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Beat Poetry Music

by Andrew Lawrence Jackson

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1.
The Day We Met The Machine 04:34
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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
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
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
4.
The Feeling Sets Up The Song 04:24
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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
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
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
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
8.
What Would I Do If I Was Me 03:16
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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
9.
Watching The Light Change 03:38
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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
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
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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Join me in my skypad for some beat poetry music.

Written and recorded from December 2020 through February 2021. All songs by Andrew Lawrence Jackson.

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released March 25, 2021

Written, recorded, and produced by Andrew Lawrence Jackson. Performed by Andrew L. Jackson and Rick Cuevas.

Trailcam photo courtesy of Roger Taylor. Album cover design by Andrew L. 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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