Get all 9 Bird Streets releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Ambulance (Flatlined Mix), BURNOUT REMIXES, Lagoon (Deluxe Edition - Bonus Material), Lagoon, Unkind (Radio Edit), Ghosts, Come On, Bird Streets, and 1 more.
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I gotta tell you, I’m kind of a mess. Live through the day just to get to the next. Can’t return calls, never mind send a text. The monster inside, it don’t get any rest. Stare into the hole that surrounds all of this. If it has a purpose, I don’t know what it is. Next thing you know, you’re afraid to exist. Is there another word for total paralysis? As soon as possible, I’m breaking out of here. I’m gonna dig my soul to freedom or die trying. ’Cause there’s no hospital can cure me of the fear that my first move could be my last. It’s lying in wait for the signal to sound. A sleeper agent with orders to cut me down. Every positive feeling, underscored by a frown. At war with my mind and I keep losing ground. A congress of cowards ruling over my id. And the monster inside is just a scared little kid hiding under the steps, trying not to get hit. It’s getting so hard to forgive and forget when he knows what he did. Something I needed to get off my chest. But now that I’ve told you, wish I’d never confessed.
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2. |
Machine
03:54
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This morning I was on a tear, talking to the wall like there was someone there. But you vanished into thin air like a passing thought or a condemned man’s prayer. Even though you’re gone, I feel you everywhere. This is not a victory. More like an everlasting sigh. I’m reliving history with a machine of my design. I saw you in the old cafe, talking with a friend, sipping your Earl Grey. Tried to catch you but you slipped away. Was it all a dream? Just an aberration? I’ve fallen in too deep with my imagination. All I have to do is remember you and it is just like the day that we met. You are still alive long as I never forget. Just when I was on the mend, you came and tore me up again. It really is no mystery. It’s just a way to turn back time. I’m reliving history with a machine of my design. A routine inside my mind. A machine of my design.
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3. |
Burnout
05:28
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I get high and I feel sad, and I get high to cope. I get high and forget about the song that I just wrote. I get high and say goodbye to all my cares in the world. I get high and get passed by, by all the pretty girls. I get high in crowded rooms and I get high solo. I get high and days go by and I don’t even know. I get high before I fly and I get high in bed. I get high to satisfy the depression in my head. It’s the apple on the tree they told you wasn't fit to eat. It's the secret passageway to where the forest meets the street. It’s the ringing in your ears and the longing in your bones. It’s the creeping feeling that you’re just like everyone else, alone. I get high at midnight. I get high at 9 AM. I get high and I walk around and forget where I am. I get high when I socialize. I get high and try to hide. I get high and I wonder why nothing gets me high. We are all alone. I get high and everything’s all right. Sometimes I try to work. Mostly sink into the earth. Trying to find a happy place. Trying to go to outer space. I get high to face the day. I get high and fade away, Just to get me through the night. I get high and everything’s all right.
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4. |
The Document
04:05
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I know you don't want to talk, but I've got so much to say. Please don't hang up the phone. These days I feel like hell. Looking for something to blame, all this time I should have known. Bold enough to break your heart, but not prepared to live apart. I broke my home and here's the document. Said I can’t balance you and the little things you need with these great dreams of mine. But even if that’s true, we let our heads get in the way taking two things at a time. Forever was shorter than I thought it would be. Maybe dreams only come true in dreams. We took some time away. Look what that has turned into. Now there's nothing left to lose. As selfish as it may seem, I never thought you'd really leave and I just didn't want to choose. Bold enough to break your heart. You knew it from the very start. I broke my home and here's the document.
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5. |
Let You Down
05:07
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Tried to call your bluff but you weren’t joking. What was I smoking? Turned our world upside down. You just wanted me to say I’m sorry. Okay, I’m sorry. Can we get back together now? I’m spent. It’s like running in wet cement. And the messages I sent were refused. Baby, I’m confused. I don’t wanna let you go, but I don’t wanna let you down. And I don’t know how. I don’t wanna let you go, but I don’t wanna let you down. And I don’t know how to let go. See you on my screen and I’m just shattered, but it don’t matter now that you’re not around. Positivity will only get me so far, and it’s a pretty low bar when I’m positively drowned. In tears. Confirming my biggest fears. And I’m looking in the rearview mirror, stoned. Baby, please come home. Past tense, I was acting in self-defense. But in my experience I was wrong. I don’t wanna let you go, but I don’t wanna let you down.
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6. |
Leave No Trace
04:18
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I used to have a plan. I could feel something. Now my heart’s a phantom limb. Behave yourself. Maybe today I won’t fuck up everything. In an alternate reality, I cast no ripples in the sea. No one ever saw my face. Get out quiet, leave no trace. It came on again, like the soft, sweet press of the hammer rending flesh. Erase yourself before it’s too late. And the voice it radiates In an alternate reality, deliver me unto the sea. A serene and final place. Make no mess and leave no trace. Burn my clothes and then the case. Cut the strings, leave no trace. Get out quiet, leave no trace.
