NOTHING STAYS THE SAME // LYRICS + CREDITS
1 Better not begin
Wouldn't want to do
Wouldn't want to do
Wouldn't want to do
This to you
​
Wouldn't want my heart
To wander away
Fall out of love with you
Couldn't bear to think of dissolution
​
Cause how would I survive
If you wandered away
Fell out of love with me?
Can't even entertain the possibility
​
Better not begin
Better not begin
Better not begin at all
Better not begin to fall
Omar Cuellar: drums etc
Paul Defiglia: bass, keys
Steve Daly: guitar
Annie Bacon: guitar, vocals
Elizabeth Greenblatt: harmonies
Single artwork by Sandun Balage
Produced & engineered by Paul Defiglia at Sensitive Sound, Nashville TN
Mixed by Kelley Coyne, Oakland CA
Mastered by Piper Payne at Neato Mastering, Oakland CA
2 There is no way
There is no way to be free of you
No matter what I do
I can't tell you
But I can't keep from saying
Pressure builds
It's bullet strong
Pierce my heart
Before too long
Pierce my heart in any case
It's lose my heart or lose my place
​
There is no way to be free of you
No matter what I do
​
Dreams come
I'm running
Trying to find you
I have to tell
Cause if lucidity
Within a dream
Can free me
Of my confession
But I never seem to find you there
And I have looked everywhere for you
​
I never seem to find you there
And I have looked everywhere for you
​
But there is no way to be free of you
No matter what I do
Omar Cuellar: drums etc
Paul Defiglia: bass, keys
Steve Daly: guitar
Annie Bacon: guitar, vocals
Elizabeth Greenblatt: harmonies
Single artwork by Strider Patton
Produced & engineered by Paul Defiglia at Sensitive Sound, Nashville TN
Mixed by Kelley Coyne, Oakland CA
Mastered by Piper Payne at Neato Mastering, Oakland CA
3 Nothing stays the same
The first part's when you notice walls surrounding everything
You wonder when they got there but the answer changes nothing
In time you find the strength to say the word out loud
You tell one person as a test you never tell it to a crowd
​
And then you cry it out (the will to die gets a sliver of a doubt)
And then you cry it out (the will to die gets a sliver of a doubt)
​
Above all you've gotta hold on to this little thing I'll tell
There's another chapter coming, there's a way out of the well
You can wait for the ropes to drop
Or you can wait for the will to climb
One of them will always come given enough time
Nothing stays the same
I swear that on my grave
​
The third part's tricky you can never tell when it's gonna come
The walls start getting shorter and you start to see the sun
Finally there's a reckoning this is where you need your friends
It's time to do the work to find out how this chapter ends
​
And then you cry it out (the will to live is finally winning out)
And then you cry it out (the will to live is finally winning out)
​
Above all you've gotta hold on to this little thing I'll tell
There's another chapter coming, there's a way out of the well
You can wait for the ropes to drop
Or you can wait for the will to climb
One of them will always come given enough time
Nothing stays the same
I swear that on my grave
​
Above all you've gotta hold on to this little thing I'll tell
There's another chapter coming, there's a way out of the well
You can wait for the ropes to drop
Or you can wait for the will to climb
One of them will always come given enough time
Nothing stays the same
Nothing stays the same
Nothing stays the same
I swear that on my grave
Jon Radford: drums etc
Paul Defiglia: bass, keys
Thomas Bryan Eaton: guitar
Annie Bacon: guitar, vocals
Kira Hooks: harmonies
Single photo by Cybelle Codish + design by Zack Vieira
Produced & engineered by Paul Defiglia
at Sensitive Sound, Nashville TN
Mixed by David Luke at Opus Studios, Berkeley CA
Mastered by Piper Payne at Neato Mastering, Oakland CA
VIDEO by Karla Gallardo + Annie Bacon
4 I wanna die like Lou Reed
When my last breath’s upon me
When I’m ready to lay down
I want to stand up and walk outside
With my lover around
I want to sit in grass open eyed
I want to feel the sun
And with Tai Chi hands
I want to show death that it’s welcome
​
I want to die like Lou Reed died
I want to fly into the sun
But he was goddamned lucky to be alive
When his dying time had come
​
Of those who walked on his wild side
Not many stand still to face the fun
They hold their arms across their eyes
Blocked out fading friends
And me I’m stuck like Sunday morning
Afraid I’ve become that evil one
Who thinks that everything is dirt
And we can’t see one another
​
I want to die like Lou Reed died
I want to fly into the sun
But he passed through some unknown place
I’ve got to go before I’m done
​
What is a life in retrospect?
