From the mists of his abyss Was this record begun When he has his last first kiss Then the record is done When he has his last first kiss Then the album will drop Soda Gun: Unrequited Bubbles syrup and pop

You’re just a face on zoom So why do I smell perfume And know somehow this meeting Will be fleeting I’m under quarantine I’ve got COVID-19 Or something in between They can’t tell me I want to go out tonight Please can we go out tonight Would you meet me if I asked We could both wear medical masks Or I would happily bask In your contagion Even if you only talked about work Or if you think I’m like kind of a jerk To see you even six feet away Would be an occasion I wanna stay in tonight Please can we stay in tonight Meet me alone In a bio-safety zone Looking so cute In that space suit Though the meeting was wonderfully slow Boss is fidgeting it’s time to go Only a few seconds left For a private message...

Maybe you can meet me halfway on on record store day on record store day Ten till eight it’s time to wait Outside the gate On record store day Ten till nine The boys in line All smell bovine On record store day Drinking coffee speaking softly You say Zoloft is your only friend Nine o’clock the doors unlock I want to talk but let it end Then we’re in to dig the bins And elbow chins of those in our way This one’s mine oh what a find it’s Neil Diamond Live at Pelican Bay I kinda get to feeling OK on record store day on record store day Three winters on With you long gone I stifle yawns On record Store Day Heavy Ax On purple wax With extra tracks Seems just OK So if you ghost me Or you post twee Photography of your Nick Drake I thought we’d stay friends at least okay friends But in the end you stay opaque So stoke the urge I shove and surge and spend and splurge on record store day A reissue Remember Miss You? do-do-do-do-do-do-do On Record Store Day Maybe I will see you someday on record store day on record store day

She’s a castle I’m a moat You’re an asshole In a boat You’re a hassle I won’t float you boy I’m gonna sink you Sink you Down to the Sand... You knights in shining armor sink so fast She’s nutrition You’re Iraq I’m a vicious Bomb attack Penicillin Won’t get past me boy I’m gonna Block you Bomb you Back to the past You knights in shining armor sink so fast In Havana She’s a song You’re a piano I’m a long Trade embargo I won’t float you through I won’t sign off on you I’m gonna hold you back Until you’re flat... You knights in shining armor sink so fast

Stephen Sloan was thinking of The biology of love He was citing Maturana off the cuff I don’t know about that stuff Maybe Varela isn’t enough To explain something like love to Stephen Sloan Stephen Sloan Stephen Sloan Won’t you let me off the phone I don’t wanna talk about cybernetics Stephen Sloan Stephen Sloan Stephen Sloan No I won’t throw you a bone ii don’t wanna talk about systems theory leave me alone Talk about sex talk about drugs Talk about books talk about bugs But enough about Heinz Von Foerster, you’re making me groan Talk about Tai talk about Chi Talk about you talk about me Anything but autopoesis Stephen Sloan Stephen Sloan was reading through The human use of hu- man beings, and god and golem, on a roll Machine and animal Communication and control Stole the heart and soul of Stephen Sloan Stephen Sloan Stephen Sloan Won’t you let me off the phone I don’t wanna talk about stafford beers with Stephen Sloan Stephen Sloan Stephen Sloan No I won’t throw you a bone I don’t wanna talk about open systems Leave me alone Talk about sex talk about drugs Talk about books talk about bugs But enough about Norbert Wiener You’re making me groan Talk about tai talk about chi Talk about you talk about me Anything but cybernetics Stephen Sloan Steve, dude When dying you concealed What I’m trying to reveal What I’m trying to reveal On the inside you’re a system On the outside we’re a system

His cat’s been gone For far too long Now he wanders round town like a drunk Calling her name La Maga! La Maga! La Maga! He called the pound Taped signs all around Now he’s crouching outside on your lawn shouting her name La Maga! La Maga! La Maga! White with black rings The sweetest thing Now he’s swinging from lamppost to lamppost singing her name La Maga! La Maga! La Maga!

