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Anthropocene Blues

by Samuel Lockridge

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1.
They say all good things must come to an end but they say, "who's to say how or when?" We came and we conquered. We had a good run. Now someone must recon for all this dreadful fun. All the treasure on Earth or in heaven can't hold its worth when the price of hubris grows from bad to worse, with no end in sight, no end in sight. Adam and Eve got hammered and burned down their favorite tree. Let's torch all our gods and our masters too. Baby there's not much else you can do when you've got these anthropocene blues. All this blood-soaked splendor, there will come a day, The moths and the rust will eat it away. 'til then history's pages burn to forge our guided cages it's a shit-show for all ages on repeat. And you've tried keeping calm and carrying on but you'd rather just watch it all burn 'til its gone. Creators, life-makers, better seize back the world from the takers and haters. Nothing left to lose but our chains, it's true. Baby, there's not much else you can do when you've got these anthropocene blues. Are we just God's favorite, his chosen tool? The exception to all the rules? The First National Church of Alchemists making joy from fossil fuel? Sign up for direct deposit fulfillment just below the fine print. Be your best self that money can buy until nothing but ashes rain down from the sky. Demand and supply were perfectly balanced, so don't ask them why slaves tend to perish and masters to thrive. Baby, you know what we've gotta do cause we've got these anthropocene blues, and there's not much else you can do when you've got these anthropocene - mild misanthropy – Gotta love these anthropocene blues.
2.
Show me from the moon exactly what you think is yours a few arrays of atoms you've given meaning, names, and prices, nothing more. A mutually agreed upon set of words and social norms still doesn't make being king of a mote of dust mean anything. Arthur C. Clarke, Darwin, and Asimov would laugh their asses off if only they could see us now, the first self-extinction, what an honorable distinction. And it's one cruel cosmic gag that self-aware meat-bags born in the bellies of ancient stars, who look up and wonder who they are, old enough to have thumbs on their hands, but still too young to understand, will shine so bright but burn out fast. The game is over. Nothing lasts. So I'll raise my glass to you and hope that you will do the same if the yawning black expanse doesn't drive us all insane. If your star goes supernova you'll be dead before you know what that even means, cause you won't have had time to evolve scientific minds. Or, on the off chance you survive technological puberty, your home star will run out of gas and you'll all freeze unless you leave. And even if you brave the lonesome interstellar sea, ever expanding, it will outrun you until heat death – the Big Freeze. And it's one cruel cosmic gag that self-aware meat-bags with longings just like ours will someday look up and see no stars, and they'll dismiss right out of hand the legends passed down by their clans about the people who lived before around distant suns, on other worlds. So I'll raise my glass to them and hope someday they'll do the same if the yawning black expanse doesn't drive us all – if it doesn't kill us all – don't let it drive us all insane.
3.
For Oppy 02:55
My battery is low and it's getting dark The sands of time never looked so stark beneath the haze and the dying stars My days were numbered here from the start In love with a machine Oh how human of me Am I just a machine? Oh how human of me Your thoughts are just moving electrons But then again, so are mine I'll scout the way before you embark I'll stay behind long after you depart
4.
Nightingale, have you seen the one I'm longing for? I have searched among the rosebush thorns, all but starlight now seems to mourn. Oh, you dark temptress sea, taunting us with all your mystery, out of reach thus far, but not for me, I will be the first to see as you see. Breathe it in, breathe it in, breathe it in, one last drink of Earth before I leave it behind. Whole new me, whole new you, whole new age, we'll never be the same once we see what we can do, who we can be, what happens now? Sweetheart, I know you're looking up at me, and I'm looking down at you, but out my window all I can see is black and pale blue. And sweetheart, I know you're feeling all alone, and I hate to say it's true. No one else up here to see this view of all you lonely souls in all that blue. Oh, my lost soul, I've finally found you. You were always there in all that pale blue. Motherland, red carnations and a marching band can't contain what I have seen firsthand, the fledgling promise of a people free at last. Breathe it in, breathe it in, breathe it in, my first drink of Earth – love it like never before. Whole new you, whole new me, whole new age, we'll never be the same now we've seen what we can do, who we can be, what happens now? Sweetheart, I know you're looking up at me, and I'm looking down at you, but out my window all I can see is black and pale blue. And sweetheart, I know you're feeling all alone, and I hate to say it's true. No one else up here to see this view of all you lonely souls in all that blue. Oh, my lost soul, I've finally found you. You were always there in all that pale blue.
5.
You've heard it said, "great Pan is dead! Come see the hooves, and flute, and horns torn from his head. White Western Christendom has tamed the wilderness, conquered chaos and oblivion." Well I've got news for you. I may be down, but I'm not out. What goes around comes around. I brought the moon to her knees and ya know I'm Mother Earth's main squeeze. You might be ruler, but I'm the rule. I was paleo before it was cool. I taught the poets all they know. I'm the whole package, babe, and it shows. But these days, nobody keeps the old gods like me but one-third woke millennials and old hippies. Oh love, I miss those nights we'd mark the changing of the seasons feasting in the trees and orgies all year 'round, howling at the darkness, declaring, "we are here." But only time will tell, my dear, whether you disappear or you endure your own existence here. What monuments will hold all your tears when you're out of luck, my dear, and there's not much else you can do? I'll still be here, my dear, waiting for you. You'll never find another lover quite like me who freely gives you everything you'll ever need. These finance capital deities look hot but they got nothin' on me. Sometimes a little panic is all you need to shake off the debris of complacency. You might know me from '08 or '29, but my latest work is gonna blow your mind! Cause these days, nobody keeps the old gods like me unless they wanna be neutralized efficiently by the police. Oh love, what will it take if not the disappearance of the seasons and 45 other reasons to leave this all behind, howling at the darkness, declaring, "we won't fear." But only time will tell, my dear, whether you disappear or you endure your own existence here. What monuments will hold all your tears when you're out of luck, my dear, and there's not much else you can do? I'll still be here, my dear, waiting for you. Yes, I'll still be here, my dear, waiting for you.
