Get all 13 the matthew show releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Rewired - a radio play {podcast}, singles {ep album}, Mystery Man {single}, Swear Jar EP {ep album}, Variations {album}, The Band That Never Was EPISODES {podcast}, Songs for Legacy - Volume II {ep album}, Songs for Legacy - Volume I {album}, and 5 more.
1. |
Everything
05:16
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I don't sleep when I dream
I stare wide awake into the high beams
I pay now for my then
I'm going down but I don't know when
I don't know when
I got a one and one that makes three
I'm overdrawn from the big bank of me
I got collateral damage piling up to the sky
And every reason is the reason why
Every reason is the reason why
Yeah, you know me
I need everything
I don't sleep when I dream
And this dream won't let me be
And this boulder on my shoulder's
Got me feeling older
And I pulled all the leaves
From my four leaf clover
Dumped all my change
Into the wishing well
And I hear it crashing loud
Down the tunnel to hell
I don't die when I'm dead
Girls and whiskey keep me up on my hind legs
I ain't found when I'm lost
And it's my body that pays the cost
Yeah, you know me
I need everything
I don't sleep when I dream
And this dream won't let me be
I'm going down
And this picture in the mirror
Is getting way too clearer
Running faster to stand stiller
The crowd's a painkiller
My last three dollars
Slapped down on the bar
Dammit if I can walk
Then I can drive my car
I don't know how it ends
With my candle burning hot in the summer winds
Sing the song till I'm done
Gazing into the setting sun
Yeah, you know me
I need everything
I don't sleep when I dream
And this dream won't let me be
I'm going down
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2. |
The Dull Version of You
03:48
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It’s time to throw the bathtub out with the baby
The whole thing is tainted, and hope is overrated
It’s time to throw the neighbors out with the furniture
You can’t teach ‘em nothing, even when it looks like something
CHORUS:
Scorched earth, real job
Piece of paper says I’m not a dumbass anymore
Resume cut & trimmed
So it seems I was in my right mind the whole time
I’m a lie, but you’re gonna have to dig to know the truth
Sometimes the best you can do is to be the dull version of you
It’s time to throw the candles out with the flame
Thank God I didn’t sign the good stuff with my real name
It’s time to throw the lion out with the lamb
Bar the gates so nobody’s gonna come this way again
It’s a sin
(CHORUS)
Well, it’s a long, long day
Last night they said you were on your way
And the pointed to an alley with a big bright sign
With the dark shapes shuffling around behind
And it’s too late now if you don’t wanna go
Unless you burn all the bridges, and lighten the load
(CHORUS)
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3. |
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Pretty white people with problems talk all night about nothing at all
They say “good times” to convince themselves, they're blown away by a half-assed song
Pretty white people with problems carry ‘em down to the coffee shop
Spectacle beard hats, blue screens glowing, fair trade mocha for five bucks
And I could complain, but then here I sit
Pretty blue eyes and a guitar spilling songs about all this pretty white shit
Born on second, running for third
Hoping like hell for homeward bound
And I’m trying hard to keep my head on straight
With these pretty white people around
Pretty white people with problems dancing drunk under the LEDs
Nodding to songs about dust bowl hard times, it ain’t easy being Snoop D-O-double-G
Pretty white people with problems, Howard Zinn up on the bookcase
Minimum wage down at the craft-beer co-op, somehow the bills keep getting paid
And I could complain, but then here I sit
Made a whole forty dollars fifty singing songs about pretty white shit
You play with the cards that you are given
And fish in your pocket when you hear the sound
Of a tin cup down an alley with all these pretty white people around
If I was anybody else, wearing any other face
They probably wouldn’t even let me near this place
Pretty white people with problems smoking pot under a knick-knack shelf
Talking about the ones that got away to be pretty white people somewhere else
And I could complain, but then here I sit
Pretty blue eyes and a guitar spilling songs about all this pretty white shit
An echo of a tortured history, an unspoken hand-me-down
A picture fading through the memories of all these pretty white people around
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4. |
Swear Jar
04:18
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I put ten dollars in the swear jar
For the call I just made to you
Not for anything I said
But for what it made me want to do
And I know you’re trying harder
And I know it’s not your fault
And I know my sense of logic
Will kick in before too long
CHORUS:
But Jesus H. Christ, what the fuck were you thinking