Is it a map or explanation?
Was it harshness, heroine
Or was death a staunch companion?
What is a life in retrospect?
​
What is a life in retrospect?
Is it a map or explanation?
Was it harshness, heroine
Or was death a staunch companion?
Or was death a staunch companion?
​
I want to die like Lou Reed died
I want to fly into the blue
But before I die I’ve got figure out
What Lou Reed knew
​
When our last breath’s upon us
When we’re ready to lay down
We’ll want to stand up and walk outside
With our lovers around
We’ll want to sit in grass open eyed
We’ll want to feel the sun
And with Tai Chi hands we’ll want to show
And with Tai Chi hands we’ll want to show
And with Tai Chi hands we’ll want to show
Death that it’s welcome
Omar Cuellar: drums etc
Paul Defiglia: bass, keys
Steve Daly: guitar
Annie Bacon: guitar, vocals
Elizabeth Greenblatt: harmonies
Single artwork by Jeff Clark
Produced & engineered by Paul Defiglia at Sensitive Sound, Nashville TN
Mixed by Kelley Coyne, Oakland CA
Mastered by Piper Payne at Neato Mastering, Oakland CA
5 What we said
OI don't want to run around
I don't want to catch you on the phone after midnight
I don't want to be around when you make the calls
That break our commitment
I know that you have your ways
I know life is probably better off without you
I know what we said: now until we're dead
But that's like hands around your neck
You had to fatten up your deck now didn't you?
A gambler's never satisfied, leave the table, take the bride
But keep that Lady beside you
Now they say I'm weak in love, I'm the villain
Just because I won't leave you
But I know what we said: now until we're dead
At some point can I let this go? (Can we let this go?)
Where's the line? And will I know?
I've done all I"m supposed to do
The perfect wife for years to you
But still you betray us
I'm suffering in silence now
I'll suffer even more if I break our commitment
Before the eyes of man and God
I said I'd be there through it all until
The last breath leaves my lips
I know what we said: now until we're dead
Now until we're dead
Omar Cuellar: drums
Jeremy Mulder: uke bass
Tal Ariel: piano/keys
Jeremy Lyon: ambient guitar sounds
Annie Bacon: vocals
Single artwork by Bunnie Reiss
Produced by Tal Ariel
Executive producer Kaarel Kaljot
Engineered by Peter Labberton at 25th Street Studios, Oakland CA
Mixed by John Vanderslice at Tiny Telephone SF
Mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering, Boston MA
Assistant Mastering Engineer: Maria Rice
Recorded with the support of 110 backers on Kickstarter.
