KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE

TRACK LISTING

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BOOKMARKS
KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE
GARDEN OF THE ANGELS
GHOSTS
THE COMEBACK HOME
BURN THIS WHOLE PLACE DOWN
IN THE CORNER (FEAT. KINETICS)
ITHACA IS GORGEOUS
LANDMARKS (FEAT. REGINA ZAREMBA)
LONELY MEXICO (FEAT. AIDAN COOPER)
WELCOME TO THE CROSSROADS

BOOKMARKS

Written/performed by Dylan Owen
Music by Dylan Owen & Skinny Atlas
Produced by Skinny Atlas, Bass guitar by Joe Owen
Inspired by continuing the story, through good times and bad.

Dear present time
This is it
To all my soul searchers
And my grave diggers
Bury that shit
For the signatures of the unknown subway writers
And for anybody who’s got good cigarette karma
Pass it on
This one’s for my camp counselors
Who taught me how to properly tell ghost stories
Because I feel like
I’ve been talking about my ghosts a lot lately
And this one’s for my material friends
I hope that I can feel you again
This one’s for anybody
Who woke up without a feeling or a sense of home
And hates being alone
Honestly I know how hard it can be
To find yourself when you’re lost
And I mean that
Seriously
This one’s for my teachers
Who made me write a book report about the story of my life
Because if I hadn’t done that assignment
Then I might not know how to express myself
And at times like these
Expressing myself is all I got

It’s all in my pen
Our bookmarks bend
And I don’t know when
Our story will end
It’s all in my pen
Our bookmarks bend
And so this one is for my friends

Around the same time a fake doctor cured me of my Senioritis
I thought forever would be gone too soon
Until we leaned into a breeze that we agreed
Was a leap into something deeper
Barely breathing on the floor of my room
Get your umbrellas out
Because it’s Breakup Season
And for a bunch of long weekends
It was all that I knew
Familiar ground kicked off of my shoes
Said the mornings are hard
When waking up’s not a cause for alarm
I wrote it off saying
You are my favorite miracle
I’ll hold your head up when these times get terrible
But I know I don’t have to give my prayers to you
Because I know we’ll make it through whatever happens
Head caught up in a loss from a different day
We all have memories we wish we could eliminate
But I’ll be fighting give or take
Flip my life upside down trying to reciprocate
Die for your dreams you won’t even feel it
Yeah and smile for the little things below
Saying climb up those trees until you’re comfortable leaving
And when you leave be sure to let it all go
Saying I don’t know why
Why
Why
This got to my mind
Mind
Mind
Just another goodbye
Bye
Bye
Ends a story we wrote.

KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE

Written/performed by Dylan Owen
Music by Skinny Atlas
Produced by Skinny Atlas
Guitar by Joe Owen
Keep Your Friends Close, 2012
Inspired by the coldest breakup season of my life

Let us go forward together
Safe in a memory, a highway passing me by
If we ever get off track for a minute then
Promise me you won’t forget how we spent half of our lives
No one’s gonna love you more than I do
Even if it means we’ve gotta go our separate ways after a while
I learned to keep my friends close through hard times
I’ll always back you up like external hard drives

Sipping bottles up on North Church, watching the cars slide
In snowy little Goshen, our lives
Can only be defined and redefined through all these cycles we’re assigned
And our experiences are marks tied to everything we leave behind
I’m looking for a reason I can’t seem to find
I guess that people change, and I guess that even I’ve learned a lesson
To keep your friends close, and keep your better your better friends closer
Yeah, that’s right, believe it
I’ve been trying to say goodbye to this ghost town
‘Cause this is how I cope, these are all the sad thoughts I said that I wish I wrote down
I disappeared the moment that she left, I almost broke down
Invisible, thank god for Ghost, I know I’m not alone
This is my first journal entry in a long time, a real enlightenment
It’s been a year and a half since I didn’t feel like writing
Afraid to document the feelings that evoke
Well if you wanna change my life, I won’t

I keep my friends close
I keep my friends close
And keep my better friends closer

