1. |
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On the day we met the machine
We were walking just like this
Right beside a level playing field
She was dressed all in grey
She told me names of lots of people
And places far away
On the day we met the machine
We were breaking in the yard
After a bout of most expressive play
A vision all in grey
She offered an escape
Beckoning us to join her on her way
She was beyond the ridge
Then she appeared quite close
Standing just halfway across the bridge
I remember it like it was yesterday
But details are sketchier
Day by day
Toes in the water
Then dive right in
Let the river carry you away
On the day we met the machine
The news had just come out
Human contact wasn’t safe any more
A vision all in grey
She offered an escape
Beckoning us to join her on her way
She was beyond the ridge
Then she appeared quite close
Standing just halfway across the bridge
And I remember it like it was yesterday
But details are sketchier
Day by day
Toes in the water
Then dive right in
Let the river carry you away
Toes in the water
Then dive right in
And let the river carry you away
--
Words and music by Andrew Lawrence Jackson
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2. |
How To Be A Person
02:52
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Okay
Try to be a person now
With feelings and everything
But let’s not rush into things
Okay
Gonna step out my room somehow
It’s frightening to conceive
The potential of anything
I’m okay
I think I can make it now
As somebody might have said
The seventies were so drab
Okay
It might be irrelevant
In this room is an elephant
It is what it is, that’s that
All right
I think we’ll be all right
I tell myself day and night
That can’t be right
Okay
I hope you’ll be okay
I wish there was more to say
But let’s not get carried away
Okay
I think I can make it now
As somebody might have said
The seventies were so drab
It might be irrelevant
In this room is an elephant
Maybe it’s not so bad
Okay
Try to be a person now
With feelings and everything
But let’s not rush into things
Okay
I hope you’ll be okay
I wish there was more to say
But let’s not get carried away
--
Words and music by Andrew Lawrence Jackson
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3. |
Giving Myself More Time
03:39
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Well it isn’t getting easier
As much as I expected
The battlefield keeps changing
The Russian dolls are nested
The mysteries unraveling to
More mysteries inside them
Revealing more and less in turn
I’m keeping pace beside them
And I’m giving myself more time
I think maybe it’s helping
I’m giving myself more time
I think maybe it’s helping
Initial inspirations fade
As fast as winter mornings
Changing like the weather patterns
Emotional storm warnings
All the verses no one hears
Because they never reach their ears
You can’t blame them what they’re doing
People are simple, I thought you knew it
Yeah — it isn’t getting any easier
Not as much as I expected
Yeah — all these ideas linger in my head
Mostly they just get neglected
But I’m giving myself more time
And I think maybe it’s helping
I’m giving myself more time
I think maybe it’s helping
I’m giving myself more time
More time
I’m giving myself more time
More time
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4. |
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Don’t trip
Everything’s good
That’s the feeling
I want to convey
Maybe you believe it
And maybe you don’t
But I can understand it
Either way
Just relax
And be yourself
No chance
To be anyone else
Sacrifice
To get what you want
But don’t let that stop you
From having fun
Don’t trip
Everything’s good
Hold that feeling
You can’t go wrong
That’s the feeling
That sets up the song
That’s the feeling
That sets up the song
If you feel it
You can’t go wrong
If you feel it
You can’t go wrong
Oh oh oh — If you feel it
You can’t go wrong
Oh oh oh — If you feel it
You can’t go wrong
Oh oh oh
Don’t trip
Everything’s good
That’s the feeling
I want to convey
Maybe you believe it
And maybe you don’t
But I can understand it
Either way
Just relax
And be yourself
No chance
To be anyone else
Sacrifice
To get what you want
But don’t let that stop you
From having fun
If you feel it
You can’t go wrong
If you feel it
You can’t go wrong
Oh oh oh — If you feel it
You can’t go wrong
Oh oh oh — If you feel it
You can’t go wrong
Oh oh oh...
--
Words and music by Andrew Lawrence Jackson
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5. |
Mission Statement
05:01
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Often it’s complicated
Usually it isn’t
Life is an allegory
Seen through a prism
Don’t leave me wanting
In a soul-less prison
I’m gonna hold onto life
Fulfill my vision (yeah!)
I need some quiet
To just sit and listen
Not so much talk
Or television
Expressing my thoughts
With no inhibition
Like an astronaut
Who’s on a mission
But don’t try to control me
Don’t try to console me
I need to be me
I need to be free
I need to be me
I need to be
Don’t try to control me
Expressing my thoughts
With no inhibition
Like an astronaut
Who’s on a mission
It’s elementary
An act of derision
They make you suffer more
If it’s a tradition
Simultaneous reaction
Nuclear fission
Unicellular organisms
In equal division — yeah!
