Crowded Room
I’m Alright
I am here to fill these reels
I am here to tell you how it feels
When the Good Book's out of deals
And your eyes are dry as hell
I put my heart behind these wires
Made my voice loud with amplifiers
I made truth out of lies
And gave faith to infidels
But I'm alright
I'm alright
I just can't let go without a fight
I’m still standing in the light
So you know, I’m alright
Take my songs and my guitar
Don't judge me by my weight or by my car
Make out if I'm bread or art
But never let me know
I'm not rising from this shit
Not the Phoenix that spread my wings and quit
There's a ring to it
That I'll never buy into
But I'm alright
I'm alright
I just can't let go without a fight
I’m still standing in the light
So you know, I’m alright
I'm not holding out my hand
I was in it for the money, I'd be damned
I guess you'll never understand,
And I never thought you would
But I'm alright
I'm alright
I just can't let go without a fight
I’m still standing in the light
So you know, I’m alright
Empty Grounds
“What did you come here for?”
Said the girl on the second floor
And hid behind the door with yellowed blinders
So I went out on the street
My brother’s shoes on my dirty feet
And scrutinized my retreat among closed-down diners
Empty grounds was all I saw
Nobody’s coming out around here no more
Empty grounds
Empty grounds
She said:
“These streets will bark and bite.
Go straight home from school and keep inside”
But I stayed out in the light of motel signs and
street cars
So don’t wait up for me
I’ll be looking for some company
In every broken kid I see
On these lonely boulevards
Empty grounds was all I saw
Nobody’s coming out around here no more
Empty grounds
Empty grounds
Empty grounds all over town
I keep looking up
But nobody’s coming down
Empty grounds
Empty grounds
I got out of the way
Got a grown-up job with a grown-up pay
And my own place to stay in a bedroom neighborhood
And now I walk this colony
Holding the hand of a son with sunken eyes like me
Trying to find him the company
That I never could
Empty grounds was all I saw
Nobody’s coming out around here no more
Empty grounds
Empty grounds
Empty grounds all over town
I keep looking up
But nobody’s coming down
Empty grounds
Empty grounds
Baby Girl
Baby girl,
I am standing here on the top of the world
The sun ain’t nothing but a shiny pearl
Does it shine through the windows and your silver curls?
Baby girl,
It took too long for me to sit me down and write these words
I've never been good with syllables
They just dance on the paper like tennis balls
I’ll have time enough to know you
When I’m done here taking my turn
I’ll be anything they told you
With hours and money to burn
Baby girl,
You should have seen me with your mother
And the way we were
We don't talk much anymore
Do you still hear her sing through the bathroom door?
Ain’t it funny how time seems to splinter
In the most perplexic ways
When every day seems like a whole winter
And a year goes by like a summer’s day
Baby girl,
Ain’t no roads leaving this frozen dirt
No one’s getting out of these perimeters
It takes a drink to keep warm in this temperature
Baby girl,
I'm still standing here on top of the world
And now I'm running out of daylight
And ironed shirts
Does the sun still shine on your silver curls?
Teddybears and Cocaine
Was she good to you
Did she see right through
All your anxious jokes
And your war paint, too
Did it go too well
Or was it hard as hell
Sucking up your shade
When the evening fell
You're tugging on your teddy bears and cocaine
Long and shoreless is the night
Everything else just gets broken
When you try to hold it tight
Was it time to kill
Were you lonely still
‘cause the nights you shared
Were too unreal
Were you cheating time
Or following close behind
When you watched her breathe
With her curving spine
You're tugging on your teddy bears and cocaine
Long and shoreless is the night
Everything else just gets broken
When you try to hold it tight
Teddybears and cocaine
Teddybears and cocaine
Was it raining hard
In the final part
When you saved your mind
And broke your heart
Layover Time
It's another snowless winter
Where you can't tell the morning from the afternoon
I don't blame you if you can't remember
The bright nights of June
I've been thinking about Copenhagen
That the sun may rise sooner over there
But I know, that with the mold, I'm made in
I'll lose myself somewhere
Baby, let's just stay put for a while
And take ourselves some layover time
I never really cared much
For the minutes in the air
I just care for some layover time
I remember California
And how the desert sun could break your winter spell
Wonder why you came to be born here
In this indifferent chill?
