Lyrics on Lines

through the gates

2010-04-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

Ten foot white walls of winter’s giving
On the crown of western time
Where there is no stop of progression
And if he should enter through the gates
Is where he must stay
At the request of a season
He stopped to take a photograph of the lakes
Reflection of craggy peaks
One side blue, sunny side white and
Prominence in between gray
Others stand along with him though they are only temporary

© 2010 by Matt Bonham

uncanny valley

2010-03-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

I could say
I feel terrible
You could say
That I’m skeptical
I’m not calling you a liar
Just a wordsmith for the truth
Next up in line are
Pseudonyms to choose

You’re not
Much for love
For a robot
The rise before the fall
Symbol of what’s to come
Symbol of us all

I am lost in your love
It feels so real it can’t be
So I leave it up
For you to judge
The words you choose
What you’ve done
Is almost human
Is almost human

No matter the way
The way you look at me
I wonder if you know what’s out there
A look so simple
It’s all subjective
From your perspective
Uncanny valley
Is there something
You’re not telling me

No matter the way
The way you look at me
What you say
All I want
I wonder if you even know what’s inside
You look so simple
To be so in between
Is there something
I might be missing

I am lost in your love
It feels so real it can’t be
So I leave it up
For you to judge
The words you choose
What you’ve done
Is almost human
Is almost human

© 2010 by Matt Bonham

chemical politicians

2010-01-28T08:01:00.000-08:00

Driving across the edge of two

Getting to

Where we start anew

Tracing steps

Retrace your steps

Replace your bets

The masochist

The masochist in you

You tied my hands

To your brand new plan

An imbalance

Chemical politicians

And those who listen

To them

Take me up high

To see the stars

Don’t ask me why

We’ll never get that far

Master of the arts

Of deception

Now smile for the cameras

Chemical politicians

And those who listen

To them

The words you speak

Tongue-twisting

Why am I even listening?

You’re overreacting

home so early

2010-01-27T14:51:00.001-08:00

Just this morning

The sky went black

Without warning

The slipping slack

Practice makes perfect

For something that I lack

Not worth the worry

I’m not going back

Home so early

Bags already packed

I’m not ready

To turn my back

I can read your lips

Caught in the trap

You can see my tricks

Fall through the cracks

Home so early

Bags already packed

I’m not ready

To turn my back

You thought you had me

When you trailed the tracks

Though I’m not ready

To turn my back

at the end of the

2010-01-27T13:27:00.000-08:00

Start stop

So hard to hold on

When I’m falling off

Why am I even talking?

When you’ve seen it all

Self-control

Is it self-control?

Haven’t you had enough?

First to the front of the line

Forgiven

Last to the back of the line

You jump

Stop start

Sticky fingers

Every word that lingers

Heavy on which you speak

Hangs like the plague on me

On the other hand

When have you gone wrong

On a band

That led to our song

All along

When you’re alone

Let me know

Where you want to go

And this world spins
And this world spins
And this world spins

At the end of the end

At the end of the

whitecaps

2009-11-10T09:32:00.000-08:00

At last

You speak to me in silence

An hour past

Punctuated in darkness

Holding fast

The breakers

They take us both apart

Repeat the process

Back to the start

All I hear is a whisper

All I feel is a crash

Rock me to sleep

All I hear is a whisper

All I feel is a crash

Rock me to sleep

The whitecaps break on top of everything

Then collapse

Wrap me in wavelength

Sent up from the deep

Roll the dice with the devil

Forever I’m trying

To send a message to Heaven

The breakers

They take us apart

Underneath the surface

Back to the dark

All I hear is a whisper

All I feel is a crash

Rock me to sleep

All I hear is a whisper

All I feel is a crash

Rock me to sleep

The whitecaps break over everything

And collapse

coffee and apples

2009-10-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Do we really even know
What we want anymore
Give me peace
Give me war
Take a century to ask yourself

Stand and speak
Spread your seeds
Make me money
Make me poor
Hanging safely from the ceiling
You can see the floor
You can only fall so far
Before you can’t fall anymore

