Stay ConnectedTwo bands who span the Atlantic, having a chat across the planet. Drafting jams from random challenges, fantastic banter while we’re at it. So just relax and watch our antics; it’s the pan-Atlantic Jam Mechanics
Jam Mechanics is a podcast hosted by Matt Johnston from The Narcissist Cookbook and Bug from Bug Hunter. Each week we’ll take on songwriting challenges and present our finished “demo” after a few hour break.
Copyright: © Jam Mechanics
There's a Caramel Party happening in the Jam McCabin. On Episode 3 we're talking pranks and making two new tunes.
Jam Mechanics is a podcast hosted by Matt (The Narcissist Cookbook) and Bug (Bug Hunter) where we are challenged to write a song demo from scratch every episode.
Huge thanks to DeepBlueInk for our artwork and squeezing us into his busy schedule!
If you'd like to download the demos we showed off, you can go to our Bandcamp or website to pay-what-you-want to support us!
Our Music:
The Narcissist Cookbook
Bug Hunter
and our brand-new discord is here
and follow us on Instagram, YouTube, etc!
Please rate / review and share the show (and our music) with friends!
-- SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE BELOW --
Prompt: "Unframed Photographs"
----Bug's Song-----
Title: After The Fact
Additional Challenge: CAR/MALL/PARTY
Lyrics:
Its a tough day for the home team
moving furniture is easy, its the personal stuff that worries me
cause cleaning out your parents house is not how I imagined
while it looks like packing boxes up and sweepin out the cabinets
its another introduction to who you thought you knew
a one-way heart to heart that's hard enough to make it through
without the pictures up in frames on the walls of your office
a collection hand-selected to be handsome and flawless
I never saw the box of polaroids you'd forgotten
packed away inside a cabinet in the back of your garage
there's your first car with the hood popped
here's you at a party with my uncle in a headlock
some candids of you camping, this one had to be from prom
its strange to see your arm around someone who isn't mom
I never knew that you knew Marty since you were in second grade
In my head you met at work but now I don't know where that came from
A bunch of big assumptions never challenged while I could
A side I never saw because I thought I understood
None of it was fiction but I learned after the fact
I'm mad you never told me but I'm madder I didn't ask
and all the pictures up in frames on the walls of your office
a collection hand-selected to be handsome and flawless
I never saw the box of polaroids you'd forgotten
packed away inside a cabinet in the back of your garage
And Now I know you better than I ever have
And it's nice to meet you after the fact
And Now I know you better than I ever have
And it's nice to meet you after the fact
---- Matt's Song -----
Title: Pull You Below
Additional Challenge: PRANK!
Lyrics:
You turned all the clocks back by 15 minutes a day
Til I felt like I was drowning just by being awake
You switched out all the lightbulbs
Til I couldn't even see my hands
There was a photograph beside my bed
Of you and me but I don't recognise it
Whispers and laughing out in the hallway
There was a time I think
But I'm not sure
You called me by another name
Where did I go
Pull me below
Under the water
I might be lost
For now, but I'm clawing
My way from hell to your door
You can't even look me
Dead in the eyes
So you won't see the lights coming on
So turn all of the clocks back by 15 minutes a day
I'm quietly counting the seconds away
Switch out all of the lightbulbs
Fill the house with shadow
There was a photograph beside my bed
Of you and me and I'm coming to get it
Something is moving out in the hallway
There was a time our love
Was strong enough
To raise me from the dead
Where will you go
When I pull you below
Under the water
We're just trying to make a difference over here in the Jam McCabin, so grab some Popcorn and get ready to be Complimented
Jam Mechanics is a podcast hosted by Matt (The Narcissist Cookbook) and Bug (Bug Hunter) where we are challenged to write a song demo from scratch every episode.
Huge thanks to DeepBlueInk for our artwork and squeezing us into his busy schedule!
If you'd like to download the demos we showed off, you can go to our Bandcamp or website to pay-what-you-want to support us!
Our Music:
The Narcissist Cookbook
and our brand-new discord is here
and follow us on Instagram, YouTube, etc!
Please rate / review and share the show (and our music) with friends!
-- SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE BELOW --
Prompt: "One (K)night's difference"
----Bug's Song-----
Title: Fix Itself
Additional Challenge: A compliment
Lyrics:
I said "I dunno, doc" as I sat up on the table
my shirt off, thankful just my socks around my ankles
I've had no luck with proper diagnosis
my internet doctor just sent some shrug emojis
and so she jots down a note, this'll do the trick
get back to your old self quick
But I'm stubborn and a skeptic
but this doctor won't accept it
She says "Take This and Call me in the morning"
so I shake it and I say I can't afford it
but she insists and writes me a prescription
so I throw it in the cabinet with the other dozen pills
that I've ignored and sorta hope that it'll magically fix itself
now its been 6 months so I come in for a check-up
She asks about my regimen and so I have to fess up
The bottle is still intact
and my motivation's weaker than a childproof cap
This calls for a higher dose, you're so easy to diagnose
You're just stubborn and a skeptic
and this doctor won't accept it
Take This and Call me in the morning
I make a play to ask about the side-effects and warnings
she evades this and writes me a prescription
and walks me to the pharmacy and watches as I pay and leave
and wonders if I still believe that this'll all fix itself
So I'm standing in the bathroom, bottle on the windowsill
hyping up myself 'cause I've never liked taking pills
I pop the top and to my surprise
there's nothing but a note inside
It says: Take this, and call me in the morning
I love you and you're handsome and important
and I want you to feel like you're accepted
so I wrote you my love as a prescription
So I take it, and call you in the morning
my heart aching from the way that you support me
and sometimes I get down, and afraid to ask for help
But I know it won't fix itself
---- Matt's Song -----
Title: The Other Boys
Additional Challenge: Must use the word "POPCORN"
Lyrics:
Popcorn
Now I have your attention
I got a two minute pitch and I'd like you to listen
So you've been putting up with suitors for a week now and
These losers can't do any of the cool shit I can
I don't have money, I don't have fame
Or blue blood flowing in my veins
But excuse me
Princess I'm not like the other boys
Dragon
Yeah that was me in the yard
Drove a 12 foot polearm through it's burning heart
You probably couldn't tell with my helmet askew
But as the beast fell baby I was winking at you
And the wizard in the hills who was raising the dead
I cut him a deal before I cut off his head
A hundred strong choir of your bloodline past
Singing love songs at your window
I don't have land, or military might
I don't have anyone to hold in the night
Excuse me
Princess I'm not like the other boys
They might have it all but you've still got a choice
Power and blood, connections and coin
Or me and whatever I've got going on
I don't want to scare you by coming on strong
But I'd love you better than any of them
No plot of the devil or creation of men
Could touch you when I am there at your side
And I don't have money, I don't have fame
Or blue blood flowing through my veins
But excuse me
Princess I'm not like the other boys
AND WE ARE BACK! Season 3 kicks off with Bug and Matt catching up on their names, their goals, and of course, their favorite party tricks.
Jam Mechanics is a podcast hosted by Matt (The Narcissist Cookbook) and Bug (Bug Hunter) where we are challenged to write a song demo from scratch every episode. Huge thanks to DeepBlueInk for our artwork and squeezing us into his busy schedule!
