burnside project "the networks, the circuits, the streams, the harmonies" lyrics

1) He Never Knew The Benefits Of Caffeine
I keep my police scanner on all night to keep abreast of the neighborhood’s bad intentions. A rainbow of radio waves lights up the monitor, the thumping of a heartbeat echoes in the hallway. Fascination sets in, transmitted by ham radio, I’m fumbling with the dosage, I’m fumbling with scenarios. Late night talk radio keeps me well informed. My overnight supervisor left me forewarned. Now I’m older and wiser, I’ve got brand new incisors. I think I’ve got a new focus. A magic wand. “Hocus Pocus,” the paperback.

And I was shocked to know that I’m not the only one who knew the strange deals that were done. And I was shocked to know that I’m not the only one who knows we’re headed for the Sun.

You see, I’m an actor, on the stage I’m crying, laughing, coughing. I don’t get good roles all that often, like Nosferatu sans the coffin. I’m like Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Did you see me? I was an extra on the 9 o’clock news footage of a protest at City Hall. Sometimes I hear them talk of an all-inclusive theory that explains JFK and how it relates to nearly everything unexplained: The Beast of Revelations, Stonehenge and the Sphinx, The Society of Freemasons.

And I was shocked to know that I’m not the only one who knew the strange deals that were done And I was shocked to know that I’m not the only one who knows we’re headed for the Sun.

As they wheel away the bodies and the handcuffs are slapped on, they explain the difference between neglect and assault. I remembered Art Bell and all of those conspiracies, I forgot to change the bedpans but I remembered that we were all doomed.

2) Cue The Pulse To Begin
Cue the pulse to begin, trigger the breakbeat come at 10, sequence the modular pin, slave the MIDI to the synth, cue the pulse to begin…Go!
Cue the pulse to begin, tone surge ISDN, quantize the retro with then, the range is over 10, Seraphim reaches Zen, switch Tha Dollar with the Yen.
Cue the pulse to begin, trigger the breakbeat come at 10, sequence the modular pin, slave the MIDI to the synth, cue the pulse to begin, cue the pulse to begin.
I should like getting ahead.
Cue the pulse to begin, tone surge ISDN, quantize the retro with then, the range is over 10…
I should like getting ahead.

3) Assessing Your Performance
“You’re asking the wrong kinds of questions,” they said. “You’re not paying attention.” But I know the truth; I could see it in their eyes.

It ain’t for everyone. The world needs ditch diggers too. Look me in the face, because that means you. No matter what you think, there’s only one way I know how to say it. No matter what you say, say it don’t spray it.

You’re there and you’re fighting. It’s commendable, if only a little misguided. Because you’re not going anywhere fast. I hate to be the one who has to tell you this, but you’re not going to last. I know it’s sad but its life - you should know that by now.

4) Heavy Mettle
Trying to say something meaningless with words on the roof of my mouth. Silence with that thick accent – the less said the more felt. She falls – curtains on a mediocre play. And her audience is unsure when to clap. To pause, to rewind, to come undone… To say nothing of the vice. You planned to go back and visit, but you hadn’t planned the price.

So I spend my days misspelling intentions, spitting up heroes, swallowing fame. Saying nothing with the right smile, stabbing gossip with the wrong fork. I write the answers on the back of my hand – the ink sets clean but the moment smears soon the pen will lay down and die. My paper will crumble and my mettle will sigh.

There’s got to be a better reason not to settle.
There’s got to be something more than heavy metal.

5) Tilt A Whirl
It’s going too fast, you’re not going to last.
It’s spinning round, all hands down.
You’re strapped in, it’s time to begin.
You’re feeling scared - you should be, you were unprepared.

6) Only Ordinary
I know what I told you but I never said I would understand.

7) Repeat After Me
Cracks in the sky, a new barometer passes by as we grow cold and gravity has us in a chokehold. I guess you heard, Simon isn’t saying anything anymore until the overture is telling William’s secrets on the floor of the exchange. An aura, a strange blip on the radar unperceived at twilight. We can form our hands to stop the swarm – overachievers, every one of us in the room. Repeat After Me.

A, B, C…but if you guessed letter D which is “none of the above” you passed the test with flying colors, but can colors really fly? I’ve seen atrocities against garbage bags but I’m the one you have to deal with. Don’t act like you don’t know me, I put Bolivia on the map. Right where the 1 and 9 converge to create a hundred dirges celebrating all the heroes, the fearless and their graves. The sandwich bag was full of candy corn, but not where it belongs but I suppose it’s just the same, it’s the same way that you left it. Repeat After Me.

I’m not trying to make a statement on those who are set to rule but something tells me that they came from the shallow end of the gene pool. Like Santiago wrapped in Sargasso weed, it pleases me to develop that knack for knowing what’s about to happen next as I consult my virtual text. I moved far from Yokohama passed the haunted house, and deep into space…it reminds me of his battle cry. Repeat After Me.

8) Ouija Case File 113097
Lights, camera, action. Are you the nation’s worried little child? Fights and minor infractions: are you the front-page drama queen gone wild? Excuse me for a minute, I’d like to devise a scientific method breaking promises from lies. Daddy’s only dream was to live long enough to come up with a dream. You’re so special – you can be someone special too The Popsicle is red, white and blue and your hands are sticky too. Oh, Armageddon Day is coming round the bend and only I can tell you when. Because I am getting relatively easy things mixed up within a super string. And I found it hard to believe because it didn’t make the TV. It was in one of those magazines, no one believes but everybody reads. You’re so special – I want to be someone special too. I promise that I won’t breathe on you If you breathe some life into…(into me)


9) Around The Rabbit (Instrumental)

10) But I'm Alive
My teeth are made from porcelain when I eat my mouth gets full of broken glass. When I talk it makes you nervous, it’s not saliva it’s the shards that move too fast. But I’m alive, even though it seems unlikely. I’m alive though my eyes are screwed up and twisted. My head is off kilter it spins around and round like Linda Blair. My ears, they flap like Dumbo’s – they try to lift me into the sky. But I’m alive, even though it seems unlikely. I’m alive though modern medicine can’t explain. My left arm is longer than my right leg – disproportionate is right where I belong. There’s a sheet of metal lodged in my spine but it hasn’t been there long. But I’m alive, even though it seems unlikely. I’m alive though modern medicine can’t explain. I’m alive though I’m trapped under this tractor. I’m alive – I’m a bonafide scientific find.


11) Foreign Exchange
If the mirror lies then who can you trust. The painting on the wall is so full of torture. Indigo, yellow, ultra-violet. Paint by numbers, count with me.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and then repeat.
Oriental snack mix like a Far-East bag of tricks. A honey-glazed appetite for consumption. The crowd is chanting “Free the Squatters!” The riot police with full-on headgear…Just like junior high. Just like a meeting of the minds in a Foreign Exchange…how quickly we change.
A head-case scenario, a blank look from Lotharios. A pumped-up, hydraulic-equipped Cadillac from the barrio. “Run,” say the children, but frankly I’m a dull one. I freeze in my tracks and she rides her bike into the attack.
It’s like a meeting of the minds in a Foreign Exchange…how quickly we change.

12) Outside Tenebrae
Into the small room, fungi and legume. I’ve got no legroom in my seat.
And it really gives the creeps. No room for my feet!
Whiskey snifter, a dog came up and sniffed her it was a real uplifter and I followed her into the pond. She waved her wand and it all disappeared.

13) Roll The Credits (Instrumental)