​
VIDEO by Karla Gallardo
6 In dreams
You're in the driveway with a fake knife
In a fake fight making knight moves
But then the knife is real and it stabs you
I'm trying to get through to save you
I'm on the telephone it won't go through
I'm trying to save you I can't seem to
​
But this is dreaming I've been sleeping
I am working through missing you
And when I wake up in a cold sweat
I'm relieved to be in this empty bed
Cause I never could get through to you
It's something only you can do
I never could get through to you
It's something only you can do
​
Last night in dreams you became a bird
And I released you
We are done now and I finally think I'm free
Tal Ariel: piano etc
Annie Bacon:: guitar, vocals
Single artwork by Elaina Acosta Ford
Mixed by Tal Ariel in Oakland CA
Mastered by Piper Payne (Neato Mastering), Oakland CA
​
VIDEO by Annie Bacon
7 Two way street
Well it seems to me that I have overestimated my ability
To move you the way that you’ve moved me
I guess I thought that you were spending your sleep too
Dreaming of me like I am of you
​
But I see now you’re all good without me
I get it, no, you’ll get no fight from me
​
When love makes you
You never forget their face
When love breaks you
You carry it the rest of your days
But love’s not always a two way street
Love’s not always a two way street
​
I had a dream you came to the window with a woman
And later that same week you told me her name
I won’t be much in the telling of your story
But after you I’ll never be the same
​
But I see now you’re all good without me
I get it, no, you’ll get no fight from me
​
When love makes you
You never forget their face
When love breaks you
You carry it the rest of your days
But love’s not always a two way street
Love’s not always a two way street
​
When the sound of the summer rain
On a tin roof sends you back in time
Is the hand that you're holding in that memory still mine?
​
Love’s not always a two-way street
That's how you can forget me
How can you forget me?
Love's not always a two way street
That's how you can forget me
Omar Cuellar: drums etc
Paul Defiglia: bass, keys
James Nash: guitar
Annie Bacon: guitar, vocals
Elizabeth Greenblatt: harmonies
Single artwork by Robert Alleyne
Produced & engineered by Paul Defiglia at Sensitive Sound, Nashville TN
Mixed by Kelley Coyne, Oakland CA
Mastered by Piper Payne at Neato Mastering, Oakland CA
​
VIDEO by Brian Lillie and William Westley
8 Long Road
It’s a long long road home
If you don’t know where you’re going
You never get the feeling
That you’re almost there
Every bend could be it
But then disappointment
Follows you
Damn near everywhere
You should really stop looking
They say “enjoy the journey”
But you were never one
For that hippy shit
It’s gonna be a tough night
Again tonight
You’ll just put your head down
And get through it
​
When we met I was 20
Didn’t know where I was going
I didn’t need nothing
But a mystery
You kept my bed warm
But every morning
You were
History
So I stopped calling
Wished you luck in love
Went on with my life
And settled down
Less than a year later
I had a baby
And thought of you
When I saw his smile
​
Everyone tells me
You’ll never be happy
Well maybe happy’s overrated
Anyway
But you don’t fool me
You get pleasure
From loving and leaving a woman
Every day
Without disappointment
You’d lose your compass
Be a leaf on the wind
In a hurricane
You live on bad love
And the long road
Is the only one
That knows your name
​
You live on bad love
And the long road
Is the only one
That will ever know your name
Featuring The Singer & The Songwriter
Thu Tran: guitar
James Nash: guitar
Rachel Garcia: vocals
Annie Bacon: harmonies
Single artwork by Victoria Smith
Engineered by Marty Gray and Geoff Michael at Big Sky, Ann Arbor MI
and David Luke at Opus Studios, Berkeley CA
Mixed by Kelley Coyne, Oakland CA
Mastered by Piper Payne at Neato Mastering, Oakland CA
9 Used to be the one
Used to be the one
Loving on the run
Never would stay
Unless I knew it wouldn't work out anyway
​
Now I have a man
He's the only love
