Get all 20 Mayhem Lettuce releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of FHTAGN! An Abhorrent Album of Lovecraftian Loathsomeness, Imported From China, Creepier by the Minute, There Goes the Cake, Ashes, Whispers, & Lies, Sin & Tonic, The Titles of the Songs on This Album Are Complete Sentences., The Totally Haunted EP, and 12 more.
1. |
22 (Fading Faith)
02:30
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Excuse me, I'm falling faster than hope
Faster than secrecy, too fast to cope
Falling down and filling up these useless, empty years
Fill another grimoire with the memoirs of my tears
All in all, it's all been fun
Said and done, sad and dumb
A sudden kingdom of Papa's ash
A party crashing throne for one
The sire opens his jaded heart
To soon to finish, too late to start
Too familiar to my fading faith
To foreign for me to see it safe
All in all, it's all been fun
Said and done, sad and dumb
A sudden kingdom of Papa's ash
A party crashing throne for one
St John, this seems so familiar, and yet, there are so many differences in today's story that I can barely whisper in the rain.
A pox on both mice and men.
It's all afire again.
All in all, it's all been fun
Said and done, sad and dumb
A sudden kingdom of Papa's ash
A party crashing throne for one
Luck needs a lady
Misery needs a friend
Nature hates a vacuum
World without end
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2. |
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I whisper to the nightlight
I utter your name
So the shadows it casts on my wall
Will dance the dance that you taught me
I whisper to the nightlight
I tell it your secret name
So the shadows that creep up my wall
Won't haunt me anymore
When I was young and less mature
I wanted to be an astronomer
And ride the stars from here to Jupiter
And steal the moon from brother Lucifer
But I was always too scared of the dark
Until you came along and make your mark
My chocolate goddess avatar
Renewed my faith in love and stars
I whisper to the nightlight
It already knows your name
And the shadows that dance on my wall
Dance the dance you taught me
So long ago
And now I'm able to brave the black
And fight the nighttime demons back
The needle found in my haystack
My snow white aphrodisiac
And if at night in fear and shame
The shadows lick at my bedframe
My sanity I can reclaim
By simply calling out your name
I whisper to the nightlight
I call it by your name
It takes my hand and leads me
In the shadow dance you taught me
The Dreamland Dance you taught me
The sacred dance you taught me
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3. |
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Distance conquers humor
Lies devour fate
Nothing left of midnights but a lone betrayal
Catch the last ray of moon-glow promises
And reflect it back home
In light of (In lieu of) a birthday celebration
coils of flame surround this nutcase
branded "D" for DISEASED and "L" for LUDICROUS
but always HIGH and LOW and YOU and YOU
(and you and you)
When it's time, it's gone
She never knows me at all
I'm branded
I I I I I I I can't creep any lower
But I try to "get down" verbally with my favored children
Who continue to ignore me with practiced elegance
And that ain't the only bruise growing bigger.
Do these midnight musings do anyone any good?
Infest me
Impress me
Obsess Me
I obey
Cleanse our time and holify
Justify my patience
Fish never swam so clean as this absence
"I'm too busy for a nutcase like you"
C'mere
There's a tortoise and a hare waiting near you
But you can't see and you won't hear and you don't even care to
And it's either or both or neither or nor
Don't wash me anymore
I'm too white and chafed already
Here's the rub
I'm 22
Join the club
And you ignore it as though I wrote it
Here comes the part where I pretend to sleep
I dreamlessly pretend
Pretend not to fall in love with your every word
Welcome to 22's world of Mayhem, my Lord
O Cap'n My Cap'n
Go down it's her ship
Ahab, AHAB! Nail that bird NOW!
Anyone sees it
Not you
Is she fazed enough and why is she hiding now?