6.
Wanderers 05:51
Once there was an age of darkest night when the Milky Way glowed so bright it cast a shadow on the earth below of your awe-struck body standing in the snow. Where does your light come from, from within or somewhere else? Oh, if I could touch you I could see for myself. We began as wanderers We are wanderers still I carry deserts and seas, mountains and valleys in me. I trace these memories looking for the way ahead. I call the living and remember the dead. Ancestral voices all night, gazing up at the same sky, I listen when I don't know what the hell I'm doing, but I know I can't keep from moving 'cause We began as wanderers We are wanderers still I can't keep from moving, baby I'll scout the way before you embark I'll stay behind long after you depart Anywhere you wanna go, baby, I'll go with you, I'll go with you. Even if we never know, baby, I'll search with you, I'll search with you. Where does your light come from, from within or somewhere else? Oh, if I could touch you I could see for myself.
7.
Spirals 03:33
These empty rooms may be plain but they're a maze all the same when you're not here to laugh my walls down. A skeleton bedframe and a ghost where you clothes once hung are my only company now and I'm forgetting how to sing the songs we sang for a world where the young aren't afraid of what future awaits and us old folks are having such fun planting those trees whose shade we'll never lie beneath. I had hoped you'd be free to spend the last days with me. But ready or not, here it comes in waves. I sail on a sea I thought I knew so well, but here I am overboard, dreaming of kissing dry land, kissing dry land. Hold your head up high, my love. Don't float away or spiral in, though the wind is howling. Whether you are near or far, I will love you as you are. These days the wine makes me sad and the beer makes me fat, but the whisky steadies by hand when I think of the desert that held us so close we were part of the land. Did we leave missing pieces behind or sow seeds due in time? Who decided that this is goodbye? But ready or not, here it comes in waves. Change alone is unchanging, so do not mourn the tide. Give my plans to the sand along with all that I am, all that I am. Hold your head up high, my love. Don't float away or spiral in, though the wind is howling. Whether you are near or far, I will love you as you are.
8.
All of my lovers live off of Limestone, on the north side of the town, where you drink wine from chipped coffee cups and the best way to get up is to go down. I'm gonna miss these millennial crooked-ass houses where we laid our dreams to rest of a life without loans, a green land to call home, and fresh air in our lungs. I've got all my retirement savings in Bitcoin, 5.56, and MREs. Got half-decent looks and some coloring books to pass the time 'til the end. May not have any friends, but at least my heart won't get broken again. Ah, but love gives, and love, it takes, and love, it lives and dies, like everything under the sun worth seeing with sober eyes. You can sow stones instead of seeds, wall off your ships from the rising seas, and it's true, you'll never get broken again. Baby Jesus went walking on Michigan water. Mother Mary shouts from the car, "you better get back to shore or I'll give you what for, 'cause that shit isn't safe!" Farewell, mountain mamas and honky tonk angels. Farewell, witches of the wood. The quarantine haze hanging over our days is just the opening act. May have a doom-colored lens, but at least my heart won't get broken again. Ah, but love gives and love, it takes, and love, it lives and dies like everything under the sun worth seeing with sober eyes. You can sow stones instead of seeds, wall off your ships from the rising seas, and it's true, you'll never get broken again. Hope it's worth it to never get broken again.
9.
Chicxulub 05:58
I'm the last dinosaur left, awaiting my inevitable death. We ruled all the Earth, we grazed and we hunted all that we wanted. But now the lights are down low on life's stage, preparing the dawn of a new kind of age. Microbial extremophiles and mammals, it's your time to shine. Peek out from your burrows, my small furry friends, and make your hushed entrance. And I hope someday you get to be the last of your kind, just like me. Maybe you'll laugh, maybe you'll cry, but your meteor comes, I hope you at least know why. Though all my friends were all gone in a flash, and my favorite trees are now piles of ash, still it's strange to be something rather than nothing, so not much has changed. Remember us fondly as the giants you feared who never saw it coming. And I hope someday you get to be the last of your kind, just like me. Maybe you'll laugh, maybe you'll cry, but your meteor comes, I hope you at least know why. I eat the plants and the plants eat me, every rain cloud returns to the sea, the sun shines on you, the sun shines on me, and that is the way it will always be. The circle goes 'round with or without me.
10.
We're all alone now and the skyline's all ablaze. The pain, only embers no one will remember. Oh, I should have been a musician or an artist like my friends - embraced the bitter end – or I should have fought, should have dreamt, should have reached the unreachable star. Oh, freedom and destiny, mind-fucking me with that cognitive D. Find you what comfort you can in knowing no one will remember you or who killed this poor rock where we once sang anthropocene blues.

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released July 10, 2020

All songs written, performed, and produced by Samuel Lockridge. Cover art by Roger Mattos. Copyright 2020 Samuel Lockridge, all rights reserved.

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Samuel Lockridge Kentucky

Samuel Lockridge is a singer-songwriter, producer, sound designer, and theatre artist based in Lexington, Kentucky.

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