Fred Thomas
Bad Blood
Bad blood saturating the sheets and the blankets
Good god, there are ghosts floating up from the pavement
They flip over the houses, blood runs out from the basements
In it’s unholy flow
You remember this whimpering, thick, nauseous feeling
From your step-brother chasing you around with a staple gun when you were young
It was fun and then suddenly pain became a very real thing
Do you remember that feeling?
Similarly, this isn’t fiction
Well, actually mostly it is
Or a series of IRL moments cloaked in the vagueness that songs give
But when there’s nothing to say and you’ve got to say something
Fuck, I don’t even know
We pass on the street and say “hi” cause we have to
Even though both of us are clearly just like “I FUCKING HATE YOU”
So stilted and silent, not awkward just angry
Hey I gotta go, but I’ll see you at the show
It’s that song everybody loves, but the lyrics are garbage
And it stresses me out how often you’re mentioned
It’s like everyone we know collectively vomited up a pile of brown sweaters or something and were so impressed with the results
That they put them on the wall
And I’m so sad you’re in my head
And I’m so sorry it’s so venomous
Especially because we’ve got like maybe four or five words ever spoken between us
But I can’t heave my heart into my mouth
I can’t tell you
I can’t stop you
I don’t want to
This first day of school shit just seems to keep happening
Everybody says “Man, it’s so cool. We’re so glad you’re doing your own thing!”
But worse than disdain is colossal indifference
The smiles are so big
And there’s no one at the gig
I’m either deep in the woods or on TV for everyone
And I know– it’s disgusting how much I think about myself in relation to nothing
The things that aren’t gonna stay just aren’t gonna stay
Like; I was getting a tooth pulled in the free clinic in Portland in 2007
The dentist turned out to be this dude, a drummer whose band I’d recorded, and somehow that was comforting
Then the Novocaine block kicked in
It closed up my throat and I was ready to go home
Maybe once this record comes out then I can stop drinking
That might look good on a press release or something
If they even still do those
Wait, I’m certain they still do those
And then the summer comes and then the fall comes
And then the winter comes and then the spring comes
And then the summer comes and then the fall comes
And then the winter comes and then the spring comes
And then the summer comes and then the fall comes
And then the winter comes and then the spring comes