LNR1: Dead Pigs in the Front Yard (2000)

Dead Pigs in the Front Yard (LNR1) album cover

# Tracks 29
Total Time 69:00
Source Tascam 424 4-track
Src Date 1996 - 1999
Mixing Cool Edit 96, DDClip
Mix Date 1999 Dec - 2000 Jan
Release Date

Album Notes

This here is the first CD of remixes of the material from 1994 through 1999 recorded from 1996 to 1999 and mixed in Dec 1999 to Jan 2000. I wanted to finalize the older stuff but without caving in to the desire to retape absolutely everything. There's still a lot of untouched old recordings, but most of it sucks so bad, it may be better to just let the magnetic tape reorder itself to incoherence.

High quality mp3s of the tracks have arrived. Made with RazorLame, these puppies use the best in VBR magic. This is basically the quality of CD. To get the best sound, don't use Winamp as it somehow plays mp3s crappier than Media Player.

Cover Art

If you need to reprint the cover for your copy of this CD, here's your chance. Both front and back are available. (These images are 150 dpi.)

Songs

  1. Waking Up
    Track 1
    Length 1:13
    Size 1.4 MB
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    Notes Torturing poor Stanley somehow scares people.
    Lyrics

    Come on, Stanley. We've gone over all of this before.
    But I don't know anything.
    Tell us what we want to know.
    Is he alive?
  2. Back Room
    Track 2
    Length 2:30
    Size 2.9 MB
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    Notes How I managed to get something this cool at that time, I'll never know. DDClip and its 4 tracks doesn't lend itself to complexity. The 7 words in this song were written in May 1997.
    Lyrics

    Take you in the back room
    Cut
  3. Butt Muffs
    Track 3
    Length 3:24
    Size 4.3 MB
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    Notes I don't see what's so great about this song. It was written on 1 March 1995 and it was first recorded on a tape deck while hitting books with a maraca and a fly-swatter and singing. It's about this girl I sort of knew at the time. I was waiting outside Lockett Hall at LSU for her. It was a cold, cloudy day.
    Lyrics

    Waiting in the cold for you
    I can easily think of things I'd rather do
    But I will wait 'til you come by

    It seems I've waited for twenty years
    And I will keep on waiting here
    But I will wait 'til you come by

    Now it's getting very cold
    The cold wind blows, the day gets old
    I want you but I know I can't
    Did I miss you while you came and went?
    It makes me sad this cloudy day
    That perhaps the wind has kept you away from me
    From me

    Meanwhile my butt is starting to freeze
    I caught a cold and start to sneeze
    But I will wait 'til you come by

    From my nose freely flows
    The first indicator of a cold
    But I will wait 'til you come by

    I'm getting sick and it's all because of you

    Everytime I wait for you I sit around and waste my time
    I could go on with my life but I thought that I could be just a bit nice
    Do you expect for me to know what I want and who I really want?
    'Cause it ain't happenin anytime soon

    I'm getting sick and it's all because of you
    I'm getting sick
    It's all because of you
  4. Can I?
    Track 4
    Length 2:09
    Size 2.7 MB
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    Notes No mystery to this song. I came back from Japan in 1999 and had what could be called an emotional explosion over an ex.
    Lyrics

    Can I touch you just a little while?
    If I touch you, that would make me feel alright
    Current drags me, I am taken by your stare
    Can I touch you if it's only just your hair?

    And if I cannot have have everything all that I want
    Give it up and I want you way too much, I can't do without
    And if I didn't have a single thing in this fuckin world
    I would only want to have you
  5. Wounded Knights
    Track 5
    Length 3:24
    Size 4.0 MB
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    Notes This is about how suck-ass everything was. The city, my job, me. How I never wanted to go out. Inspired by a trip to Alabama that my parents went on in December 1996 while I stayed home. This has one of my favorite choruses.
    Lyrics

    I could have gone but I feel better staying right here
    And I know I always say that
    No one knows and it's better that they don't
    Because there's really nothing special

    Wounded nights clear the way
    And allow me to be where I'm not
    Tower above the flat surrounding land
    And burn everything down

    I got a job, never call me up
    And I don't think they really like me
    I've only made ten dollars this entire month
    And I'm getting sick from eating

