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We Have The Technology

by Protest Kids

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1.
When the cupboard’s dry So am I So I keep a secret stash from prying eyes I hope they never see me fall So I sit or stand close to a wall Or at least I hope they never catch my lying down The TV tells me everything’s fine And it’s okay if I don’t make my bed Looking out my window at the vodka sunset Hoping I sleep tonight When the doorbell or phone intrude On whatever it is that I do It recalls some time and place that I once knew But they’re never gonna see my fall Because I’ll get on my knees and crawl At least I hope they’ll never catch me hiding from their sound I think I started too soon I started too soon Looking out my window at the vodka moon Hoping I sleep tonight Shuffling through fragmented scenes From yesterday or was it last week? And does it even matter now? The time comes to open my eyes And I realize they are already wide And it looks like it’ll be another vodka sunrise
2.
We have much to discuss about all the new things I know We have much to discuss about all the things that I learned so long ago But have you seen? In the papers and on TV? They’re talking about you And not about me It’s like they don’t even know We have much to discuss about what you did while I went unseen But not really gone but not really here but how could that be? I’ve got a hunch And it’s probably right That there’s more to the story than I woke up tonight And it was all a dream We have much to discuss We have much to discuss about politics, religion, and history Much to discuss about what makes you you and what makes me me Well we can chat all you want When indeed we have time But right now we don’t So look me in the eye And do as I plead We have much to discuss Sometimes it seems Like the structure of the world Reveals itself all around me as I explore and observe I turn my head The universe unfurls Each nanosecond that passes my eyes can’t explain but by brain just gives it a whirl We have much to discuss about your new diagnosis That the doctors in lab coats read from their lab notes while holding their noses I don’t know If I can do this anymore The lines get so blurred sometimes That I can’t see where the wall meets the floor We have much to discuss Sometimes it seems Like the structure of the world Creates itself all around me as I explore and observe I turn my head The universe unfurls Each and every moment my peripheral vision can’t explain Because everything has changed So fast my eyes can’t sustain But my curious brain Just gives it a whirl
3.
She Was Real 04:09
He decided at the age of sixteen This isn’t any contest anyway he’s no beauty queen He lived alone with his mom And a deaf old cat named Major Tom She decided at about the same time Living without reason don’t mean she can’t live with a rhyme She lived alone in the winter in his head With a new hair-do and a summer dress And then they met Late one night with his mom and cat fast asleep Staring at the ceiling of his bedroom counting sheep A damsel in distress in a castle keep That’s when he heard her name for the first time Her voice a whisper in the wind in the moonlight And it felt like the call was coming from inside In the middle of the night He felt his room falling out of reach She touched the walls While he slept through a dreamless rest She didn’t know he was there He didn’t know she was real She was real He woke up with his whole world caving in Saw her shadow on the wall like a phantom limb His grasp on reality wearing thin That’s when he sensed her presence in the real world He was never a boy she was always a girl She embraced the things he denied In the middle of the night
4.
Amazed 02:10 video
Why aren’t you amazed to be a part of this game? Because I’ve been feeling amazed that you don’t feel the same And while everybody else in the world seems at peace with their places Oh darling, you feel ashamed I’ll admit I get afraid when I open the gate And start mucking around in some other place While everybody else in the world walks around in their dazes Oh darling, I am amazed
5.
"Let her” That's what I said to the guard Regarding the widow and her money I’m her debtor She’s gonna finally see the view she bought me From this 18th floor penthouse suite Where the Detroit skyline Flips me off every night And I return the sentiment Better A better bettor would have cashed out And fled for the Gulf Coast But my sweaters Have retained Most Favored Status Right here in my top dresser drawer Where they share the antique air With some cocaine and cab fare And a revolver loaded with a prayer And a handwritten letter care of The widow and her money Years of confusion and running around I kind of fell asleep within until reawakened by my sins "I think that you've been found sir The widow she is down here. Should I let her in?" And you know what I said? "Let her" The Detroit skyline Has been witness to all my crime And I can feel its steely eye As for the first and last time I greet the widow and her money
6.
