M:tAP! Lyrics! - by Kevin Watts

  The marquee like a neon ruse.

Sonic mission—a collision, a fuse.

My ticket taunts me, 

like a truth and a dare.

A reckoning is in the springtime—

in the springtime air.

Chorus:

I’m standing beside myself, 

sizing up

This newborn fossil—

my doppelganger.

But these chords erase 

all the decades

In stage lights we live 

as one dead ringer.

I’m singing back to myself, 

living out

These years of longing, 

hope, and anger.

And this chorus hits 

like the first time.

The last time I’ll live to 

wile and linger.

Two hearts that we drink as one.

And the difference 

is the same as the sum.

Time warp in a bottle of sound—

Familiar phantom 

with the tab every round.

Mic check—

for the wires and tones.

But this magic won’t be 

measured in ohms.

Dreams die—or so they might.

But not mine—not tonight.

Not tonight.

Chorus.

I'm a newborn fossil.

  I’m a coin slot

In a pay phone—

An obsolete 

Dial tone.

A busy line

When no one’s home.

Like a 4-track –

Be kind, rewind.

A pathetic prayer 

Of the forgotten kind.

Reel-to-reel,

Too fake to mind.

Chorus

Because in Lo-Fi

You’ll remember me.

The wrong that writes my eulogy.

In Lo-Fi

It’s my legacy.

The match that lights my effigy.

Track adjust

VHS

Pixelate my relevance

An 8-bit heart

Is my 2 cents.

Analog

And tape hiss

My rabbit ears 

All out of twists

So I play / record

Just to exist.

Chorus

  The first glimpse of the morning was a sun that felt near.

Then a peak around the corner 

to a coast in the clear.

Armageddon swung a fist to hit us right in the teeth,

But its hand of doom has withered in the hope and the heat.

Pre-Chorus

Ah oh oh ohwhoa.

Ah oh oh ohwhoa.

Chorus

The road, in black—

An empty canvas, begging that my dreams attack.

The sound, the light—

The dormant fuses, 

praying that my faith ignites.

The first summer

Out of our slumber

The first summer—

Alive and irresponsible.

The first summer

Out of our slumber

The first summer—

Everything seems possible.

Every waking dream feels possible.

Everything looks different now tomorrow is back,

Through a row of sudden windows from lost causes we stacked.

So we’ll walk upon the light 

of a thousand rays of yes

Down an open road from limbo, armed with new success.

You knew the sun would rise again.

So where the hell you been?

Checkin’ out or cashin’ in?

Let’s wear our real skin.

What the world is coming to—

A lesson overdue.

Pull as one and see it through—

Uncommon common view.

Pre-Chorus

Chorus

The first summer.

  Summer nights of wine on the hill.

Winter mornings of ice and thrill.

Playgrounds born of living rooms,

Firelight and chapel pews.

But the gavels of the hours pound.

So I buckled up 

and hammered down.

And I surfaced in a sea of tears,

I missed the moments 

that built the years.

Chorus

Gone are the days of 

plenty and shine.

Halcyon haze of youth and promise; rewind.

Woke up in shock 

with a leak in my mind.

I’d lived by the clock, 

but I lost track of the time.

I’d lived for the clock, 

but I lost track of the time.

Plenty and shine.

Wallet photos and medal rounds

Open tabs and dreams abound.

Road to forever said we’d arrived.

Cartography to the power of five.

When plastic wings of routine fly,

They spiral down and drain the sky

Exact a price on the fragile joy

They elevate while they destroy.

Chorus

Gone are the days 

of plenty and shine.

Tarnished and grey, 

regret and wisdom entwined. 

Woke up in shock 

with a leak in my mind.

I’d lived by the clock, 

but I lost track of the time. 

Gone are the days of 

plenty and shine.

Halcyon haze of youth and promise; rewind.

Woke up in shock 

with a leak in my mind.

I’d lived by the clock, 

but I lost track of the time.

I’d lived for the clock, 

but I lost track of the time.

Plenty and shine.

   This broken, lying window

You’ve polished to my mirror.

You’re boxing phantom shadows

You know I never threw.

Come bearing gifts of poison –

Suffocate or drown.

But escape is not an option

When the air I breathe is you.

