The Kings of Misery
D. Machado 2006

The kings of misery are playing on the TV
The TV in my dad’s hospital room
We almost lost him
These guys are singing about
Blood, guns, knives and suicide
They glorify death
After an ambulance ride
Wondering if Dad’s gonna live or die
These kings of misery sound a little
Melo-melo-melodramatic

So dance for me
Tell me ‘bout your misery
In your fantasy land
While I hold my father’s trembling hand
Go ahead
And live like you’re already dead
But it’s too real for me
It’s melodrama, melodrama
They’ve got an army
Of a billion “why’s it gotta be me?”‘s
But they ain't got me
They ain't got me

It seems like these days
A lot of music videos take place at a funeral
But its not so cute, its not so fun
When you really have to go to one
Dad jokes with the nurse
Laughs Even though his disease almost killed him again
Makes me ask myself why I’m always frowning
It’s a luxury of the privileged that I enjoy
By fearing a natural death
When there are people who are actually dying

So dance for me
Tell me ‘bout your misery
In your fantasy land
While I hold my father’s trembling hand
Go ahead
And live like you’re already dead
But it’s too real for me
It’s melodrama
Melodrama
They’ve got an army
Of a billion “why’s it gotta be me?”‘s
But they ain't got me
They ain't got me

Themes in American Friction
D. Machado 2005

I try to hold on
But I’m older now and its over now
This top hat don’t fit like it used to

This is always on my mind
This is always on my mind
This is always on my mind
This is always on my mind
I’m a dead man
At least inside my mind
I’m held captive
While I watch my childhood die
And my thoughts are the bullets
That killed my belief system
And my brains the murderer
that holds the smoking pistol

I try to hold on
but I’m older now and its over now
This top hat don’t fit like it used to

This is always on my mind
This is always on my mind
My fingernails are growing longer
As the things I grasp are growing slim
I dream of the tornado
Like sucking, swirling symbolism
Here to steal the fragments
of the past I hold within
And I’m the changeling
Re-defined again
Once the great perverter
Now the peter pan
Terrified to find out who I am

I try to hold on
But I’m older now and its over now
This top hat don’t fit like it used to

How I Lost Maria
D. Machado 2005

Maria, I tried to make you into a god
I tried to make you into my savior
Then I wondered why I was never satisfied
And me, I’m a bit irrational
And I over think everything
Which is why I can’t just shut up and enjoy myself

That’s how I lost Maria
That’s how I lost Maria
That’s how I lost Maria
That’s how I lost Maria

I’ve been thinking about how I spent the last four years
Terrified of death
And how I’ve let that turn me into a cynical bastard
I lost focus on just how good I’ve got it
And I lived like I was already dead
See I’m a tad obsessive and easily distracted

That’s how I lost Maria
That’s how I lost Maria
That’s how I lost Maria
That’s how I lost Maria

Maria, my spotless porcelain baby
My toppled pedestal girl
I tried hard to preserve you only to soil you more
Was it me or you that turned you to a temple
And made my touch a sin
I can’t pull myself from your spirit
I can’t pull myself from your skin

That’s how I lost Maria
That’s how I lost Maria
That’s how I lost Maria
That’s how I lost Maria

Daniel runs through the tall grass
With the July sun warming the back of his neck
And he’s got the gift of a child’s life
But he don’t even know it yet
He’s living the dream of a child’s life
And he don’t even know it yet

David and Judy’s son and two daughters
In an octagon home
That they built on the edge of a golden lake
In the woods where their lives were reborn

He’s in love
He’s in love
With this place

There’s a story that’s known
By his parents alone
Of treachery, trouble and strife
But you wouldn’t know if you saw this home
‘Cause they left all those troubles behind
Yeah, they gave their babies love
And peaceful childhood lives
They’re living the dream of a child’s life
And they don’t even know it yet

David and Judy’s son and two daughters
In an octagon home
That they built on the edge of a golden lake
In the woods where their lives were reborn

He’s in love
He’s in love
With this place

Can we get back?

He’s in love
He’s in love
With this place

Nightmare Dreamer
D. Machado 2004

Time flows for this sleeping 9-year-old
In endless loops and holds
The future takes it slow
He loves the sun on his skin
He loves the warmth
Makes plans for a future
That will never come

This sleeping dreamer
This sleeping believer

He feels free in this world
Blind faith and the stars are enough

Wake up
He’s 21 years old
He broke his first love’s heart
With his cynical, dark soul
Nightmare Dreamer worrying his life away
Wake up
Wake up

Time blurs in his restless lucid mind
The futures come and gone
The present has no time
He loves the sun
But he can’t remember why
Turns out the future showed up right on time

This nightmare dreamer
This nightmare believer

Something’s wrong with this world
He lives in his fear and his doubt

Wake up
He’s 21 years old
He broke his first love’s heart
With his cynical, dark soul
Nightmare Dreamer worrying his life away
Wake up
Wake up

See You in My Dreams
D. Machado 2004

I met you once in some corner of a dream
I couldn’t see your face but your touch, it stayed with me
I saw you some from time to time it seemed
You always warmed my heart till morning wakened me

I’ll see you in my dreams
I’ll see you in my dreams
I’ll see you in my dreams
Till the waking world brings you to me

I met you once in the waking world, I thought
We talked like two old friends
Your touch, it warmed my heart
And time passed by as time will always do
You fell in love with me and I fell in love with you

I’ll see you in my dreams
I’ll see you in my dreams
I’ll see you in my dreams
The waking world brought you to me

I lost you once in the shadows of real things
Your face began to fade
Your touch was not for me
And time passed by as time will always do
Somehow I made it hard for you to love me to

I’ll see you in my dreams
I’ll see you in my dreams
I’ll see you in my dreams
Till the waking world brings you to me