Tomorrow when you die, I will begin the trail of Remedy
Over and out
Down with her ship
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4. |
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I'm already in the future
I'm still right where you left me
I'm already old enough to tie my shoes
I subscribed to Time for a little while
But Time passed on and I slept through the wake
And when I woke up I opened my eyes
To the lies and the cries and goodbyes of the fake
I'm still right in the future
I'm back at square one
I'm already outgrowing my dancing shoes
I subscribed to Time for a little while
But Time passed on and I slept through the wake
And when I woke up I opened my eyes
To the lies and the cries and goodbyes of the fake
I'm tired of the future
I'm waiting for you to come
I'm already wearing out my walking shoes
I subscribed to Time for a little while
But Time passed on and I slept through the wake
And when I woke up I opened my eyes
To the lies and the cries and goodbyes of the fake
I'm abandoning the future
I'm trying not to cry
I'm already too old to find my shoes
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5. |
Shiver (Stain My Soul)
02:25
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Stain my soul with your love
With the blood of your love
Stain my soul purple with the blood of your love
There's ancient hungers howling inside me
Like nighttime tiger gifts with fading stripes
There's distance ringing deep inside my ears
Lke feeling around for mousetraps in the dark
Can I shiver with you?
Open up your arms and let me in
Let me pollinate that sleepy blossom you keep hidden in your heart
Open up your dreams and take me in
The Angel candles won't keep us warm enough
And I can never hold you close enough
But maybe together we can shiver enough
To stain my soul with your love
Can I shiver with you?
Stain my soul with your love
With the blood of your love
Stain my soul purple with the blood of your love
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6. |
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The villains dance across my grave
Rejoicing as the Angels weep
Not tears of sorrow or joy
Or even excitement or passion
Just weeping like the tree in front of Dad's old house
Where I lost more than my mind
Most likely what will happen now will hurt
Like that night so many years ago when it didn't even rain
The bitch clouds held their breath and withheld judgement
Unwilling to spoil the perfect paradox
Of rage and want and remembered pair-bonding antics
That were obviously false phony forgotten frigid rigid rotten
(I lost so much more than my mind)
The bitch clouds were taken aback by the storm
Of pregnant lies and ichor flooding the festival
And failed to rain
Not for the last time
Just weeping
Not for the last time
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7. |
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Drifting into loneliness
as though it made a difference
Watching her miss him
pretend it doesn't hit you
Writing from a distance
Loving from afar
Nothing but resistance
Nothing but a star
Knowing it will never be
Knowing she will never see
Knowing you will never free your soul
Knowing it can not be true
Knowing it can not be you
Knowing you could never do at all
Knowing that your love's a sin
Knowing you will never win
Knowing you have fallen from the start
Knowing things won't be the same
Knowing you're the one to blame
Knowing you will never tame her heart
Run around in dog-chain circles
Bark at each smooth-talkin' guy
Run around and jump those hurdles
Howl at every moon-stained sky
Paint yourself the hero of your favorite tragic trash
Swear by Jove and Venus up above
Stand tall as ancient notions and modern dating clash
Hold true to the ideals of courtly love
Knowing it will never be
Knowing she will never see
Knowing you will never free your soul
Knowing it can not be true
Knowing it can not be you
Knowing you could never do at all
Knowing that your love's a sin
Knowing you will never win
Knowing you have fallen from the start
Knowing things won't be the same
Knowing you're the one to blame
Knowing you will never tame her heart
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8. |
Embers (Clear as Day)
03:26
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There's a picture on my dashboard that's fading in the sun
There's a picture in my mind as I'm fumbling with my gun
There's a song on the radio I ain't heard in 20 years
There's only one way I'll ever stop these tears
The mind's eye can picture you clear as day
The eye's mind remembers...
But I want those memories far away!
Like dying embers
There's a twitch in my hand as I tighten my fingers
There's a smile on my face as I pull the trigger
There's a song on the radio I ain't heard in 20 years
There's a hole in my head to let out the fears
The mind's eye can picture you clear as day
The eye's mind remembers...