    And I will always
    And I will always
    And I will always know
    And I will always go
    And I will never
    And I will never
    And I will never die
    And I will never die alone
    Alone
    And I will never die
    And I will never die alone
  6. Cheesy Keyboard
    Track 6
    Length 1:41
    Size 2.2 MB
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    Notes In a partnership with the guitar tracks is the good ol' Yamaha keyboard. The drums were added during mixing for the CD in December 1999. Added by hand. Wav by wav.
    Lyrics

    [none]
  7. Finding What I Want
    Track 7
    Length 4:08
    Size 5.5 MB
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    Notes I mixed these songs with bad speakers so I couldn't hear just how resonant the kick drum was. It's not tight enough. It's a sample from Weezer's "El Scorcho". I unfortunately used the kick sample on many songs for this CD. (Written in October 1995.)
    Lyrics

    Finding what I want is stripped away like teeth
    Working out the words is not ok with me
    Ripping up my insides, playing dead is not the same
    Make me hate the way and you never feel all that I say

    I can't do it
    Coming out all wrong, you see
    I can't do it
    Something that I want to cheat
    I can't do it
    Coming out all wrong, you see
    I can't do it
    There's definitely something wrong with me

    And I want you to see
    My magazine
    You're in my dream
    In the sea I saw you swim
    You're on a limb
    This is my whim
    I adore you
    I killed your dog

    Everyday I'm fucking with the same crap
    Don't give more, I don't think I could take that
    Run around, you are not saying a damn thing
    Look at me, I know that I cannot sing
  8. Guy Across the Street
    Track 8
    Length 2:52
    Size 3.5 MB
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    Notes In April 1997, I had a simple chord progression and needed lyrics when a truck pulled up the driveway across the street and a guy got out. He lived there. Other influences are the big oak tree outside my window at the time and my exgirlfriend (and the blue light she had in her room).
    Lyrics

    The guy across the street
    Just got home
    I'm glad he is not me
    I would have to shoot him in the foot
    And that would not be very good

    But for now I think that I'm amused
    The woman in the tree just burned her shoes

    Trudging soaking wet
    The man walked by
    The girl he could not get
    His every hair was combed down into place
    Yet I could not see his ugly face

    Red reflections are staining windows
    Inside the time has stopped
    Burning candles are lining doorways
    Slip inside and fall on top
    Escort in and then left to wander
    Inside everything is blue
    Come to realize that maybe next time
    I'll figure out what to do
  9. I Made This Up at Bryson's
    Track 9
    Length 2:16
    Size 3.0 MB
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    Notes I played a couple times at a café called Bryson's. I think the riff was pulled out of my ass there when Bryson started playing a drum beat he really liked during one of my practices.
    Lyrics

    [none]
  10. Groovin Riff
    Track 10
    Length 2:44
    Size 3.1 MB
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    Notes Since I can't play all the strings on a guitar at once, I record 3 or 4 tracks of it and assemble the song that way.
    Lyrics

    [none]
  11. Two Guitars
    Track 11
    Length 3:04
    Size 3.8 MB
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    Notes I had 2 guitar tracks shoved over to each channel, but I realized that no one would want to just hear just guitars. So when I was mixing this CD, I wrote some poetry to be spoken during the verse bits. I put a reverse echo to make it sound freaky. Oh, I also dropped the pitch on one of the vocal tracks. This is the point I started to learn sound editing techniques.
    Lyrics

    All through the mountains and all over the land
    Distant shore to the water and the water to the sand
    Feel the swell rising up to the sky
    Rushing downdrafts making cold men cry
    But I have known this for some time now
    That which was refused and not even allowed
    Listen with me now to tales from afar
    About no mystical drums but of two guitars

    Wake up the children and put the cows in the barn
    Quickly get your neighbor on the very next farm
    For we are in the midst of a radical display
    Long having been neglected for its lacking of a name
    Village to village, it is soaring through the air
    Stopping briefly in this room on its way to everywhere
    Hold your ears to my words and your eyes up to the stars
    And anticipate the rush of these two guitars

    Where are you running, moving tables against the doors?
    Why're you boarding up the windows, tearing boards up off the floor?
    Here it comes between the cracks, swirling curtains, breaking glass
    Clawing at your children's eyes, shattered skulls amongst the cries
    Setting fires to your clothes, cutting off your ears and nose
    Snapping necks to drink the blood while you flee across the mud
    You scream into the dark then collapse behind the barn
    Swear revenge to the night and these two guitars
  12. Withered Pictures
    Track 12
    Length 2:04
    Size 2.8 MB
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    Notes The lyrics came from one of the many poems I wrote in class. Which class, I can't say. I don't want to look for the notebook. The drum track came during mixing for the CD, way after I recorded all the tracks, which is why the song speeds up as it goes along. The drums didn't really go with the strumming of the guitar but I liked it. So much that I redid the song for "Leif's 5-Year Plan" (LNR3).
    Lyrics

