everything is as it should be

everything is as it should be

i prefer all times equally
morning noon or night do fine by me
for oh a song appears to me unexpectedly
as i appear to it curiously

i accept what's not and is equally
though my neighbors conversate raucously
i wouldn't change a thing, no everything
everything is as it should be
everything is as it should be

Emily's Questions:
dear songwriter,
during what times do you write?
do you prefer mornings, afternoons, evenings, or at night?
are your neighbors loud?
do you wish you could change that?
thank you!

the sweetest earth of summer's heat

the sweetest earth of summer's heat

the marionberry:
olallie of oregon
and chehalem
fell in love
as vines sometimes do

and of the affair we
ooo we may say
its taste
was the sweetest earth of summer's heat
for we know this fruit

Jeremy's Question:
1 -- why do blackberries taste better than marionberries, which are just blackberries without thorns?

the nature of limiting

the nature of limiting

two pears in a bag
bicycles side by side
and the moon split itself in two

indoors at long last
at the threshold we travel past
to the room "how do you do?"

i have nothing to say
strangely

the nature of limiting
to sever what is from what also is
the grounds of a simile
as oceans form continents

turn around i won't stare
laugh out loud i don't care

there's nothing to say
i'm strangely well contained

leif's questions:

1) What is the nature of limitation?
2) Is laughable laughable again?
3) May we serve out our time at long last?

approaching the unknowable

approaching the unknowable

lo! the unknowable approaches
it holds no discernible form
and our science is as our songs are
a useful metaphor

and we humans we look for patterns
patterns for that's our flaw
we're flawed in that we're fragments
of continuous irreducible infinite beautiful phenomena

and though we've named apoptosis and named the graviton
and we claim to know what folded time is
in truth all metaphors are wrong

and perhaps we're all awaiting judgement or perhaps we will repeat
perhaps we will be raptured, perhaps we'll simply cease
perhaps whatever happens
will be continuous irreducible infinite beautiful phenomena

Robert's Questions:
Why do cells die?
What is space-time? If there is a force (gravity) that causes an object to move towards another when within its gravitational field, what elements/particles are responsible for exerting this force?
Do you believe in hell? An afterlife? If so, any thoughts on what they're like?

cold war hot nights

cold war hot nights (mp3)

cold war hot nights
perestroika don't fight it
my unrequited love

show me what you got
glasnost i'd love to take it off
it's all i'm thinking of

RSVP decline the
redacted place and time
i say yes yet you say
nyet nyet nyet nyet nien

ooo why is love so cold

RSVP decline the
redacted place and time
please say yes and we
fest like 1989

RSVP decline the
redacted place and time
i say yes yet you say
nyet nyet nyet nyet

RSVP decline the
redacted place and time
please say yes
please say yes

Thomas's Request:
(1) Your name.
Thomas
(2) Your email address.
[redacted]
(4) Provide a picture or description of the imagined singer (ascii acceptable).
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/d8a1b40b51553138_landing
(5) Provide a picture or description of the intended listener (ascii acceptable).
http://blog.ruderetro.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/communist_party_t.png
(6) Invent question 3, decline to answer it.
Decline.
(7) Suggest a title for your song, or describe the music video.
"Cold War, Hot Nights"
Do Not Write Below This Line
----------------------

it's ok that you bought the iphone

it's ok that you bought the iphone (mp3)

heat wave heat wave
believe me these days we won't always see them
the weather changes with each season
there's no reason

the heat waves they come with the season
like the seasons so we
we may change our minds for no reason
like for dinner audrey
and for dinner audrey: cheerios
oh!

heat wave heat wave

the heat wave it comes with the seasons
with the season it goes
we change our minds for no reason
reasons are always unknown
it's ok that you bought the iphone

Audrey's questions:
1. Is it okay that I just bought an iphone? (I always said I wouldn't)
2. What should I make for dinner?
3. Why is it so hot outside?

song for the cuyahoga river as sung by the columbus road lift bridge in the flats

song for the cuyahoga river as sung by the columbus road lift bridge in the flats (mp3)

i contain you
as you once contained
this nation of makers
by whom i was made
and you always new
reflect how i've aged
i contain you and you remain

i contain you
for i've measured your span
with wires with iron
over water and fires
i sustained those who traveled
the length of my spine
i contained you but now it's time

to withdraw my bridge
and lay on your surfaces

i contain you
but i can't explain
to the kids with their "milleni-hits"
they won't understand
you know ants build bridges
from the bodies of friends
i contain you and will 'till the end
i contain you for you are my friend

Gabe's Request:
(1) Your name.
Gabe
(2) Your email address.
[redacted]
(3) Provide a picture or description of the imagined singer (ascii acceptable).
http://blog.cleveland.com/plaindealer/2008/08/bridge-repair-flats.jpg
(4) Provide a picture or description of the intended listener (ascii acceptable).
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cuyahoga_river_and_downtown_cleveland.jpg
(5) Invent 3 questions, decline to answer them.
1. what will they call the radio stations that focus on music from 2000-2009?
2. how young is water in a river at any given time?
3. do animals (besides people) ever been known to manufacture ways to cross water in the wild?
(6) Describe your song using only one word.
contented
(7) Suggest a title for your song, or describe the music video.
The video might be a small scale, naturally lit, outdoor, stop motion affair featuring erector sets and possibly fisher price little people, utilizing painted cardboard boxes for some of the larger set pieces.

