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Junior

by Darth Nater

/
1.
Gliding down roads we don’t know the names of We left both our phones at home Is this how Lewis and Clark felt? Honorary pioneers The frontier’s out there somewhere Waiting for us So let’s kick it in gear And raise up some dust West Seneca’s sleeping But our bikes fly best at night And as dull as it is in this cul-de-sac The moon brings it to life Our spokes are a-gleam with the glow of the streetlights It’s silent except for the sweet crunch of rubber on asphalt Pebbles like remoras hitchhiking deep in my treads And you’re my best friend Into raised ranches and middle-class split levels Everyone has gone So let’s flee like thieves on aluminum steeds At least until the dawn These pedals are stirrups We’re John Wayne and Clint Eastwood And as dumb as it sounds I feel so content Suburbia is ours Now so many years later I reminisce with just a sliver of sadness We were blind to the signs, the stagecoaches, the settlers We thought the wild west would be wild forever But 16 came and went and I aced both my road tests And traded these two wheels for four, plus an engine And it gets me from place to place five times as fast But I never feel the dew on my face or the wind at my back
2.
Y2K 02:53
I stopped rewinding my VHS rentals weeks ago Blockbuster called my house, I’ve still got three on loan I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care I’m preparing for the last days The kids at school all say that I’m crazed I never liked them anyway They laugh cause I always sport the same cargo pants But it’s just that I’ve packed all my jeans and my slacks And my t-shirts, and tube socks and sweaters and scarfs I can’t predict the climate, but I know CPR This is how I’ll survive the 90s This is how I’ll make it out alive This is how I’ll survive the 90s This is how I’ll come out still alive I’ve got 3 suitcases full of non-perishable food goods Hidden beneath my bed I can’t wait for the millennium to end Or for that douchebag on my bus to drop dead I’ve got 52 weeks worth of meager allowances Combined with the funds earned from shoveling driveways Stuffed in a strongbox on the floor of my closet Where fire or flood can neither burn it nor rot it This is how I’ll survive being fifteen The armegeddon holds such brighter days for me This is how I’ll survive being fifteen The armegeddon holds such brighter days for me The end is nigh, as I sigh I can feel it The apocalypse will hit and I’ll be the only one to deal with it And heal the world, and witness all my classmates who had cursed me Turn to dirt beneath my feet, screaming that they’re thirsty As I sip a big-ass milk jug that I filled with filtered water Who the hell knew that hell could get any hotter? Y2K, here I come I’ve got my N64 and my BB gun Y2K, here I come I’ve got my N64 and my BB gun Y2K, here I come
3.
Space Camp 03:50
Nylon jumpsuits caked with grime Scenery so saccharine Where rusting rockets go to die At Space Camp, 1985 Shoot for the stars A cloying tagline for the sad shrine out in Terra, Vermont But it was everything one young girl could want Broken telescopes and space simulations Her cabin was adjacent to the fake NASA station Her father made a living charting craters on mars Her mother studied stories that were sketched in the stars Cassiopeia, Libra, Gemini She was named for the sphere shining high in the sky Luna O’Connor had lobbied all winter By April her parents retained no resistance Existence is futile, declared old Polaris In contrast her pain became microscopic I can stop this I can end all the fighting It’s my fault, we can’t stand, our house is divided The camp staff was calloused The director lacked passion The food tasted worse than an astronaut’s rations But the girl didn’t mind She didn’t once whine She thought plexiglass helmets were bizarrely divine There’s no signs, but that’s fine The milky way won’t take sides Luna marveled at the cosmos and listened to the tide She laughed and cried at the same time How can they ask me to decide Between the man who scans the planets and the woman who gave me life
4.
Deserted 02:38
Holy shit, what was that sound? I think my car broke down There’s not a soul around There’s not a single town within feasible walking distance The most rational action would be to call for assistance But my phone died while I was listening to Spotify And now I’m helpless I pop the hood Pretend to know what I’m doing This is what art school does to the youth of America In the wastelands of Nevada I play act a mechanic I blew a gasket How fucking fantastic This is just what I need This is just the bee’s knees Actually I could use some sweet honey My hands won’t stop shaking and my tummy is rumbly Oh bother, Oh brother, Oh father, Oh mother I love you as much as I love all the others Smothered by the oppressive desert sun But night comes and my fingers are freezing and numb No peace to be found Surrounded by coyotes Howling and striding wryly through the Mojave I’m a prize I’m a trophy I’m actually kind of bony Can’t you fellas see I don’t have much meat on me? You can’t reason with a killer I was the runt of my litter Now I’m dinner for some hungry young pups Getting thinner by the hour I wave my torch like I’m suffering a seizure I'll teach these beasts to fear us creatures! This is America, not Samaria And it’s quite evident by the looks that I get I must have deserved this turn of events "Take some personal responsibility!" A man screams at me through the window of a 1953 Lamborghini It rolls on by as the shimmer of his bumper sticker blinds both my eyes Make America Great Again Hell-bent on something I’m not sure what I upchuck what little food’s left in my gut As two guys in a rusted old pick-up truck Plastered with the confederate flag roll up They’re sporting the symptoms of second amendment pride Is this how all the pretty young yankee boys die? I must have come across as terrified One laughs himself silly, the others got kind eyes He says, “Hey man, it looks like you could use a ride” I say, “You know what? You’re goddamn right."