If you'd like downloadable files for this episode (and the demos we showed off), you can go to our Bandcamp or website to pay-what-you-want to support us!Our Music:The Narcissist Cookbook
and our brand-new discord is hereand follow us on Instagram, YouTube, etc! Please rate / review and share the show (and our music) with friends!-- SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE BELOW --
Prompt: "Not Guilty Anymore"
----Bug's Song-----
Title: Guilty Verdict
Additional Challenge: "Party Trick"
Lyrics:
Congratulations
Gimme your hand and let me shake it
A signature is all it takes, an engraving on the dotted line
and then you've made it
Turn on the news, kid
Everyone's got their eyes on you, kid
You'll get the credit for producing this, in truth,
all I did was introduce it... the rest is you, kid
You took the news like its a sermon but, but when I heard it
that shit hit me like a guilty verdict
Good news, you tell me I deserve it but
I didn't earn it, I didn't earn this
So have your way, then
I'll take the money and the fame, then
This is what happens when you're waiting on your break
and no one tells you when to say "when"
And if I lose it
I have no way to reproduce it
Just watch me crawling back to you, sit back
I'll ask for second chances you'll refuse it
The rest was you, kid
You took the news like its a sermon but, but when I heard it
that shit hit me like a guilty verdict
Good news, you tell me I deserve it but
I didn't earn it, I didn't earn this
I made a deal with the devil
I meant what I said when I said I'd do anything
Didn't think we'd make it as far we did
armed with our party tricks, all that we're carrying
I made a deal with the devil
I meant what I said when I said I'd do anything
Too late for take-backs or arguments
once you have started it, take it and bury it
You took the news like its a sermon but, but when I heard it
that shit hit me like a guilty verdict
Good news, you tell me I deserve it but
I didn't earn it, I didn't earn this
---- Matt's Song -----
Title: Pardon Me
Additional Challenge: Last Line == First Line
Lyrics:
I went and did some things that I shouldn't have done
(I guess) I got a little carried away
Everybody's done it, got their gun and gone to congress
Tried to overthrow democracy
Don't act like it's a big deal
It was just a party baby, hardly anybody was killed
Treason isn't treason when you do it badly
So how about a solid from daddy
Pardon me
Pardon me
I won't ever do it again
Probably
I mean no guarantees
Yes I learned my lesson, I guess you'll always pardon me
Say good boy and pat my bum
That was just a goof, a gaffe, a blunder, and a good dry run
I swear that I will love and serve, honour and obey thee
So How's about a favour for baby
Pardon me
Pardon me
I won't ever do it again
Probably
I mean no guarantees
Yes I learned my lesson, I guess
The best defense is a president
Who let's us get away with whatever we please
Pardon me
I went and did some things that I shouldn't have done
WOO-WOO, Season 2! Better late than never, Bug and Matt finally take a look back on all the things we loved about our 2nd season. We take audience questions, get mad about a few songs getting wrecked in our poll, and open ourselves up to show you exactly how far we've come!
Jam Mechanics is a podcast hosted by Matt (The Narcissist Cookbook) and Bug (Bug Hunter) where we are challenged to write a song demo from scratch every episode.If you'd like downloadable files for this episode (and the demos we showed off), you can go to our Bandcamp or website to pay-what-you-want to support us!Our Music:The Narcissist Cookbook
The last proper episode of Season 2 goes back to the beginning. We get DeepBlueInk back in the Jam McCabin -- who doesn't love a good second chance??
Our Music: The Narcissist Cookbook
Bug Hunter
and our brand-new discord is here
-- SPOILERS BELOW --
---
Challenge: "A second chance you don't deserve"
---
BUG'S SONG
Title: The Lighthouse
Lyrics:
On the tip of the island they left him to linger
in a lighthouse that clung to the cliff by its fingers
no comfort or company close to this coast
where he dwelled like a Gargoyle, guarding his post
They caught me red-handed, prepared my last meal
then gave me an out -- I took the deal
Stick to my station, keep my patrol
my only condition: don't hurt a soul
A hundred years pass me with no chance to slip
then on the darkened horizon -- I spotted a ship
With the darkness consuming, I lit up their path
there's only one route through all the rocks and the crags
I carved out a chance through the maze in the sea
leading the ship up to rest on the beach
The pilgrims abandoned their ship until dawn
but the tide never sleeps, when they woke it was gone
Without a ship to sail, the sailors advanced
to the valley below where they set up their camps
the timber was scarce here, which begged them to ask:
Do we use them for shelter or use them for rafts?
I watched from the ridge, an unreachable witness
A fly on the wall with a spider's ambitions
didn't surprise me at all that the first thing they did was
divide into camps, their first building: a prison
They dream of rescue, bless their hearts
I've watched them build and tear apart
Must now be years since they arrived
why must the heartless all survive?