i need soft serve

i need soft serve (mp3)

ah!
ah!
argh!

i don't want no pistachio
moose tracks send it back
i don't like tasting rum raison
i'm fickle about butter brickle
you say sorbet i say no way

soft serve soft serve i need soft serve
soft serve soft serve i scream for soft serve

soft serve in a cone or cup
soft serve with rainbow sprinkles on top

oh!

soft serve soft serve i need soft serve
soft serve soft serve i scream for soft serve

Emily's Question:
dear songwriter,
what is your favorite flavor of ice cream and why?
thank you!

untitled instrumental 090810

mp3

untitled instrumental 090809

mp3

time for your transporter

time for your transporter (mp3)

airports are pretty
they're like portals on the sky
sometimes i make in ascii
what's missing from my life

it's time for your transporter

i should have never done that cloning
or built that time machine
what i need is a transporter
a transporter is what i need

it's time for your transporter
it's time for your transporter
it's time for your transporter
it's time for your transporter

Deirdre's Request:
(1) Your name: deirdre
(2) Your email address: [redacted]
(4) Provide a picture of the singer (ascii acceptable):
\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/
(5) Provide a picture of the intended listener (ascii acceptable):
\\|//
O
\ | /
(6) Invent question 3, decline to answer it:
What would be lost?
(7) Suggest a title for your song, or describe the music video:
It's time for a teleporter

my love tastes like slugs

my love tastes like slugs (mp3)

T. W. TENDRILS: hi ms hedgehog

MS HEDGEHOG: hi tw

T. W. TENDRILS: what are you doing out so late

MS HEDGEHOG: i'm nocturnal and i lost my friend the snail

T. W. TENDRILS: oh man that's too bad where did you loose him

MS HEDGEHOG: someplace in the fog

T. W. TENDRILS: you know what might help, what if you tried singing a song. maybe he'd hear you.

MS HEDGEHOG: that's a good idea

MS HEDGEHOG (singing):
who is afraid of the owl or the fox
not me i've got spines and they're long and they're sharp
my love tastes like slugs
he does

T. W. TENDRILS: wow that is an unusual song

MS HEDGEHOG: thank you my friend rachel wrote it

T. W. TENDRILS: you know i think that might work would you mind if i sang with you next time

MS HEDGEHOG: no not at all

MS HEDGEHOG and T. W. TENDRILS (singing):
who is afraid of the owl or the fox
not me i've got spines and they're long and they're sharp
my love tastes like slugs
my world is a park
it tastes of a blue unusually dark
my love tastes like slugs
he (/she) does

MR SNAIL: oh there you all ms hedgehog i've been looking for you all night

MS HEDGEHOG: Mr Snail

MR SNAIL: that's a beautiful song you sang would you mind if i sang with you

T. W. TENDRILS: oh let's all sing

ALL (singing):
who is afraid of the owl or the fox
not me i've got spines and they're long and they're sharp
my love tastes like slugs
my world is a park
it tastes of a blue unusually dark
my love tastes like slugs
he (/she) does

Rachel's Request:
(1) Your name: Rachel
(2) Your email address: [redacted]
(4) Provide a picture of the singer (ascii acceptable): https://mvscience.wikispaces.com/file/view/european_hedgehog_1.jpg
(5) Provide a picture of the intended listener (ascii acceptable): http://www.gartenspaziergang.de/t_schnecke_5.html
(6) Invent question 3, decline to answer it:
1. Does love [have a] taste?
2. What is outside the universe?
3. How does blue feel?
(7) Suggest a title for your song, or describe the music video:
The music video would use animation that looks like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uWjxB2wymo

song for the love of argyle

song for the love of argyle (mp3)

stripes paisley plaid
solids checkers orange yellow red
i won't have them

polka-dots blue or grey
take them off and put them all away
i won't have it

argyle ooo
argyle ooo
argyle ooo
argyle ooo

snaps zippers clasps
hinges distance timing future past
these don't concern me

argyle ooo
argyle ooo
argyle ooo
argyle ooo

argyle ooo
argyle ooo
argyle ooo
argyle ooo

a joke i know

mp3

a joke i told although it makes no sense it
holds an allegory as its premise
and in the story two are dreaming
a song they know although it's got no ending

090803 untitled instrumental

mp3

the marshmallow story

mp3

once you left you left me in the room with it you did
and then then i wept i wept for it was tempting yes it is
oh my how oddly weighted light yet large
might i just slightly taste it
or might i wait for dividends
oh i can hardly wait yes i am near the end
surely you'll congregate before i give in
yet give in i did

the letter f

mp3

if i make a grave mistake
then i'll pay, then i'll pay for it
sometimes it's for the best
if you fail and you learn from it

if you fall and break the skin
will you learn, will you learn from it
this is brought to you by letter f

will you try and learn from it
will you try and learn from it