You go through all the motions
That she sent for you
Choose one and run with it
She says you
Loved her once
Send her a white dove
Through the skies of the capitals
If it were only that simple
Tape it to the wall
Like a penny for your thoughts
And accusations based
On what you think will happen
On the grounds of
Coffee and apples
Rotting down to the rind

Leave it to the other side of the pillow talk
When we both fall asleep
Yet still pretend to listen

© 2009 by Matt Bonham

paper trail

2009-10-07T05:56:00.000-07:00

I used to follow a paper trail
before the bridge I was
wearing out the holy grail
in the four walls of my mind
closing in all the time
a spark is all it needs
a loss of three
I stand numb in the corner
nightmare
nightmare
tonight I stare
perfectly into the black
the red light
at the top breaks through
but you don't look back

from another town
a paper trail came after you
what are you gonna do
you can burn it all down
yet it never goes away
You stand alone in the corner
What does the space
feel like between
still life in black and white
or color imagery

today you stare
perfectly into the black
the white light
at the top breaks through
but you don't turn back

I should be feeling pity
Though I don't feel a thing
I should be feeling pity
Though I don't feel a thing

© 2009 by Matt Bonham

mayday

2009-10-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

Pause
I think I
Heard a sound
Just a distant static now
Signals the last goodbye
Our hope disappears with
The decommissioned satellite
Clear out of orbit

Mayday
We wait
Hesitating
In this haven
We thought was safe
Reacting to a riff in the airwaves
Backs to the wall
Young and old
We scrawl out our names
Save our souls
The message relayed
To outer space

A martyr
Is what we need
Although they’re
Getting harder to find
As we grow further apart
Misdirection
My sleight of hand
Hides all the cards

Give the call
Put the ball into play
All in all
Mayday

© 2009 by Matt Bonham

backwards

2009-10-06T09:00:00.001-07:00

High road
Traffic’s crowded
Go with the flow
Detour has me misrouted
It’s not your time to go yet
The jury is still out

Everyone turns around
The ones that went at all
Everyone but me
I of the leaden feet
Backwards

Momentum
Now that your doubt is gone
In front of everyone
You throw out your arms to explode
I’m sorry to impose

Test subjects
Reference
The impulse
What’s left of such results
Believe in what they see
What they’re led to believe
Then begin their steps
Rank and file
Backwards

You can read into it
You can read into it
You can read into it
Go ahead and read into it

© 2009 by Matt Bonham

silver rain

2009-10-06T06:27:00.000-07:00

A man tells me
I should place faith
Not what’s in the sky but what I see
That I should take my weight
Off the world
And let it turn for me

Let the games begin
This time I’m gonna let you win
Shaving points off my own score
Pin the blame on me
You know it’s true

Was it as good for you?
Could it be purity
Why wait for the ecstasy
Get out in the silver rain
The sun is shimmering
Awash in change and
Gravity brings it all down
Blue blazing glory and
Speed that has no sound

Where are you going to?
Everyone else is running forward
While you are standing still
Why can’t you keep up when
We all get our fill
Go drown in the silver rain
The road keeps glimmering

What is eating away at you?
Consume
You went through the motions
Of course you always knew
Now there’s nothing left for you
So drink the ocean
Go drink the ocean
And spit it all out

They say
It’s the way of the future
They say
It’s the wave of the future
Silver rain
It’s the way of the future
Silver rain
It’s the wave of the future
Silver rain
It’s the way

© 2009 by Matt Bonham

the colors

2009-10-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

Down for a walk by the river
One downtrodden step
In front of another
Off the beaten path
The ground gives out underneath
And brings you to the feet
Of a man you’ve sworn you’d met before
Different from all the others
And the colors
The ones you said you never saw before
But the colors
Are so much brighter now

You’d sold your soul to be young
So why are you surprised to be so old?
Shook the red hand of the man with a million names
A million faces a million shapes
If the deal was real
Why do you feel so used?
At such a steal
You’re one of another million