Their children only know this place
They know I'm here but not my face
I pray they never seek me out
Oh God, the stores I could tell
They're not to blame, I wish them well
Oh God, the stories I could tell
Years on the island have settled the score
The village below me is violent no more
Then out of the sunset appears a new ship
My heart begins beating -- I have to act quick
with only one hope to correct for the night
I leapt to my senses and smashed out the light
By the light of the morning, there wasn't a sign
of the wreckage that washed away deep in the night
I swore to my captors I'd harm no one else
but not doing harm doesn't mean that I'll help
cause I've kissed the devil and can't be coerced
of all God's creations, this is the worst
with the lighthouse abandoned, I start to descend
you can find me among all the souls I've condemned
------------
MATT'S SONG
Title: Orchids
Lyrics:
I watch us from the dark garden
Through the living room windows
We are dancing
You are laughing
Revelling in the novelty
Of my abandon
This is new, you think, I see
Your frown encroaches on your smile
Or very old, you think
But the worry's just a weed
We spin around the room
I am rooted in the flowerbed
And you are crying laughing now
And I'm just trying not to trample on the orchids
Midnight
it begins to rain
I pull my jacket closer
And you are snuggled on the couch with me and dozing
Visibly relieved
And I'm relieved as well, in my way
I try to catch my eye
But there's just no getting through to me
This is Good, I think
Hiding From the lights of passing cars
If I can't live it
Well
I guess I'll watch it from afar
You are warm and you are happy
You are safe inside with me
And I'm just trying
I'm just trying not to trample on the orchids
And as you sleep
I watch me blinking
In the television light
And maybe get a little taller
A little younger round the eyes
This is new, I think
Or something very very old
But the worry's just a weed
And I retreat into the cold
This is good, I think
In a way, a second start
And if I can't live it
Well
I guess I'll watch it from afar
You are warm and you are happy
You are safe, at least I hope
And I'm just trying
I'm just trying
I'm just trying
Not to trample on the orchids
On Episode Nine, Matt continues being Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and targets the most famous New York M&M vendor. Heather Edgley joins us to get us thinking objectively!
Our Music: The Narcissist Cookbook
Bug Hunter
and our brand-new discord is here
-- SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE BELOW --
-----------------
Challenge: "From the perspective of an inanimate object"
-----------------
BUG'S SONG
Title: Sammy
Lyrics:
I am Sensitive, I know
I get riled up at the smallest things
and start screaming at the top of my lungs
I am working on it
but my job is very stressful
Holy shit is that a frozen pizza?
Time to cry my eyes out,
out of my mind with self-doubt
doubt you could live without me
me? I defend you proudly
cause I'm your last protector
Hi, my name is Sammy, I'm your over-sensitive smoke detector
Any locality may by ordinance require that smoke alarms
be installed in any building containing one or more dwelling units
in accordance with the uniform statewide building code
in other words: you need me
I know you're all frustrated by my beeping
but where there's smoke, there's fire
so where there might be smoke there MIGHT be fire
ok I'll work on it
but you've cooked that egg for 20 seconds!!!
Time to cry my eyes out, out of my mind with self-doubt
doubt you could live without me, me? I defend you proudly
I am your last protector
Hi, my name is Sammy, I'm your over-sensitive smoke detector
They say when God opens a door
he must also open a door on the other side of the room
just one door will not stop me from yelling
That's just how airflow works
that's just a little physics tip for you
inside a song inside a music podcast
but to calm me down... I just need... HER
Celia, Celia, Twirl for me love
no concealing how I'm feeling when I watch from above
Celia, Celia, this never gets old
they've learned to turn you on first before they look at the stove
Celia, Celia... the Ceiling Fan
Celia, Celia... the Ceiling Fan
(They're making bacon and I can't even fake a beep-beep because of you, Celia)
(It may be my low battery that's talking they ain't changing me 'till Autumn, Oh Celia)
(Learn good habits, change those batteries on daylight saving time, for realia)
(and while you're at it change your air filters too, basic home maintenance, celia)
-----------------
MATT'S SONG
Title: No Visitors
Lyrics:
no one visits me here but you i wish i could give you a little something in return under the silt, rocks and pillars of breezeblocks i was a queen once just like you in a temple on top of a hill on the rim of the woods and you want ask me something i can tell yeah i used to tell them stories in the vapour choking air and they kept me round because i told them what they want to hear now i call it like i see it so they took my crown away and i don't talk that much anymore these days cause no one visits me here but you no one visits me here but you tell me what do you see in me nobody's looked at me like you look at me for apollo knows how long i thought i needed fable and theatre for you trust me much at all but i guess a temple is wherever you go to find your god and you want to ask me something i can tell you don't need to keep your worries to yourself
On Episode Eight, our heroes get mentally prepared for the long road ahead. Robert Evans from Behind The Bastards gives us a prompt that make us one with the road, and Matt moves to Times Square.
