Feel No Pain (2010)

The James Machine

Recorded mostly in the fashion of Sour Grapes, I took a week off from work and spent those days writing and recording Feel No Pain. The working title was originally Melvin's Helmet, as the idea bits that I was starting with were lower tempo, drop D, hard driving songs inspired by the Melvins' and Helmet's brand of heavy. Once recording was complete, I dropped this title, because there was really no Melvins sound to be heard, but if you listen past the vocal harmonies, hand claps, and tambourines, you will hear the Helmet influence.

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Track listing

1. For Your Honor
Calling all the usuals to play their stated roles without the fear and doubt we'll try holding open minds closed Come, now start flailing in the dark Hold out your hands and feel around for something to hang your hat on Looks like it's gonna be a long one if this is a sign of things yet to come It's only for your honor I'm ready to start another one The exercise of plotting, planning a beating Planning to take them all out Pulling a fast one Call it a sucker punch or whatever
2. Royal Intercom
"The interoffice intercom is not for just anyone's entertaining back and forth", the tinny voice of the monarch crackled, "That's not what it is for." We're taking our toys and going home Good luck with the rest of your time here Learn how to address the crowd These peasants didn't vote for a monarch Now there's no one to talk to on the intercom You're just a man alone Again alone One man band alone The interoffice intercom stands silent at attention now, awaits communication but there's nothing and no one to order around A bittersweet victory - The royal intercom A petty little man's defeat - The royal intercom
3. Don't Stand Out
Go through the motions Try to be a good human Don't stand out Don't speak of your relapse Don't tell them your deepest thoughts They won't get the concept Don't bother Dumb it down Don't stand out Don't stand out Dumb it down
4. Feel No Pain
Guilty feelings fill me, advancing It's killing me I left them by the road When the last one fell, I turned and ran Guilty relief washed over me It hurts to breathe They just won't stay down They feel no pain, no Get to some place locked away and live to fight another day Barricade windows and doors and pray I left them by the road There are hundreds by the road Forgive me, forgive me They just won't stay down and feel no pain No way to get away, it all feels hopeless hopeless hopeless hopeless
5. Stimulus U.
You can't stop this in a voting booth You can't stop this stimulus coup Just stop denying your satellites control the minds of your erudites programmed to study, staying up all night Ignore the signals scrambling your mind Fight the urges and stabilize Drop some classes, free up some time for your life Follow the others in the breadlines Reconcile poverty and time Unemployment and credit lines Go get your papers and hang them high Grab the others and form a line Change this outdated party line You can't stop this on cable news You can't give them another excuse
6. Local Radio
Bring on the lo-cal radio DJ to fire up the crowd adding to the spectacle of this circus side show You've got a clever live show just like all your videos Lo-cal radio OK Go Bring on the lo-cal radio bitch to fire up the crowd and remind us of the sponsor spots for crap beer and their calendar girls Turn off the lo-cal radio tune in to a talk show Public radio OK Go
7. In Shadows
And all the parks close at dark when shadows The latter long in the former What resides deep in the cover of shadows? Something evil planning its next move There must be something I'm missing, help me out The laws are there to protect you from yourself It's true Don't be afraid of evil doers, the laws are aimed at you Something evil planning its next move The laws are there to protect you from yourself and you from you and you from you
8. The Life Of The Mind
The life of the mind, as they say is a lonesome place to be Day to day, reinventing honesty Gotta write this down before it goes Don't let the trail go cold Don't take it for granted not all the seeds that were planted will grow The life of the mind, to this day brings us little luxury The rewards, the benefits are not rewarding Gotta write this down before it goes Don't let the trail go cold Don't take it for granted Not all the seeds that were planted will grow
9. The Last Day
I woke up this morning and set the clocks back one Another hour will help me finish up Another day would not have hurt the cause Put on some coffee, strapped the headphones on Then came the last day, it's go time, it's crunch time The last three are ready, it's time to test myself It doesn't matter what you do or say, no one's gonna notice anyway There went the last day It's dark at six, it's time to start mixing
10. Stowaway
A stowaway in the ventilation system I've got the heat on, I hope you're comfortable Gonna have to chase you out This can't be healthy It's kind of creepy Who knows what that thing is or what the hell it's doing in there I tried to gas it out Just gassed myself instead Gotta wonder what's wrong with my brain I've got some better things to do than crawling under in the crawlspace it's like spelunking, but not Insulation, see-through crickets, it sucks Your lucky break I guess you're safe for now Gotta try to run it off Gotta try to close up all the gaps Hope I don't see its rabid little face It's gonna suck I just know it It's gonna suck I can feel it A stowaway in the ventilation system
11. Carry On
Reflecting on the distant and more recent past Decisions that were made the path I tried to take Going through the manifest It's buried in the cargo Regret is a heavy payload Decide it's time to offload and carry on The route that I planned was all wrong I've lost my way again It's all gone wrong I should have found a better way home Examining this instant I see the train of thought It's where I go when desperate The quickest way to feeling anything Sorting through the cargo and find a case of painful, shameful, hoist it up and carry on Two in three doctors agree that this is crazy Let's agree to leave it be TNT will only cause structural walls to fall