And she was the last remaining fixture of my childhood
Going, going, gone miles away
If I could choose between moving forward or believing in my sandlot blues
I’d pick my head up, and I’d stand on proof
‘Cause I know the neighborhood kids got love like no others
And I know the happiest part of my life was with each other
And I know she left my heart in pieces, and smiles wrinkle,
But I’m here to make the wrinkles smile, a lead on what we suffered
‘Cause I’ve been trying to say goodbye to this ghost town in my heart
I walk alone but never hold my nose down, try hard
The simple things are different when they’re changing
And this town looks so goddamn pretty when it’s raining
Yeah, remember how we found ourselves the next day?
A real enlightenment
Remember how we shared our guts?
We didn’t feel like writing
Now I’m afraid that I’m afraid to let it go
Well if you wanna change my life, I won’t

I keep my friends close
I keep my friends close
And keep my better friends closer

GARDEN OF THE ANGELS

Written/performed by Dylan Owen
Music by Skinny Atlas
Produced by Skinny Atlas
Keep Your Friends Close, 2012
Inspired by my favorite distant Stranger.

When we meet again we will not be strangers
Just old souls trying to find ourselves in the dust
So when we meet again we will not be strangers
In the garden of the angels of above
I will take you home to me.

When we meet again we will not be strangers
Past divided lives of our state lines that got forsaken
Never thought we’d fall asleep without retainers
In the mountains it was raining now we’re nowhere in our love
I wanna lower the above, tear heaven down, and put it in your backyard
Build the two of us a family, safe from all the bad parts,
Try to forget there were dates when we ended affection
Put an O after that X and say I neglected to mention:

You were on my mind of all this time, packed my bags for education
And lost you somewhere in your Next to Normal explanation
Wrote the Book Report, using your paper and pencil
Never thought I’d see New York as far away until I met you
Now I’m overcome by Ralph perfume, airplanes and routes confused
With why we can’t proceed with seeing how this garden’s flowers bloom
It took me eight weeks just to not doubt the news--
I suppose that we just see things from a different altitude.

And in the garden of the gods, if that peony dies,
Then I hope that we can push up daisies side by side
Because I know that things are better when you’re by my side
Yeah I know everything is better when you’re by my side
And like the Columbines, this is where the Wild Things grow wild
You don’t have the guts to let them grow inside ya
One day when I’m a rock star, and you’re a Rockette,
I hope that shiny crown around your neck will not have dropped yet.

So,
When we meet again we will not be strangers
Just old souls trying to find ourselves in the dust
So when we meet again we will not be strangers
In the garden of the angels of above
I will take you home to me.
When we meet again we will not be strangers
Just old souls trying to find ourselves if in love
Then when we meet again we will not be strangers
In the garden of the angels of above
I will take you home to me.

I’m madly in love with you—but six words is not enough
To illustrate the dawn’s beauty when the lawn lit up
Crawl into your fort, shred every map that keeps us separated
Starting with the one from history class from that tape
I carry with me cancer’s connotation, so I’d never say that word
And I know extra vowels on the end of his name won’t make the burn subside
But if you try to abide to what makes it hurt
And just embrace it, then we’ll conquer this
C’mon, we’ll make it work

In the garden of the gods, if that peony dies
Then I hope that we can push up daisies side by side
When you unplugged the technology that rules our lives
You therefore chose to cut off the electricity that fuels our fire
And I know everything is better when you’re by my side
I’m happy king of our once fake empire
I will take you home, I am your designated driver
Singing, “You and I” when six separated states divide us
Hold our breath and close our eyes.

GHOSTS

Written/performed by Dylan Owen
Music by Skinny Atlas
Produced by Skinny Atlas
Bass guitar by Joe Owen
Keep Your Friends Close, 2012
Inspired by a perfect drive home from an unforgettable show, and learning to let go of those things that haunt you, no matter how terrifying that may be.

I got ghosts

Yeah, and
This is not the scenic route
Close your eyes let me show you what I dream about
We fell asleep upon the ride home
To the raindrops and stereo and my phone buzzin’
But I had never heard a sweeter sound
Than all your cluttered thoughts slowly almost leaking out
Like we could do this with our eyes closed
As I listened to you try to hit the high notes
I said “It’s a simple thing that I’m thinking upon
Yes, I’ve been prickled, but I’m soon to be figuring out”
In a different time zone
Watching the fireflies fly
I’m always far away
From where my mind goes by you
Put a mountain in my way and I could climb that
Or put an ocean in my way and I could dive right through it
It’s funny how we stand unchanged in plans unmade
I’ve always been a runaway but can’t complain
Because

