Mickey Mouse / James Dean: Annotated Lyrics

You’ll live in me, live in me

Always live in me, live in me

even 8 hours away, with social media channels blocked and 0 communication, this girl is clearly embedded with me in an unsolvable way.

I’m like a mickey mouse version of james dean

hiding behind a popped collar

but my ears can be seen

giddily giggling with glee as if no one can see me

i’ve always tried to upkeep a side of me that was suave and deft. part of this was combating self esteem issues. that aside, i love a good peacoat.

I’ll try to kick her out in moments of daydream
Crying inside a locked parlor So devoid of all sheen

i was born and raised in the ‘parlor city’ - binghamton, ny. it would appear i am trying to take emotional refuge in a metaphysical parlor, though it’s not working. ya know. normal stuff.

Quivering, shivering on the Tattered rug of Tuscany cowering in crumbling debris As this house falls into pieces

now just imagine me in the fetal position on this rug, with pieces of ceiling falling on my terrified body. time to get out of there!

I’m like a mickey mouse version of james dean

hiding behind a popped collar

but my ears can be seen

giddily giggling with glee as if no one can see me

while i’ve tried to hold onto a james dean component of myself, there’s no doubt that i have a major goofy side to me. it feels like a unique personality, combining these two really disjunct characters - but it feels sort of like what i embody.

I’m tired, all fucked up & addled by history

Vying to shine my heart’s squalor So devoid of good reasons

Tacitly, I rest my gaze on the

radius & ulna so sweet and, trembling, my chest starts to beat

as this heart learns what it teaches

my hands/wrists have always been my favorite parts of my body. even in horrible moments of self-hatred, i couldn’t help but admire my wrists. they feel so artful and bony and special. i feel grateful to have them. the cover art here was meticulously drawn to represent my specific wrist.

So now as I dodge all this hurt, I’m trying to stay so alert. In my damn ‘02 Galant

Her body was all that I wanted

it looks like back in the days of my ‘02 galant, i might have been confusing sex for love.

this is me driving my ex and her friend around in ‘09. in the galant, of course. note the mario keychain.

So oedipal I was born

Inevitable to the core, Resting all things on a touch

Not knowing that she’d mean so much

oedipus ends up blinding himself out of a confused, sexually driven mistake.

Asserting a world of my own I’m getting a taste for the throne,

Monuments crumbling down

Gunning for her ivory crown

‘monuments crumbling down’ - remember ozymandias?

But then she appears from the midst Carrying a note on her lips,

And as I marvel in doubt She tells of the only way out of this:

She says “In a gorge rests a tome,

representative of our home, babe - In touching that old brittle scroll, You’ll find that your heart pays it’s toll”

this is a gorge from robert treman park in ithaca, ny (remember the samples from Ozymandian?)

Gorges are gorgeous, but they’re also dangerous. they’ve been used for a fair share of suicides in the area.

“So now if you make your way down with nary an injury found, you’ll finally find all your peace & totally forget about me, babe.”