2 Years In The South (2001)

James Mosheen

A compilation of 4-track recordings from my first (you guessed it) two years in the south (1996-1998.) Most songs are recorded on a real drum set with all the charm and personality that a 4-track, a Shure 57, and a beginner's drum set (complete with TWO cracked cymbals) all packed into a 9 x 9 bedroom can offer.

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Track listing

1. Calling Clifford Miracle
show me the way out of this place i'm slowly going crazy insane my strength flows freely somewhere i haven't found it but i don't care this really should be bothering me this is what i call my life and it's so hard to be me today so who said violence ain't the answer to problems left undone you know i don't know what that means clifford this really should be bothering me this is what i call my life and it's so hard to be me today i need some time to get away to be somewhere and nowhere all at once find the place where i should go and it's so hard to be me don't you know clifford
2. Fire Fly
just tell me i'm crazy that's all i need to know tell me i'm here forever because there's no other place to go tomorrow holds the same things that today had the nerve to show and the fire flies fly away it must feel good to have some place to go it seem there's no hope of living that explains everything i know it's wrong i know i'm strong but that's not how i'm feeling and the fire flies light my way to a better place than this because tomorrow holds the same things that today had the nerve to show
3. Becomes The Wind
how can this be with such mentality to wake up and find that you haven't lost your mind cry ten tears and let it go maybe tomorrow maybe tomorrow bills and debts piled priorities filed and nothing really matters anyway fall ten floors and laugh with me it'll rain when the concrete bleeds left here to die and it's no use to cry i'm probably better off alive sun is burning the scorching heat attack at once and then retreat run into the sunset again i've lost that loving feeling again traitor lies and becomes the wind never leaving home again
4. Generations' Proof
so show me what you can do to try and change my opinion of you feelings so deep about nothing at all millions of caring eyes just a little girl with the weight of the world and the world sheds a tear or two i'll tell you i care and smile and i might believe it's true so cry for me awhile there's so much left for you to prove such grown up things yet so juvenile pretending you have to fake that smile generations' proof too much to lose can't cry again faking it again i can see how hard it must be i can see straight through so shallow i can see the bottom of your pool good luck to you
5. Olive Drab
it's bed time for you my little brown shoe as we walk on through the doorway there's trouble inside but well never decide if it's real or of the sales lady there's two wooden fellows the african fellows in the lobby there here where i linger there's trouble inside but well never decide if it's real or only a glimmer this can not go on never vision unblurred by forever it will make a sound a most original sound like the wind rushing through the pine trees it's an olive drab world and it's fun for the girls bring the wife and the kids well go hunting there's only one prize it's your very own eyes it's an optically illusive vacation there's trouble inside but well never decide if it's real or finally ending this can not go on never vision unblurred by forever it's an olive drab world and it's fun for the girls bring the wife and the kids we'll go hunting there's only one prize it's your very own eyes it's an optically illusive vacation
6. Mosquitos Bite
earlier tonight a mosquito flew in my eye after i swatted him away he came back again to say when he came back he landed on my back he plunged his needle in and took some blood this time i just played along i've got enough to go around i've got enough blood to go around don't you lay a hand on me i'll show you what i want you to see i'm tired of being shooed away i've finally got the nerve to say don't lay a hand on me earlier tonight the glimmer fell from my eye every ounce of energy blew away soon i realized several hours had passed by i'd had made it through made it to another year with fire he drew the life from me my eyes are too red to see he drained me but he's full to the brim someone else's cup runneth over again
7. Bronzed Styler
you cut me with a knife that you've been sharpening your whole life and you tore me i guess it's still not quite as sharp as you'd like well i don't know if i can even carry my body weight anymore and i know now that i could never care about this life anymore i hope you someday will climb inside my head and look around you told me something i should remember for the rest of my life but i forgot and i need to find whatever it is that i'm looking for and i need to buy whatever it is that i'm working toward
8. Oi-ho
i just felt it again like i could float away and it's times like these that make it hard to live in today it's just the mood a feeling in the air just to let you know exactly where you are on the average there's no average day it comes and it goes as it pleases and i'm left smiling still unclear there's so much life in just one year i'm reliving it wrong it was never so nice i'm feeling so strong i can't believe i've survived it twice it's just strange how it started it was us versus two just look where we are now only the pain is the same only my memory's stained only the pain remains and now for the happily ever after
9. Enemy
born to die in a smoky room room to breathe room to be aren't you a bit like me can't you be more like me enemy broken windows i scream so hard i can't see anything inside of me trust is broken enemies are born yesterday or today such a blur these days you're quite a bit like me you should be more like me enemy twice cried broken dreams broken twice so lay down your head and whine for me in a secret spot that i keep to myself you can't see what's become of me the heart of my problem my soul it just goes to show if you don't know where to go then shut the hell up enemy broken seeds will grow to hate everything blind to light literally everything enemy
10. (Big Rock) Wax Moth