Yeah and this is not the scenic route
Just a tragedy away
So put your grievance out
Until we’ve fought off all our goddamn ghosts
I’m sorry that we got that close (That we got that close)
Yeah and this is not the scenic route
Just a tragedy away
So put your grievance out
Until we’ve fought off all our goddamn ghosts
I’m sorry that we got that close (Yeah and I got ghosts)

I got ghosts
I got ghosts
I’m sorry that we got that close

Take my weathered hands and feel me reaching out
As if the heavy of life is gonna even out
She said “I’m sorry, but I’m leaving now”
They said “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but I’m leaving now”
There’s too much shit that we don’t speak about, awkward silence
Oftentimes I’ve been talking to my waterline trying to make my demons drown
If things have changed since that ride home
Then we’re an accident away from being fine,
So
I think it’s funny how we never hit the high road
Somebody get something or run
Like they called the Five-0, die slow, or
Pose up on this sunset town
‘Cause only gravity can hold all of our upsets down
We could climb up to your rooftop
Our young chests pound
About to levitate and everything will come back around
I been
Waiting a lifetime to touch that ground
So if I burned this bridge, would you jump that, now?

Yeah and this is not the scenic route
Yeah and this is not the scenic route
So if you’re getting sick of leaving,
Or even repeating weaving a seam to the people who seem to be cold
Yeah I know that you have fevers and sleep with your secrets
Seeking a seal for the ceiling right before it falls on us both
I believe in leaving demons, bereaving a reason
We could only see those deepened seeds and that they needed to grow.
Most emcees these days spit promotional rhymes
Is it wrong that I’m in touch with my emotional side?
As a kid I used to wonder where the ocean would die
And if there’s anybody like me hoping on the other side.
Now I’m just broken enough to evoke emotion in both of us
Open and spoken and totaled in lines
I’m gonna write things off when I go to revise
Nobody’s ghost is colder than mine
Despite the old jokes and life lessons that we’ll hopefully find
Years down the road honestly that’s totally fine
But in your mailbox an envelope will open your eyes
Keep your friends close, I’ll always with mine

I got ghosts
I got ghosts
I got ghosts

She said “I’m sorry, but I’m leaving now”
They said “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but I’m leaving now”

THE COMEBACK HOME

Written/performed by Dylan Owen
Produced by DJ Grumble
Inspired by my travels during various changing phases of my life, and the longing to see good times come back around.

We fell in love on the phone
In the funniest tone
Now it’s a struggle try to trouble you to come back home
I’ve been here for a while look how much of it’s grown
Gotta glorify a story that nobody has told
This is life in real time, in life I’ve realized, that lightning’s gonna strike if you don’t cover your toes
Dignified, victimized, different lives, signifying
They were lying when they told you that nobody’s alone
‘Cause I’m alone in this fort we built
Still holding on to your bones, tell your corpse be still
All the songs I compose with the force we willed
Shows every bridge that we burn, we of course rebuild
Off course, rebuild
Upon that secret hand-holding technique
Mark it on the calendar with a plan you hope for next week
I thought that it was perfect when I said those lines
Adding hours to my life out on west coast time
It’s the comeback, the comeback, the comeback home
I’m saying please wont you come back home
Because I’m sick of throwing rocks at your window writing comeback poems
And saying please wont you come back home
Yeah despite all my travels I have come back home
So despite all your travels won’t you come back home
Won’t you come back just come back just come back just come back home
It’s the comeback
The comeback home

I’ve made a few mistakes but Ill be using them to pave my roads
As if sleeping with a catholic girl could save my soul
As if the weight of all these heavy things could break my bones
I try to shed my old skin and change my clothes
Put up my hood and hold the moment in passing
Me and LuLu from Denver talk music put our Souls into Action
I keep a shiny metal bullet in my pocket that says “DJ Grumble”
We gon’ blow up at any second bro, but we stay humble
And I’m recounting my measure of miles
Dad said to always leave a dear friend with a smile
But as I walk on, my shoes, remind me of me
My soul’s worn down but my tongue still speaks
Check it
Shoutout to Miah from Seattle got a tattoo of my lyrics on her shoulder blades
This one’s a toast to the roads that we’ll always take
And for a stranger to carry my burden on her back is something that time won’t erase
Until our ghosts’ll fade
Just gotta come home just come home just come home someday

