On Episode 6 we get tripped up on cantrips before Joshua David MG gives us a songwriting prompt that'll make you ask: Did they just write the songs of the summer??? If you'd like downloadable files for this episode (and the demos we showed off), ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you can go to our Bandcamp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to pay-what-you-want to support us!

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and our brand-new discord is here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Challenge: "Did I just write the song of the summer???"

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BUG'S SONG

Title: Loud and Clear

Lyrics:

You're playin' DJ on our road trip and my ears are going numb

It's taking every bit of patience not to mute it with my thumb

maybe pretend that it malfunctioned and I'll fix it when we stop

but then you say "this one's my favorite" and you crank the volume knob

Why do you like this stuff, I haven't got a clue

what made a middle class big city girl like only country tunes

you don't square dance in your Daisy Dukes or line up in your boots

and you you ain't ever seen the inside of a country town saloon

I've tried to give it all a chance, I promise you I did

but I can't tell when one song ends and when the next hit song begins

twenty minutes in... lets just call it what it is

every hit song of the summer sounds a little bit like this:

a big bar crowd sing-a-long

a four-chord kinda country song

where the chorus always mentions beer

and the title, the title hits loud and clear

Its always so repetitive, they've got nothing to say

every aspect is generic, every lyric feels cliché

I respect the men and women and the instruments they play

but the hacks that they are backing have put all their skills to waste

cause the stars are all so similar, so handsome, could it be

another well-connected white boy up and moved to Tennessee

Has a network out in Nashville, plays a chord or two or three

add a fourth and ride a horse and you can end up on TV singin'

But did you ever think...

[See website for remaining lyrics!]

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MATT'S SONG

Title: Comparing Yourself to a Sillhouette

Lyrics:

Amelia was born on a saturday night

in the heat of july in the heart of america

and while the city slept, her mother showed her the sky

and speckles of starlight settled on her eyes and little Amelia Earhart knew one day she would fly

No that's not what happened

Can someone tell me why we obsessively mythologise real people, real lives like this

Like no one truly exists unless they live between the lines

of a fairy story someone writes?

Is it not enough for someone just to have lived, you know?

And to have lived extraordinarily?

Amelia 'melia, please

Come back to earth some time

I'm dangling here by a wire

And it doesn't feel like flying.

Do you think jesus understood that it wasn't enough to be a good man?

To be wise and patient and kind?

Do you think he knew that in order for his message to outlive him he would have to be canonised, and to be canonised he would have to die before his time?

Or was that narrative thrust upon him

Against his will

By a disciple who loved the message more than the man

And who knew that humans don't trust humans

We trust gods

And so this all too human friend of his would have to

Whether he wanted to or not

Become a god

Or be forgotten

And here I am, trying to be the best version of me that I can

Comparing myself to these silhouettes who

In the way they're presented at least

Didn't exist

Thinking that because I don't have a narrative

Because you couldn't project my story on the screen

That somehow makes me less real

And the thing is

I don't think I'm accepting that

I think i'm trying to turn myself into a story

To see myself as I see them

As only a silhouette

On Episode 5, we record an episode in the same room for the FIRST TIME EVER. Come listen to us reminisce about the tour with PapaBug and rank all our favorite moments (Bug even reveals his favorite fan!!). Oh, and we write some songs, too!

Jam Mechanics is a podcast hosted by Matt (The Narcissist Cookbook) and Bug (Bug Hunter) where we are challenged to write a song demo from scratch every episode. If you'd like downloadable files for this episode (and the demos we showed off), ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you can go to our Bandcamp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to pay-what-you-want to support us! Our Music: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Narcissist Cookbook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bug Hunter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and our brand-new discord is here⁠⁠⁠⁠ -- SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE BELOW --

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Challenge: "Get Ranked"

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BUG'S SONG

Title: First and Second

Lyrics:

I wanna tell all my friends about you

to tell my mom, who will tell my dad

to find the best damn parts about this

and celebrate the things I have... but I can't

When I was kid at the dinner table

my parents would make us make a thankful list

the top 3 things about our day

and I was always just the worst at this

Some days it was simple but most days it was difficult

my disposition leaned a bit more pessimist than typical

its hard to get excited, like if life finds out I like it

I will lose it, yeah its stupid and its superstitious

So when you ask me the top 3 things

I love about this, I still freeze up

I probably look like a well-fed snake

as I choke so hard on that softball toss

I should just say "hell with it", maybe just embellish it

"your laugh, your eyes, your smile" but I know I'm barely sellin it

its hard to get excited, if life finds out I like it

I will lose it, yeah its stupid, I just wanna

tell all my friends about you

to tell my mom, who will tell my dad

to find the best damn parts about this

and celebrate the things I have... but I can't

Why am I like this?

Why can't I admit everything's going well

Why do I hide it?

Hide all my joy in this bone-colored shell

So I thought and I thought of my top 3 but its something I just couldn't do

so here's my top 2...

I'm tellin all my friends about you

I told my mom (who told my dad)

So here's the top 2 parts about this love

they're the first and second half

I'm tellin all my friends about you

you told your mom I'm not thar bad

So here's the top 2 parts about this love

they're the first and second half

the top 2 parts about this love

is the first and second, the first and second half

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MATT'S SONG

Title: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Lyrics:

I listed all my flaws in order
Starting from the least of them
The ones you might not even notice
Bedbugs scattering for cover when
the light goes on i just react,
it isn't evidence of sentience or anything like that

miseryguts
shut up inside my castle
overweight and
undersentimental
manic phases, chronic depression
what a shame that no one will ever...

I listed all my flaws in order
So you'd know what to expect
The ones that chafe your soul
Until the day your perfect patience starts to crack
i am a rock
i am an island
i'm the great pacific garbage patch

forget about
forgetting your birthday
i won't remember your first name
constantly expecting the worst
so i can say that i saw it coming

miseryguts
shut up inside my castle
overweight and
undersentimental
manic phases, chronic depression
what a shame that no one will miss him