I'll ever need again
Can't say why
We're like two birds on a tree
And we're singing the same old lullaby
We're like the ocean and the sky
When we're sitting side by side
We're like metal in a fire
Burning for each other all the time
Featuring Eric + Erica
Eric Kuhn: drums, electric guitar, glockenspiel
Annie Bacon: vocals, acoustic guitar
Erica Kane Fink: harmonies
Single artwork by Jeremy Mulder
Engineered, Mixed + Mastered by Eric Kuhn, Ypsilanti MI
Remastered for the album by Piper Payne at Neato Mastering, Oakland CA
​
VIDEO by Ramon Rodriguez and Annie Bacon
10 Nikki's Song
Every Wednesday night
In the dim bar light and the dinner dinn
The Bar Man all in white
His fingers itching for his pen
College kids and radicals
Young Republicans
Gather all the strange of heart
The show's set to begin
Auburn curls, a maiden's blouse
A strong and squarish jaw
She starts to sing, you can't make out
What you heard from what you saw
Two hundred songs from memory
A hundred more from books
Singing Johnny, Stevie, George
And teasing tips from dirty looks
Well the world had Bowie
And we had Nikki
She made all us freaks feel fine
Born with the body of a boy
But she said
The body of a boy isn't mine
She lived out 50 years
Hiding from herself, afraid of what she'd lose
But she so loved peace
That she gave up the war
And just like she feared
Her life fell apart
But that's the way she'd always say
You earn your Diamond Heart
Well the world had Bowie
And we had Nikki
She made all us freaks feel fine
Born with the body of a boy
But she saidThe body of a boy isn't mine
And if you laid your fears at her feet
She would sing them back to their seeds
Then she'd turn the volume up
And fly into a solo
That would set the seeds on fire
Turn to the chorus
Sing to the heavens, singing
Have no fear!
Have no fear!
Have no fear!
Have no fear!
Well the world had Bowie
And we had Nikki
She made all us freaks feel fine
Born with the body of a boy
But she said
The body of a boy isn't mine
The world had Bowie
And we had Nikki
And they made all us freaks feel fine
Omar Cuellar: drums
Jeremy Mulder: uke bass
Tal Ariel: piano/keys
Jeremy Lyon: guitar
Annie Bacon: vocals
Single artwork by Bunnie Reiss
Produced by Tal Ariel
Executive producer Kaarel Kaljot
Engineered by Peter Labberton at 25th Street Studios, Oakland CA
Mixed by John Vanderslice at Tiny Telephone SF
Mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering, Boston, MA
Assistant Mastering Engineer: Maria Rice
Recorded with the loving support of 110 backers on Kickstarter.
​
VIDEO by Gabriel Goldstein, Marlon Singleton and Heath Orchard
11 Gallatin Pike
Driving Gallatin Pike in the middle of the night
And I don’t know which way to turn
Pawn shops and strip malls, a mirror of my life
I think of the forests I’ve burned
The hearts I’ve paved over
The men that I’ve spurned
And impossible daylight floods parking lots where
I’m haunted by so many lessons unlearned
A ghost town veneer of the plans I held dear
Is this what my life’s become?
Gallatin Pike in the middle of the night
Around me are places I’ve laid down at night
And I don’t even know what they’re named
Too tired for thinking about what’s really right
My rain-spitting tires get blamed
For the hearts I’ve paved over
Where concrete lays claim
And tomorrow’s reflected on both sides for miles
In the twisting arms of neon flame
Ghost town veneer of the plans I held dear
Is this what my life’s become?
Gallatin Pike in the middle of the night
What if I can’t get off?
What if this is my end?
Dead on the pavement as the road softly bends
With Title Loans’ my witness
And Dollar Store friends?
But as soon as I turn off I see front porches and lawns
I guess life is bigger than the sins of its pawns
The fears we hold on to don’t hold up for long
And Gallatin Pike’s just the name of this song
Isn’t it nice to find out, that sometimes we’re wrong?
Featuring eight belles
Dan Ford: drums
Kevin Carducci: bass
Henry Nagle: pedal steel
Annie Bacon: guitar, vocals
Jessi Phillips: harmonies
Single artwork by Ian C. Bates.