5.
To Infinity 04:30
The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy The enemy of my enemy's enemy is still my enemy The enemy of my enemy's enemy's enemy is still my enemy And it's looking more and more like the whole world is against me
6.
Glass jars filled with insects Spill out silken light You and I go walking In the middle of the night In the middle of the night In the middle of the night In the middle of the night We stumble onto dry bones Witness a fresh kill A fox feeds her five babies In the crevice of a hill In the crevice of a hill In the crevice of a hill In the crevice of a hill An old doe has a hole in her hide where maggots become flies It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all night It reminds me of the time I saw a fawn in Saint Matthew’s Cemetery at dawn I saw a fawn in Saint Matthew’s Cemetery at dawn I saw a fawn in Saint Matthew’s Cemetery at dawn She ate flowers that family members had left behind She found refuge beneath dead trees that teemed with life She looked at me with a hesitant skepticism And I crumbled like a bug sprayed with pesticide My eyes closed, I laid by the gravestones for a while As my staged grief turned from acceptance to denial A smile danced across my face I couldn't tell if it was out of place or in the right one I couldn't tell if I was being tormented or having fun I couldn't tell if I wanted to stay still or run and run and run I suppose it was both at once Like a shotgun blast to the gut leaving buckshot in my lungs She ate flowers that family members had left behind She found refuge beneath dead trees that teemed with life She looked at me with a hesitant skepticism And I froze like a deer in headlights
7.
Bad luck finds us in bright casinos far from home We win once and it’s enough to keep us going all night long Bad luck calls us We fall into its warm grasp All in by dawn Our troubles remain but our money's long gone Our love is a gamble We both know it's true Our love is a five wheel slot machine And there's nothing either one of us can do Bad luck finds us in bright casinos far from home It hitchhikes northeast Sneaks beneath the crack of our door Javelins drawn at record speed In our coliseum bedroom where we make each other bleed Roll the dice one last time Watch and wait as chance decides Our love is a gamble We both know it's true Our love is a whirling roulette wheel And there’s not a thing that you or I can do Bad luck haunts us Steel-faced spirit that I've never seen Like hackneyed reality TV shows that hunt for ghosts Bad luck haunts us Like poor excuses used to fold Real gold in reach Take my hand, swear you'll hold Our love is a gamble We knew the odds from the start But I’ll learn to how to count the cards And I'll play inside the Vegas of your heart Our love is a gamble We knew the odds from the start But I’ll learn to how to count the cards And I'll play inside the Vegas of your heart
8.
Athena 01:41
“The grass is so much greyer on the other side of the fence” Said the doe-eyed young Dachshund Snout sticking through the chain links “That bitch gets white meat chicken, while I get kibbles and bits” So she dug a ditch deep enough to fit under her prison walls Kept her wits about her and crawled and crawled and crawled And sprawled out on the neighbor’s yard Her paws were raw but she felt so proud From her mouth the howling sound of victory rang out clear and loud Till her mother and her master caught her leg over the mastiff’s planter God damn those bastards I didn’t ask to be here I didn’t ask to be here I didn’t ask to be here I didn’t ask to be here
9.
Eros 01:18
Square jawed Outlaw I never saw You draw I'd not walked five paces before You turned I heard a gun go off
10.
The Other 49 04:34
Gasoline is cheap, let’s go find the real America Eat apple pie in diners and parade through barren fairgrounds If I don’t leave the rust belt, man, I swear I’ll go hysterical Let’s max out this odometer and find the real America Though I meant to be content within the state that I reside I cannot help but find the other forty-nine on my mind The wine-dark grass of the prairie The silhouette of plows at sunset 10 acre orchards filled with nothing but cherries A dazzling scent you could never forget This is the real, this is the real, this is the real America This is the real, this is the real, this is the real America This is the real, this is the real, this is the real America It’s just my luck to have grown up on Niagara Falls, where rapids bind I’m out to find the other forty-nine where sunshine never dies D.C. holds our history Florida’s got the glades And Disney World and pretty girls who wear short shorts everyday The West Coast has the best roast New England towns are so profound I’m not sure what happens in Utah but I’d sure like to find out The West Coast suffers earthquakes New England towns think they’re profound I drove through central Utah and all I saw were cows Our capitol is staffed with crooks The bible belt believes in tomes Florida’s swarming with decrepit old folks in retirement homes Hey, where’d all the bison go? Hey, where’d all the bison go? Hey, where’d all the bison go? Hey, where’d all the bison go? I want to go home There is no real, there is no real, there is no real America There is no real, there is no real, there is no real America There is no great, idealized state that will liberate your heart Don't wait to start living, just create art wherever you are Don't wait to start living, just create art wherever you are