They can melt these ice caps They can dig new valleys Terraform the whole planet But they won’t change me I can hide but I can’t flee I don’t have the technology They can build themselves a palace Fill it with friends and family They can start collecting taxes But they’ll never tax me I can hide but I can’t see Any way out of this for me Oh we were happy to go We arrived with the 3rd Wave full of loneliness and hope Oh but what do you know Instead of building something better the 1st Wave took control Same shit, different planet
7.
On Your Mind 02:21
I was standing in the grocery line When I noticed that I caught your eye Now I’m on your mind Now no matter where you’ll be You’ll always think of me I’ll be on your mind All the time All the time I'll be on your mind You'll be sitting at the desk at your job Crunching numbers and ignoring Bob And I'll be on your mind Or maybe setting the table for dinner Buttering the bread for your bread winner And I'll be on your mind All the time All the time I'll be on your mind
8.
If I was born in a concocted town built by imaginary men If my imaginary friends were the only ones I could depend on If they didn’t want to hurt me but that is what they did Would I have run away and hid To find a boy can’t run from his imagination? Imagine the frustration If I was born in New Orleans instead of just passing through If I hadn’t met that dude who told me I could make a quick buck or two If I made it up to Michigan like everybody expected Would I have run away and hid? Because a man can run from the shit that really happens But I never made it back to the bus station Imagine the frustration I finally find a little piece of mind And now I can go anywhere but I can’t go home If I showed up on your doorstep acting like I didn’t care A rye smile on my face and dirty hair Would you offer up your guest room? It could be like my own place The truth is even if I could come home I wouldn’t want to stay Imagine the frustration I finally find one little piece of mind Now I can go anywhere but I can’t go home
9.
Joy 05:35
Joy looks down At the milk on the ground Like the rest of this junk She knows I won’t clean it up I’ll be sitting around Gene Autry’s voice will be the only sound Coming from some ancient cassette From God knows when Joy picks her book up off the floor Blows me a kiss And walks to the door Joy I’m no clown And I can hear how you pray In hush hush tones To keep the Devil at bay I’ve got a bottle and a frown And if you leave again today I’m turning one upside-down And the other one will stay You remind me of my dad A little less smart perhaps But a lot less sad Joy still rides her bicycle With rusty wheels and broken spokes As if there’s someone out there worth talking to When Joy is gone I might as well Let this whole place go to hell Her little book no longer gets me through ‘Cause not a word of it was true Joy knew no bounds When she came home to stay It was a beautiful day But I said things that I can’t unsay Then word came down That it was time to evacuate But we stood our ground In this evacuated state There’s no more cars on the road But Joy still takes the bike path Everywhere she goes Joy still rides her bicycle With rusty wheels and broken spokes As if there’s someone out there worth talking to When Joy is gone I might as well Let this whole place go to hell Her little book no longer gets me through ‘Cause not a word of it was true Joy still rides her bicycle With rusty wheels and broken spokes As if there’s someone out there worth talking to When Joy is gone I might as well Let this whole place burn in hell Her little book no longer gets me through ‘Cause not a word of it was true Joy looks down at the milk on the ground And she starts to laugh
10.
The first time that I talked to you I told you to get your friends and the fuck out of my house I motioned to my sister passed out on the couch And I could tell by your face you thought "this little kid's no slouch" And you got the fuck out Little did I know then You would end up being my brother and my friend Not that we didn't fight because God knows we did We fought about everything from religion and politics Ooooh To nuclear physics It’s true Who was the best with chopsticks Not you But one thing we never fought about was music The last time that I talked to you Your only concern was what I was gonna do About my broken heart even though you had one too Now that you're gone I wish that we could argue Or just talk about music I wanna talk about music

about

We Have The Technology

credits

released November 24, 2018

All music: John Brownell and Protest Kids
All words: John Brownell except She Was Real by John Brownell and Flora Elizabeth Brownell

All songs recorded, mixed and mastered by John in his basement

Album art and design by Donna Brownell (brownelldesign.com)
Photo by Amy Donovan (amydonovanphotography.com)

Protest Kids are:
John Brownell: guitars, vocals, keys, computers
Ryan Farley: guitars, vocals
Dan Strachan: drums, vocals
John Fleming: basses

protestkids.com

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Protest Kids Missoula, montana

Former members of Secret Powers and Oblio Joes.

Origin story here: www.facebook.com/protestkids/posts/1472024756151353

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