The Anthemic Pandemic, by Murphy's Kids

The Anthemic Pandemic

by Murphy's Kids

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5

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1.	Spark 04:18	lyrics	buy track
If you were a hammer, you could make it known that all you need is a chisel and a stone. If you were an island, you could stand alone against the tide and the perpetual flow. You could build a world far from the one you know. You could make a great escape and all you need to go is a spark. Such a thin line that keeps us from the dark. If you were a toe-tag, could you take the cold or the sound of settling bone? If you were a cannon, fire in the hole, what would it take to finally explode? You could build a world free from the one you know. You could make a great escape and all you need to go is a spark. You can spend your life doing what you want. You can know where you’re going to. You can spend your life doing what you want. You can live it you know it’s just for you.
2.	Aisha 03:26	lyrics	buy track
I’m the first to say my A-game ain’t what it used to be. But I gotta find out just how you’re operating. You think I’m playin’ games, but I’m just glad you came. Aisha I can’t give you what you need. It’s the morning now. Have you forgotten me? I need ya but I can’t pull you close to me. The breakfast table ain’t no place for apologies. I’m typically not so hopeless at this kind of thing. This is nothing short of something exciting. With the break of day, I saw you slip away. I hope you won’t hold it against me. It’s been real and it’s been fun. It ain’t the way you talk or how you move your body. I just can’t rise to the occasion.
3.	Dusty Trail 03:49	lyrics	buy track
I got blurry vision but I can see My head is burning and I can’t take the heat. I need a little quiet and little sleep, but I just keep movin’ on. Zero degrees and it starts to snow. The heat in my head it gives me vertigo. I don’t know what to tell the guys about the show so I just keep movin’ on. My fever is up from the last time I checked it out. I’m falling apart what if my mom could see me now? I’d have a compass to keep my head on straight but my feet they slow me down. Just trying to get a piece of that higher ground. Sixty cycle hum in my head reminds me of the sound Of the gears that grind me down. The rural south ain’t that great When your only view is the interstate. I need a valet and some Quakerstate, I just keep movin’ on. I see the city lights up ahead. My tires are worn and the engines dead. I’m runnin’ outta patience and outta tread, but I just keep movin’ on. The gauges are fucked and I need a tow. I’ve got 25 miles to the next show And all I know… What’s the destination? What’s the complication? What’s my motivation? I just keep movin’ on. The road is rough and the riders get rugged and they seem to share a vision of an unknown shore. When the pirates and the police come gunnin’ for us it kinda helps to know exactly what you’re fighting for. When I’m on the dusty trail, I dream about a rusted rail and I know that the open road in front of me might be the only way out of this hell. I got some verbal ammunition and I’m spittin’ legit. Got a gang of desperados and reason to live. Now I know you only get what you give and it makes it worth the trip.
4.	On Leaving 04:05	lyrics	buy track
I thought I’d write you this letter. Here’s what I thought it should say. Things haven’t got any better now that you’ve gone on your way. I’m leaving you and I can’t say when. I don’t know if I’ll be back again . All I can say is that this is how I was made. You. You’re like a dream. I can’t bring myself to make it back, with all I’ve seen. I’m drifting through this weather. I got rain in the winter time. I wonder if we’ll be together when the spring is back and I’m calling out. I’m sayin’ your name. When I come back, will it be the same and will I recognize the slope of your face? How many years has it been now, my memory seems to fade, it’s tough for me to remember how you smell and how you taste. But I’m leaving you, I can’t say when. I don’t if I’ll be back again All I can say is that this is how I was made. You. You’re like a dream.
5.	High School (with Cigarettes) 03:06	lyrics	buy track
I got the TV on 24 hours a day and I can feel my brain turn to mush. The beat stays strong while I’m away. It don’t miss me that much. I could do it tomorrow if I could put it off today. I could tear it open and watch it drain away. I got a high school with cigarettes. No motivation and no regrets. I can’t help thinkin’ that my life needs a tourniquet. I’m cool but I forget what I was thinking every last minute. I got a book collection collecting dust and I can feel it getting lonely. A large selection of things I must see and hear eventually.
6.	Low Point 03:11	lyrics	buy track
I still think about you and the boys when I walk by the park. Run like the wind my toe-headed friends. I still feel you with me after dark. Your body’s so warm and you pull me in to sleep another night. Take for granted another night. Is all we are a memory, a low point in my day? What will become of the time we didn’t share, the love we didn’t make? In my imagination, we’ll be sleeping in on Sunday And I’ll be waking up like I got hit by a bus you rode a thousand miles away. Every once in a while I think I see your face Down by the river or up near your old place. You still get to me in ways That make me shiver, but I just can’t seem to shake. Even though we didn’t see eye-to-eye We can still say we gave it a try. When you come around I still get tense. The rest of you and me hangs thick in the air as my defense. And if words were worth anything, I’d be a millionaire. I’d cash it all in just to have you here.
7.	Osiris 03:31	lyrics	buy track
Osiris, can you tell me, is my heart light enough To get me in your underworld when I show you all the things I’ve done. Ferry me across. Take this bandage from my eyes. Show me the future of a man who failed to realize how he had it so good. I should have told you this when I was alive and still could. You’re my symphony. I’m your back row. It took all I had to get inside. Now I need an encore. You do it again and I struggle with these feelings. I see the music that you are rise up from your body like steam up to the ceiling. Did I stutter? Did I stammer? Did my face betray my heart? Will the next few moments mean the end of what I planned for from the start? I could use some mercy, but to my surprise I’m searching around to find something to defend myself from the divine. You’ve got to let me in. With you as my witness I’ll see it through to the end. The path ahead of me is the golden one that leads me home but there’s a eunuch in between. The question I have for you is “were you there for her too?” The question I have for you is “when you said you love her, did you mean you wouldn’t fail to let her down?” The question I have for you is “were you there for her too?” The question I have for you is “Did you say ‘Thank you’?”
8.	Grind 05:03	lyrics	buy track
It’s all coming back to me slowly about the state of things. I’ve got the time and I’ve got the will, but I don’t know if I’ve got the strength. People visit me in my head, and your face is just the same as how I remember it Your mouth takes the shape of my name. I’m everywhere, but I don’t speak your language. I know no fear. I know no damage and when the reaper comes to cull, The planets that created you will grind you into dust one and all. It’s faded like a memory, like a sweet smell passing by. I can’t quite get it in focus. The less I see the more I try. When you visit me in my dreams and I can’t make out your face. I know I might not see you again, but for now I’ve got this place.
9.	Size It Up 03:55	lyrics	buy track
Baby I know that you got some questions about my love Like “where do you stand in my eyes?” I’m here one minute then I’m gone so it’s really no surprise That you got some questions about my love. If you wanna know how big my love is, size it up. I know you seen me all around town With the girls you know I knew before. I might go adrift, but I’ll wash up on your shore. I know you seen me all around town. If you wanna know how big my love is, size it up. I wanna rain my love on down just to fill your cup. If you wanna know how big my love is, size it up. Higher than the sky, deeper than the sea. Baby tell me why you keep wonderin’ about my love? With a love so bold that when you finally come to know you’ll probably never let me go. Cas I love ya like ya need and ya got the kind of love for me An now I'm beggin ya baby please, to be the harmony to my melody. and tell me you need me now! I ain’t got no questions about my love. I know that you’re the only one. Looking at you is like turning my face toward the sun. I ain’t got no question about my love. If you wanna know how big my love is, size it up. I wanna look upon your love and say that it’s enough.
10.	The Best Revenge 04:16	lyrics	buy track
I knew you in the trenches in a war we couldn’t win. We were loggin’ miles but we were losing inches on a fuse without an end. We could talk about it; the joy and the tears. We could talk about the blood and you’d smile and doubt it When I say my greatest hope is my greatest fear. That you live well and that you live to tell The story of your ups and downs and why I don’t see you around. It’s a hard sell in a living hell. I’m so mad that I could choke! Here is hopin’ that you live well. We lost the best of us face down in the rain. Memories a tricky thing and it seems so senseless that the blood would leave a stain. When we get together over a couple beers We’d remember the bond, how we were tied and tethered And how my greatest hope became my greatest fear. The war is over and we made it home. This ain’t no ticker-tape parade. I still hear voices that come in soft and low That whisper about the mistakes I’ve made. Even after all this toil. Even after all these years. Even after looking you in the eye and watching you die My greatest hope is still my greatest fear.
11.	World With No Imagination 04:43	lyrics	buy track
I’ve got doubts like everyone else about what’s right. Everybody’s sayin’ “It’s wrong, but hey, that’s life.” If I come home late will the boss man say that I ain’t at work on time? Will he let me keep the lights on at the house tonight? Will I ever grow up? Will I ever give in To a world with all this time but not imagination? When my life is full I’ll stop to take it in, Just sit back and watch it shine. Even when it gets heavy and you know it does sometimes: It ain’t simple. It’s ain’t easy, but it’s mine. In a world where we blend together seamlessly, Would it be ok if I had a day that was just for me? If that day was every day I could stack’em vertically. I could build a bridge and name it after yours truly. Will I ever go belly up? Will I ever sanction All for peace of mind and easy livin’?

