Eyedea & AbilitiesBy The Throat

Illustrative Interpretations by Mitch Weaver

Poetry by Michael Larsen

Time Flies When You Have A Gun

Burn Fetish

This Story

Smile

Factory

By The Throat

Tracks -

1

Yeah, he used to shoot it in the air for kicks, promised he had perfect aim, swore that he couldn’t miss. Wore it underneath his belt because by law that was his right, besides you never know what types of danger’s hiding in the night.

He said he’d never use it in a fight, he’d take a punch instead and it made him feel at home, he used to hunt with grandpa as a kid.

As time went on he started to think more and more about what he would do if he was home and someone kicked down his door. Paranoia kept increasing, he kept imagining the tragedy as if it was inevitable. Trying to prepare himself for how he’d feel if he ever had to steal a life to save a loved ones or his own.

That solace piece of metal was the boss in the relationship, he bought it to keep him safe but it just made him sick. And it wasn’t until the day that he got rid of it that he felt like he was safe, no longer a slave to that piece of shit.

You can own it but mostly it’ll own you yeah.

3

Time Flies When YouHave A Gun

Burn FetishTeeth marks on the skinThe greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing me that I was himWe like to feel the blood and fat dripping off our gumsShe likes to talk directly downthe barrel of her gunLearning to perfect the ancient art of quiet rapeYou’ve always been so warm and calculated I owe you a thanksEyes wide shut, I promise not to fall awakeLick the guillotine and tell you how the gasoline tastes.

The grass is always greener on the other pesticide solemn precious crept through the mess to shed it’s infectious high.Words for me to know and you to findGuilty, the almighty praised adrenaline,such an underwhelming thrill.Where there’s a will there’s a wake,Burn me at the stake,Who the hell am I trying to fool?I’m a fool I feel so fake.One last goodbye before I take my .45Shoot a hole in the sky, rip it openAnd climb inside.

Empathy is the poor man’s cocaineAnd love is just a chemical by any other nameI like the way your pheromones make me sleepyThis far away I still smell you inside me.

Tie me down ‘till my sweet nothing’s sourI screwed up trying to squeeze 65 minutes from an hourOutnumbered by such a large amountNo wonder why we lost the battle, the counter-culture can’t count.Welcome to my private hellThere’s no one to fight now enjoy myselfI’d rather drown than ask for helpI wish I was someone else.Mr. Perfect, MisconstruedLead the way, follow throughProbably hate me, I do tooYou’re so much like me I feel sorry for you.But I think you’re pretty, pretty sureYou will profit you will get hurt,I eat my words they taste like dirt.I’m only ashamed because I know what it’s worth.Find my comfort, inside blameShove my pride back down my faceMy worst habits waking up at least once a day,Balance barefoot on a needle heaven’s just a jump away.

Empathy is the poor man’s cocaineAnd love is just a chemical by any other nameI like the way your pheromones make me sleepyThis far away I still smell you inside me.

4

When I was young I was a single-celled omebaThen I learned how to go to war over ideasNow im into strippin mother earth of the resourcesWaitin for the day that today is considered pre-historic.

Standing on my last limb,Survived by a naked rush,This story was written in my genetic code.

I dont want to, but if i have to ill make a big mistakeTheres no judge or jury when your looking adrenaline in the faceYears of refinement to make this make this machineIm gonna use it to the best of my abilityMy body as my armor will protect my brain from fusingeven though it still secretes its poisonous power I almost lose itVomit enducing, deluded in the bloodCuz if I ever got a full blast the rush would be too much.

Well you could hear the break in his grown-up voiceYou can feel the quiver when you shake his handWe can give or take, its noone elses choiceOne day you have to quit running and take a stand.And all the flags at half massPart heavy heart, part pain in the assI was trained not the think, just reactSometimes when a person goes that farThey’re never coming backMaybe we’ll evolve to a point where fear as an experience,is no longer instinctual but rather an emotion we use.When ripped of understanding of higherhuman ancestors killed each other when we could have loved each other. One day we’ll be holding hands instead of grudgesWe’ll eliminate our territorial circuits and know what love is.One day we’ll be holding hands instead of M-16’sTell then every human being is controlled by the fight.

5

This Story

6

Factory

The stars in your eyes are almost blindingI know I should look away. Im honestly tryingI act like im here, its really hard to careBut theres a thin line between your wit and your whiningIm just a shadow when your shiningI look forward to put it all behind meKneel before your ego. It’s funny how some peopleHave a way of making the milky-way look tinySomewhere between the drama and the dryheaveCollapse on command using gravity to guide meYou’re so hip-hop, You’re so punk rockYou’re so so so so Cliche’

He looks the same as meIm comfortable in his skinCover his eyes and dont goIm never interested about my recoveryAsleep with the momentHe looks the same as meIm comfortable in his skinCover his eyes and dont goTell me theres nothing wrongNow tell me theres nothing wrong

And You’ll have the credit for my killThe stars look like eyes judging as they gaze aponThe long face you wearwhen its your right to say they’re wrongYou put noone above youBut they cant tell your troubledas you you pick up your pace and sleep alone when the day is doneYou used to get in fights for funIts your way of getting close to someone when you dont know how to loveI feel sorry for you, even though your fans adore youThe more you try to wiggle your way loose the more you get stuckYou’re so sex, You’re so drugsYou’re so rock and roll, You’re so in the momentYou’re so self-centered, You’re so sadCuz your so so so so Cliche’

