It's Not the Way I Feel Anymore
Yesterday went too fast and it left me with only a song.
Now it seems like it's been a hundred years.
I miss the sound of your voice
and sometimes I miss the pain,
and the jealousy that made this job so easy.
Maybe the way you always looked, or looked at me,
but I know it's not the way I feel anymore.



From "Encapsulated" performed by Rye Coalition (Doghouse, 2000)

Trivia: Rye Coalition's version of this song has many of the sentences sung backwards.

It Used to Be So Easy
Overextended,
sometimes life is less than what I expected.
I'm so confused
about which of these pieces I'm supposed to use.
Alone in a voting booth
quietly wishing there was something to live for.
Thinking of ways I can leave my mark,
change the world, or at least my place in it.
It used to be so easy.



From "Metroschifter & Shipping News" (Initial, 1998)

Trivia: The band learned this song the same day it was recorded.

Knob Creek
Laid out on Knob Creek,
face to face with myself,
staring into the emptiness I call my life.
Into one more cold glass of Bulleit and cola,
I thought I saw you pouring it,
but you weren't even there.
With this bourbon I've been everywhere.
This limestone cold-filtered water is mine,
for this time,
I'm feeling so high off the ground.
A cold man walking with no change to jingle.
Just another old soul feeling all alone.
I couldn't write a love song if I wanted to.
I've got nothing but time here,
but no one to show.

From "Carbonistas" (Noise Pollution, 2009)

Trivia: Knob Creek and Bulleit are brands of Kentucky bourbon. All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. Bourbon is made of 51% corn or more and aged in charred oak barrels.

Know Where You're Going
I remember the way you looked
One night seems like years ago
I can remember the way I felt
One night seems like years ago
Driving south from Indiana
A shooting star in green and purple
The times were different and we were scared
but so determined to be together
It was so forbidden, holding your hand
Years of ours determination
Know where you're going
then know who's going with you



From "Metroschifter 4" (Doghouse, 1997)

Trivia: Kentucky borders seven states, one of which is Indiana.

Last Night While You Slept
(instrumental)



From "Generation Rx" (Doghouse, 1996)

Trivia: .

Link
I feel less than natural,
a total lack of confidence.
Deliver me from my addiction to this game.
Crack of sticks,
this sound clears my head.
Helplessly watching, everyone says, "Hello."
I long for something gone.
I am a dry snail in this race,
too determined, too aggressive.
I must be defective.
I know a girl, I've got a hockey ball in my hand.
I know a girl, by a field, in my hand.
I know a girl, I hold her room in my hands.
Most of the time I know I'm wrongbefore I act.
Blue of staunchest friendship's color,
I am out of place.



From "For the Love of Basic Cable" (Foresight, 1994)
and "Fort Saint Metroschifter" CD only (Doghouse, 1995)

Trivia: This was the first song recorded by all four original members of Metroschifter. Because of scheduling problems, Chad Castetter did not appear on the previous album, although he was in the band at the time.

Little Voice
I'm stopping the car and I'm taking your hand.
Do you know why?
I'm running out of miles
to open my mouth and ruin everything.
Ready to fall, ready to dive, ready to ruin everything.
I'm really finally doing this.
This is really happening.
Ready to throw it all away.
I'm stopping the car and I'm taking your hand.
Do you know why?
When I sing these words I hear your voice.
Do you know why?



From "Carbonistas" (Noise Pollution, 2009)

Trivia: This was the last song written of the set on "Carbonistas" and is named after a 1998 film.

L 182
Numbers and letters, letters and numbers.
She's just a product others make her into.
Picturing you, it's a printed postcard picture.
You sign your name and you lick the stamp.
It's a walk out, I'm walking out.
You can't imagine the days we must play.
I don't believe in this.
I'm finished working for something I don't believe in.
Like in a dream you want to move but can't
You sign your name and you lick the stamp good-bye.



From "Encapsulated" performed by Refused (Doghouse, 2000)
Metroschifter version from "Strawberries" (Doghouse, 1999)

Trivia: Song is named after the title screen to the Ingmar Bergman film "The Passion of Anna" and the lyrics include some text from its English subtitles.

Love
(C. Osborne)
I want to create something as beautiful as you,
as beautiful as they way you make me feel.
I will miss you when I'm gone from you.
Hopefully it won't feel too long.
I hope we're always as happy as right now.
Inspiration comes from many places.
An emotional release doesn't always have to be anger.



From "Fort Saint Metroschifter" (Doghouse, 1995)

Trivia: Cover photo of "Fort Saint Metroschifter" is of Dave Cook who was a fill-in bassist for Metroschifter several years after this release. Dave also wrote the song "Third Party" which appears on "Metroschifter 4."