The colors are euphoric
Thrown right into the flame
Congratulations
Was all the worth it
The room of fools is
Infatuated
With everything you have to offer
Don’t expect any cover
Dancing to death for the clouds of gray
Praying for a rainy day
When hell freezes over

There’s no spades in the corner
What the hell is room temperature
When the colors are getting warmer
Temptation ties your hands up again
The answers failed to explain

© 2009 by Matt Bonham

worldview

2009-07-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

In this world
Tonight a boy cannot sleep
Throws away his dreams
Down the light bending at the cracks
Nightmares are the new black
Along the shiver cold of what we’ve known
Hangs a worldview
From a storefront window
It swings out in the breeze
As the brass doorbell rings

The boy walks in
Eyes innocent and new
The storekeeper begins
Come on in
Do what you want to do
Innocent sins are rinsed
And have I a worldview for you
Right here
Place all your change on the counter
And just lend me your ear

Our willingness to comply
Is broken by our promises to lie
Black wings marked with a stripe of white
Oh but we are so very much alive

Feed the disease
To discover the remedy
Drink from the fountain of youth
All you want to
To the victor goes the spoils
Suffer all the fools
There sleeps the king
Wrapped in his crown of tin foil
Pastel flags fly from crumbling castles
All is not well in the kingdom tonight

Dewdrops and fish eye lens
Provide my wide angle view of the world
On which we depend

Down into the worldview
Wait for me on the mountain
I will hold for you
When the seas rise to the peaks
Why don’t you
Try to find me
The worldview
Plastered right in front of you
I see past what you only think I read
We write the future
When we copy from the past
Faster and faster the ships sinks

When we crowd the mast
Vision is clearer behind the glass

(c) 2009 by Matt Bonham

anywhere but here (poppy radio song)

2009-07-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

Today was long; I’ll go ahead and say
The same is in store for tomorrow
Although it’s sometimes been
A long and winding road
This blue collar’s wearing thin
And your job taking calls on the phone
Give me a clue and I’ll take the hint
We’ve got no place left to go

Our life is nothing for the evening news
Everyone’s been asking questions
And rumors are the lies of truth

The road is open
So you can close your eyes
No more lies and no more secrets
On our own we can try to make it
Anywhere but here

We don’t need this place
To drive us down
The weight of the world’s enough
To give us both a push
With or against the wind
Today or tomorrow, I don’t care when

The road is open
So go ahead and close your eyes
No more lies and no more secrets
We can try to make it on our own
Don’t need anyone but the two of us
Just tell me where you want to go
Anywhere but here

I know this life can be frustrating
And this old town can drag you down
Pack our bags, don’t make a destination
We’ll find ourselves along the way
Give this trip an exclamation
We’ve got all the time to waste
Let’s leave the map behind
We’ll take a permanent vacation

The road is open
So go ahead and rest your eyes
Shut the door
We’ll drive to daylight
And see what the world’s got in store

Wherever you choose
I won’t shed a tear
We’ve got everything but nothing to lose
Anywhere but here
Watch it all go by
Anywhere but here
Just leave this place behind

(c) 2009 by Matt Bonham

she will

2009-07-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

She waits
Time stops for miles and
She stays still
While she swallows the pill

She says she will
Devil you do and
That I can’t define
Fly by night sideshow
First and foremost
That I can’t deny

Harlequin
Will you let me in
Hypnotize
You give it away with the look in your eyes

Stay still
I hear them coming
Around the corner
You ride out the weather
To think you’re better
Switching spots and
I’m catching on
You pull your hoodwink down
To lull the good from all around

Interrelated
None of the above
You loved hate
You hated love
Fly free now white dove
In spite of both of us
Trust was your white space

Chemical
Windowsill
The mantle of pills
Close the deal
Stay still
Play along
She says she will

© 2009 by Matt Bonham

real

2009-07-30T13:43:00.000-07:00

Your existence is only so real
Curled up on the cusp of what I feel
Punch your clock and seal the deal
One more week to have your meal
Trapped in orbit without a care
This world is only as real as it seems
I strain to scream in my nightmares
I forget to remember all my dreams
Oh no
Here we go
From the bowels of sleep
You have no warrant to wake me
So please just let me be

