) Well now, my terminal guitar, we never got too far But on broken strings and angel’s wings We’re gonna hold out for tomorrow
5.
Come let us gather up our pitch forks, We’ll go kill all of the rich folks We can force them from their mansions If we hold their children ransom We can take back all the wealth They’ve been hoarding to themselves Then we’ll divvy up the spoils ‘tween you and me Cause if it’s ninety-nine to one Then the war should long be won But we’ve been hiding in our suburbs Left our brother in the gutters In this house of state we furnish We’re just fodder for the furnace They’ll cut us from our roots and then they’ll burn us Now if they’re ain’t no God who sees us And we don’t believe in Jesus Then that pastor preaching patience He’s just trying to deceive us If there’s no reward for meekness Then there ain’t much use in weakness And no I ain’t just trying to be facetious I say let us gather up our pitch forks We’ll go kill all of the rich folks We can force them from their mansions If we hold their children ransom We can take back all the wealth They’ve been hoarding to themselves Then we’ll divvy up the spoils ‘tween you and me
6.
Even if you’re just some suburbian brat You can get yourself a carbon copy custom Strat You can shred some Stevie Ray through a Chinese amp And show everyone in town where it’s really at But you can’t buy soul No you can’t buy soul No you can’t buy soul But you can sell it for something to hold I said devils don’t you do me no harm And I’ll let you have my soul for a song Just give me something heavy to say But don’t let my voice fade away But you can’t buy soul No you can’t buy soul No you can’t buy soul But you can sell it for something to hold
7.
I was there when He made them: The man and the women, naked and ignorant and blind. They were there just to please Him, they had no higher reason, Than to worship and praise the divine. And for them I took pity. They were without committee, without any will to devise. With the snake as my proxy I challenged God’s moxie and showed them how to open their eyes Give my regards to Michael; tell him I’ll see him in Hell When he comes to deliver my shackles and chains that were forged long before I fell. Well I rallied the cherubs and I called to the seraphs, “Let power be shared and divided.” But the riot was wrangled and the protest was strangled. By a tyrant my fate was decided. I was sentenced for labor by the almighty slaver. He handed me down a pitch fork. Now I shovel the shit down in the deep pit, and they blame me when things don’t work. Give my regards to Gabriel; tell him I don’t understand How a god with such infinite mercy and grace can have such disregard for the damned? If you live to be old and you fear for your soul there’s a man with a plan to redeem And all it will cost is to carry your cross for a portion of grace to receive. But don’t believe what you’re told, things are not what they seem In the realm of the holy regime. You can have your own mansion, the wards in expansion, but once you’re there you never can leave. Give my regards to Jesus, if ever he comes around When they send me away, to that lake full of fire, think of me when the trumpets resound. Give my regards to Prometheus; I would gladly lend him my flame. No I don’t want the glory and I don’t want the fame, just a reallocation of blame.
8.
When I was just a little child standing at the edge of the road Knowing then that I’d have to wait a while ‘til I didn’t need a hand to hold And I’ve been waiting so long now, been waiting patiently Now I’m wondering if I’m living aimlessly Of everywhere you go and everything you do I heard it said we don’t live life, instead your life lives you And I’m afraid that I’ll regret the things that fate might choose ‘Cause I can’t help but feel that I got something to lose They were huddled up together on bended knees with their thoughts turned towards the sky The preacher said they’d pray until something happened so the congregation closed their eyes But what is known by sight that isn’t brought to light? Just ‘cause you can’t see the stars don’t mean they’re not burning bright. Am I the rain? Am I the stone? Am I the blood in the vein That’s driving the bone? Or am I just passing by, caught in the breeze? Am I the blink of an eye in a long goodbye?
9.
You say that you’re trading your pain and your sorrows For a portion of promise beyond your tomorrows But take what you can with the time that you have to borrow Don’t weep for the weary, don’t pray for the poor Your guardian angels won’t hear you no more And everything will be as it was before There won’t be no more four lane highways, No more bright city lights There won’t be no more endless war And no more meaningless fights. There will just be the stars shining bright Without any watchers to delight. If this world is so terrible and Heaven’s so great Then why do you linger, no why do you wait? Go on, fly away home to your white pearly gates.
10.
To Adam 01:55
Well the butcher, the baker, and the candle stick maker, delight in the trades of their favor But when I come to cater the town undertaker, they’ll all have to sign off my waiver So go and cry to your savior, I’ll be back for you later when you realize who’s truly the traitor I would lay down my wager on the babe in the manger, but the game was rigged by the maker Give my regards to Adam; tell him to be kind to Eve. My intentions were never to hurt or deceive, but to help them better perceive.
11.
I was thinking ‘bout Noah’s ark I was wondering how he could have seen in the dark If he lit a candle light Wouldn’t all the methane gas inside ignite? What if Mary told a lie And her baby wasn’t born up on Heaven high? What if Christ was a bastard child And Joseph was fooled all the while? (chorus) I just want to be certain There isn’t just a man behind the curtain. But if I ruin the tapestry While I’m pulling on a broken string, Well I hope you know that all I ever wanted Was to see what’s behind everything. Someone told me they talked to God I was wondering how to make sure they were not a fraud. So I read the holy word But its authors were men who claimed to talk to the Lord. I don’t want to be mislead By elders who advocate the voices in their head. If God is real, then here I am Let Him come and strike me where I stand. (chorus)
12.
To Lilith 03:36
I was born out of fiction to explain the affliction Of the pain and the sorrows of man I’m the source of addiction and old superstitions To grasp what they can’t understand And of the saint’s benedictions and the church’s restrictions Fear not the wrath of my hand For all the war and divisions and hateful contentions It’s all part of some greater plan Give my regards to Lilith; tell her I’ll never forget. And for all of the sins that I should repent, for her I hold no regret.
13.
Waste Away 03:31
All day long, wasting all my time away While fretting o’er the clock I wish I could make it stop I’m just trying to delay Everything that will decay And waste away And waste away But take my life, I’m not really using it And I don’t think I’ll mind When it’s over No I won’t mind when it’s over I won’t have a mind when it’s over And in time you won’t miss me anymore When I walk out through the door Forever more Forever more No it won’t be very long now It won’t be very long now It could be any moment Why not choose your own moment? It won’t hurt when it’s over Nothing hurts when it’s over Don’t be scared Nothing matters anyway If we choose to go or stay And waste away
14.
Me Oh My 05:23
Am I only as wise as my grammar implies? Does truth reside in words that rhyme? Or does beauty just beguile sincerity with style? Of all the songs I’ve sung and the words I’ve spun, The heaps of dung that I have flung, What wisdom have I to impart that’s genuine at heart? (chorus) Singing me, oh me, oh me, oh my Think of me fondly after I die But if I am forgotten as the time goes by Keep your eyes on the ones who have Yet to say goodbye I’ll be back in a little while as the wind the rain and the dust But the part of me I called my soul will surely not adjust. For it was just an illusion, a trickery of the mind, A longing wish of a fearful heart, watching time unwind. (chorus) Perhaps they’ll make me a statue and stand me up in the street, And cover me in pigeon shit with beggars at my feet. And all the torturous tourists with the cameras round their necks Will pose before an image they do not recollect. (chorus)

credits

released November 22, 2016

The Quell is made up of Jamie Understein, Jeff Kustusch, and Steve Munoz. Thank you guys for all of your hard work in bringing this project to life. I would also like to thank my friends, Misty, Jessalyn, and Danny for contributing their talents and their time.

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about

-k Hurdland, Missouri

i sing songs that pop in my head.
I record them so i can forget them.
Here they are.
Enjoy.

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