Our Music: The Narcissist Cookbook
Bug Hunter
and our brand-new discord is here
-- SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE BELOW --
-----------------
Challenge: "Driving so long you become one with the road"
-----------------
BUG'S SONG
Title: On The Morning Commute
Lyrics:
On the Morning Commute
Sing along with the tune
I can throw on a podcast, a radio broadcast
all the things I can do on the morning commute
The beginning of the day is easy, I have a list of tasks to do
Get up, brush teeth, make toast, eat toast, make bed, don't eat bed
get dressed (required), comb hair (that one is optional)
plenty of structure...
and likewise my work day is a breeze
between meetings that should have been emails
and emails that protect me from meetings
I am stimulated all day, left and right and from every
corner of my cubicle, a beautiful hectic chaos that
keeps my mind racing and taken up with TODO's
but its that half hour in between...
that damn morning commute
Sing along with the tune
I can throw on a podcast, a radio broadcast
all the things I can do on the morning commute
You know, we don't use what scientists call our "Active" brain when we drive?
It's why we can hold conversations with passengers (or illegally as I found out, on cell phones)
or completely space out and realize 10 minutes and 12 miles down the road
And thats where you find me. Nowhere to run.
Can't even use my hands to defend myself
No amount of NPR or Arianna Grande can drown you out
no crosswords to keep my attention locked down, and you know it
You say "haha! your melatonin might've saved you last night, but you're
legally locked into conciousness now, 30 minutes locked in a Mazda
with nothing to properly stop ya, so you should buckle up bud, I've come here to haunt ya
So I snuck out last night and went to town like the Grinch of Suburbia
Climbing every traffic light and shaking the red and yellow glitter out of each one,
flipping every stop sign around to it's "Go-Side",
a couple well-place cones and now we have TWO northbound freeways and everyone else
going south can just use waze or something
Because I am getting this over with
I painted over all the lane dividers on the way to work
and had enough black paint leftover to paint a tunnel on a cliff as
a shortcut to shave off another seven minutes... funny, isn't it?
It took a drive to make me learn my limits
-----------------
MATT'S SONG
Title: White Line
Lyrics:
low fuel light's been on for days
i haven't seen another car
since i passed petrol station
must have a week or more
i punched in your address but
i don't think i remember you
objects in the mirror disappear as they slip out of view
i haven't stopped the car in so long i can't even tell
leave it long enough you turn in to somebody else
There's no other way to say this. Episode Seven is a special dark episode of Jam Mechanics. If you want to blame someone, blame Sam Damask of Grand Commander for his prompt! But we still have fun, and you will, too!
Jam Mechanics is a podcast hosted by Matt (The Narcissist Cookbook) and Bug (Bug Hunter) where we are challenged to write a song demo from scratch every episode. If you'd like downloadable files for this episode (and the demos we showed off), you can go to our Bandcamp or website to pay-what-you-want to support us! Our Music: The Narcissist Cookbook
and our brand-new discord is here -- SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE BELOW --
-----------------
Challenge: "Resisting the Urge to inflict harm on someone who has wronged you"
-----------------
BUG'S SONG
Title: Not Your Fault, Kid
Lyrics:
It's not your fault, kid, I still love you
you're my baby brother
It's not your fault, kid, I still love you
you're my baby brother
I had a family: mom, dad, dog and and backyard
my own room a guitar
I was stuck on "F" and I couldn't get past it
and now I think it's stuck in the attic
or at dad's place, or maybe the storage box
that he got when he got kicked out
and that just happened to be, just happened to be
when you came around
It's not your fault, kid, I still love you
you're my baby brother
It's not your fault, kid, I still love you
you're my baby brother
but mom won't love you, so I hope that yours does
you've got her eyes, what a shortcut
and our dad's smile that I've barely seen yet
at least its absent every other weekend
when I'm dropped off and lobbed in the corner spot
on a cot set up in your room
how'd this happen to me, this happened to me because
because of you
It's not your fault, kid, I still love you
you're my baby brother
It's not your fault, kid, I still love you
you're my...
