tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21440425849040600952023-11-15T08:02:41.324-08:00slumberbird productionsLYRICS, POETRY AND CREATIVE TEXT BY JEREMY DAVID KAUFMANJeremy David Kaufmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713105039316711237noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2144042584904060095.post-12566657684485366192010-11-05T23:45:00.000-07:002014-02-03T21:43:01.853-08:00Reincarnation Instant Breakdown“Dearly beloved,<br />
<br />
We wish to welcome back the recently deceased, divested and sifted through ashes and dust. Please squeeze this squirming mass of reignited dendrite-subways into freshly rotten robes.<br />
<br />
Now the Spark barrels down the black-lit mindshafts, the thoughts amazed to find themselves home. They hang their hats in disbelief, and breathe in the musty odors of familiar life.<br />
<br />
The moment is upon us. He is nearly born.<br />
<br />
It is time. Let us praise him:<br />
<br />
May his door never be darkened by the shadow of a stranger. May his thoughts never be troubled by the death that came before. May life keep him or reject him, and hold him far away from the truth.<br />
<br />
Amen…”<br />
<br />
copyright 08/08/09 Jeremy David KaufmanJeremy David Kaufmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713105039316711237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2144042584904060095.post-9663464854195706692010-11-04T20:46:00.000-07:002014-02-03T21:44:57.875-08:00Madness In Your EyesYou don't have to slumber when you sleep<br />
<div>
You don't have to drown beneath the deep </div>
<div>
If you wake up and you're all alone </div>
<div>
And daylight's turned your dreams to stone </div>
<div>
Then dream about the madness in your eyes </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You don't have to break down when you cry </div>
<div>
You don't have to give it one more try </div>
<div>
If crooked love tore your life apart </div>
<div>
And all it left you is a broken heart </div>
<div>
You can learn to love the madness in your eyes </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You don't have to worry when you're old </div>
<div>
You don't have to lie in a box of gold </div>
<div>
If the years have come and gone </div>
<div>
And there's nothing left but you're still hanging on </div>
<div>
Hold on to the madness in your eyes </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
copyright 08/2010 Jeremy David Kaufman slumberbird music</div>
Jeremy David Kaufmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713105039316711237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2144042584904060095.post-2217841836043153972009-06-10T19:28:00.000-07:002014-03-21T21:39:11.544-07:00Evening/NYC/1975The city folds in on itself,<br />
pouncing on switchblade sunsets<br />
with eager twitching and nervous hands.<br />
<br />
Alleys race under fire escapes;<br />
laundry writhing on backyard wires<br />
like fish in salty buckets.<br />
<br />
Each square of sidewalk rolls past dusty shoes<br />
of winos and barflies.<br />
Some squares are baptized<br />
by chalk drawings of children;<br />
others marred with dried blood and gum-blisters.<br />
<br />
Somewhere the sounds of a funk bass<br />
are dancing under dim lights and cigarette smoke.<br />
<br />
With coat flung over shoulder,<br />
a local girl flirts with stranger under disco ball mistletoe.<br />
Curly black hair is plowed by her hand.<br />
She giggles and probes at biceps and past,<br />
but his smile fails to alarm her.<br />
<br />
She hears only the drums<br />
bending the night<br />
into rivers of sound and silence.<br />
<br />
5/11/95 Jeremy David KaufmanJeremy David Kaufmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713105039316711237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2144042584904060095.post-39478846007944222422009-03-26T02:32:00.001-07:002009-03-27T01:48:14.490-07:00Born InsaneSometimes the people you love they are loyal and true<br />And sometimes they're waiting to bury the dagger in you<br /><br />But it all comes down in the end<br />Enemies lovers and friends<br />The strangers you meet on the street<br />And the house you were born insane<br /><br />Sometimes the things that surround you are shiny and new<br />And sometimes you