#John K. Samson

[batgirlsay]

Expert in a Rocky Field

When the @ans-arcade gift exchange sent me your name, I immediately thought about making you a Lata playlist! Started digging through my old grad school playlists for some academic vibes, then I filled in the blanks with other songs about rocks. It ended up having more songs about the sadness and peril of academia, which I’m sure Lata knows about… I hope you like it, @meefy!

Expert in a Rocky Field

Expert in a Dying Field- The Beths Sisyphus- Andrew Bird Iridium Dream- Louie Zong Lazuli- Beach House Calcite Prism- Louie Zong Oblivion- David Bazan Postdoc Blues- John K. Samson May Their Brilliance Ever Linger- Louie Zong

Summary lyrics are posted after the cut:

Expert in a Dying Field- The Beths

Hours of phrases I've memorized Thousands of lines on the page All of my notes in a desolate pile I haven't touched in an age

How does it feel? To be an expert in a dying field And how do you know? It's over when you can't let go

You can't let go, you can't stop, can't rewind Love is learned over time 'Til you're an expert in a dying field

Sisyphus- Andrew Bird

Sisyphus peered into the mist A stone's throw from the precipice, paused Did he jump or did he fall as he gazed into the maw of the morning mist? Did he raise both fists and say, “To hell with this,” and just let the rock roll?

Let it roll, let it crash down low There's a house down there but I lost it long ago

It's got nothing to do with fate And everything to do with you

Lazuli- Beach House

In the blue Of this life Where it ends In the night Is nothing like lapis lazuli Let it go back to me

Like no other You can't be replaced

Oblivion- David Bazan

Hello again, Oblivion Can you find the frequency While the specters hover whispering

Hello again, Oblivion But it's no good to complain Of fatigue and existential pain

Hold on to what you've got Though it may not be a lot Cause now is not the time for second thoughts

You believe in it Now it's time to follow through You believe in it What does that say about you?

Postdoc Blues- John K. Samson

So your presentation went terrible All wrong dongles, sweat stains and stares

Don’t despair you’ll get it right tomorrow night

I believe in you and your PowerPoints I know why you can’t stay away

So take that laminate out of your wallet and read it And recommit yourself to the healing of the world And to the welfare of all creatures upon it Pursue of practice that will strengthen your heart

[shrewdmagpie]

Just a series of heart wrenching songs about a cat named Virtute.

Why don't you ever wanna play?

I'm tired of this piece of string

You sleep as much as I do now

And you don't eat much of anything

I don't know who you're talking to

I made a search through every room

But all I found was dust that moved

In shadows of the afternoon

And listen

About those bitter songs you sing

They're not helping anything

They won't make you strong

So we should open up the house

Invite the tabby two doors down

You could ask your sister if

She doesn't bring her basset hound

Ask the things you shouldn't miss

Tape hiss and the modern man

Cold war and card catalogs

To come join us if they can

For girly drinks and parlor games

We'll pass around the easy lie

Of absolutely no regrets

And later maybe you could try

To let your losses dangle off

The sharp edge of a century

We'll talk about the weather

Or how the weather use to be

And I'll cater

With all the birds that I can kill

Let their tiny feathers fill

Disappointment

I'll lie down

And lick the sorrow from your skin

Scratch the terror and begin

To believe you're strong

All you ever want to do is drink and watch TV

Frankly that thing doesn't really interest me

I swear I'm going to bite you hard and taste your tinny blood

If you don't stop the self-defeating lies you've been repeating since the day you brought me home

I know you're strong

It had something to do with the rain

Leaching loamy dirt

And the way the back lane came alive

Half moon whispered, "Go"

