1. |
My New Reality
04:13
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Set me up
With the latest trends you're into
I'm a doll that you dress up
You're just this feeling I give in to
We play games
So you can get your high
And I can feel I'm worth somebody's time
I had this vision in the shower
Scalding water sent me back
To nights we used to talk for hours
Seven hours, we kept track
Much more than soap went down the drain
Can't stand your image on my brain
Before 18 I was tattooed
Upon my mind, ideas of you
And me
And thoughts of how's it gonna be
When you don't know me anymore
Stealing all my words from songs I’d heard
Before we got together
Entangled in our own ideas of
Happy ever after
These new-fangled ways we string ourselves along
I'm having visions in my shower
Scalding water sent me back
To nights we used to talk for hours
Seven hours, we kept track
Much more than soap went down the drain
Can't stand your image on my brain
Before 18 I was tattooed
Upon my mind, ideas of you
You're not my future anymore
I've felt alone in crowded rooms
They found me cornered on the couch
Singing, "My new reality.
This is my new reality"
Eyes dry
Floor wet with beer
My mind, lost and fighting tears
Eyes dry
Floor wet with beer
My mind, lost and fighting tears
Eyes dry
Floor wet with beer
My mind, lost and fighting tears
Eyes dry
Floor wet with beer
My mind, lost and fighting tears
Eyes dry
Floor wet with beer
My mind, recounting all the years (recounting all the years X3)
I wrote these lyrics in the shower
Scalding water sent me back
To nights we used to talk for hours
Through the years I have lost track
Those days are fading from my brain
I let them slide right down the drain
Yet here I stand, a flooded bathroom
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2. |
Days Gone By
04:58
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I’m sitting in a bathtub
Water's falling from the showerhead
I feel thumping in my head
And I can't get you out my head
Now I'm laying on a bathroom floor
Wishing I could muster more
Memories of a girl I knew
I was so in love with you
And I wonder where you'd go
When you'd escape my eyes' detection
Felt my life was like a show
You had me praying for the season where the writers point you my direction
(It's too late) Til the day you die
I'll hear voices in my head (you're living in these days gone by)
Always wonderin' why
There are things we left unsaid
And so I'll wonder, til you're dead
Sometimes I hate the good times
She's got those little brown eyes
Reminds me most our glory days are gone
But there's a light inside them
It's just enough, don't ever hide them
Eyes kept me from letting go
If only I could know what lies behind them
I used to wonder where you'd go
Just to escape all my affection
One day I had to let it go
To turn and walk my own direction
It seems
I found myself behind the doors
I'd opened up in years before
When you're what I was looking for
Search for gold in puddles, all you'll find is your reflection
I only miss what I need most
You and my homebound train connections
(It's too late) Til the day you die
I'll hear voices in my head (you're living in these days gone by)
Always wonderin' why
There are things we left unsaid
And so I'll wonder, til you're dead
I wish she'd fallen off her pedestal, cause I'd have caught her
Can't swim to shore, can't even drown, I'm treading water
Out here alone it's where my twisted soul believes I ought to be
Listened to scars, and you were right, I shouldn't ever doubt you
But must you call I don't need more reasons to think about you
I've got a jar, that's full of memories, I keep beside my bed
So I think
It's too late
I’ll hear voices in my head
Always wonderin' why
There are things we left unsaid
‘Til the day you die
I’m living in these days gone by
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3. |
H.I.C.M.I.C.