worry your things are more happy than you<br /><br />But it all comes down in the end<br />Fashion and phases and trends<br />The gossip you buy that will help you deny<br />You were born insane<br /><br />It doesn't matter what you think you know<br />Or what they told you on the radio <br />When you go, you gotta go alone<br />That's all we know about the Great Unknown<br /><br />Sometimes the things you believe in turn out to be true<br />And sometimes it's just make believe and the joke is on you<br /><br />But it all comes down in the end<br />Jerusalem, Mecca, Stonehenge<br />The pyramid's tall but it's still gonna fall<br />We are born insane.<br /><br />2007 copyright Jeremy David Kaufman, slumberbird musicJeremy David Kaufmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713105039316711237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2144042584904060095.post-41568184632997425742009-03-26T02:24:00.000-07:002009-03-26T02:29:59.430-07:00SmileNight and Day<br />It's always been this way<br />When one is done<br />Another has begun<br />But soon you'll see<br />The only thing you'll be<br />Is just another memory<br />That no one can recall<br /><br />And it's one last shove of the gravedigger's shovel<br />One last turn of the screw<br />One last plea to the hanging tree<br />But the branch won't break for you<br /><br />And it's one for the road and one for the bottle<br />One last honk of the horn<br />One last squeal from behind the wheel<br />And you might as well have never been born<br /><br />Work and Play<br />It's always been this way<br />When you have fun<br />There's work that must be done<br />But soon you'll find<br />The life you leave behind<br />Is nothing rare or precious<br />Just a moment lost in time<br /><br />And it's one last shove of the gravedigger's shovel<br />One last turn of the screw<br />One last plea to the hanging tree<br />But the branch won't break for you<br /><br />And it's one last glance at the face of the doctor<br />One last chance to know why<br />One last twitch of your cerebellum<br />Bleeding out of your third eye.<br /><br />And you know nothing lives forever<br />And there's nothing you can do<br />Everyone you've ever loved<br />Will disappear from view<br /><br />But you're no different when you're sleeping in the dirt <br />You'll be trading in your trousers for a wooden shirt<br /><br />And it's one last shove of the gravedigger's shovel<br />One last turn of the screw<br />One last plea to the hanging tree<br />But the branch won't break for you<br /><br />And it's one last push of the big red button<br />One last flash in the sky<br />One last scream when it's not a dream<br />As we blow the world a kiss goodbye<br /><br />2004 copyright Jeremy David Kaufman, Slumberbird MusicJeremy David Kaufmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713105039316711237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2144042584904060095.post-42275248155441322542009-03-26T02:19:00.000-07:002014-02-03T21:45:49.172-08:00Let Me SleepYesterday was good to me,<br />
But then I broke her heart.<br />
We tried to stay together,<br />
But I always come apart.<br />
<br />
And I know that I've done wrong,<br />
But there's time to set it right -<br />
Lord, let me sleep tonight.<br />
<br />
Today withdrew the dagger,<br />
But there's still a gaping hole.<br />
Now my blood is full of poison,<br />
But I'm empty in my soul;<br />
<br />
So I smile like the future,<br />
But inside I'm so uptight.<br />
Lord, let me sleep tonight.<br />
<br />
Let me stagger in the beauty<br />
Of a night so vast and deep.<br />
Let me stumble through the city streets<br />
When all the world's asleep.<br />
<br />
Let me linger at the window<br />
Of a dream I loved before...<br />
Once again I'm dragged from slumberland,<br />
Awake and out the door.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow tears her bitter rags<br />
Of guilt and shame and tears.<br />
I would say it's all in fun<br />
But I've been wearing them for years;<br />
<br />
And I know I've walked in shadow,<br />
But I'm reaching for the light.<br />
Lord, let me sleep tonight,<br />
<br />
Lord, let me sleep tonight.<br />
<br />