    Leave me behind for I am afraid
    Lying in bed for days I have laid
    Look past me and out through the door
    With all they took and still they want more

    I, oh I lie
    Withered pictures pass before my eyes
    Withered pictures pass before my eyes

    Lying and losing and cheating deceiving
    Tearing and ripping and biting and beating
    Mincing and bashing and splatter the grinding
    Still it is missing but still I'm not finding

    I, oh I lie
    Withered pictures pass before my eyes
    Leaving dusty fingerprints of time
  13. Oh Me
    Track 13
    Length 1:16
    Size 1.6 MB
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    Notes Written a couple weeks before "Finding What I Want". Still coming off of high school lyrically.
    Lyrics

    Do you remember me?
    I was the one you used to teach
    I was the one who used to cheat
    I was the one you sent back home
    'Cause I didn't play like the other kids
    Sit in a corner is all I did
    Everyone wanted me to rid
    Themselves of something
    They called be stupid

    Oh, me
  14. Look at Me
    Track 14
    Length 1:41
    Size 2.2 MB
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    Notes I wrote this my first semester at LSU in English class. I hated writing essays and would stare out the window. The drums are samples from Nirvana's "Turnaround". I played this live once and it sounded so cool when I got everyone to clap for the snare hits.
    Lyrics

    Look at me, I might look at you
    Same old scene coming on the TV
    Go to sleep, I might talk to you
    If you leave, try and not to see me

    You don't know though I try to do everything
    Cooked a meal, feel I burnt all the chicken wing
    All my life I have tried to find some meaning
    In the end, I wind up feeling dead
  15. Guitar Loop
    Track 15
    Length 0:49
    Size 1.0 MB
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    Notes This is a looped song because I ran out of tape when I was recording with my Tascam 4-track.
    Lyrics

    [none]
  16. My Song for You
    Track 16
    Length 3:24
    Size 4.2 MB
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    Notes Written for my girlfriend at the time (June 1996) because she said I didn't have any love songs about her. She didn't like it. She said it was too "messy".
    Lyrics

    Cheesy lines are the only thing I can write
    And you see the moon, it won't be like this too soon

    When I'm gone, think of me

    Logic breaks long enough for me to know
    That along release the flow

    And you know I really care
    About you
  17. Poison Mice
    Track 17
    Length 2:28
    Size 3.2 MB
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    Notes Another song from poetry in class. In this case, I free-flowed and later pick out the pieces that interested me.
    Lyrics

    Sell the wells of poison mice
    Violent vomit, bloody bile
    Laugh with me and tear our ribs
    Through our skin, vile

    Try as we will, we're still below
    Barred in basement window
    Green-slimed walls, my skin folds

    Persecute, reject
    And "get out of my house
    If you won't talk
    Get out"

    If I vaguely cared I might enjoy that which is careable
    "I didn't create you for you to destroy me
    Lie in muddy ditch, ignore passing car
    Splashes, what do you see as you watch the algae?"

    Old man whispers timing lies in me
  18. Banish
    Track 18
    Length 1:49
    Size 2.1 MB
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    Notes Something short and silly. Or just simple. I was told it sounded like someone was leaving somewhere, hence the name.
    Lyrics

    [none]
  19. Quiet Pensive
    Track 19
    Length 4:19
    Size 5.1 MB
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    Notes I really like the feel of this. Nothing special. The loud rock ending just couldn't come through with what I could do at the time, but I tried.
    Lyrics

    [none]
  20. Rising from the Ruin
    Track 20
    Length 2:05
    Size 2.7 MB
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    Notes Made this one up as I went along. The percussion is my tapping a mic, slapping a paper bag, and hitting a tambourine. Within minutes of recording this, I drove over to KLSU and had them play it on the local show.
    Lyrics

    [none]
  21. Slide
    Track 21
    Length 2:26
    Size 2.8 MB
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    Notes Some James Brown drum samples, a maraca, and a pitch-dropped guitar. This was written at the same time as "Butt Muffs" and was originally recorded in much the same way: smacking a fly-swatter and hitting a book with a maraca.
    Lyrics

    [none]
  22. Let Me Clear My Throat
    Track 22
    Length 1:40
    Size 2.6 MB
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    Notes I really wanted to rap but couldn't get into it. Being bored is the way to go.
    Lyrics

    1-2-3
    Hit me with the horns, twenty
    Keep making noise
    Keep making noise
    Yeah

    Some of you might know this and some of you don't
    Some of you might get with this and some of you won't
    Let me clear my throat
    Have mercy, babe, I hope you don't mind
    Let me clear my throat
    Unh unh unh (goddamn!)