03:58
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I hope you're proud that you became
The kind of person who takes trains
And drives your car for miles away
Cause you're not strong enough to stay
Within your room all afternoon
Admitting there's nothing to do
You need to post to prove you play
Broken, I can hear you say
"I'm fun, I swear, not boring
Go check my Snapchat stories
I may drop out of school
But I'm still cultured, I can fool
You with my quotes from Holden
Sushi pictures, I'm withholding
All my fears, my fears that you'll
See through how I’ve
Convinced myself I'm cool"
Live free, hey, do what gets you through
But Jake Barnes, you can't run from you
Lehigh, Princeton, Yale I hear
I could've taken their classes
You just take their beer
My friends, they ask why I still care
But it’s hard to act unaware
When who was once your girl next door
Makes changes you cannot ignore
I can hear her yelling
"I'm fun, I swear, not boring
Go check my Snapchat story
I may drop out of school
But I'm still cultured, I can fool
You with my quotes from Holden
Sushi pictures, I'm withholding
All my fears, my fears that you'll
See through how I’ve
Convinced myself I'm cool"
You always tried to give more to me
When all I wanted was to sit and speak my mind all afternoon
And if you’re off wishing hell on me
It’s consolation knowing
I’m still stuck here writing songs for you
And so I have to say
You've proved you're far from boring
I still check your Snapchat stories
Please don't drop out of school
Although it's not my place,
I'm just a fool
Collecting my degrees
Reflecting insecurities
And breaking all my golden rules
Yeah that's how I’ve
Convinced myself I'm cool
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4. |
20,000 Words
04:06
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I’ll never know
All that you’re feeling
Won’t you show
The things you stopped revealing to me?
Don’t expect the past to mean
That we’ll get caught in in-betweens
Tonight I’ve got nowhere to be
Talk to me the daylight’s almost gone
I don’t know you anyway
When you’re traveling on
Don’t take with you
Words I need to hear you say tonight
You’ll never know
How much it’s meaning
To forgo
Our old constant stream of bleeding and
To hear the tales from Amsterdam
That didn’t make your Instagram
And have no ill to say
Talk to me the daylight’s almost gone
I don’t know you anyway
When you’re traveling on
Don’t take with you
Words I need to hear you say tonight
How can I say what I mean?
I am just one man,
With only 20,000 words
Most of which I’m certain, darling,
You’ve already heard
Now at last
Once hilly grounds lay even
I got past
The day you stopped believing in me
Don’t expect our past to mean
That we’ll get caught in in-betweens
Tonight I’ve got nowhere to be
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5. |
September, 1955
06:28
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She left him with roses
He told me as if she's to blame
He said "I'm a fool for having loved her"
But a fool
He needs loving just the same
He'll be counting the hours
'til he forgets her face
Oh but a fool's hard to fool
Once he's fallen in love
You can't fool him right out
Once his heart gets
Cemented in place
You know the fire's meant to warm you
Until you stare into the flame
I know it's pretty in the moment
But the same can be said of cocaine
What is today but a slice of forever?
I've found the blues are a personal weather
I see storm clouds in your eyes
Under clear blue skies
Stick with the girl and you'll get stuck together
But stick to this script and things just might not ever get better
I see storm clouds in your eyes
Under nothing but clear blue skies
I got lost in my kitchen
I’m wanderin’ the house and I feel you here haunting the walls
And I know why you’re scared,
Girl you love to feel blue
But you took it too far
Now I’m losing that sweet feeling too
I know it's pretty in the moment
But the same can be said of cocaine
In the heat of July, you might welcome the rainclouds
But oh when you're drowning you don't need the rain
What is today but a slice of forever?
I've found the blues are a personal weather
I see storm clouds in your eyes
Under clear blue skies
Stick with me babe, we can get stuck together
But stick to this script and things just might not ever get better
I've seen storm clouds in your eyes
Under clear blue skies
We had it simple back in ’55
I’d dry every tear that you’d cry
Was it a product of the times?
And had we loved in ’16 might it all have just changed, at the drop of a tear, all our lives rearranged
Would the doctors prescribe, would my brothers’ve told me to run?
Well we’ve only just begun
What is today but a slice of forever?