You were meant for frequent flying
And sometimes these days don't pass fast enough
Winter mornings can be terrifying
When they're building up
Baby, let's just stay put for a while
And take ourselves some layover time
I never really cared much
For the minutes in the air
I just care for some layover time
Crowded Room
When I get home
I can't get out of my rain coat
And rubber covers my skin
Absorbing half of you
And sometimes at night
I don't know what's real here
I can't feel you near me
Tonight, I wanna dance in a crowded room
Feel a little lost inside
Feel a little lost inside
I get up
I get up in the morning
Pick up a hammer and nails
And build you anything you need
Cabins, ships and roofs
Strongholds of timber
But you never meet me in there
Tonight, I wanna dance in a crowded room
Feel a little lost inside
Feel a little lost inside
Get wasted in the arms of strangers instead of you
Feel a little lost inside
Feel a little lost inside
I want to sing out loud
I want to cry on your shoulder
But I'm man enough to hold up
Tonight, I wanna dance in a crowded room
Feel a little lost inside
Feel a little lost inside
Get wasted in the arms of strangers instead of you
Feel a little lost inside
Feel a little lost inside
The Only Difference Is Me
We were born in November
The youngest rebels in town
Old enough to remember
The walls coming down
And in our season finale
I tried to pull off my best Dylan McKay
And I bet, you made love just like Kelly
Through cheap Chardonnay
Ain't no difference in your heartbeat
Ain't no difference in your eyes
We're under the same old skies
In the same old streets
I followed your sequels
From the safest distance, I knew
While I ran out of reasons
To drink away you
Ain't no difference in your heartbeat
Ain't no difference in your eyes
We're under the same old skies
In the same old streets
Ain't no difference in the melodies
That always remind me of you
Nothing's breaking, nothing new
The only difference is me
Last Sunday morning
I saw you wearing that Jennie Garth smile
Were you thinking of me
Or just a joke, that cracked you up for a while
Now, Luke Perry can't make it
And the wall is just a stone in my hand
I can just lay with you naked
In times I don't understand
Ain't no difference in your heartbeat
Ain't no difference in your eyes
We're under the same old skies
In the same old streets
Ain't no difference in the melodies
That always remind me of you
Nothing's breaking, nothing new
The only difference is me
Nothing's breaking, nothing new
The only difference is me
Hail to the Spring
Sometimes the morning hits you
Like a train coming out of the black
And you’re staring into the headlights
With your spurs welded to the tracks
So you wake up in your old shirt
And wonder if it’s time to shave
Cause something in the air feels different
Like rain on New Years Day
Hail to the spring
Hail to the freshman years
You’re a ghost with a death wish
And you can't get out of here
Now, you turn to the great creator
And ask him if you're part of his cast
Or left with the role of the spectator
On the blind side of the cameras
Well you thought you were a hard-skinned believer
But believing ain’t worth shit when you’re down
It’s just remnants of the scaffold, they built you
When your footing settled in the ground
Hail to the spring
Hail to the freshman years
You’re just a ghost with a death wish
But you can't get out of here
Now, you know, this ain’t no war game
No exercise for the real deal
You’re running out of blanks
While someone’s dragging down your shield
So take what you got and burn it
Raise your glass and sing
Set sails for what's left of your journey
To the timbre of my tambourine
Mosquito
Summer rain has touched the ground
In the backyard
And all over town
It’s coming down to wipe away
Your last footprints
In the driveway
Your breakfast eggs are getting cold
And your coffee
Is turning bitter on the stove
And from the hard pack, that you left
I light up the last one
Of your cigarettes
I ain't got much to see to
Just caught in bad weather
Though tomorrow may be better,
I just can't keep holding on
I can't wait forever
No matter how much I need you
'cause time bites like a mosquito
Dancing in the evening sun
Blue lights are flashing the streets
A motor's running
In the sky above the trees
Birds of prey in black and white
Just like me
They're looking out for you tonight
I ain't got much to see to
Just caught in bad weather
Though tomorrow may be better,
I just can't keep holding on
I can't wait forever
No matter how much I need you
'cause time bites like a mosquito
Dancing in the evening sun
I turn my eyes to the sky
And ask why habits have to die
So damn hard
And why your face Sunday afternoons
Is all I'm gonna get from you,
Through the looking glass
Behind those iron bars
I ain't got much to see to
Just caught in bad weather
Though tomorrow may be better,
I just can't keep holding on
I can't wait forever
No matter how much I need you
'cause time bites like a mosquito
Dancing in the evening sun
Hey Mama
Hey Mama, won’t you look at me
I’ve built a house out of bricks for you to see
There’s fingerprints on the oven door
And purple crayon marks on the wooden floor
Hey, Mama, won’t you look at me
Hey Mama, won’t you look at me
There’s a hole in my belly, where my guts used to be
When something’s coming in, something’s gotta resign
And I’m up to my throat with honey and wine
Hey, Mama, won’t you look at me
Hey, Mama, where do you go
When you’re staring out of the kitchen window
Hey, Mama, where do you go
I try to see through your smile, but I’ll never know
Hey, Mama, where do you go
Hey, Mama, won’t you look at me
There’s a delicate scar, where my hole used to be
A beautiful line, drawn in the flesh
Making its way from my womb to my chest
Hey, Mama, won’t you look at me
Hey, Mama, where do you go
When you’re staring out of the kitchen window
Hey, Mama, where do you go
I try to see through your smile, but I’ll never know
Hey, Mama, where do you go
Hey, Mama, where do you go
Hey, Mama, where do you go
Credits:
All songs written and composed by Mikkel Bøggild
Recorded to tape at Skraaplan Recording 2020
Mikkel Bøggild: Vocals, guitars, M-Tron, piano, banjo
Ole Albrechtsen: Pedal steel guitar
Mads Fogt: Guitars, background vocals
Henrik Poulsen: Bass guitar
Eddi Jarl: Drums
Kristian Fogh: Live piano on “The Only Difference Is Me”
Anne Hjort: Background vocals
Recording engineered by Charlie “J” Jensen
Produced and mixed to tape by Mikkel Bøggild at Skraaplan Recording
Mastered by Eric Conn and Don Cobb at Independent Mastering, Nashville
Polaroid photos by everyone involved, cover Polaroid photo by Mathias Nobel, styling by Mette-Marie Høeg von Essen. Graphic layout by Anne Schourup.