He looks the same as meIm comfortable in his skinCover his eyes and dont goIm never interested about my recoveryAsleep with the momentHe looks the same as meIm comfortable in his skinCover his eyes and dont goTell me theres nothing wrongNow tell me theres nothing wrongYou have the credit for my kill

A prince in practice moans for the attention that he wantsbut most of this town won’t even dignify his ignorance with a responseleft to a crowded foster home by a 15 year old momnever been held in anyone’s arms when you’ve never been moved its really hard to move onA young saleswoman sets up shop when the sun sets she’ll make your wildest dreams come true at a price you wont forgetThe sadly married set up alibis no harm no regrethoping they meet an angel in bed that can wrestle the devil right out of their headsThis city runs fast, no one has time to sit with themselves,no time to look into our painor see the same despair in everyone elseits here, its there, its everywhere tears soak each card the dealers dealtBut time taught me how to see every second as heaven even though they’re perfectly disguised as hellAnd I refuse to let past bruises cover the lightit ain’t all good, but its all good enough, so I know I’m alrightagony is truth its our connection to the living I accept it as perfection and keep on existing in the nowI can only build if I tear the walls downeven if it breaks me I wont let it make me frown.

I’m falling but no matter how hard I hit the groundI’ll still smileI can only build if I tear the walls downeven if it breaks me I wont let it make me frownI’m falling but no matter how hard I hit the groundI’ll still smileWar to ear as if that’s all I’m here fordespite the wars founded by the rich, funded by the poorkids barely 18 are dying so billionaires can make moreelsewhere hungry mothers watch their babies starve to death in a beat up shack on a dirt floorThe aged professor quotes “Freedom’s without a path”now he dresses like a widow and preaches “love is dead” in every classBut curiosity killed the cat and taught the dog in him how to actand it burned his bridge to Jill so he tries to drown the guilt with a bottle of JackSelf proclaimed rebels say “We must op-pose the system!”“You gotta take a stand!” “If your not against them your with them!”signs read “Support the troops bring em’ home!” “No more innocent victims!”but when a homeless veteran asks for spare change your to busy protesting to even listenAnd I’m no different I live in conflict and contradiction but it can be so beautifulwhen I don’t reject what lies withinIt’s beautiful the way agony connects us to the livingI think of the world when I hurt, and keep on existing in the now.7

Smile

By The ThroatOh how easily they forget no anchor to the pastCut the blood supply and hope the heart beats itself to deathMy ribcage is now my own, still feels like your arms net clothed in saltHow’d I let it go this far?It happens faster than you could ever thinkFrom always and forever to never again in less than a blinkThe river runs until it’s dryBut I die spittin’ my last drip into it’s mouth to keep it aliveLong drives, wide eyes, and your smilin’ faceYou dance I drink, let’s waste the night awayThey say you always know right awayBut you can’t foresee the sand being pulled into the sea under a tidal waveSecrets sneak out when you’re asleepComin’ from a queen’s mouth, talk isn’t all that cheapI’m now a lone flame searching for a purposeSetting fires everywhere I go, can’t avoid the burnsWe share painYou took me by the throat and made me understand the world as if I were you and I couldn’t breatheAnd you can lead a horse to fresh water but you can’t teach it how to be okay when you decide to leaveI’m lost, there’s no one to protectI got so used to bein’ sheltered from the rain that always followed youIt’s not my first time, actually it’s nothin’ new

But that doesn’t make it any easier to get throughThe snow won’t melt, smoke won’t clearTurned hope inside out a thousand times tryin’ to see if it was ever anything more than dressed up fear,But the two go hand in hand you can’t have one without the other bein’ thereI’m barely breathin’ waitin for these screams to endBeggin’ a god I don’t believe in to let me sleep so I can dream againWe went through thick and thinCame out separate on the other endBut please know no matter what you’ll always have me as a friendAnd I finally knowYour crime is your pride and your past is my only doseI’m goin’ crazy outa my controlBut there’s nothin’ I can do, I have no choice but to let it goEach day gets a little less intenseNo longer feel like the skins standin’ on my chestYou made me more me, and I won’t forget the times you helped my find my feetWhen I was buried in my headThank you, for givin’ what you had to giveTakin’ what you had to take,And makin’ me believe in you.Even though I might be gone forever there will always be a place in my brain that’ll think of you.You look so graceful when you’re flyin’Keep goin’, there’s a lot of world that you haven’t seen,You have my best wishes, even if only in silence, you deserve everything that you’ve ever dreamed.The snow melted right when the smoke cleared,I turned love inside out a thousand times tryin’ to see if it was ever anything more than the will to persevere,but the two go hand in hand, the clouds surrounding you eventually will clear.I can breathe I found contentment in the end,Tellin’ a god I don’t believe in to go to sleep so I can think again.We went through thick and thin,Came out separate on the other end,But please know no matter what you’ll always have me as a friend.

“R EYE P”

Dedicated in the memory of Michael Larsen (Eyedea) and fans of his spoken thought. All artwork & design created by myself Mitch Weaver. Poetry owned by Eyedea.

November 9th 1981 – October 16th 2010