James Rabbit – The Cubist

 

Tyler- singing, guitar, keyboards

Conner- drums

 

Recorded April 2002 at the Estate Audio Tracks recording studio in sunny Fresno, CA

 

Through Winter

Bright

Life after Pastels

Larcen Shake

Sew Closed Doors

Dozens

Ebsey

Clubbing

Distracted (Militant Shake)

Twenty Below

Gravity (again)

Versed

 

 

Through Winter

 

Slept through winter, but got there first

I wake up each day fearing it will be the worst

I roll out and I force some food in my mouth

Its such a tired process, I must admit

 

Home by metro past the CVS

Mind like a tire, grammatical mess

A neon cinema tore that building up

And all the while, through material shades

The ego lurks above

He looks down; yeah those shoes are still tied

Something around says ‘get some light, while its still outside’

 

Walking down that path

Untimely deaths and difficult math

I can’t seem to get past this slight duress

But I will try my best

 

 

Bright

 

Woke up so bright, tell the landlord I’m paying

Dream of stars, fall into money

Warranted this disbelief;

That I change, I grow and I turn as I go

 

Said lessons mark up my back with anger

A battle that you know you’ve won

Though I asked for slight relief

I’ll smile and disintegrate across valleys and roads

Relying heavily on traffic, take the last train out to shore

Water fills up to my neck

 

Walk down the road, come hear the artist

Explain about why he’s so slow

And hours later, show up without warning

I’ll try and cheat fate but just can’t concentrate

 

Locked in the house with no style, cellar’s vacant

A giant party breaks out on the lawn

The police come and blame me for trying

I’ll jump in the air and I’ll never come down

To the stationary minds who’d need help to just save it:

There’s a place in my heart where you all go to die

But I can’t promise justice

 

Get back and dream of places further

From your location than you could go

Remind me that I’m not so great

That I have to return when the alarm says so

 

 

Life after Pastels

 

Massive slant,

It approaches slander

Tilt a little to the left

So I can see where you’re coming from

 

Rise up in the name of art

There is life after pastels

There is life after charcoal

 

Go and tell them the court is angry

Tell me I’ve been living small

Looking out at the shattered springtime

Rather be invisible

 

 

Larcen Shake

 

I got so used to waking up in the hospital

That I didn’t even bother to flinch

Arrested p’s and k’s over Union Street

Denies the blizzard will even missed

 

I’ve got a lot of time to lie and think about this morphine drip

All sportsmen sanitize the lessons over concrete bridge

 

Eleven counts and I’m still down for the fall season,

A ruptured kidney and a battered back

I’d say that I’d do it again, it was all worth it

But the nurses won’t cut me any slack

 

I felt so jaded counting on old Franklin

That the coffee could do no wrong

Racing up and down blocks in a paper mask

And I brought those plastic baggies along

 

I had a lot of laughs erasing all the acclaim I had won

Fourteen more paragraphs, and my anti-biography is done

 

Forgot to lock the door when I put down my head

Passed out on couch with the radio on

The psychics buzzing culture on the telescreen

That when I woke up, it all would be gone

 

 

Sew Closed Doors

 

Submarine and smile high

The leaves explode off burning ranges

Solid stayed goodbyes add nothing to these foreign phases

 

So close doors, and admit to taking sides

 

Disconnect and get back

The hearings drain through vacant bodies

Take ‘em round for a laugh

As the hills chant, ‘hero, ghosts and wayside’

 

 

Dozens

 

Light up the silver screen with indifference

Until the dizziness stings like blinded spears

Write me from Houston State, like I haven’t been there yet

I get it way too late and divide in half

 

There is no shame in being the worst

 

You’d make your own mind up if it would cash that check

Stumble through awkward fields, where vision doesn’t hurt

Designs so cultureless, you’d think they were rock

If that essence was there but you know its gone

 

Along the back roads its draped

 

Calling all officers to that vacant lot

You raise your hand on time and you ante up

I’ve got so many blinds its hard to count

I’d have the butlers do, if they weren’t gone

 

Along the alleys, I’m saved by cash

 

 

Ebsey

 

Stay so quiet in the chair

Disrupts the morn

Upset, we seek quick solace

But that doesn’t come cheap

 

