Dawes

“Oh Brother”

Lyrics

Mister Los Angeles

My trainer tells his clients he’s a shaman

We smoke some DMT before we bench

My diet’s strictly protein shakes and ramen

So we make sure to purge after we stretch

I’m Mr. Los Angeles

The rumors are true

Out on the bleeding edge of fashion

I’m Mr. Los Angeles

I’m calling for you

This is where the magic happens

My therapist confirms that I’m a victim

It’s everyone around me that is bad

Using words like “toxic” and “intentions”

And every session ends with “this was rad”

I’m Mr. Los Angeles

The rumors are true

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I’m Mr. Los Angeles

I’m calling for you

This is where the magic happens

I just booked a Taco Bell commercial

I eat a bag of cheese without my hands

My agent thinks it’s slightly controversial

It’s not great for the image of my band

I’m Mr. Los Angeles

The rumors are true

Behind every good man there’s a mansion

I’m Mr. Los Angeles

I’m calling for you

This is where the magic happens

I have a friend who wouldn’t name his children

He says that it requires their consent

The oldest says he likes to go by “kitchen”

The baby thinks her name is “made a mess”

I’m Mr. Los Angeles

The rumors are true

The only way to make it here is Fountain

I’m Mr. Los Angeles

I’m calling for you

This is where the magic happens

I’m Mr. Los Angeles

The rumors are true

Every vegan sleeps in sheets of satin

I’m Mr. Los Angeles

I’m calling for you

This is where the magic happens

Front Row Seat

As slowly as a yogi stretches at an unsafe park

I tiptoe toward the gravity of the predicament we’re in

I’d prefer to leave tomorrow sitting firmly in the dark 

Instead of facing one more tired vision of the end 

Chorus:

But if that’s the ball game

If the experiment’s complete

And we both stand around

To watch it all come down

At least we got a front row seat

I got good at changing subjects 

Nearly everywhere I went 

Until my conversations all got too good to be true 

This world can wax poetic about airborne toxic events

While I’ll take the time that’s left me

And I’ll give it all to you 

Chorus 

If it’s true that it’s a curse to live in interesting times

Then why do get butterflies as I peek over the ledge? 

I’ll bring the popcorn

You bring some wine 

Just don’t pay for the whole seat

If all you needed was the edge 

Chorus

Still Strangers Sometimes

I was geared up for obscurity

Excited most specifically

About knowing you’d soon reach for me 

And I’d be gone 

You always took me to another place

Part childhood, part outer space

But the naked truth of our face-to-face

It’s just not what I want

‘Cause even when your body gets that close to mine

We’re still strangers sometimes

We’re still strangers sometimes 

And even as you claim that you can read my mind

We’re still strangers sometimes

We’re still strangers sometimes

Love was supposed to help me find myself

Not just put me through this private hell

That gets worse each time I tell you

What feels wrong

Just a glimpse of what’s achievable 

A sympathy unspeakable

Has left me a bit unreachable

For way too long 

‘Cause even when your body gets that close to mine

We’re still strangers sometimes

We’re still strangers sometimes 

Even if you’re still my dr. Frankenstein 

We’re still strangers sometimes

We’re still strangers sometimes

You spend enough time with a mystery

Its powers start to atrophy 

So if you can’t get to the heart of me

Let’s just walk away 

Because even when your body gets that close to mine

We’re still strangers sometimes

We’re still strangers sometimes 

Even as we cross each other’s borderlines

We’re still strangers sometimes

We’re still strangers sometimes

Surprise!

Once the gatekeepers decided

We would fade into the crowd

You took what makes you charming 

And you turned it up too loud 

Now how many songs does the band have to get through

Before you steal away the mic?

How many cakes do you have to jump out of 

Before no one yells “surprise!”?

I remember us both learning 

That no one’s dreams come true 

They’re either not quite how you saw them

Or the goal post just gets moved 

That’s when you changed your expectations  

And started rolling your third eye 

But you still don’t know the ending 

You can’t spoil the surprise 

Now the nature of your birthday party

Has changed a lot for me

What was once a celebration 

Feels like a shameless victory

I guess we all confuse our happiness

With what it takes to just survive 

But the moment that the switch gets flipped

Is always a surprise 

There’s a little bit of poetry

In what you’re doing to your face

Removing all the evidence

Of our shared time and space

And your eyes close when you smile now

Because you’re squeezing it too tight

If this is how you double down

You’re in for a surprise

There’s a nightclub deep in Hollywood

For each night of the week 

Watching all my fake friends congregate

Where no one wants to be 

But you have to muddle through it

If you wanna make it out alive

And the ones that find the other side

Are in for a surprise

I’m not letting myself off easy here

I’ve been going through it too

I might have leaned into things more gracefully

But what good did that do?

You found your way to rage against the dying of the light 

I thought I planned for all contingencies

I thought I knew who I was meant to be 

All those roads laid out in front of me 

But it’s still a big surprise

House Parties

The next on our list is the M&M store

Then the Statue of Liberty

After FAO Schwartz

And as I carry the bags

I wonder what we’re doing this for

You don’t find the good stuff

On a guided tour

But house parties and local bands

Back porches w some Bowie fans

Spilled drinks on a baby grand

And midnight sing alongs

I don’t care for designer brands

Souvenirs from a trinket stand

House parties and local bands

That’s where I belong

This sunburn is bad

And it goes all the way down

And these drinks in the daytime

Are never quite as fun as they sound

These days at the beach

Feel more like just sitting around

So if anyone needs me

You know where I can be found

House parties and local bands

Good weed with some Joni fans

Old friends playing Mega Man

And a little Donkey Kong

I don’t wanna see Disneylands

Beer bellies and farmer tans

House parties and local bands

That’s where I belong

We’ve come to Chicago

At the wrong time of year

My eyelids are frozen

And I can’t feel my ears

It’s not that I don’t like museums

But we live near a few

If you want the real thing

You know what you gotta do

House parties and local bands

Someone yelling at Kanye fans

“How can you possibly stand that man

After all he’s done?”