I've found the blues are a personal weather
I see storm clouds in your eyes
Under nothing but clear blue skies
Stick with me babe, we can get stuck together
You’ll wake up each day with a man who’s just trying to get better
I'll chase storm clouds from your eyes
And replace them with clear blue skies
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6. |
Evergreen
04:57
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To me the trees lose leaves not ‘cause the cold comes to end fall
But to remind themselves they'd never been untainted after all
And I've been far from evergreen
Collecting leaf piles in-between
Each season
Or so it seems
So I chose you
It was such a hurried thing to do
But I was in a winter that had overstayed it's welcome
Searching for the igloo that could wipe away the cold
I’d been drawn to stable structures
As I felt my bones grow old
Now I know you're worth more
Than bricks of snow
But let me stand afar and claim I
Know that you'll stay
Evergreen, be my evergreen
Lie to me
Say you'll make me whole
I wasn't out the woods yet when I saw them cut you down
How strange viewed from a distance, I’m familiar with the sound
Cause I’ve been behind that saw, oh I have worked upon their crew
But in my unemployment I’m just lookin’ on to you ‘cause
You're my evergreen, won’t you
Please stay evergreen, with me
Lie to me
Convince me that you’re whole
I’m no gardener, true,
Just a has-been faking love with you
To save me from what’s been
my own device
I think I’d rather die alone
Than scheme from off this
Fool’s gold throne
Your insides are aching
The outsiders claim that it’s mine for the taking
And my heart is breaking
Sitting watching you through
Brown bystander eyes
Knowing such a pretty casing
Holds such broken down inside
I'd glue all your leaves back on
If I suspected it might help
But I know no one's meant to live that way
It's not your fault you'll never
Be my evergreen
Won’t you please stay evergreen, with me
Lie to me
Convince me that you’re whole
Be my evergreen
Be my evergreen
Say you’ll make me whole
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7. |
Letter 47
03:40
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Things got hard
And I got lazy
Now I can't see
Beyond this yellow-purple haze that's in my eyes
I'll walk home slow
Cause I doubt I'll get
To where I'm headed soon
Summer sent my heart back seasons
I hope by the fall I'll recall
Reasons why I'm right where I belong
Static is a losing game
What a shame to stay the same
And watch the world keep
begging me to change
The girl from last year died at the last midnight of December
Now I'm working up the nerve to finally pull the plug as well
Winter followed right from fall
Left me feeling awfully small
I'd put myself in silly situations
I spent that summer
Like a fool, in need of healing
Sitting weeks out on my porch
To understand what I’d been feeling
Christmas landed on a Wednesday
All I wanted was to
Make it through the week
Full-knowing we won’t speak
I committed to
Always offering you the time of day
I'm a lover not a fighter
And I've never known another way
I've committed to
Always offering you the time of day
In class they taught me reason
But my heart, it works another way
She's my favorite way to claim that not a day has passed
And not a thing has changed
Just like these songs I know won’t last
Them and her, to me, are just one and them same
So I'll keep writing
If you keep reading
You'll be the cloth that stops my rain-soaked ears from bleeding
Out the thoughts that I hold in
I think it’s far too late for you
You've heard these notes
You’re bleeding too
I promise next time, I'll do better
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8. |
A Better Man
04:01
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Tears in my eggs
Pressure's low
I can use the extra salt
I never did learn to grow up
I'll learn it from a better man than I
It's not his fault
When worlds come crumbling down
Us people lay in pieces on the ground
I'd walk these streets if I had to
To try and be my brother's glue
We sat on counter-tops like boys
And wished we hadn't seen our boy
Become a man
This way
Within the stairwell, picked me off the floor
And offered more than just
A laugh at broken shower heads,
A heart to heart, and makeshift beds
I've built a debt I can never pay
But how I wish I could today
He lyin’ seven feet away from me
But there's no distance I can see
Between us
I'd walk streets, you know it’s true
It’s just a thing that brothers do
I’d walk these streets if I had to
To try and be my brother’s glue
(Tears in my eggs
Pressure's low
I can use the extra salt
I never did learn to grow up)
I’m learning from a better man
Than I
A better man than I
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9. |
On the Corner
04:35
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Oh it was just a smile
That's all it took to do me in
I'll have to wait a while
Until I see her face again
Oh it was just a smile
One I'll carry all week through
Could I be in denial
For the past month or two?