For a while I heard you

Missing steps in the street

And your anger pleading

In an uncertain key

Singing the sound that you found for me

When the winter took the tips of my ears

Found this noisy home

Full of pigeons and places to hide

And when the voices die

I emerged to watch abandoned machines

Waiting for their men to return

I remember the way

I would wait for you

To arrive with kibble

And a box full of beer

How I'd scratch the empties

Desperate to hear

You make the sound that you found for me

After scrapping with the ferals and the tabby

Let you brush my matted fur

How I'd knead into your chest while you were sleeping

Shallow breathing made me purr

But I can't remember the sound that you found for me

I can't remember the sound that you found for me

I can't remember the sound

Now that the treatment and antidepressants

And seven months sober have built me a bed

In the back of your brain where the memories flicker

And I paw at the synapses, bright bits of string

You should know I am with you, know I forgive you

Know I am proud of the steps that you've made

Know it will never be easy or simple

Know I will dig in my claws when you stray

So let us rest here like we used to

In a line of late afternoon sun

Let it rest, all you can't change

Let it rest and be done

[razorsadness]

And I don't mean to miss the good old days The good old days were mostly bad But I recall how dark the night got then How absences could make me glad

[nyxtalksmusic]

We know this world is good enough Because it has to be

[elsiebrayisgay]

no other songwriter working today would ever hit you with the pair of couplets

"i've had a really nice night, but my dogs need to be fed // i must say that in the right light, you look like shackleton

comment allez-vous ce soir? je suis comme-ci comme-ca // yes a penguin taught me french back in antarctica"

frankly i don't even know if john k. samson would do it again. absolute winner of a lyricist that man.

[arsenicflame]

A transparent Virtute for you, scanned from the back of the Winter Wheat booklet <3

(As a bonus, here's the one from the Vivat Virtute website too, I love her so much.)

[racmune]

i got a weakerthans song stuck in my head

[fuck-you-upmusicbracket]

Virtute at Rest (John K Samson)

You should know I am with you, know I forgive you/Know I am proud of the steps that you've made/Know it will never be easy or simple/Know I will dig in my claws when you stray/So let us rest here like we used to/In a line of late afternoon sun/Let it rest, all you can't change/Let it rest and be done

"This is still virtute's perspective. a long time later. virtute speaking to her owner from beyond the grave, after he's gone sober, begun healing. she says that she is always with him, that the seven months he's spent sober have "made [her] a bed in the back of [his] brain, where the memories flicker;" always being remembered by him, being with him always. she forgives him and loves him, and will always love him, no matter what. she's proud of how far he's come, and will always be proud of him, even when things get tough; she will be with him, and won't let go. and just. it legitimately makes me cry consistently. let it rest, all you can't change. let it rest and be done."

Let it Out (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musical)

Am I crazy?/Maybe I’ve always been/I’ve become what I’ve hated?/Or maybe I never did/It’s awful freeing now/To share the hate I felt/But what will I let in if I/Let it out?

"It’s,,, how do I say it,,, angsty as fuck. Paul, fighting with himself as he slowly gets infected. The people who were already infected urging him to let it out. The cheesiness of “We will not be resisted”. The pure desperation when Paul shouts “I don’t like musicals!”"

[trenchcrows]

Idk if I've already sent you this but ooooooo c!crime tommy pov oooooo

i feel sick (he will dig in his claws he will always try desperately to claw at cwilbur to beg him to stay he will always love and care for wilbur even when i maybe should take more care of himself oughhhhhf he is loyal to the point of degradation)

[insidious-wizard]

You should know I am with you, know I forgive you Know I am proud of the steps that you've made

[woodfrogs]

me in my weakerthans tee 🤝 the guy in a propaghandi tee i just walked past

[ohporcupine]

the problem with buying records is that there are always more records to buy. anyone else heard of this

[punkrockmixtapes]

Listen/purchase: Oldest Oak at Brookside by John K. Samson

[nyxtalksmusic]

May the birds answer carabiner clicks Carry off the tiny seeds Better ways to be alive

[macbethheadband]

O the vampire alberta.. wipes an oily mouth along a sleeve of forest in the foothills…..