I grab the stream of thought with all my might
In spite of indifference and all that’s right
You take a sideline seat for the night
Take heed we don’t have long
A turnstile for the numbers
That have come and gone
A hand to hold the light

There is only so much
My eyes can see
That my grasp can touch
Senses of what used to be

Walk over sheets of glass
Try your luck on water
For what its worth
Only eternity lasts forever
Nevermore

Squeals of the tire
The last black spot on the map
Peals of laughter
We’ll be getting back to that
Soon after

© 2009 by Matt Bonham

eyes

2009-07-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

Through your bedroom eyes
I’m not sure what you were going for
I’m not sure what you meant
Throwing your look this way
Your eyes took innocent
Yet devious
Deviated circles
Clean out the lack of sleep from your eyes
In the closet of your mind

Thrown it all away
Haven’t collected what was mine
You would look this way
Once upon a time
You gave me all you
With your eyes

The way you talk to me
The ways your eyes hide
A dream world behind
Masking the light
Of a heart so bright
In a city where
I can no longer see

Your bedroom eyes
Light the path for a thousand miles
From this view a train track
And bricks stacked on bricks
In a place so free
We still have to pay
For as far as the eye cannot see
There’s just no other way
Love and objects
All else dies
Love and objects
We shall rise
Look to the future
With our own eyes

The eyes have it
They will let you in
And turn you away
Never again

I cant close your eyes
I cant make you smile

(c) 2009 by Matt Bonham

changing the english channel

2009-07-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

I don’t know where you were coming from
And I could care less where you expect to be
You spent your time
Kept me hanging from a line
Exchanging your currency
It’s not like our love was
Changing the industry

The wayward wanderer
On to bigger and better things
I guess there’s reason to every rhyme
You don’t need to pull the string
Reaching out to mine
There’s no static in the frequency
I can hear you fine

If you were truly this unhappy
You failed to let me know
You left your mark on me
Scratched right into my back
From the night before
While you were on your back
Sprawled across the floor

After us
The morning came
You express shipped your clothes
Slipped out the door
And went on your expatriated way

If only we forgot where we were headed
We’d get lost along the way
Though I suppose
I’ve got all the time in the world for detours
So I’ll see you sometime later on today
For you forgot your passport

As for finding your destination
I believe you will succeed
You’ll find yourself
Back at the point
You started from
Somewhere in between

You’re somewhere above the clouds
While I’m down here with all the doubts in sway
London Bridge is falling down
Underneath the weight

© 2009 by Matt Bonham

king of something

2009-07-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

Jack of all the trades
Don’t call me any master
That’s the prince of paupers
My queen of disaster
And I’m the king of something
But I can’t put my finger on what that thing is

I’m not your demigod
Maybe they’ll realize that
When I’m dead and gone
A crown of cardboard
I rule with a fist
That I found at the dollar store

Tried and true
I don’t know if I’m the man for you
Water doesn’t freeze through my veins
And my posture doesn’t fit the position
For the moment I’ll listen
Shrug the attention and
The weight from off my shoulders
Rock and roll with the queen
Just to ease the tension

Have I mentioned
That I have to go
Back to the place
That I call my own
That’s what you get when
You rent the castle
And lease the kingdom

Yeah I’m the king of something
I don’t know what that something is
The world isn’t mine oh mine
And the clock doesn’t stop
When it’s on my time

© 2009 by Matt Bonham

arizona

2009-07-28T05:06:00.000-07:00

I knew it was you
When I got the midnight call
False alarm
Down to where you’d gone
Across the ragged map
To where you called home

When peace is at a premium
There’s always a war
That can be started
And Arizona is for
The girls that couldn’t cut it in California

Coach call in a pinch hitter
I’ll sit this one out
And collect my thoughts
I haven’t solved the problem yet