She nearly made me stay
In this city one more day
I might find the words to say hello
But do not get me wrong
My heart's still not far along
I've got my smile, I think it's time to go
But I want to feel helpless again
I want to feel like my world's gonna end
If I don't see her in the window serving pastries
On the corner of Fourth and Garden
I'll be there when there's snow on the ground
I will not go when the sun's coming down
And you may wonder who this kid is
In the window, staring at you
writing rhymes in his mind
'bout a girl he's never met
Express train home, I'm on my way
Taller now than yesterday
And for a moment I'd forgotten I'm alone
She nearly made me stay
In this city one more day but
I can't find the nerve to say hello
I'm sure it won't last long
My heart's known less right than wrong
I've got my smile, I think it's time to go
But I want to feel helpless again
I want to feel like my world's gonna end
If I don't see her in the window serving pastries
On the corner of Fourth and Garden
I'll be there when there's snow on the ground
I will not go when the sun's coming down
And you may wonder who this kid is
In the window, staring at you
writing rhymes in his mind
'bout a girl he's never met
I'm on the corner yet again
I'm not sure that she was ever there at all
Cause ever since that day last fall
I haven’t seen the face
That draws me to my pastry place
Never could believe my eyes
They let my worried mind disguise
The world I see, to fill the holes inside me
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10. |
Give up on Me
03:15
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Where you going? How you been?
You know I found solace in that skin
So don't you just walk it away
It’s your fault I stand so tall
You built me up, and when I tried to fall
Back to the earth, you made me stay
So am I a fool for getting involved again?
To try and help you understand?
To poke holes in your superman?
I'm not who you've cracked me up to be
I'll never fill the scene you're painting
I don't resemble who you see
If we keep on walking down this road
It’ll get harder to break free
Baby give up on me, give up on me
(Oh oh oh oh)
You know it takes a lot for me
To claim I don’t live perfectly
But I’m begging that you’ll try and see my flaws
(I’ll save my pride for rainy days)
Cause it’s your fault I stand so tall
You built me up, and when I tried to fall
Back to the earth, you made me stay
So I'm just a fool who’s getting involved again
To try and help you understand
To prove that I'm no superman
I'm not who you've cracked me up to be
I'm not the man you think you see
Baby give up on me, give up on me
If you choose to curl up in my arms
I'm just afraid you won't stay warm
I've tried to warn you
I don't love her oh, but I'll be damned if I let her love another
Toxic thoughts you taught me, baby, from this love I'm sure I won't
Recover
Cause it's your fault I stand so tall
It’s your fault I stand so tall (x4)
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11. |
Boxes
03:01
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The photos in his window
The corners of my mind
The hope she keeps in boxes
The years we can’t rewind, the years we can’t rewind
And here’s to the moments you’re slightly uneasy
The low-level whisper, that just barely queasy
You’ve searched all your heartstrings, to find which need tuning
But none of them need tuning
The source of my compulsions
The patterns of the times
The friends I placed in boxes
I drew the hardest lines, I drew the hardest lines
You’re all the same with your stupid white sneakers
If only you’d kept your conscious as clean
If only you loved without falling apart at the seams
Go run along with your four-chorded music
Board the planes, chase down all your designer dreams
I’ll grow old painting scenes of blue
The lights, they came on far too soon
And I never quite was in the mood
To dance, with all these knockoff yous
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Tommy DiMeo Hoboken, New Jersey
Singer-songwriter based out of Hoboken, NJ, writing and performing acoustic music.
Check out my new
album, "Beyond My Showerhead"!
~~~~~~~~~~~
Living out a poor attempt at a John Mayer impression.
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