It’s the comeback the comeback the comeback home
I’m saying please won’t you come back just come back just come back home
I take a step into the sun from this black room
My name is Dylan and there’s blood on my tracks too
Cover the path I carved if we’re gonna be gone this late
And put my pen in the middle just to compensate
Get it?
I swear to God that this is not my fate
Lost looking for a commonplace
We said goodbye on the phone
In the loveliest tone
Now it’s a struggle try to juggle this puzzle alone
It isn’t light like the candle kind
And when we think about life we don’t plan to die
But when we think about lights we all plan to shine
Keep in mind, we all gon’ grow up like dandelions
Or Amanda Bynes
This is the comeback, the comeback home
I’m saying please won’t you come back home
Because I’m sick of writing all these fucking songs about you
Come back home
I’m sick of looking at our picture
Won’t you come back home?
I’m sick of thinking bout you all the time
Come back home
I’m sick of sleeping alone
Won’t you come back, just come back home?
It’s the comeback, the comeback home,
It’s the comeback, the comeback, the comeback,
The come back home.

And so in the end, we end up right where we started
You gotta keep your friends close ‘cause it’s hard when they’re far away

BURN THIS WHOLE PLACE DOWN

Written/performed by Dylan Owen
Produced by Kose
Additional vocals by Ashworth, Grace Kelly, & Doug Schadt
Inspired by the strength of writing.

This paper is my bible, this pen in my hand
I used to pray for my survival now I'm sketching my plans
And if it's safe to say my savior is this notebook, I level my stance
I'm sending twenty six letters with stamps
I understand you've have a better fate, forget it, get it, go and get your center straight
I'm getting straight with my demons, watch me demonstrate
I've never been afraid of having fears
I know this life can put a Slug in you like Atmosphere
But now I'm
Hiking home with a microphone
Trapped as a widower enlight my soul
At night alone
I would like to fight the fight's bite
But it's bitter when I write my poems
Born and raised awake
Poorly fade away
Snore the day away
Sorely lay awake
Nights I know
What a better way to betterment I better get a better fate or write my own
This is the answer key
Don't let it tear apart
Drumbeat up meet up with me
On an upbeat of my failing heart beat
But never let them tell you not to carry on
I've got one question all I need's an answer and I'm gone

This song is my scripture
It flows through my veins
With every single note's fluctuation holding me
My only escape
I'm painting
With my religion prophesized on a tape deck
My explanation for how and why this makes sense
Life goes by fast, break necks
Like we did as children
Change swept
Divorce came
Names kept
Another new neighbor came and went, you can take my clothes
But you will never break my bones
I focus, write it off, of my self perception
Handle a little bit of pain if I can just channel it into my self expression
Hate how we say goodbye, for the first time I had felt depression
I'm gonna spill my heart out
I'll go to hell confessing
Everything
The sidewalk has cracks I learned
That every one will tell a story like a raconteur
So if you chase me, try to capture my passion before it bursts
You can start your own fire, you don't have to burn

Burn this whole place down.

If I can start my own fire
I won't have to burn
Who says I can't take this whole place down?

IN THE CORNER (FEAT. KINETICS)

Written/performed by Dylan Owen & Kinetics
Produced by Skinny Atlas
Guitar by Joe Owen
Keep Your Friends Close, 2012
Inspired by being in the middle of tension, and holding on to what has already gone away.

[Dylan]:

In the middle with a plan in mind
I’ve got a riddle with a bit of what I stand behind
I’ve gotta hit em with a venom that I can’t define
Handle our silence and pantomime
Because you can’t stop me
Don’t ever believe that you can fight with a weapon of peace
Moving on with a scarred face
Caught between a rock and a hard place,
I’m back for the edit, shot, snap, and get it
Don’t stop, got energy a lot like kinetics’
Friends aren’t friends for the cameraman
If they bend at the end like an ampersand
I’m in the middle with a floating wish I carry
You would think I spoke to visionaries
As a kid I was dope at Pictionary
Everything that I wrote epistolary
Now I sing with the quotes that I bring with my flow
Everything I’m supposed to list is heavy
Spread the word like a pope or missionary
Get it heard, always bones to pick or bury
Little kids think I wrote the dictionary
Anyway to cope, I coast, and I paid my time
Burned my alarm clock days gone by
Tattooed the page an ink stain on mine, so
New face rap game incomer
Gonna wait till it’s right till I bite this sucker
I stayed up all night every night this summer
‘Cause I’ve only got one love like Tim Sommers,
Thank god for my OCD
Double time touch twice with a flow so free
In the middle where our ghosts gon’ be
I’m letting go of what we both don’t need
I wont ever let this drag me down
In the middle with a hope so hollow
Long days on this road don’t follow me
In the middle with a hope so hollow
Cannot break what I say don’t bottle me
Yeah I pack my bags, I pack my bags and I go