08/28/05 copyright Jeremy David Kaufman, Slumberbird MusicJeremy David Kaufmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713105039316711237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2144042584904060095.post-59803829466960792682009-03-26T01:54:00.000-07:002014-02-03T21:39:09.310-08:00TransmissionIt’s strange, isn't it?<br />
<br />
Sitting with a pad and pen,<br />
Finding you have nothing to say?<br />
<br />
A lifetime of memories, a treasure chest<br />
Of untapped emotion, a perfectly active imagination,<br />
And yet, nothing.<br />
<br />
The sword is finally pulled from the scabbard.<br />
No target in sight.<br />
<br />
It is inconceivable that writer’s block<br />
Would ever happen to anyone.<br />
<br />
Okay, so no pretty prose.<br />
You’ll never carve a single passage of true poetry.<br />
But do you not have something to say, anything at all?<br />
<br />
It is not so simple.<br />
Writing is an act of divination.<br />
You feel the joy of relief,<br />
Or it’s still in there, thrashing around and breaking the furniture.<br />
<br />
What do you want to say?<br />
Tell the world a story?<br />
Reveal the divine in our comic and trivial endeavors?<br />
Go for the big revelation,<br />
The "what’s it all about?”<br />
<br />
And how do you plan to do any of that with words?<br />
<br />
There will be no lotus sutra -<br />
No sequence of words I can string together<br />
Will open up your mind,<br />
Like a prisoner set free at last.<br />
<br />
They are just words.<br />
They may become a toy that no one plays with<br />
Or the rope that hangs me.<br />
<br />
Ha! Losing sleep over writer’s block!<br />
Are misery and exhaustion their own rewards?<br />
Invaluable slumber bartered for blank page or a blinding screen.<br />
<br />
All I have to show<br />
Are these clues you use to track me down.<br />
<br />
These pages contain hints and traces:<br />
Smoke from extinguished campfires - butts in the ashtray - footprints in the snow.<br />
<br />
Read, and you’ll know where I’ve been.<br />
You already know where I’m headed.<br />
<br />
I will meet you<br />
At the exact moment late at night<br />
Before you realize that it’s morning,<br />
Or when you stare at the stars<br />
And receive only silence.<br />
<br />
<b>BEGIN TRANSMISSION:</b><br />
<br />
<b>Through the vast reaches of blackest space, </b><br />
<b>Can you hear me? </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>From the first gasp to the final sigh, you’ve been with me all this time. </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Please don’t leave me with nothing to tell you. </b><br />
<b>I’ve waded through the centuries to do this, to write these very words!</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><i>it’s me my dear / again / like i’ve always done / a simple thank-you letter / nothing more.</i></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
07/22/05Jeremy David Kaufmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713105039316711237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2144042584904060095.post-51649869367654975602009-03-26T01:48:00.000-07:002014-02-03T21:48:26.324-08:00Kill Me<span style="font-family: verdana;">She walks with me in darkness<br />And never gives her name.<br />I know she isn’t human<br />But I love her just the same.<br /><br />You’ll always be the madness I adore<br />Kill me like you did the night before.<br /><br />Her nails are painted daggers<br />Carving patterns on my skin<br />I know she’ll strip the fear from me<br />And tear away the sin.<br /><br />Tie me to your bed and lock the door –<br />And kill me like you did the night before.<br /><br />I wonder who’s that screaming?<br />Are those bloodstains on the wall?<br />I hear my lover’s laughter<br />As she drags me through the hall.<br /><br />Bury me beneath the basement floor –<br />Kill me like you did the night before.<br /><br />I’m feeding worms and spiders<br />The weeds all overgrown<br />Then the wall of sleep comes crashing down<br />And I find myself alone.<br /><br />How could you just leave me wanting more?<br />Kill me like you did the night before?<br />Won’t you kill me like you did the night before?<br /><br />9/22-25/8 copyright Jeremy David Kaufman, slumberbird music</span>Jeremy David Kaufmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713105039316711237noreply@blogger.com0