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7. |
SF 1993
03:41
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Hey it’s me, waiting just outside, patiently. WIll you be much longer? And where’s the key? I left it underneath the mat before I left for San Francisco, 1993, the time I swore I’d never leave. It’s been a minute since the days of making love all afternoon, and I’m still making it up as I go along. Maybe a few more years would do us good but I’m afraid to say that’s all we’ve got. Let yourself in. Let go of the history hangs like storm clouds overhead. Let yourself be free. Learn to love again. Listen, I know, at the end I was unbelievably unkind. Shocked you even took my call. Not a day goes by I don’t regret the last words we exchanged. “Don’t you even care about me?”
“Not at all.”
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8. |
Ambulance
03:53
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Took a ride in an ambulance. Passed out in the present tense. Fully loaded, money spent. You’re a one-man argument. Got home half-past dead. She’s waiting with a worried head. Kicked your ass out of bed. Glass broke and your spirit bled. it’s coming around again. You’re fucking it up again.Once said you used to be your very own worst enemy. Fell asleep at the wheel. You could touch but couldn’t feel. Now look what you became. A tinderbox to an open flame. Same score in a different game. Same god by a different name. When will it end? Can you remember all the times you should have died? You’re caught in a tug-of-war and playing both sides. Jesus ain’t the answer and the bottle left you dry. All the men you couldn’t be are dropping like flies before your bloodshot eyes. Woke up in an ambulance. Couldn’t stand for your defense. Maybe it was for the best. Life left you unimpressed. Jumped back into the sea. It was your oldest enemy. Went for a swim that didn’t end. It was your only friend. This is not a victory.
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9. |
Disappearing Act
04:58
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Things were more predictable when I was a drunk. Dive into the black pool of night and wake up feeling sunk. Drink myself nonverbal and pass out in the hall. Go home with anyone still standing at last call. No matter how much time has passed, I never know how long it’s gonna last. I’m neither the man I wanted to be nor the man I thought I was. Just a couple drinks away from being anonymous. It’s a disappearing act that takes out the best of us. Just a couple drinks away from being anonymous. These days I’m racking up casualties like I’m trying to get caught. Spend all my time making enemies of the only friends I got. Trying to stay out of trouble but lord there’s trouble on my mind. Can’t think about the future when you wanna leave it all behind. But I still don’t know who I am: a holy roller or the son of sam So much regret over things I might have done to things I ain’t done yet. Truth be told I’m sick of it. Am I just a counterfeit? It ain’t just some habit you can quit and rise above. Just a couple drinks away from being anonymous.
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10. |
On Fire
03:19
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It only lasted days. We shared a moment sent from outer space. And when we parted ways, we were on fire. I looked inside your eyes and saw a wayward soul I recognized. And when we harmonized, we were on fire. I still think of you. There are times when it’s all I can do. I still think of you.
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11. |
Unkind
05:12
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I have been most unkind. I have paid you no mind. I have been reckless and obscene, with a devil in my eye. And that ain’t something I want to be remembered by. There was hardly a sign. One day I just resigned. And if you’re looking for a name to give to all the pain, I guess I wouldn’t blame you if you gave it mine. No, I wouldn’t blame you if you gave it mine. I have been most unkind. Driving handcuffed and blind. Could have steered out of the crash if we had only tried. Now we’re watching it burn and you’re wondering why, and that ain’t something I want to be remembered by. Maybe I’ve been lying to myself that there was no choice. It’s the only way I know to make any sense of it. But hey, the silver lining is you don’t have to hear my voice. When I cry your name at night, I wake the neighborhood. I have been most unkind, too stubborn to unwind. And maybe we could have stopped it in time, but we should just put it behind ourselves. The end is finally nigh. This love, it died on the vine. So much bitterness and shame I rained on our parade. I would take it all back if I could make it right. ’Cause I feel every day like my best friend has died. And that ain’t something I want to be remembered by. That ain’t something I want to be.
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12. |
Go Free
03:39
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Maybe you’re the anchor that’s kept me from ever drifting out to sea, but I may be the anchor that’s kept you from being what you’re meant to be. With that in mind, I’m pulling up the line. I wish you all the good things in this life. ‘Cause you’re a queen. Baby, go free. Honey, I’m still reeling from all these feelings going through my brain. But honey, if these feelings have any meaning, we’re both feeling the pain. So I think it’s time, it’s part of our design, for you to live all your days under sunlight. Go without me. Baby, go free. ‘Cause you’re a queen. Baby, go free. You should have everything your heart desires. I couldn’t stand in your way or put out your fire. And I know in time we’ll put this all behind. Everything will work out right, as it should be. Baby, go free ‘Cause you’re a queen. Baby, go free.
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Bird Streets Brooklyn, New York
LAGOON is available now.
Bird Streets is the alter ego of Brooklyn artist John
Brodeur.
"Introspective art wrapped in beguiling indie rock."
- Music Connection
"Timeless and honest. A fine balance between melody, tension, character,
meaning and relatability that few artists are able to strike."
- The Deli
... more
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