[Kinetics]:

Now, why you gotta be so proud?
Why you always wanna keep me down?
Take a bow, let them tears pour
Maybe then you'll think of before
Before you bit that apple
Left with your stomach full
And before we grew so far
And dangerously comfortable
Way before these strangers
And the anger that we're holdin' back
Way before we blocked our numbers
And deleted photographs
There was a time
When I felt like I wasn't up in the middle
Of a wasteland
'Cause you moved on, and I moved on
But we still sing the same old song
I read that music off my phone
But with you I still do not know where I stand
Right in the middle? Right on the border?
I know that I still have a place in your memory
Even if it is just a piece of the corner
Yup yup, yeah, what a tough task
To uh, just laugh at a roughed up past
But I thus must ask, does love last?
Fuck that, fuck fast, puff puff pass
Pass it now
Go ahead, don't be saddened now
Let it go, or you're never gonna know
If it loves you enough to come back around
I'll pack my bags today
Tell my girl that we have to break
If the middle's where I have to stay
Then I guess that's a chance that I have to take
In the middle with a hope so hollow
Long days on this road don’t follow me
In the middle with a hope so hollow
Cannot break what I say don’t bottle me
Yeah I pack my bags, I pack my bags and I go

ITHACA IS GORGEOUS

Written/performed by Dylan Owen
Music by Dylan Owen, Devin Arne, & Skinny Atlas
Produced by Skinny Atlas & Devin Arne
Strings by Gabe Valle, Deirdre DeStefano, Nicole Frederick, & Jessica Spencer
Guitar by Joe Owen & Devin Arne
Additional vocals/piano by Aidan Cooper

Inspired by the best freshman year of college I could have asked for. Love you guys.

I did a year in the Ivy League
But I don’t know where I’m from, ‘cause every time I’m in love, I decide to leave
There’s a compass that I keep inside of me
And its destination is pointing to a destiny I might not reach
They’ll write a story ‘bout our novelty
Up on the hillside below the horizon where the sun shines free
Yeah I’ve never been a settler but oh my god how I miss my colony
Carry me on

This past year’s a mystery
I’m surprised it didn’t finish me off
‘Cause I learned all about history
And psychology of course
But I could never wait to see the planes fly
With a half-empty glass, I raised mine
A toast to the hope we’d been waiting to find
I would never burn a bridge so gorgeous ain’t go lie
I said I’m too tired of this constantly changing
And I think about my old home, it’s probably raining
Am I freer? Surfacing cleaner than IKEA?
Hence your name, knew you’d understand why I had to fly, Kia
I’ve been around the world and back got no scars
For all the friends I’m not close with, postcards
I don’t think I’m comfortable dormant
Well that’s barely a necessity at one in the morning
I woke up on back to an English girl asking
If she would like my words as much without my New York accent
I don’t know, I get home, for a second then I go
And lock eyes with some strangers I’ll never get to know
Saying

I don’t sleep I don’t sleep I don’t sleep
I don’t sleep I don’t sleep I don’t sleep
I know we’re alone for the minute but no matter how we finish this’ll always be a home for me
In a circle I found it then
That this life is gonna bring us around again
So no matter what you say I won’t be
I won’t leave, I won’t leave, I won’t leave
Carry me on

I pressed eject on my memory card
Took the camera with me, if I ever see dark
I’ll flash right back to you wherever we are
Because our separate sediments settled, veteran hearts
I’ve been to the center of the world
Yeah I’ve been to the center of the world
I’ve been to the center of the world
And it’s just a hard core
Like heavy guitars
I’m saying I don’t wanna know right know
Feeling so locked down
Looking up, tracing heaven in stars
I rode my lane until I broke my pain
We were camping out frozen on the beach, you didn’t know my name
It’d been a while since I shook my fate
He dressed like Kanye but he looked like Drake
I was learning how to balance
Steady on the longboard
Watching my roommate draw Becky from the warm shore
We took the car down to Buttermilk Falls
At midnight, the water wasn’t that cold at all
But I didn’t jump in, you know why?
Because it would have been a while till my soul dried

They say that Ithaca is Fences now
And ever since they put them up none of us are getting out
They say that Ithaca is Fences now
And ever since they put them up none of us are getting out
They say that Ithaca is Fences now
And ever since they put them up none of us are getting out
Well take it from me, ‘cause I’m on my way,
This’ll always look gorgeous from so far away.