Engineered by Henry Nagle at Hank's House, Santa Rosa CA
Mixed by Scott McDowell at Hyde Street Studios, SF CA
Mastered by Piper Payne at Neato Mastering, Oakland CA
​
VIDEO by Brian Lillie and Annie Bacon
12 Wanted to love you more
When I look back on things honestly
I was wooed by how you looked at me
And I fooled myself from that very first night
They say Adonis would have envied you
You were cut from stone that much is true
And you were so hard to know
But we got tangled up together
​
It went on twice as long as it should
I kept hoping it would turn for the good
But when love exaggerates your highs and lows
It’s a matter of time before it implodes
I guess I wanted to love you
More than I really did
​
We lived on separate sides of the same room
But still lost track of who was whom
It’s amazing what you can assume
I remember once when you were angry
About that stupid room too messy
And I asked myself “Do I wanna marry this?”
No hesitation slowed my no
​
It went on twice as long as it should
I kept hoping it would turn for the good
But when love exaggerates your highs and lows
It’s a matter of time before it implodes
I guess I wanted to love you
More than I really did
​
When it was done I remember thinking about
How easy it was to get out
I guess loved never burrowed in too deep
Still I’ll never have such a lover again
And if that’s what counts you were the best of men
And I’ll save a thought of you for when
I get to the other side
​
It went on twice as long as it should
I kept hoping it would turn for the good
But when love exaggerates your highs and lows
It’s a matter of time before it implodes
I guess I wanted to love you
More than I really did
I guess I wanted to love you
More than I really did
Jon Radford: drums etc
Paul Defiglia: bass, keys
Thomas Bryan Eaton: guitar
Annie Bacon: guitar, vocals
Douglas Allen: harmonies
Single artwork by Karla Gallardo
Produced & engineered by Paul Defiglia at Sensitive Sound, Nashville TN
Mixed by David Luke at Opus Studios, Berkeley CA
Mastered by Piper Payne at Neato Mastering, Oakland CA
​
VIDEO by Karla Gallardo
13 Learning as I go
My mama said it’s not polite to stare but I did
I stared at you the first time I saw you then ran off and hid
In the shed in your back yard
Thought I would die as the feelings grew
It was how ten year old me figured out
That love can really mess with you
​
See my mama told me (but she was wrong)
About all the good things in love songs
She meant the best but left out the rest
Now I’m learning as I go along
​
My mother told me not to write on my skin but I did
I wrote your name on my skin and I pushed the ink in
With the edge of a safety pin
Turns out that didn’t heal so well
It was how teenage me figured out
That love can really hurt like hell
​
See my mama told me (but she was wrong)
About all the good things in love songs
She meant the best but left out the rest
Now I’m learning as I go along
​
Now skin to skin and eye to eye
We're feeling so fine
And I say, Ohhhhhhh
This is what they're singing about
​
See my mama told me (she wasn’t wrong)
Bout all the things in love songs
She wanted the best so she left out the rest
She knew I’d learn it as I went along
She knew I'd learn it as I went along
And now I'm learning as I go along
Jon Radford: drums etc
Paul Defiglia: bass, keys
Thomas Bryan Eaton: guitar
Annie Bacon: guitar, vocals
Meryl T. Press, Kira Hooks: harmonies
Single artwork by Christina E. Campbell
Produced & engineered by Paul Defiglia at Sensitive Sound, Nashville TN
Mixed by David Luke at Opus Studios, Berkeley CA
Mastered by Piper Payne at Neato Mastering, Oakland CA
14 Next time you see me
Next time you see me
I'll have a baby in my arms
Will he be pretty?
Will she be smart?
Will he have any of your charms?
​
We'll have a house
With a garden out back
We'll grow cabbage
And spinach and kale
And that baby will follow
Her daddy around
Like they were attached at the tail
​
Well I'm bound and determined
Not to let this broken heart ruin my plans
So the next time you see me
Honey you'll notice
I'll be with another man
​
It was your choice to leave
At the first sign of frost
Were you unhappy?
Were you just bored?
You never considered the cost
​
Well I'm bound and determined
Not to let this broken heart ruin my plans
So the next time you see me
Honey you'll notice
I'll be with another man
​
And that baby will know you
Next time we see you
As just another man