but you're not a text on his phone left unguarded
you're not a hotel charged to the family card you're not
even them caught in the act, you were 9 months past
now you can't be ignored or talked out
you just happen to be, just happen to be
the proof that knocked us down
If I seem shut down and muted thats just what I've found is easiest
but I've changed so much can't tell what's me and what's now ship of theseus
If I seem shut down and muted thats just what I've found is easiest
but I've changed so much can't tell what's me and what's now ship of theseus
It's not your fault, kid, I still love you
you're my baby brother
-----------------
MATT'S SONG
Title: The Family Dog
Lyrics:
okay
are you done
i've been over here biting my tongue
let me just catch my breath
really swill this blood around
let it get
into every gap in between my teeth
every cavity from the years of sweetness
you forcefed me
i swallowed it all with a thank you and smile
not so pretty anymore am i
what's the matter baby, you look like
you got your face chewed off by the family dog
I'm only playing, and it's cute that you
Think this is really the worst I could do
I never know what I can chew until I've bitten it off
So make your next move
Carefully
Don't set off my instincts
Oh the things
I could say
light the fuse on the bomb in your brain
Give a wink
Take a bow
And let you take the win
walk away
when the fuse burns down
in a year from now
it'd blow and your skull would be hollowed out
I know you better than anyone ever has
I know how to take you down
But
I won't
not so pretty anymore am i
what's the matter baby, you look like
you got your face chewed off by the family dog
I'm only playing, and it's cute that you
Think this is really the worst I could do
I never know what I can chew until I've bitten it off
So make your next move
Carefully
Don't set off my instincts
On Episode 6 we get tripped up on cantrips before Joshua David MG gives us a songwriting prompt that'll make you ask: Did they just write the songs of the summer??? If you'd like downloadable files for this episode (and the demos we showed off), you can go to our Bandcamp or website to pay-what-you-want to support us!
and our brand-new discord is here
Challenge: "Did I just write the song of the summer???"
-----------------
BUG'S SONG
Title: Loud and Clear
Lyrics:
You're playin' DJ on our road trip and my ears are going numb
It's taking every bit of patience not to mute it with my thumb
maybe pretend that it malfunctioned and I'll fix it when we stop
but then you say "this one's my favorite" and you crank the volume knob
Why do you like this stuff, I haven't got a clue
what made a middle class big city girl like only country tunes
you don't square dance in your Daisy Dukes or line up in your boots
and you you ain't ever seen the inside of a country town saloon
I've tried to give it all a chance, I promise you I did
but I can't tell when one song ends and when the next hit song begins
twenty minutes in... lets just call it what it is
every hit song of the summer sounds a little bit like this:
a big bar crowd sing-a-long
a four-chord kinda country song
where the chorus always mentions beer
and the title, the title hits loud and clear
Its always so repetitive, they've got nothing to say
every aspect is generic, every lyric feels cliché
I respect the men and women and the instruments they play
but the hacks that they are backing have put all their skills to waste
cause the stars are all so similar, so handsome, could it be
another well-connected white boy up and moved to Tennessee
Has a network out in Nashville, plays a chord or two or three
add a fourth and ride a horse and you can end up on TV singin'
But did you ever think...
[See website for remaining lyrics!]
-----------------
MATT'S SONG
Title: Comparing Yourself to a Sillhouette
Lyrics:
Amelia was born on a saturday night
in the heat of july in the heart of america
and while the city slept, her mother showed her the sky
and speckles of starlight settled on her eyes and little Amelia Earhart knew one day she would fly
No that's not what happened
Can someone tell me why we obsessively mythologise real people, real lives like this
Like no one truly exists unless they live between the lines
of a fairy story someone writes?