I bear the cost of freight

When I pull your weight.

But that’s the price I pay,

I’ve got to roll your way.

Chorus:

I’m bound and tethered

To your will, your measure.

But no fraction short of

One’s at all important.

No fraction.

Reality’s an excuse,

Your now, your need, is all.

The clock will tie the next noose,

So I sleight the hands of time.

And bury every instinct,

Split myself in three.

Impossible made extinct,

Until you change your mind.

I bear the cost of freight

When I pull your weight.

But that’s the price I pay,

I’ve got to roll your way.

Chorus:

I’m bound and tethered

To your will, your measure.

But no fraction short of

One’s at all important.

No fraction.

I know what we need – 

another category.

‘Cause there’s nothing like division 

to create unity.

A call for aiming higher 

is to speak out of school.

So we’ll carve some more exceptions        ‘til we sever the rule.

The standard is to practice 

a contempt for the whole,

While the guise of liberation 

hides covert control.

If freedom’s just a license 

to be unto ourselves,

Then we are not united, 

but thirteen out of twelve.

Practice makes the perfect crime.

Chorus

How many shades can we create

Before the gradient dominates?

Right replaced.

How many “truths” will we abide

Before the standard is vericide?

Numb with pride.

Selfish satiation 

is the hallmark of good.

So we’ll hoard all of the “can”, 

while we ignore all the “should”.

But accountability is judgment 

and we’ll have none of that.

So, we’ll push and push the boundaries ‘til we fall off the map.

"Liberal", "conservative"

mean nothing to me – 

‘Cause a label for a pundit 

I will never be.

Spare me history lessons 

‘cause you cannot believe

What your broken, pointing fingers

scream at us they’ll achieve.

Practice makes the perfect crime.

Chorus

How many bricks will we remove

To build temples of a point to prove?

Two by two.

A weapons grade of venom 

is flooding the ether.

The air’s getting shallow and the swamp’s getting deeper.

Sowing the lie. Sowing the lie.

The talking heads legislate 

through their echo chamber.

Lady Justice is AWOL 

and can we really blame her?

Phone in the buy. Phone in the buy.

The new truth is fluid 

and it’s so never-lasting.

It’s flexible, expendable, 

and gives without asking.

Growing the “why”. 

Growing the “why”.

Chorus

There are no words 

for what you’re saying.

The volume is all you call on to 

just make it right.

‘Cause you don’t speak 

so much as discharge.

Collateral battles from shrapnel 

just prove your point.

Speak into existence 

what sandpapers the moment.

Reality died yesterday, 

so get with the program.

Stow and deny. Stow and deny.

Now that’s all settled 

and the nuisance abated.

To frown on hypocrisy 

is so antiquated.

Towing the line. Towing the line.

Chorus

The strawman who stole your wild goose has vanished.

Apply it no mind – right on time, 

a new scapegoat you’ll find. 

C’mon, what say you?

They’re all betting you’ll fall for their lie.

Brother, I pray you 

Spit and stare ‘em straight in the eye.

A crooked hand

Twisted the line in the sand.

So, now where do you stand?

Are you a man or a brand?

So, tell me what say you?

Let’s make a fist that blocks out the sun.

Then what will they do?

When they feel that we’ve already won?

Live to supplant

Those puppets wired to enchant.

First they’ll scoff, then they’ll rant -

Throw at you all that you can’t.

But tell me - What say you?

Are you resigned to chains 

of a stranger’s doubt?

Tell ‘em no way - you’ve 

Got a spark that you’re not living without.

With smiles they came

To get their hooks in your name.

So are you destined to blame, 

Or take a torch to their game?

Now c’mon, what say you?

They’re all betting you’ll fall in their line.

But brother, I pray you 

Spit and stare ‘em straight in the eye.

And from the shards,

We’ll forge our arrows and darts.

Because the size of our hearts

Cannot be measured in yards.

So, tell me what say you?

Let’s make a fist that blocks out the sun.

Then what will they do?

When they feel that we’ve already won?

Been dead before -

Blissful, flat-lined to our core.

But we’re resurrected for war,

For reclamation and more.

So, tell me the way you

Survive in no man’s land between your guts and your mind.

Decide that today you’ll

Be a legacy for all and all time.

What say you?

What say you?