LANDMARKS (FEAT. REGINA ZAREMBA)

Written by Dylan Owen
Performed by Dylan Owen & Regina Zaremba
Music by Dylan Owen, Produced by Skinny Atlas
Strings by Gabe Valle, Deirdre DeStefano, Nicole Frederick, & Jessica Spencer
Guitar by Devin Arne
Inspired by new friends, and the wild hunt for a place called home.

[Dylan & Regina]:

I want you to be my landmark
Go on and guide me home
I’ve been lost long for miles ago
If we get landlocked, then our tired souls
Won’t sail away
Before we’re gone.

[Dylan]:

If we’ve all moved on
By the time summer’s gone
Then I might have to rewrite this story in my palms
The wind was blowing calm then I settled and it shook me, but I paid no mind
Stay awake until the day goes quiet
I spent the rest of the weekend getting high off old photographs
Burning those memories that hold us back
Somewhere in our plotline
We were on a folded path
I had not forgotten
I’m the loneliest kind
And I just don’t know
Why
This cold has gotta go to my mind
The world is so big
But it feels so small
When I try to fit my soul inside

[Dylan & Regina]:

If we’re not dead by the time summer ends
Then I might have to rewrite my story again
I saw it from a window in a city where they race their lives
Wait forever let the days tear by
I’ve got a bad habit of holding onto what has finished
When I came back from college all my friends smoked cigarettes
And I was just to packing my things too soon
Yeah you can’t control the roads you choose
But perhaps we could pretend all our scars are invisible tattoos
And decorate our bodies with the bad things we’ve been through
I knew we could make it on the ride home
From the concert with the lights along the silos

[Dylan]:

Yeah and if we don’t die then it’s probably not our time
So I might have to rewrite this chapter in our lives
It took a lot out of me I hadn’t been home
It’s cliché but the winter of this past year was cold
Yeah I’m only nineteen but my mind is older
And when things got for real my warm heart turned colder
Now the future’s in an emptiness, a place called mine
I can mark but can’t erase those times
Sick of
One too many months spent living in the darkness
One too many friends gone lifted on their starships
All of us dependent on some wish upon a star shit
Just like you I’ve been writing just to lift us through a hardship

[Dylan & Regina]:

It’s something that I’ve got in my bones
I said I’m more than a skeleton I honestly know
That if this life might swallow me whole
Then I’ll be hungry for somebody to believe in me
Is it ironic that the loneliness is eating me?
I don’t think I’ll pay no mind
Keep your warm heart closer than the rays that light your way
Saying
If we’re not dead by the time summer ends
Then I might have to rewrite my story in pen
And I
I just don’t know why
Just don’t know just don’t know just don’t know
Why
This world is so big
But it feels so small
When we go to fit our souls inside

[Dylan & Regina]:

I want you to be my landmark
Go on and guide me home (Guide me home)
I’ve been lost long for miles ago (All on my own)
If we get landlocked then, our tired souls
Won’t sail away
Before we’re gone.
I want you to be my landmark
Go on and guide me home (Guide me home)
I’ve been lost long for miles ago (All on my own)
If we get landlocked then, our tired souls
Won’t sail away
Before we’re gone.

LONELY MEXICO (FEAT. AIDAN COOPER)

Written/performed by Dylan Owen & Aidan Cooper
Music by Aidan Cooper & Skinny Atlas
Produced by Skinny Atlas
Keep Your Friends Close, 2012
Inspired by the loneliest place I’ve ever been.