How did that seem like a good idea at the time
Young, drunk and high tonight
Only takes one minute to ruin your life
If you had one
If you saw a future
That was anything but
The surest loser
I never give up, no never give up
And I know sometimes that sucks
Pinning everything on destiny
In the sight of pure blind luck
But you always throw the wrench in
Just before the thing takes off
So why did you build it in the first place
That’s how you fuck my head up
(CHORUS)
You come crying to me
You come crying to me
I wish that you were lying to me
But you’re not lying to me
And now I keep my distance
Lest I get caught in your wake
Lest I get burned in the blowback
Of your latest big mistake
Now I wonder why I don’t cry
But it’s no big mystery
When I put so much hope into you
And you threw it back at me
And the call will come, I know it
And I’ll show up in my suit
The one I wore the last time
My hope faded into ugly truth
(CHORUS)
You come crying to me
You come crying to me
I wish that you were lying to me
But you’re not lying to me
I put ten dollars in the swear jar
For this song I just wrote for you
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5. |
Busted
03:33
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CHORUS:
Working no job, taking no train
Hearing no call, feeling no pain
Oh, she’s like a rainbow
That goes on forever
She’ll get busted
Won’t get a job, and won’t tell mom
Never really thought about it all that long
Given up the crying for laughing out loud at nothing
Sitting in the house, watching that show
The one where the guy does the thing you know
Never need an enemy, friends’ll do just fine
(CHORUS)
Had to get a job, couldn’t keep it down
Had to go to school, and she never was around
Can’t kick her out, ‘cause she’ll just shack up with him
Doesn’t get mad, doesn’t get high
Can’t make her laugh and you can’t make her cry
No movin’, no losin’, no nothin’ gonna happen till she feels that way
(CHORUS)
(SOLO)
Now I got a job, and a house to my name
And I fall down some, but I get up again
Oh, I got the memory
But I ain’t got the rainbow
I got busted
(CHORUS)
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6. |
The Lake Worth Monster
05:39
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That law firm right there
Was a club that we played
Back in nineteen...Christ
You were in the fourth grade
And the girl who booked shows there
Makes movies in Austin today
So come on now, let's play
In the shack by the river
That used to have bras
In all of the rafters
And the halfway house calls out
The next inmate number
I sip on my whiskey and pray
That I'll make it through one more day
CHORUS:
And I've traveled this town
From the bars to the parks
And I've heard it make promises
To me in the dark
And it lies just like I do
But it loves all the mess that we make
I am the monster who lives by the lake
Now downtown used to be
Dark as hell in the night
Now it's all full of grackles
And bright Christmas lights
So I went down to the Chat Room
So Taylor could fix me a drink
And I sat down to think
About all of those people
Who've been good to me
Even when I'm a bastard
Even when I can't see
And I try to believe them
When they tell me that I'll be okay
That I'll make it through one more day
(CHORUS)
Now I'm driving up tollways
With polite little trees
And I'm driving up Northside
Past cemeteries
That remind me of how little
Time that I've got left to be
Whatever I'll be
And I want to love all
Of the people I love
And I want to drink life
From a big Showdown cup
And I don't want to leave all
Of this damage I leave
And the rent keeps on rising
I wonder how long I can be
A part of this big tapestry
Now West Seventh is changing
The dudebros run free
And the bars on Magnolia
Don't want acts like me
But Leon is playing
From a speaker somewhere down the street
The circle's complete
So goodnight to the woo girls
Goodnight to the bards
And goodnight to the Bass cops
With stars upon thars
And goodnight to the dreamers
Wherever in town you may be
Old young and all those yet to be
(CHORUS)
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the matthew show Fort Worth, Texas
the matthew show's songs, books, and podcasts are acclaimed widely, and have been featured on NPR & PBS. He has worked with Grammy-winning producers Matt Ross-Spang and John Hampton. He is also half of Ah Pook the Destroyer.
the matthew show recommends:
The King in Yellow
by Ah Pook the Destroyer
A collaboration between myself and Paul Shapera. Two concept albums thus far, The King in Yellow and The Silver Key.
go to album
Safely Down: The Songs of Jason Jackson
by Various Artists
Produced by myself and the late Grammy winner John Hampton, this is a fine collection of songs written by a largely unknown songwriter, performed by a wide array of talented artists.
go to album
Top-notch songwriting and heartfelt delivery from a matthew show associate. I co-produced this album, and it easily stands alongside my own work.
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