And I put those memories far away
Like dying embers
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9. |
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I'm gettin' creepier by the minute
and it's all downhill from here
Humbug fills up my tiny brains as I hum away the fear
Of ignorance ignoring ignorant me
And a million tons of chocolate ice cream
Can't begin to placate the yawning loss
Of losing my sweet Violet again
I warned you I'd horde you
You belong here with me
Bathe in anorexia and heroin eyeshadow
Spin like a scratchy 45
Open and close your lipstuck puppet mouth
Sing and dance and lie like you're alive
Clinging again - but I think I deserve you
Thinking again - of ways to betray you
Drinking again - I know what I promised you
Singing again - I know what that does to you
Sing and dance and lie like you're alive
Sing and dance and lie
O ye of little cloth and even less faith
Why do you insist on tampering with fate?
Halfway between divinity and a fall from grace
You'd walk on flaming coals just to see her face
Your bitter song rings out like church bells in the morn'
Your eyes are ever shining, your face is never worn
How can you continue your half-mad belief
iI the never-yielding face of misery and grief?
It's bad - smoky and bad
Worse than you remember; So bad I forget
To breathe this rancid time away and fight the rising light
Hell, I'd even miss the fights if there were any
Clinging again - but I think I deserve you
Thinking again - of ways to betray you
Drinking again - I know what I promised you
Singing again - Yeah, I know what that does to you
Beautiful and pathetic, you intrigue and enthrall
Misguided and misplaced, you falter and you fall
Decades, hours, minutes, second place trophies on the wall
Waiting in oblivion - waiting for your call
I warned you I'd horde you
I warned you
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10. |
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Trapped somewhere stifling between a birthday and a heartache
With a mad dog conscience out to get me
Waiting, blowing icing bubbles, blowing off your steam
I'd really like to leave but you won't let me
You won't let me blow the candles out or burn them at both ends
As I'm writhing trying to shake you off my back
And I know that all this talk of parties, mayhem, love, and death
Is only giving me another heart attack
Knowing I am better, I guess I best be moving on
I see you turn your head away to hide another yawn
You blow me a kiss
You blow me away
You keep me awake
You keep me at bay
And I never know what to say
How long can you treat me this way?
Rotting in the darkness of this prison that you built
I find a side of me I never knew
Stagnant and resentful, I boil in the haze
Forever wondering what to make of you
Somewhere someone somehow managed to turn off all the lights
And I can't help but think that it was me
If I could, I would restore the faith
I'd render our time holy
I'd take your hand; together we'd be free
You say I know better, I know I best be moving on
Cuz if I wait around for you, I'll blink and you'll be gone
You'll blow me a kiss
You'll blow me away
You'll keep me awake
You'll keep me at bay
And now that I know what to say
How long can you keep running away?
Now that I know what to say
How long can you run away?
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11. |
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Knowing you can't find me drives me mad
Hearing only my echoes drives me mad
The feel of flesh drives me mad
My broken promises drive me mad
In this black desert I scream up all the sand
Down my mad throat bloody and sad
And I know they lied to me about the boxes
And I know they lied to me about you
And I know that if you ever knew my truths
You'd feel as low as this
"We're not all mad here," someone who isn't you once said
But I didn't believe him 'cause I knew I was alone
And even though he lied about that
I'd believe him if he told me that he loved me
'Cause I always believe that part
Scream some more sand down my mad throat
'Cause I'm not sad enough yet
My angry arms still need to fight
So I can finally sleep at night
Someone told me that this was you
And even though I was alone
I believed him
So I trust it and close my eyes
And pray just to wake up alive
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Mayhem Lettuce Port Byron, Illinois
Mayhem Lettuce was formed in Port Byron, IL in 1993 when two sad teenage boys decided to channel their angst into music.
That music sits at the crossroads of King Missile and Portishead with a dash of The Cure and a pinch of They Might Be Giants.
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