We all need some quiet
To just sit and listen
Not so much talk
Or television
I’m lurking at the wishing well
But nobody’s wishing
Like an astronaut
Who’s on a mission
But don’t try to control me
Don’t try to console me
I need to be me
I need to be free
I need to be me
I need to
Don’t try to control me
Expressing my thoughts
With no inhibition
Like an astronaut
Who’s on a mission
--
Words and music by Andrew Lawrence Jackson
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6. |
Don’t Overdo It
04:04
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You can live on the streets
Stealing what you need
Newspapers for sheets
Fingering the greed
Blame it on anyone else
That everything is amiss
There’s not a book on the shelf
That can help you get through this
It could be worse
What came before
All this is different
You’re not in a war
It wasn’t the year
That you expected
Arrivals and departures
All neglected
So take my advice
Don’t fucking overdo it
Getting freaky is nice
To gravitate you through it
Hopefully it’s all right
To poetically intuit
Disappearing is nice
But don’t — overdo it
It could be worse
What came before
All this is different
You’re not in a war
Yesterday’s news
Is today’s winter coat
The only good thing
Is tomorrow’s unknown
So take my advice
Don’t fucking overdo it
Have to pay the price
To catapult you through it
Hopefully it’s all right
To poetically intuit
Disappearing is nice
But don’t — overdo it
You can live on the streets
Stealing what you need
Newspapers for sheets
Fingering the greed
Blame it on anyone else
That everything is amiss
There’s not a book on the shelf
That can help you get through this
--
Words and music by Andrew Lawrence Jackson
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7. |
Space Capsule Living
03:12
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Everybody’s normal
Isn’t it wonderful
Everybody’s normal
It makes you want to scream
Everybody’s normal
Everybody’s wonderful
Everybody’s smiling
And fucking with your dream
You were the one to choose it
So you don’t want to lose it
You have to fight for it
Once in a while
Future exhibition
Now you’re on a mission
Used to be so lazy
Couldn’t force yourself to smile
Space capsule living
Like you’re George Jetson
Hanging in the Skypad
Futurist-style
Everybody’s obvious
Everybody’s serious
Why not lighten up
Once in a while
You were the one to choose it
So you don’t want to lose it
You have to fight for it
Once in a while
Future exhibition
Now you’re on a mission
Used to be so lazy
Couldn’t force yourself to smile
Space capsule living
Space capsule living
You have to fight for it
Once in a while
Space capsule living
Space capsule living
Used to be so lazy
Forced yourself to smile
--
Words and music by Andrew Lawrence Jackson
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8. |
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What would I do if I was me?
I ask myself constantly
Mm hmm — what would it be?
What would I do if I was you?
Whatever you might me going through
Mm hmm — What would I do?
Ask yourself are you like me?
Do you see yourself differently?
How did this happen? — a day at a time
Without much reason or rhyme
Is there anything you believe?
Absolutely, unquestionably?
Mm hmm — Or are you just like me?
Write yourself a letter to someone else
Maybe to a future self
Mm hmm — Or maybe just to me
Ask yourself are you like me?
Do you see yourself differently?
How did this happen? — a day at a time
Without much reason or rhyme
What would I do if I was me?
I ask myself this constantly
Mm hmm — who would I be?
When I need to find something lost
At no matter what the cost
Mm hmm…
--
Words and music by Andrew Lawrence Jackson
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9. |
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I’m watching the light change
Reflecting off surfaces
Feeling my life change
Little by little
I’m watching the light change
Listening to The National
Old memories at close range
It feels like a riddle
I know we hear this stuff
All of the time
All like ‘how did we get here?
It’s November already’
And we’re all living
Just a day at a time
So we figure it all out
Whenever we’re ready
Just watching the light change
The darkness is coming
Same as it does every day
So why are we running?
Just watching the light change
The darkness is coming
Same as it does every day
So why are we running?
Trying to keep the devil at bay
But the devil’s inside us
Just like the light is
Taking some time at the end of the day
‘cause time is indelible
Just like the night is
I’ve been watching the light change
Here in my bedroom
Look out the windows
It’s subtly changing
Feels like the mood shifts
Down into quietude
Where did the time go?
And why are we running?
Measuring distances by
Quoting the old songs
We go there for comfort
It’s better than nothing
Learning the hard way
‘cause that’s how we do it
If there was a better way
Then I wasn’t listening
Trying to keep the devil at bay
But the devil’s inside us
Just like the light is
Taking some time at the end of the day
‘cause time is indelible
Just like the night is
Just like the night is
I’m watching the light change
--
Words and music by Andrew Lawrence Jackson
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10. |
Don’t Mean A Thing
03:15
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Why you gotta treat me like that?
Why you gotta douse my fire?
Why you gotta dull my spark?
Why you gotta slit my tires?
Why it gotta be so hard?
Why can’t we just get along?
Why we leaving trash up in space?
Why so many people do so wrong?
It doesn’t mean a thing
Don’t mean a thing at all
It doesn’t mean a thing
Don’t mean a thing at all
Now why you gotta give me shit?
Why can’t you cut me some slack?
Why how come you going away?
Why how come you keep coming back?
Why you gotta treat me like that?
Why you gotta douse my fire?
Why you gotta dull my spark?
Why you gotta cut my tires?
I guess it don’t mean a thing
Don’t mean a thing at all
It doesn’t mean a thing
Don’t mean a thing at all
Now why you gotta treat me like that?
Why you gotta treat me like that?
Now why you gotta give me shit?
I don’t understand it a bit — uh huh
It doesn’t mean a thing
Don’t mean a thing at all
It doesn’t mean a thing
Don’t mean a thing at all
Don’t mean a thing at all — uh oh
Don’t mean a thing at all — uh oh
Don’t mean a thing at all — uh oh
Don’t mean a thing at all — uh oh
Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh
--
Words and music by Andrew Lawrence Jackson
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11. |
Wasn’t Born Yesterday
01:50
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I wasn’t born yesterday
Just the day before
I want nothing but the truth
Or what takes me to that shore
They’re beating the drum again
They’re chanting
I don’t know what for
They will never disappear
But they fade out now more and more
They fade out now more and more
(Doo doo doo, doo doo doo)
I wasn’t born yesterday
Just the day before
I want nothing but the truth
Or what takes me to that shore
--
Words and music by Andrew Lawrence Jackson
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Andrew Lawrence Jackson
Alternative singer-songwriter, recording artist, Zru Vogue co-founder, based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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