I don’t care about Paul Gauguin

A Starry Night or The Son Of Man

House parties and local bands

That’s where I belong

King of the Never-Wills

I watched you hold court with the graduate class of your fan club

Those same tired stories at the end of your favorite bar

And to give ‘em a bit of suspense

You tell them in the present tense

As if you believe that’s the person you somehow still are

The assumption was always that you were a little too special

To pay the same share of the dues that all of us owe

You convinced us to change up the plan

And prepare the road for the man

Instead of just simply preparing the man for the road

Everything goes out of fashion

You went way over that hill

You couldn’t go on as a has-been

You had to be king of the never-wills

You used to say that my beers were a bit too expensive

To get to the heart of what drove a true seeker to drink

And after we both forced a laugh

Your eyes tried to take that joke back

Once you could tell that I knew that’s what you really think

How did this catastrophe happen

And why is it happening still

You couldn’t go on as a has-been

You had to be king of the never-wills

As we walked to my car we both heard a small pack of coyotes

Telling the neighborhood they all found something to eat

And after the howls died away

You sobered up only to say

“Its too late to be anything we never wanted to be”

I dropped you at Hillhurst and Franklin

To let the long night go in for the kill

You couldn’t go on as a has-been

You had to be king of the never wills

Now you’re the heart of a story that goes on without you

We’ve distilled your whole person to only the best memories

You’re a fixture at all open mics

The kids if we were alike

But when I look in the mirror

Yours is the face that I see

It’s worse than I could’ve imagined

As I lift up my glass to get filled

I refuse to go on as a has-been

I’d rather be king of the never-wills

The Game

Millie came up playing in the boys clubs

But they made her play at midnight or at 8

Her friends all said the times were finally changing 

It only felt a century too late

Her eyes were always deep inside her notebook 

Her hands were always tuning her guitar

And while some stayed busy waiting for permission 

She was on her way to be a star

But if you asked her if anyone held her back

She’d tell you she forgot most of their names

The losers only think about the winners

The winners only think about the game 

Then Millie fell in love with a civilian 

Or at least we know he fell in love w her

He could see how bright her light was shining

He could feel how wild her fire burned 

But love has its own kind of symmetries 

You have to give as much as you receive 

And when he realized he would never give her nothing 

He decided it was time for him to leave 

But now he likes to criticize her privately

While she simply says that neither were to blame

The losers only think about the winners

The winners only think about the game 

So Millie kept on adding to the set list

And working on her studio tan 

And for the first time found it hard telling the difference

Between all her friends and all her fans 

Which left her with a special brand of emptiness

She channeled right back into the songs 

She wasn’t gonna ask herself the question

If this is what she wanted all along 

Some people said she was a genius 

Some people said she was insane 

But those losers only think about the winners

The winners only think about the game 

She wouldn’t suffer any fools

She danced to her own rhythm 

She wasn’t playing by the rules

She was playing with ‘em

Millie knew just when the dust was settled 

When it’s time to put down the pencil down

When the harmony is only just a shadow 

Of the way it felt the first hundred times around

Which left it to the critics and the experts 

To tell the world how Millie really felt 

To somehow say she lost a competition 

She was only ever having with herself 

Well some might look for meaning in the ashes 

She just misses standing in the flame 

The losers only think about the winners

The winners only think about the game

Enough Already

Never got angry enough to be funny

Never stopped caring enough to be cool

Haven’t been broken enough to feel holy

Never loved someone enough to be cruel

Never been hungry enough to get cracking

Haven’t quite fallen enough to atone

Never could cry hard to start laughing

Haven’t stopped moving enough to be home 

But it’s not like I’m keeping score

Only when I feel unsteady

Am I getting a little more?

Or have I had enough already?

Man, enough already 

I haven’t cleared enough of my record

I haven’t covered enough of my tracks

I haven’t cashed in enough of my winnings

I haven’t tried on enough of my hats 

But I’ve always failed enough to keep trying

I’ve always worked enough to get by

I’ve always felt enough hope in the mornings

To help me wrestle the demons at night 

So where’s the medal waiting for?

And who is throwing the confetti?

Am I getting a little more?

Or have I had enough already?

Man, enough already 

Maybe I’ve said enough to be quiet

Maybe I’ve stood enough to sit back

Maybe I’ve told enough lies to be honest

Let someone else try and mount the attack

Or maybe I should just ask for help

If I’m living in the land of plenty

And still hoping for something else

When I know I’ve got enough already

Hilarity Ensues

Knucklehead 1 falls in love with Knucklehead 2

They tell each other all their secrets

They start to share a point of view

There’s a bit lost in translation

Always something misconstrued

And hilarity ensues

This knucklehead pair tell the oldest of their knucklehead brood

You can be anything you want, son

We believe in you

So he sets out for the real world

Thinking this is true

And hilarity ensues

Let our substances impair us

Let the deadly virus spare us

Let our horror movies scare us

Then let’s do it all again

Let’s root, root for the home team

Then buy each other ice cream

Let’s live inside the day dream

That is all it’s ever been

This knucklehead boy thinks he’s talking to his knucklehead god

God says “this is all your fault, kid

You should’ve taken odds

But if you give me all your money

I’ll see what I can do”

And hilarity ensues

Chorus

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