[Aidan]:

I saw lonely faces
Going to lonelier places
I saw people just walking to their death
And if you came looking for God
Then you’re shit out of luck
But the Devil’s just sitting over there
And he’s got a lifetime of pain
Hell you are one in the same
So go on and march with him tonight
And he’ll say,
“Stay here, soul”
You’ll stay there awhile
He’ll say,
“Stay here, soul”
You’ll stay there awhile
Alone in Mexico
Alone in Mexico

[Dylan]:

The lonelier the highway, the prettier the view
But the sooner I will paint my ocean blue
Yeah it’s funny how we all are constantly in limbo
Win or lose ‘cause if you fall
You’re bound to learn a thing or two
I’ve always been a traveler
A backpack and dusty mirror kind of kid
Shoulder centric hoping heaven takes him type of shit
Broken necked and motel checked-in no perspective type of wishing
Holds his lessons close as measuring this distance
Don’t regret it
I put on for my small town-city
Saying God’s gonna forgive you if you fall down with me
Sort it out
I wish I didn’t miss your calls now literally
Fault found
All out
Falling take these
Walls down with me
Both of us are different now
Heavier than calmer stages
We could dig our graves together
Bury this in conversation
Waste away our days together
Weather this on rocks of patience
Overcome geography in case I get to
See you again
If I don’t see you again
If I don’t see you again
If I don’t see you again
If I don’t see you again I’ll pack my bags
Write a letter to my friends
Pretend I never wrote an album bout you, this is how it ends
So yeah the lonelier the highway, the prettier the view
And the sooner I won’t be alone with you
We used to swing dance in kitchens,
And kiss at red lights
But now there’s no sense in writing
Down the things we used to do
I swear to God I wanna erase what you’ve been through make a point using my pencil put my sneaker through your window
If we cannot see this through
But if I see your pretty face again, I’ll lay you down in rose
I’ll remove your newest tattoos and I’ll take off all your clothes
I am sixty-five, squinting out of wrinkled eyes, I hope
I don’t identify the best of times as dead inside my soul
I’ve always been a traveler, a dusty sneaker kind kid
A battlefield lover and a tourist to your lips
But when something magic we love dies or fuses into mist
You’ll be the cutest number on my bucket list
I hope I see you again
I hope I see you again
Until I see you again.

[Aidan]:

The lonelier the highway, the prettier the view
And the sooner it takes me home to you
And so people will say that you’re not even my own
‘Cause I sat there and burned down your home
I’ve had a lifetime of pain
Hell we are one in the same
So I go and march with you tonight
And I said,
“Stay here, soul”
You’ll stay there a while
I say,
“Stay here, soul”
You’ll stay there a while

Alone in Mexico
Alone in Mexico

WELCOME TO THE CROSSROADS

Written/performed by Dylan Owen
Produced by DJ Grumble
Keep Your Friends Close, 2012
Inspired by the good times.

Put your hand over your hear like it’s the pledge of allegiance
And if you’ve been here from the start, I can tell when you’re speaking
But if you’re planning to depart
I’ll tell you get up and leave and
We all gon’ die one day
That might be true but I won’t ever believe it
So if you’re stepping to me you gon’ need a medical reason
Are you excessively bleeding or getting anemic?
For a second bulimic?
Microphone checking your fever for deadly diseases
I need a place to bury my grievances
So
I am back, vinyl scratch
Middle name? Guess it is Stephen after the saint
Blessed for a reason
You’ll need the whole metric system just to measure my genius
And even longer just to measure my
It’s DJ grumble on the beat and yo the temperature’s heating whatever the season is
Walk in my shoes and you gon’ step to my demons
Led Zeppelin told me that the steps to heaven have steepened
And so I’m praying to a God that we both separate believe in
That’s right, we put on that soulful music last night
Moving effortlessly in a sea of meshing with me
And so if you’re stressing let expression be especially free
And let that beat rock most definitely

Welcome to the crossroads
And we were there.

Put your hand up to the sky if you’ve forever been reaching
And put your hand over your eyes if things are better when dreaming
My confession is I don’t expect to be any special being
And I am no legend, but please don’t neglect what you’re seeing
I’ve been infected by infections injected by weaponry but I bet if you step to me
I still have better achievements
And if you lose your girl, trust me, bet you’re better than he is
You gotta keep your friends close so you’ll be set for the weekend
Take my sentences and rhetoric read it and then let it get meaning
You raise me up to like, the seventh degree
And so if you get depressed or restless, invested in jealousy,
Upset, or feathered and beaten, bleeding, eventually just recognize
I am just a doorman, working till the door slams
Checking out adorable girls whatever the key is
I don’t claim to have it but I know that we could grab it or get it with ease
Jumping off the edge of my seat and I’m saying

Welcome to the crossroads
And we were there.

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