Great styles would disintegrate

Say trust demands you speak

Of PowerBooks and manicured nails

So set the doubt in turn

 

You could call my number, but I would be gone

 

Look smart and channel quick

Impulses through the filter’s frame

Me for lying, and you, a soldier

Of obtuse fame and liberty

 

It’s a shame that we’re all circuits wrapped around the end

 

 

Clubbing

 

Specific glass rockets pilot slightly

But you aren’t there to answer

Career is places right in front of mischief

Replied a wink, a glance or

 

Views and progressive parties,

Down on the nightshift scene

As it behaves like nothing else

Comments are appreciated

Draw it out until the morning

 

Go on and blame me for the faults

You’d ascribe to blatant criminals

I’d disagree, but to do so I’d need

Resolve like changeling guards in flight

 

And I’m off of that ‘learning’ kick

Down on the nightclub scene

As it couldn’t happen to my self

Send my corpse back to the mall

Argue with the air

 

As for possible legal action

I’ll try, but I can’t guarantee

A view of grassy parks through the bars

Of your prison window

 

Down on that nightclub scene

And done with that fresh air thing

I’ve lived so long, I might as well

Solitude has been so harsh

Think of me when you are fighting

 

 

Distracted (Militant Shake)

 

After our post-scripts have been flown in

You’ll read the summary and forge the rest

 

As long as you know, you’ve been replaced in

My mind, its sober, I haven’t slept for days

 

Friday, all blockades are taken away

Rewrite the lines, but what can they say?

 

As far as I know, I’ve been replaced in

Your mind, it’s distracted, haven’t slept for days

 

 

Twenty Below

 

Making up breaks to tear down your sad psyche

I’m wandering upwards of twenty below

The mind can’t hold that much disinterest

A dollar later, spend that much more

Pull out your wallet and do that poor dance

I’ve finally taken myself out of the running

You’ll sit in the office and wait to be called

But won’t deserve without visible cunning

 

Sandbags in streets and water competes

So well with the air, my lungs fill

 

Deserving of fates too harsh to describe here

You’ll save up your wages, make pretty, play safe

The mind grows old without stimulation

And years later, is too late to save

Ran around for hours, trying to break myself

And when it occurred, I went straight down

I’ll roll through the streets on a back yet broke

When it comes to a halt, I’m way out past town

 

Calmly with courage in tow

Behind gates leaving alone

 

 

Gravity (again)

 

Fourth floor, your living in a castle,

But your trash is piled up in mountains all around the kitchen

While buzz flies

 

Locked there, inside a musty coffin

With the toasters toasting himself into the afterlife

A glowing red smile

 

The door rings, Evelyn, oh Evelyn

You’ve got to see this spacious laboratory

It’s so fifteenth year

 

Sideways she walks and the sand doesn’t fight it

You’re looking in through the window,

But you haven’t been invited

And it’s a shame to have lived without walk-in closets

The poised, verbal smile and jaw-dropping deposits

 

Locked out, but gravity won’t let me down,

I’ll jump right up and knock that window clearly over

Crash and slam

 

Yes yes, the people aren’t happy with the noise and silence

Becomes a little creepy but it had to be

 

In a fit, I toss the TV out the window

Hear a crash, and suddenly a hero

I’m about to be

 

Sideways on stretchers, the paramedics like it

You’re looking through the Plexiglas, but you were not invited

And it’s a shame to have lived without walk-in closets

The poised, verbal stride and jaw-dropping deposits

 

 

Versed

 

Well versed in many ways, the label stays but you don’t

Crash into a light rail, past letters written hours old

In the zone, then I got back home

 

Mystical junk, you’ve paid for the stop and you go

I’ve lived through the flood, grave actors in tow and fell deftly

Wise and kind, but in the back of my mind

 

For what its worth, laid actors in dirt and forgot them

Hear wedding bells ring, but they’re on the way to your funeral

Greenland’s stoned, I’ll let you go

 

The worst part is that it all comes down to acceptance

I understand that you won’t (probably) change

Though I must say, it’s been a decent day

 

The best part is that I get to keep this picture

Of how your face looks when you hear me speak

And whatever comes out, I know you’ll understand

 

 

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