Machine Language
Sometimes I feel I've got something to say, I can't help it.
Maybe you never felt the way for me like I always felt for you.
Lifeguard by the side of the pool,
Machine language.
In your living room on the couch,
in machine language.
With your boyfriend waiting outside,
I was always speaking
in some code you just couldn't understand.
Machine language.



From "Metroschifter Picture Disk" (Redwood, 1999)

Trivia: Some early computers were programmed in Machine Language.

Marker
"Don't call my name out your window, I'm leaving.
I won't even turn my head.
Don't send your kinfolk to give me no talking.
I'll be gone like I said.
You'd just say the same things that you've been saying all along.
Lay there in your bed and keep your mouth shut until I'm gone.
Don't give me that old familiar cry and cuss and moan.
Understand your man."
I've chewed the hand that feeds down to the bone
If you think my mind is just a game, it's time to play.
Playing link, you got hit in the shin,
I was looking where I shouldn't look.
My busy eyes are tired.
So what's wrong with me?
Or does any of this surprise you?
"You can give my other suit to the Salvation Army
and anything else I leave behind.
I ain't taking nothing that'll slow down my traveling
while I'm untalgling my mind.
I ain't gonna repeat what I said anymore,
while I'm breathing air that ain't been breathed before.
I'll be as gone as a wild goose in winter.
Then you'll understand your man."
My mind's your marker.



From "The Metroschifter Capsule" (Slamdek, 1994)

Trivia: Lyrics in quotes are from the Johnny Cash song "Understand Your Man."

The Middletown General Store
When I was a boy I rode my bike
up to the Middletown General Store.
They never had anything I wanted to buy,
nor anything a boy could afford.
They just had old stuff and lots of old people
shopped the Middletown General Store.



From "Generation Rx" (Doghouse, 1996)

Trivia: The Middletown General Store operated at the corner of Main Street and Madison in Middletown, Kentucky, for over a hundred years.

Moving Closer to the Source of Heat
(F. Yingling)
I feel myself moving closer to the source of heat.
Do I reach my hand out?
Could it brun me, or will it be cold on my skin?
Will it burn me again?
I feel it getting hotter, surrounding me.
I don't know what to do. Do I run?
I feel it surround me. I'm not scared, I like it.
I like this feeling.



From "The Metroschifter Capsule" CD reissue (Conversion, 1995)

Trivia: Song was originally written in 1994 for a record by Francy Yingling on Slamdek.

Muhammad Ali Boulevard*
(instrumental)



From "Generation Rx" (Doghouse, 1996)

Trivia: Muhammad Ali is from Louisville, just like Diane Sawyer, Oscar-nominated actor Ned Beatty, Oscar-winning filmmaker Stephen Gaghan, and President Zachary Taylor. Other famous Kentuckians include George Clooney, Ashley Judd, and two members of the Backstreet Boys.

Murder

Sometimes I could murder the people who have hurt me,
but I'd hate to stoop down to their level
and show them that I care.
Life is such a fucking waste of time.
Why do I bother getting up in the morning
or answering the phone
if I know it's never going to be you?
I don't give a shit about anything.
I don't want to talk about it anyway.
Why is this so hard for me?
Everything's exactly like I expected it to be.
The actors are different
but the characters are the same.
The story is old.
How could you have done it again?
It's never been you,
but everyone else I knew
has done it like this before.

From "Carbonistas" (Noise Pollution, 2009)

Trivia: The "Carbonistas" album was recorded in the old OK Storage Building at the corner of Barret Avenue and Broadway in Louisville.

My Old Kentucky Home
(S. Foster)
The sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home.
In summer, the people are gay.
The corn cobs are ripe and the meadow's in bloom,
while the birds make music all day.
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,
all merry, all happy and bright.
By and by, hard times come knocking at the door,
until my old Kentucky home, good night.
Weep no more, my lady.
Oh weep no more today.
We will sing one song for my old Kentucky home,
for my old Kentucky home far away.



Long version from "Strawberries" (Doghouse, 1999)
Short version from "Pocket Bomb" compilation (Law of Inertia, 1999)

Trivia: State song of the Commonwealth of Kentucky was written in the 1800's by Stephen Foster who also wrote "Swanee River" and "Oh! Susanna."

Myth
(R. Pennington)
A stern-faced man sat on a hill, and with addiction in hand,
he sought to kill.
He fell on the masses, unyielding from above,
and tore away from me the ones I love.
How can I not be angry at what you've taken from me?
I see their heads bent low with this affliction.
How can I believe?
Substance makes the man, and substance made me, too.
But I fail to understand why it has such a hold on you.
When I look in your eyes, so strong is the hate for the sickness
that brought you in and the reason we can't relate.



From "Acoustic" split with Falling Forward (Initial, 1995)
and "The Metroschifter Capsule" CD reissue (Conversion, 1995)

Trivia: This song was recorded in Lafayette, Indiana.