She’s a wise owl In the neighborhood When she cries out It’s understood When she says who She sings to you Winter winds blow Snow to and fro There’s no more mice There’s only ice Her prey will hide Like hurt inside She calls for who is you I’m standing under the owl He’s an old oak He’s where it’s at With skin of bark And heart of sap When he gets high We’re talking sky Storms will drum His limbs will break The rains will run And make a lake Here comes the sun His leaves will bake And still he’ll ache for who Standing under the owl No one’s cutting him down I’ve just one wish Before I die To be a fish Or else to fly Or I won’t lie To fly with Who Standing under the owl No one’s cutting me down

All my life I wanted to be a wife All my days I wished them all away Now it’s late My prospects are not great I don’t care I’m putting it out there that My deadly looks Are unrequited My tasty hooks Are unrequited My searing riffs are unrequited My marble cliffs are unrequited My mellow sax is unrequited My Marshall stacks are unrequited My pretty face is unrequited My tasty bass is unrequited My string quartet is unrequited I’m hard to get, I’m unrequited My Vibroslap 2 is unrequited… My EMT 140 is unrequited My somewhere north of forty is unrequited My grit and mettle is unrequited My cool-ass pedal is unrequited My theremin is unrequited The hair I’m in is unrequited My Mellotron is unrequited With fuzz turned on it’s unrequited My gentle ways are unrequited I’m out of phase, I’m unrequited My personal pain is unrequited My outro refrain is unrequited Na na na na na na (8-minute fadeout)

There’s this website to help you find your mate After just one date You’ll know that it is fate See these selfies of single people whose Nightmares are coming true Staring back at you And it cuts. And you have no way of knowing If they’re nuts Except a tiny feeling in your guts Which gets quickly swept away If they just look okay Ample people who may be past their prime Who may be out of time If aging is a crime Easy features for swiping left and right It doesn’t feel right Doing that all night But you might. And you have no way of knowing If it works There’s just a small percentage Who aren’t jerks That you might swipe away If they don’t look okay It’s a dating site In a small town Swipe it all night Because they’re all going down You'll swipe left til there's nobody left To see you Oh no no no And then you have to be you Oh no no no You don't want to be you Then came someone who stood out from the rest Sailed through every test You knew you had been blessed Was this finally all that you deserved All you had been served Really well-preserved And you thought Our love is true Without a second thought She can't really speak English but she's hot And though you are swept away She really does look okay She lived barely an hour's drive away Soon would come the day That she would come to stay But to your frustration and dismay She travelled all the way To sunny Monterrey For her job. Of course I understand. No prob As long as I am still your one heartthrob Though I still don't know what you do I will just wait for you It’s a dating site In a small town But this feels right You can unplug it now Now that there is one person left To see you Oh no no no And you don't have to be you Oh no no no You don't want to be you First you got heartbroken but now you have been spoken for And will anybody ask how you got there? You think you hit bottom and might just have a problem But with her on your arm what would you care? You’ll defraud California Sit back and watch it burn Go on, cash that payout Hippies will never learn You’ll look so good together that everybody buys it Though does anybody know what it's made of You’ll look just like the couple that makes everybody jealous And circumscribe it all 'til it means love And defraud California Line by line on the government form For our future family And because their weather's so warm Sometimes the desolation is so cold and chaotic That your imagination becomes its own narcotic But your infatuation is so goddamn quixotic The whole confabulation now seems idiotic I guess maybe you could've seen the signs Read between the lines Seen the whole design If then maybe you could have seen right through Why would she love you? It makes sense just to you Till it doesn't And you have no way of knowing what it wasn't And what you might do that you really mustn’t If she was anything you thought Or just a wire fraud bot It’s a dating site In a small town You're turning you off You're taking you down You've ruled out having anyone left To see you Oh no no no And now you have to be you Oh no no no You have to be you

I been on my own too long With the same sad bastard song Friends I’m afraid would say I’m going weird Lying awake in bed Shaving my own head Thinking I might quit and grow a beard Talking to myself Rearrangin my bookshelf Getting lost alone inside my room Dad says to settle down To meet another clown And together we can have a happy doom I’ve never settled for anything less than Second-best Katie lift your light Katie raze the night Katie lift your light Katie shine the way Katie lift the day Katie shine the way I’m coming back online An organ at a time Lights are coming on behind my eyes I fired my last shrink So I could teach myself to think through twisted situations that arise Now I’m back alive Thinking I might thrive Now I’ve set my sights on something brighter In this world we’re shoved The lucky ones get loved The lonely ones can choose to be a writer I’ve never settled for anything less than Second-best Katie lift your light Katie raze the night Katie lift your light Katie shine the way Katie lift the day Katie shine the way