11.
Ditto 04:55
“L” is for “Largo” Me and Margo Pavone Spent the Summer listening to the Smiths on vinyl And she swore it sounded better But I still prefer my CDs Ripped to 320 mp3 Don’t give me FLAC, man I haven’t the time or space for that Every person I adore grinds me down a little more I was born with 33, August left me 24 “P” is for “Presto” Me and Ernesto Coruja Spent the Autumn reading Oscar Wilde And he swore it felt better to correct all my grammar His crimson ink quelled my innocent manner But I silently dissented Words don’t snap just cause they’re bended Just cause they're bent I began with 24, the harvest stole another nine You made me in your image but I still don’t feel divine “G” is for “Grave” J. B. Perroquet and I Spent the Winter wandering through snow-laden graveyards And he swore it felt better to contemplate mortality Cause frostbite is more real than sunburn could ever be I indulged His collegiate concepts stung my skull December froze and shattered my remaining 15 ridges And by Valentine’s I had no spine to speak of There’s no hope for next year “C” is for “Coda” Matilda Nachash and I Spent the springtime snorting coke and smoking And she swore it felt better than the clutches of anxiety Until we both OD’ed Beneath the High School’s apple tree Her father found both our bodies We drank from IV’s for the next week Ain’t that bittersweet Ain’t that bittersweet I’m losing touch I lack a backbone A pink mass of flesh Number 132 in your Pokedex And what’s more I conform to all that I adore Contort myself into a grotesque figure writhing on the floor Transform into a discount amalgamation of everything I’ve ever seen Believe all that’s before me and Raise my gaze skyward to read guillibe on the ceiling Overwhelmed by my feelings And disparate thoughts of what I’ve been taught I’m healing But shedding skin takes pulling and peeling
12.
Let’s blow this town New York doesn’t seem so new Since I met you Since I met you Let’s burn it down Turn Ithaca to Rome We can’t go back home We can’t go back home I haven’t taken out these contacts for three days We haven’t left this interstate for two I don’t know about you But I could sure use some food All the shittiest American towns are named after places in Europe That we will never visit It’s intrinsically horrific It’s not like we went and killed a man But what we did, yeah, well it was still pretty bad It was still pretty bad It’s not like we went and shot a guy But what we did, yeah, well it still keeps me up at night It still keeps me up at night We stop at a diner Coeur d'Alene Order three-quarters of the menu Does disappointment feel like heartburn In the bathroom of a greasy spoon All the shittiest American towns are named after places in Europe That we will never visit It’s intrinsically horrific All the dingiest American towns still retain their names From the people who were conquered What a prestigious honor It’s not like we decapitated senior citizens But what we did, yeah, well it was not a good thing It was not a good thing It’s not like we murdered kids for fun But what we did, yeah, well it still keeps us on the run It still keeps us on the run I thought the outlaw life would be more romantic (more romantic) I had a change of heart, but no change of clothes I thought the outlaw life would be more romantic (more romantic) But this morning as I was pissing in a half-empty red bull can I decided there’s more cons than pros There's more cons than pros I thought the outlaw life would be more romantic (more romantic) I had a change of heart, but no change of clothes I always thought the outlaw life would be more romantic (more romantic) But today I tallied up the things that I will leave behind and decided there’s more cons than pros There's more cons than pros More romantic More romantic More romantic More romantic

about

An album about adolescence, escape and disillusionment. Junior tackles a wide range of subjects, from a song about surviving the Y2K apocalypse, to the tale of a weiner dog trying to break out of her backyard. The songs are all connected, however, by a firm grasp of storytelling and poetic imagery, along with dry wit and a sense of humor.

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released December 16, 2016

Written and recorded by Nate Noworyta
Mastered by Dave Riffel

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Darth Nater Buffalo, New York

Funny songs. Sad songs. Funny, sad songs.

Darth Nater is the solo project of Buffalo-based musician Nate Noworyta.

Lyrically dense story-songs filled with detailed imagery and characters. Musically rooted in folk and indie rock.
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