Big Change - Swearin'

High school summer vacation

On heavy rotation

It spills through broken PA speakers

We are all older now

And the same things get us going

At least I can admit it

The best years of our lives

Were spent in some stranger’s basement

Medley made of empty cans and exes

And that radical romantic conversation

About how we are like mutants

Who found each other by chance through rock n roll music

Clenched fist, eyes wild

Scream over the records, you artfully compiled

While I put my bad faith into practice

Sit at home on Saturday night

Ease into my false sense of superiority

No art degree, no conservatory

Just Katie and me

And whatever we are drinking

To diminish our diplomacy

If you can’t appreciate the art

Appreciate the air conditioning

High school dance with me baby

I gave it all up

Baby, I slipped away before your grasp was too tight

We’re both older now

But you still let the music determine how you feel

Any given night

Watch you sway in your dress, say, «I'm ruining your life.»

And say, «You are not like the others

You’ll practice, you’ll change

Unlearn a toxic pattern with zero effort made.»

Well I haggled and for just a moment

It’s a beautiful idea

But hopelessness brings consistency

And the disappointment, it isn’t surprising

So never swoon

You sing songs to clean your fingernails to

And your letters read and write and seek out the guillotine