The sweetness of your secrets
Sweet tests of your innocence
Searching through this crime scene
Everything to little pieces
Left high and out of reach

When I’ve used up the time that I’ve been given
Till I’m down to my last breath
And collected all the thoughts
Bottle up all my doubts
Save them for when the world is silent
Then scream at the top of my lungs

Can you hear me out there
Long past the point of truth
Can you get me out of here
And Arizona was made for you

© 2009 by Matt Bonham

syndrome in stockholm

2009-07-27T06:55:00.000-07:00

For what it takes
Long past where the roads run out
Lies the place where
Making sense of my mistakes
Has taken the award as of late

I would make you out
From the largest crowds
Your smile I spot a mile away
Feeling this loneliness
Is meaningless
I keep you close to me

You took a hold of me
I’m beginning to take a liking
To this situation
Don’t worry about reparation
Don’t worry about hurting me
I’ve been down this road before
And I can see

I don’t know what I can give you
It’d be easier to comprehend
If I were giving you the world
If it could fit in the palm of my hand
I hope you understand

Looks like we’ve got ourselves
Another syndrome in Stockholm
Where I am holding you home
Where all our secrets are known
And tomorrow we will roam
For the world’s too big to walk alone

Looks like we’ve got ourselves
Another syndrome in Stockholm
Where I am holding you home
Where all our secrets are known
Find some comfort in the unknown
For this life’s a little too long to love alone

Love is beginning to build
Past the shadows strung
Beyond the moon
You have my hands tied
Behind my back
One track mind
Sooner or later
Long past tomorrow

Held for hostage
Head over heels
You’ll have to remind me
To return the ransom
Is it love
Or is it lust
If this were tomorrow
Would you be someone else
For what it’s worth
We’ll always have always

For all I remember
This will last forever
For all I remember
This is neverending

© 2009 by Matt Bonham

life as a hole

2009-07-27T05:54:00.000-07:00

After all
The times we fell short
We came back again
Chalked up the win
And counted your losses
Lost in all the sin
Shattered from within
Shouldered what’s left
And I kept the rest to myself

Sanctity
Is extinct
In this city
I’m sinking deep
Bringing me
A pleading of please
On pins and needles
Feeding me
I feel it deepening

All without the reasoning
The truth sometimes is sickening
If you cover me so
No one will ever know
I was here in the first place
Where all the memories go
Wasting slowly away
Running in place

We are coming clean
And we fall into place
Taking the space
As we all
Fall from grace

Fortunately for you
You can make it out
My life as a hole
Within the shadow of a doubt
The same scenes are growing old
By all means I’m not meaning to
But I’m growing cold

© 2008 by Matt Bonham

pennymoney

2009-07-23T05:22:00.000-07:00

White dots
Blink in black
The flag went up
And she came out
Three times around
Make a country mile
For a while
I wanted an island
Those same sets of eyes
Watch from the mountain

Before the stand
She took my hand
Pennymoney’s all I have
That and a
Pencil-pushing marching band
Ask too much
Give a little
Someone’s holed up
In the middle, and

Just ask the cheapskate there
When the money trail
Disappeared
Into thin air
Throw the ringer
Off we go
She’s around here
That I know

Patience
Scapegoat
Cut and paste that ransom note
Give me my pennymoney back
As I walk away
Watch my back
Wait a minute
Your eyes are white
And you’re not on the side
You said you were on
Pennymoney so long
Pennymoney so long

© 2009 by Matt Bonham

only so long

2009-07-23T05:04:00.000-07:00

Drum beats and the summer clouds fall
From the dust a surprise
Yet is this welcome stranger a miracle
Or the devil in disguise

For only so long
Buildings getting taller
This world is growing smaller
Keep on running like the wind so strong
Do they really want to be like us
For someday we’ll all return to dust

He reaches in his pocket
Removes the watch to show his son
For only so long
The world plans on keeping up
Each step forward
At the end of our days
For everyone to get but a taste
Thinking there’s an always
As you try to make this work
You’re only going to make this worse

And the higher the crown sits
Further falls the king
For only so long
We want to be so big
Shrinking by the second

Thought we were taught to stay within the lines
For years and wars long gone to remember names
Time and time again
At the center of it all we’re all the same

(c) 2009 by Matt Bonham

free to be

2009-07-22T05:14:00.000-07:00

Four years too late
From the palm of my hand I wave goodbye
Driving forward with the force of a thousand lies
You were more than I asked for
To ask you back
I cannot afford

Run down riches
Your old money’s still in vogue
In this makeshift society
The charlatans and ramble on rogues
Ready for what’s happening
Keepers of the kingdom
What are you doing to me?