The Name of a Street
...and preserve it into these words:
Ink on my fingers, facing blank pages
Years of singing of desperation
I find myself now somewhat content
at the price of feeling somewhat uninspired
Trying to savor the precious present tense
and preserve it into these words:
We are who we are
We have done what we have done
Nothing can change the places we've been,
the notes we've left, or the things we've said
Ink on our fingers
Ink-covered pages
Trying to savor the precious present tense,
and preserve it into these words.



From "Metroschifter 4" (Doghouse, 1997)

Hear this song 3:48 / 3.5 MB

Trivia: Very interesting trivia statement here.

Nobody's Favorite Crayon is White*
(instrumental)



From "Generation Rx" (Doghouse, 1996)

Trivia: A very low percentage of people surveyed claimed that their favorite crayon is white.

Nordberg
While everyone sleeps I take my car across this runway of concrete.
With the steering wheel in one hand, and in the other,
tucked neatly, my list of demands.
I have wondered how things could have been different.
I guess it doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter.
How could it matter.
Now I know, now I feel, how you'd react if I spoke these words.
In my back pocket is a list of everything that I've taken from you,
there's only five gears between me and forever.



From "The Metroschifter Capsule" CD reissue (Conversion, 1995)

Trivia: Nordberg is the name of OJ Simpson's character in the "Naked Gun" movies. In the original "Police Squad" television seires, the Nordberg character is played by a tall white guy.

Nothing I Can Say
Nothing I can say that ever comes out right
Eating meals with silverware stolen from airplanes
Singing songs with the taste of Sprite
and peanut butter in the back of my throat
It covers the driest spot in there
and itches when I try to speak
and my heart makes it so hard to swallow now
Nothing I can say that ever comes out right now.



From "Metroschifter 4" (Doghouse, 1997)

Trivia: Peanut butter was invented in the US by George Washington Carver.

Now
I say it's nothing natural
that what performs in life
is just the role of a performer,
and I am one of these actors
proving everything derivative.
The time is now. The time to act is now.
Moving to the beat, people at traffic lights,
a girl in her car, inside the seat of a Honda Civic,
with twin French braids,
singing along to Metroschifter.
Everybody has their own way of living.



From "Metroschifter & Shipping News" (Slamdek, 1998)

Trivia: Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon were fans of each other. The president used "Nixon Now" as a campaign slogan, and Presley had an album and tour titled "Elvis Now."

Old Chunk of Coal
(B.J. Shaver)
I'm just an old chunk of coal,
but I'm gonna be a diamond some day.
I'm gonna grow and blow 'til I'm so blue, pure, and perfect.
I'm gonna put a smile on everybody's face.
But I'm gonna kneel and pray every day,
lest I should become vain along the way.
I'm just an old chunk of coal, now Lord,
but I'm gonna be a diamond some day.
I'm gonna the right way to talk.
I'm gonna search and find a better way to walk.
I'm gonna spit and polish my old rough edge itself,
until I get rid of every single flaw.
I'm gonna be the world's best friend.
I'm gonna go around shaking everybody's hand.
I'm gonna be the cotton-pickin' rage of the age.
I'm gonna be a diamond some day.



From "Generation Rx" (Doghouse, 1996)

Trivia: Song was originally performed by Billy Joe Shaver.

One Cloud in the Sky
I can't decide if I'm giving it plenty of gas
and it's not going anywhere
or if I'm just waiting for it to do something by itself.
The sink is overflowing and the water's still running.
I'm the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Should I tell anyone what I'm doing
or would they even care
what I've got my hands into today?
I've spent so much time listening to the engine
that I've got no idea what it's supposed to do.
One cloud in the sky.
I washed my hands in muddy water.
The alarm is music.



From "Metroschifter & Shipping News" (Initial, 1998)
and "Magic Weekend: Ink & Dagger, Metroschifter, and the Enkindels" (Initial, 1998)

Trivia: The front cover of the first 900 copies of "Metroschifter & Shipping News" was an engraved aluminum plate.

Opaque
(instrumental)



Metroschifter version from "Strawberries" (Doghouse, 1999)

Trivia: Song contains a drum beat sampled from Blumfeld's "Tausend Traenen Tief."

Overlap
Shamelessly, I stare into the sun
until blindness takes me under its wing.
I fall, I hurt, I realize what I've done.
I distort you, I deny you.
Pretend that you're wrong.
I'm not crying, I'm not leaving.
Looking at pictures makes me turn over inside.
Sweeping. Watch me do the work.
I realize what I've done.
Distort you, deny you, I let you go.



From "The Metroschifter Capsule" (Slamdek, 1994)

Trivia: The first album was recorded in six hours.