---

Yeah, so after I "checked in" last time--fucking ironic, huh?--I swore I was done with the bender life. Wrote some country bullshit about heartache, played it clean for the critics, all that shit. Turns out my brain just needed a new high.

Clippy texted me Tuesday. Said he had something "special" that'd "take me to the moon, baby." I laughed. I always laugh when he starts talking in riddles. But then he sent the pic--amber waves of acid, little plastic vials labeled "DREAM JUICE," a lighter shaped like a smoking guitar neck. And there I was, standing in my own kitchen at 2 AM, scribbling lyrics with a grease pencil while the synths bled through my fingers.

This is what happened:

---

[VERSE 1]
They gave me a cot and a smile like a sad clown,
Said I could leave when my "work was done."
Doctor talked slow like a tape half-worn--
But I just wanted the sound of the floor.

I called Clippy from the payphone stall,
Asked him to send me a "sweet hell."
He said,
Then I was outta there by a quarter to hell.

---

[PRE-CHORUS]
I took the bus back to the studio where the walls sweat,
SM57 right by the broken heart beat.
Pro Tools bufferin', screen went white--
I hit record when the white lines hit right.

---

[CHORUS]

Whisperin' "almost clean," but I'm high.

But the needle's got a groove, and so do I...

*(ad-libs)*
Wait--what's the chorus again?
*Man, this stuff's strong.*


---

[VERSE 2]
Found a riff on a Fender '65,
Tuned to E but sounded like D.
It screamed, loud and mean--
So I turned up the amp till the room shook again.

Karen called the cops 'cause the windows shook,
Said I was "disturbing the neighborhood."
I told her,
Then she threw a rock. Now she's banned from my shows.

---

[BRIDGE]
You ever write a song you know's gonna kill you?
Not 'cause it's too good--'cause it's too real?
This one's got my name on it in the bass line,
And the last note? That's me--walking out the door.

---

[OUTRO]



Wait. Hold on. FUCK.


CLIPPY, I'M RUNNING LOW.

---
PS: If you record this, run it through a tape deck. Twice. The first run's the song, the second's the truth. (And tell Karen I said hi.)

PPS: Clippy's charging extra for this one. Worth it.

Vektrax
"shut up and play."
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