Once upon a time you had to Leave your auto just to make a Phone call When the frigid winter wind would Make you cry and strike your eyes like Snowballs If you're lucky you will have a Quarter And the payphone won't be out of Order Even then there's still the unfor- Seen They don't have an answering mach- Ine But now those dial tones have all Gone dead Your busy signal’s only in My head And though I may be blue A text message from you—it’ll do—it’ll have to— A text message from you—it’ll do. Now you step outside and gaze a- Bout you at the beautiful Greenery Everywhere are pretty people Having text with personal Machinery Everybody always where you Are You don't even have to leave your Car Though I love to touch you with my Mind I’d prefer that we were inter- Twined And all those voices have nothing To say Because you are so very far Away Though I’m in disarray A text message from you is okay (for today) A text message from you—it’ll do Alone I dream of you and me someday Together in a cabin far away From the nearest working cellphone tower A couch some candles and a heated shower We'll read each other books all day out loud Until the pink sun sinks behind the clouds And though that dream may seem peaceful and calm Now you’re just a number in my palm And though the rosy bright Extinguished evening light Has left me cold tonight A text message from you is all right (outa sight!) A text message from you’s shining bright (in the night) A text message from you—it’ll do

We had a rocky beach Some wine that tastes like peach And a great and shining lovely lake That is really not fake It is really a lake We have a cottage there In fact we have a pair Amid chrysanthemum hostas and pine It is really divine And if not there’s the wine Why don’t we swim to the horizon oh yeah Go buy that shirt you have your eyes on oh yeah We got bug spray if you got flies on oh yeah oh yeah You came up for the week Within five days you freaked Then you slashed and burned and cut and run You were really no fun You were coming undone Why can’t you admit You were losing it That you straight up lost your fucking shit You were throwing a fit You were losing your shit Why don’t you tell me bout your issues god damn Why don’t you share all your resentments god damn Why don’t you tell me bout our family god damn god damn I know you didn’t just do What I know that you did You were jerking the kid Heaven forbid What you already did You were smirking the kid You’ll never come down From the place that you hid After ghosting the kid You ain’t worth a quid When I say what you did When we’re toasting the kid The next day we drove Found a sandy cove Maybe there was some rain in the sky And a tear in my eye I got wet and then dry We found a place to dine They had blueberry wine We had ourselves a really decent time Over mussels and lime It was really just fine Driving back my pops made a mistake Drove the wrong way round the lake Enjoy the view we’re on a vac ok Now how you gonna get rid Of what can’t be undid After touching the kid Boundaries are set On his side of the net No more clutching the kid You’re a violent id Like a poisonous squid No more serving the kid The kid has done slid All the way off your grid After dissing the kid

Paul is volunteering Dirk has lost his hearing I need a band, man, I need a band I need a band, man, I need a band My songwriting should slay them Cuz I can’t afford to pay them I need a band, man, I need a band I need a band, man, I need a band And maybe I’ll swing my mic in my hand But probably I’ll just leave it there on the stand Man Hello Fresno! Kurt's at NPR and Kent sold his guitar and I need a band, man, I need a band I need a band, man, I need a band Guitar and drums and bass And my pretty face I need a band, man, I need a band I need a band, man, I need a band And maybe I’ll crowd surf and stage dive But probably I’ll just try to suirvive Right? We’re gonna break up again We’re gonna make up again We’re gonna sell out again We’re gonna shell out again We’re gonna get drunk again We’re gonna play funk again And then we’ll play the punk card And then we’ll be avant-garde Ethan’s ABD With his second PhD I need a band, man, I need a band I need a band, man, I need a band Katie’s in St. Paul And Joe is at the mall I need a band, man, I need a band I need a band, man, I need a band And maybe I’ll swing my mike by its cord But probably I’ll just try to find the right chord Testing? Hello Tokyo! Maybe writing songs Will help right all my wrongs