    Back to the rhythm of the funky vibe
    So I can get busy just one more time
    To the beat and you don't quit
    It's that old school rap with that new school hit
    Check the flavor of the rhythm I stole
    And while I get a chance here, let me clear my throat
  23. Woohoo
    Track 23
    Length 1:18
    Size 1.6 MB
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    Notes My out-of-tune vocal tracks are in tune with each other as they are the same recording, just one has a higher pitch to get the harmony thing going. (Note: this is not a Blur cover.)
    Lyrics

    Whoo
  24. Totally
    Track 24
    Length 1:54
    Size 2.5 MB
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    Notes The first song I recorded when I got my Tascam 4-track was a Screeching Weasel cover. For the CD, I replaced my fake drums with some other muffled drum sounds. I felt that tighter hits would stand out too much.
    Lyrics

    Totally cool that your hair is blue
    I totally drool when I think about you

    Totally neat, totally sweet
    Totally knock me off my feet
    Totally rad but it's too bad
    You're not aware of all my plans

    Totally lust when I see you around
    The Bellemont bus takes me right by your house

    Totally neat, totally sweet
    Totally knock me off my feet
    Totally lame that you won't say
    You'll hang out with me everyday

    I totally I totally love everything about you
  25. Sandy
    Track 25
    Length 2:00
    Size 2.1 MB
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    Notes About my dog after she died. I'd never really known anyone to die before. The fidelity is low because I must have used 8-bit wavs instead of 16. I have no idea how I made the guitar sound like that.
    Lyrics

    All that I know is that you are not here anymore
    All that I feel is the empty space where you were
    All that I see are the times that you spent here with me

    Even though I can see that your life was long
    I never thought you could leave
    When I came home everyday you would say hi to me
    And at night I'd watch you sleep
  26. Slightly Ahead
    Track 26
    Length 2:05
    Size 2.4 MB
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    Notes Written at the same time as "Can I?", about the same person, and for the same reason.
    Lyrics

    Slightly ahead go blind
    Move back you're mine
    And this time I think I'm
    Fading here
    Fading here
    I'm fading here
    You're mine

    No why, this is your lie
    Even though it is my side
    And this time I think I'm
    Fading here
    Fading here
    I'm fading here
    You're mine

    And you can't say I left
    But you may anyway
    Now it seems you are no longer mine
    No longer mine
    No longer mine

    You're mine

    I have your daughter. Give me three million dollars or you'll never see her again.
  27. You Two
    Track 27
    Length 1:34
    Size 2.0 MB
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    Notes I got a U2 live CD while in Japan and the ending of one song had Bono doing some weird rap thing which I figured would sound good to a drum beat.
    Lyrics

    [I have no idea.]
  28. Grind
    Track 28
    Length 2:10
    Size 2.5 MB
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    Notes The words were thrown in while mixing for the CD. The ending voice sample is recorded from a live stream of a Hubble repair mission.
    Lyrics

    [Random talking]
  29. Stranded
    Track 29
    Length 4:19
    Size 5.0 MB
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    Notes The chords were about all I got out of a learn-guitar book I once bought. The lyrics were written as poetry and not for any song in particular. I did the ending sound effects by running the mic through the distortion on my guitar amp. I was beating a Mickey Mouse drum with one hand and crumbling a paper bag with the other hand.
    Lyrics

    He said "it doesn't really matter if I finish anything I do
    After all, in the end we're all the same, about to die with things to lose"
    He gave up
    He said "why try
    I can't gain, I'll only lose
    It's not my fault
    It's only me
    Nobody's going to help me now
    It's too hard to deal with pain
    It's the only thing and I can't choose
    Why can't I see?
    I don't know why
    Why won't they help me?
    What have I done to them?
    What have I done to myself?
    Won't somebody see me?
    Why can't they see me?
    Why don't they see me?
    Why don't they see me?"