Closer to Home
By Paisleyfrog on January 11, 2026 10:06 pm
I was done with this week's song on Tuesday. But sometimes events means that you have to change direction. Did this fast enough that there's no cover art, but I also don't really want to for this one either.
EDIT: I worked up some cover art. I decided I wanted to after all.
I was thinking of waiting until next week for this song, but felt like it needed to get out now. The song I had can wait. Dammit, it was fun, too.
It’ll keep.
This one started out after I grabbed my new favorite project guitar on Saturday. It was in my parts bin for years with a busted sound board - finally FrankenFixed it last summer. This song and melody jumped out pretty much fully formed as an improvisation. I had started la-la-la-ing the first verse and then stopped...grabbed my phone and recorded the full song structure as you hear it here. I initially worked out cleaning it up a bit...was thinking it was a 90s rock ballad sort of thing. Zero words. Overall, it was...ok, but wasn't anything I was wildly excited about. Working title was "closer to home".
I gave my wife the raw mix, and she furiously started writing. After she finished, she said, "this might not be the direction you were expecting for it.." and started singing along with my raw mix. There was the moment I realized what it was about. Crying.
Decided that this song needed a raw protest vibe, forget about lots of instrumentation. I reworked her lyrics just a bit to fit the rhythm and flow. Recorded it this afternoon. The track I'm posting is one track and one microphone. Done.
I may have let out some anger on the guitar.
An important side note: institutionalized violence like this is not new in the United States, particularly for marginalized communities and people of color. It's always been close to home for decades, if not centuries. We stand in solidarity with people who have lived the struggle for so long.
Figured there's going to be some new angry protest music next week that is going to be the B-side of A Self-Made Lucifer. The working title is Couchfucker. Draw your own conclusions.
Gaslighting motherfucker.
› Lyrics
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