Is it not enough for someone just to have lived, you know?
And to have lived extraordinarily?
Amelia 'melia, please
Come back to earth some time
I'm dangling here by a wire
And it doesn't feel like flying.
Do you think jesus understood that it wasn't enough to be a good man?
To be wise and patient and kind?
Do you think he knew that in order for his message to outlive him he would have to be canonised, and to be canonised he would have to die before his time?
Or was that narrative thrust upon him
Against his will
By a disciple who loved the message more than the man
And who knew that humans don't trust humans
We trust gods
And so this all too human friend of his would have to
Whether he wanted to or not
Become a god
Or be forgotten
And here I am, trying to be the best version of me that I can
Comparing myself to these silhouettes who
In the way they're presented at least
Didn't exist
Thinking that because I don't have a narrative
Because you couldn't project my story on the screen
That somehow makes me less real
And the thing is
I don't think I'm accepting that
I think i'm trying to turn myself into a story
To see myself as I see them
As only a silhouette
On Episode 5, we record an episode in the same room for the FIRST TIME EVER. Come listen to us reminisce about the tour with PapaBug and rank all our favorite moments (Bug even reveals his favorite fan!!). Oh, and we write some songs, too!
Jam Mechanics is a podcast hosted by Matt (The Narcissist Cookbook) and Bug (Bug Hunter) where we are challenged to write a song demo from scratch every episode. If you'd like downloadable files for this episode (and the demos we showed off), you can go to our Bandcamp or website to pay-what-you-want to support us! Our Music: The Narcissist Cookbook
and our brand-new discord is here -- SPOILERS FOR THIS EPISODE BELOW --
-----------------
Challenge: "Get Ranked"
-----------------
BUG'S SONG
Title: First and Second
Lyrics:
I wanna tell all my friends about you
to tell my mom, who will tell my dad
to find the best damn parts about this
and celebrate the things I have... but I can't
When I was kid at the dinner table
my parents would make us make a thankful list
the top 3 things about our day
and I was always just the worst at this
Some days it was simple but most days it was difficult
my disposition leaned a bit more pessimist than typical
its hard to get excited, like if life finds out I like it
I will lose it, yeah its stupid and its superstitious
So when you ask me the top 3 things
I love about this, I still freeze up
I probably look like a well-fed snake
as I choke so hard on that softball toss
I should just say "hell with it", maybe just embellish it
"your laugh, your eyes, your smile" but I know I'm barely sellin it
its hard to get excited, if life finds out I like it
I will lose it, yeah its stupid, I just wanna
tell all my friends about you
to tell my mom, who will tell my dad
to find the best damn parts about this
and celebrate the things I have... but I can't
Why am I like this?
Why can't I admit everything's going well
Why do I hide it?
Hide all my joy in this bone-colored shell
So I thought and I thought of my top 3 but its something I just couldn't do
so here's my top 2...
I'm tellin all my friends about you
I told my mom (who told my dad)
So here's the top 2 parts about this love
they're the first and second half
I'm tellin all my friends about you
you told your mom I'm not thar bad
So here's the top 2 parts about this love
they're the first and second half
the top 2 parts about this love
is the first and second, the first and second half
-----------------
MATT'S SONG
Title: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Lyrics:
I listed all my flaws in order
Starting from the least of them
The ones you might not even notice
Bedbugs scattering for cover when
the light goes on i just react,
it isn't evidence of sentience or anything like that
miseryguts
shut up inside my castle
overweight and
undersentimental
manic phases, chronic depression
what a shame that no one will ever...
I listed all my flaws in order
So you'd know what to expect
The ones that chafe your soul
Until the day your perfect patience starts to crack
i am a rock
i am an island
i'm the great pacific garbage patch
forget about
forgetting your birthday
i won't remember your first name
constantly expecting the worst
so i can say that i saw it coming
miseryguts
shut up inside my castle
overweight and
undersentimental
manic phases, chronic depression
what a shame that no one will miss him
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