Satellites with their ears turned skywards
Marching onward
They listen for the signals
Towards the dawn
We’re all soldiers
Getting older
In this war never to be won
A blanket of color draped across
This world gone cold
Into the told unknown
We all think we know
Everyone thinks they know
I told you so

If we don’t strike it right the first time
On the matchbook of your life
Live for the moment
Live for eternity
Free to be

Free to be
We were born of the weak
Free to be
Not to destroy those you seek

(c) 2009 by Matt Bonham

end of the line

2009-07-22T05:10:00.000-07:00

I’m running out of luck
So I’m driving to the end of the line
Spread all our things in the back of my daddy’s old truck
Mine is yours and yours is mine
My daddy says that you’re fine
I hope your daddy
He won’t mind
But I don’t think I’ll have you back in time

I do believe we’ve reached the end of the line
You can turn around now or stay for the ride
Where we go it’s all a surprise
Because I don’t know what to expect sometimes

Your mistakes
Lie in the plans you make
The blueprints for our escape
Were made up in haste
Your decisions work against you every time
You’re trying too hard today, baby
Lay back and trust me this time

Now I do believe we’ve reached the end of the line
You can turn around now or stay for the ride
Where we go it’s all a surprise
Because I don’t know what to expect sometimes

The gas tank’s near empty
So take the wheel from me, baby
We don’t have much more to drive
A little farther down the road
Not much more to go
Then we’ll take the dive

I believe we’ve reached the end of the line
You can turn around now or stay for a while
The road runs straight into the sea
We can keep driving, it’s all right with me
If we’ve gone too far just tell me it’s time
Where we go it’s all a surprise
Because I don’t know what to expect sometimes

(c) 2009 by Matt Bonham

call the shots

2009-07-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

I’ve been going over all the details
Living life up and over the rails
Of the final nail in the coffin
And tossing and turning the night over
The gloss of your dried up four leaf clover
Your luck’s run out
It’s time to step aside
Swallow what pride you have left
The wise man would’ve told you what was best

For the longest time you
Have called the shots to
Support yourself over me
High up on your crumbling wall of insecurity
You never knew what was best for me
Now you have the rest of your life to see
What its like to be brought to your knees

And you can say what you feel is on your mind
Because I won’t mind at all
I’m standing here straight and tall
It might be today or maybe tomorrow
Eventually you’re going to take the fall

You’ve called the shots for too long now
The spotlight now shines on someone else
So save your breath this time somehow
I don’t know how you will but that’s not for me to tell
Take a trip on another pipe dream of your own
While I chip away at the cornerstone

Spoil yourself over your own coals
The fire’s beginning to boil
You’ve already sown your oats and covered the holes
No more forgive and forgets left to toil for you
Tarnish your silver and go for the gold
You have nothing left to lose

(c) 2009 by Matt Bonham

Why You Should Read (Or Not)

2009-07-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

The premise of this blog is to throw out some songs I have written, yet have not put to music.

Who knows if/when that will actually occur. If (there's no when here) the Cubs ever win the World Series, then let's talk. Actually if you are interested in putting some rhythm in, please, by all means, let me know. I'm basically up for anything, save for a Falco cover band.

I'll try to post a new song or two daily, maintaining some effort of productivity to maintain the infrastructure of corporate America (my other job).

Let's focus on the facts here, people: I'm no songsmith (though I'm sure the lap of a lyricist is luxurious) so this should be fun.