about

Murphy’s Kids is now and has always been a collective pursuit. The musicians in the band are supported by an amorphous group of people without whom Murphy’s Kids would be the proverbial tree falling in the woods with no one around to hear. Other musicians and bands, artists, street-teamers, bouncers, bartenders, production staff, promoters, and people in college and community radio are all integral to our ability to play and spread this music. We depend on them and couldn’t function without them. That being said, Murphy’s Kids owes their existence at least in part to the following: Greg and D-Ray @ Community Records, Jackmove, Tsunami Rising, Among Criminals, the band called Future, Pelicanesis, Capital 7, Groove Stain, Megan Gersch, Matt Singleton, Rand Burgess, People Who Hate People Radio, WRIR and the as yet unnamed.

Much Love,
Murphy’s Kids

credits

released November 3, 2011

Released by Community Records in November of 2011.

All songs written and performed by Murphy's Kids
Dusty Trail and On Leaving written by Adam Bonini and Murphy's Kids.

Produced by Murphy’s Kids and Tim Roberts
Tracked in the Spring of 2011 at Murphy’s Kids Headquarters by Tim Roberts
Mixed and Mastered by Tim Roberts
Artwork by Matt Singleton Design

license

about

Murphy's Kids Richmond, Virginia

Murphy's Kids are here to have a blast and to leave everyone from the front row to the back of the bar tired, sweaty and grinning from ear to ear... and they've been doing so up with their blend of reggae, punk, ska and psychedelic rock since 1999.