fish are swimming and trends are spinning in my head there's no end to it life is too short to miss the excitement and watch it all fade away just wait and see what becomes of me inside people love to stare at you falling clumsily around inside people would love to share with you if only you were inside back home people are cloudy opaque dark and thick back home people have faded what have i seen in the chlorine dream the light is burning wearing down wearing down humanity's learning to burn it down burn it down fish are floating and twins are sinning in my head theres no end to it just wait and see who depends on me yesterday was full of reruns i think i've seen this one before stand up like erector tear it down run it down tonight you remind me of mean old black beard pillaging my soul i'll stand my ground if the ship goes down fish are living and friends are giving in my head theres no end to it just wait and see don't ever question me
11. Riddle Me This
you should be glad that there's no response to be had i know you wouldn't like what you've got coming i'll tell you all about the things that you want to know i know you'll never like what you've got coming you're trapped and left alone here with everyone i know you should be glad that there's no pride to be had i know you wouldn't like what you've got coming you're trapped and left alone here with everyone i know you should be glad that there's no answers to be had i know you wouldn't like the ones you've got coming you see it's only me i'm the one without answers you know i never liked the ones i had
12. Parting Gift
thinking of nothing but the loving or thinking of nothing at all i forget what that was all about but i sure enjoyed the show surprise there's a prize every time here's your prize she's not your bride surprise were you surprised you can make a rhyme every time everyday's a holiday and every meal's a feast there's no time to do it right there's only time to do it twice surprise i'm your prize it's been a long long time you have been in the wrong tell me decide for me explain to me why i've been where i've been it all comes down to this my friend
13. Paradox
reach up and smite the stone show me a mind of your own show me a face that's true show me what it is that's you i'm feeling besides inside and i feel alive for the first time i'm looking at you i'm not so bad your face and smile are wrong you've practiced in the mirror too long he's taken an interest he's taken an interest i'm feeling besides inside and i feel alive for the first time i'm looking at you i'm not so bad what a pair out of thin air what a pair into thin air
14. Sink or Swim
sink or swim that's what i hear from him that advice landed me here again but i swim it feels like the smiles only come when my feet are planted in the bottom mud but i swim i run around and look around and think about him i try to find a reason to be firm and still bend and i swim i can find enough energy to tread just below the air covered edge it's hard to keep a nose above to suck in a salty breath there's no motivation so i just stay soaking wet so i swim he has no reason to fight so he thinks he doesn't feel what i see so he sinks we take a breath and sink we run out of breath in sync it's not as deep as you think it's just the kitchen sink just pull the drain
15. (Wearing Out) Wearing Thin
i know someone that you know hello it's me again face to face and sharing skin it's a sin we meet again taken back and spat right out wearing thin inside it is all the same we are the same eye to eye and inner pain it's a sin we meet again it's just the three of us wearing out and wearing thin basking in it leaving town passed the limit heading out see you later for now it's just me it's a sin we meet again leaving town and heading out wearing out and wearing thin
16. Skull Bong
she said i like the way those flowers look inside your empty head she thought she'd paint a picture but i wrote this song instead doesn't that beat all i'm so lonely i'm in a pitfall lost and lonely brick on a see saw i'm so lonely do you mind if i come inside i'll cut my fucking ear off and i'll send it in the mail tomorrow to the promised land with every unsaved whale
17. Weird On Top
for each problem send a silver dollar each blink of the eye holds a thousand hours there's a problem that needs fixing because problems need fixing there's no time left today for tomorrow it's a chase but slowly unstoppable to leave all this now would be wholly impossible take the low light provided and show off for the camera take out the lens to make do fly off into the sunset and head west on a jet plane take off your face to get through it's better for all though all are still losing there's nothing in this world that is worth the confusion give and take and forget that is what i tell them the only solution is to stop dreaming take the high life denied and live for the moment throw away what you've got to get through dry off under the sunset and ride off on a fast train hold your breath until you're blue
18. I Could Wish
if once around the world is not too many times for you come with me in the summer time flying high in skies of blue i wish that i could touch the sun and reach the other side meet me there my only friend and hand in hand we'll fly if this day could last forever then i'd spend it all with you with music in the air there's nothing else i'd rather do i wish that i could wash away the things i've never seen sometimes i wish that all of this was just a twisted dream but now that i'm alone i think of you and often cry i never said hello but never meant to say goodbye take take me back again to the time when i was free i wish the world would leave and it'd be only you and me
19. Altima Bud-Get
i can't seem to recall how things were two weeks ago and now i know that time can never move too slow dream of me in flight we'll be strangers for a second time tonight i bet you thought you'd not see me again well here i am let's take a walk tonight and talk of kicking sand in the face of the man talk of letting go and taking control then our lives would be our own speak for me tonight in a week i'll die with a tear in my eye i bet you thought you'd not see me again well here i am when utah takes a breath the sky turns burning red purple mountains up ahead rear view sunset goes away say goodbye to californ-i-a
20. Better Still
grunged out today in last night's clothes unbathed and unshaven caring not that it shows cluttered house and crusted eyes trying to shake the most promising of replies but here it comes another desperate call the subject's reflex is another desperate stall tell me a story and speak to me in trust show me creativity and show me if you must uninvited and unaware of these things a living tree would never show it's rings and that's what this is all about an ornamental flaw a family's disgrace a preconstructed wall