We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth

by THANKS.

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

1.
Carrying me back from the shore again – Every damn time my ship goes down! How’m I supposed to get all the way to Spain? One on the sea is worth ten aground. Livin' on a cliff above a loneliness, You're only one step from the rocks and the reeds. When the wind blows it’ll whisper this: "Every dyin' thing's gotta go with me." Maybe when the rent’s all paid we’ll live again. I’ll give it up to ya like an offering. It’s an offering! Won’t ya take it from me? One crown between a king and a fool. It’s right to give praise where it’s due, But I’ll drown trying to drink up to you. Over in the hills is a ringin' bell Carryin' the song of the human age: "Everything I own, I done built myself; Anything that’s broke, I broke today. Lyin’ in the dust is a dusty man – Image in the flesh of some good advice. Offer him a hand and he’ll pull ya in. Anything that can’t be blood is ice. Chorus
2.
Baby Blue 05:24
The sound of a scraping of glass Makes you feel that you’re part of a chemistry set It’s a bilk of the breath On the nape of your neck God, you’re a wreck! Such an ethereal way to be mad Only one so lucky can mourn the un-had And it ain’t hard to tell You been drinking the rail God, you’re so frail! How magnificent to share in a lack You should’ve known that my boy would take after his old man And he got gone As soon as he had The chance If only it was so easy To wipe off a sin As it is for a life That fits on the head of a pin Frightly watching sacred light that streams across the table Metal cold and serrated helps you un-motherable
3.
Coach Phil 04:16
It fell right to the Earth, Crashing like a shuttle in its first seconds of flight It took me all night to get it back So bring it on in boys, and get it on track Bring it on in boys, give up and go home But I need somewhere to go and I need somewhere to go It fell right to my head I opened like the book of the dead Cut it in half, and try to laugh and make it alright So bring it on in boys, you put up a good fight Bring it on in boys, give up and go home But I need somewhere to go and I need somewhere to go You strike me as an honest guy So just tell me that you don't want to die Or I'll take this hot metal 45 and I'll put one right between your eyes Bring it on in boys Give up, give up, give up, give up But I need somewhere to go and I need somewhere to go
4.
Calvin and Albert Went down to their neighbor’s house When something very strange occurred, They didn’t know how to explain it Some guy in a car Had shot a guy on the sidewalk And their whole little town Seemed pretty shook up about it. So they played some videogames With their friend Chris and his girlfriend And as they passed their time away They noticed they hadn’t spoken Until finally someone had said... And this and also that And some more stuff happened before they were dead I don’t think that it’s anybody’s business What I do with my free time I don’t think it’s any of your business What I wanna do with mine At a party in October This drunk girl came up to me She asked me if I had seen Becca sometime recently. I told her, “You must be confused, I don’t know who the fuck Becca is, but maybe you could check in that pile of leaves out in the back” So I continued to drink Until I made myself sick of it And the next day when I saw my face I had a black eye from I don’t know when I must have fallen once or twice On the way home it was very dark It was the middle of the night Chorus It ain’t like nothin’ terrible ain’t happened before today Always something terrible come to make you regret whatever you say
5.
Oh, Mama Stay, Ma I'm on my way Oh, Mama Stay, Ma I'm on my way, Ma I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going down three times Lord, I'm coming up twice I'm going down three times Only coming up twice Said I'm coming up two times, but I'm going down, down, down Thrice
6.
It was already too late When first I heard them coming They stormed in through the gate The heat was as an oven They marched upon the yard And found therein the orphans Singin' "if God is not a man, Whose image did he make us in?" Now I'm running away from the March from the brimstone and the fire Done doing what they taught me in church and singin' what I learned in the Choir I crossed the sea and the mountain I begged for food and for money I was looking for shelter, man In the land of the milk and the honey So, honey, I will milk you good You will buy every Word I'm selling And when the sun comes up on the third I'm telling you I will Rise again You can lead a horse to water You can push his head on down You can peel apart his lips You might make him drown But if you bring him to the muddy river And he just won't take a drink There might be something under there That he knows about, that you don't You think? Don't you think?
7.
There’s a bone in my head And now I'm reeling every time I think of you Just know: when you’re dead I will still raise up a drink to you You’re spending time in your bed You ain’t been the same since you got back from Japan You’re insane off of your meds Somehow you think you’re better like that Well, you do not want to know where that sad sound is coming from I’m sitting by your room playing these songs so you can listen to them Oh! Can’t you see what you’ve done to me? Man, I’m not who I used to be But even still, I am bound to you And so, If you ever came back to me, I would welcome you openly Isn’t that what a friend should do? I don’t want to lose a friend I don’t want to lose a friend I don’t want to lose a friend We didn’t know how easy it would end We grew up in my woods Away from men, we could play as gods When we crossed the top of the ridge There was light on the hill and we saw it was good! But you left me for two years in the time when I needed you most And when you said the word I came running back like I’d seen a ghost Oh! After all that I’ve done for you You are foolish to stab me through Can’t you see that you’re bound to me? So, when I’m falling, you’re falling too But I am honored to fall with you Isn’t that how a friend should be? (Chorus)
8.
Give me bread, give me bread Or give me something else instead Give me bread, give me bread Or lay a crown upon my head I’m a dead man in a coffin I don’t come around that often But won’t you lay a kiss upon my cheek? Give me bread, give me bread Or give me something else instead Of that, I’m a cat And I live inside a magic witch’s hat Won’t you come and tip me over? Give me bread, give me bread Or tell me where the dark path led When you went down in the moonlight You gave me such a good fright Not to know if you would come back home Give me bread, give me bread Or tell me what the devil said When he gave you all your power Deep in the midnight hour Silky ghosts around your little face Give me bread, give me bread Or show me that my blood’s still red Not black, like the spell that you cast Oh I’m certain that the last Thing I’ll ever do is love you.
9.
In my life I find Doubt is ever present Like the cathedral bell That in the town when it rings It seems that the sound is pleasant But it means someone’s hell I didn’t leave, I Didn’t leave, I Didn’t leave, I lied I didnt sleep, I Don’t sleep, I Didn’t sleep, I die I don’t mean to Be like this, I Just don’t try Even Christ had to lie in his grave Got tired fast, got his ass bailed out in just three days And like him, I am searching for escape The search for permanence was a big, big mistake I wish that God had made me Just to be your lover But he's no loving guide Instead he made us just to grow in age and pass away Aint that some unkind? I don’t mean to Mislead you But it hurts to see That I can’t keep you You can’t keep me There is no permanent thing How can I have you when I cannot hold you? There is no permanent thing Chorus
10.

about

a manifesto for depressed, atheistic teeny-boppers

credits

released June 13, 2014

All songs written, recorded and produced by Ben Falandays
Vocals, Guitar, and Keys by Ben Falandays
Bass Guitar by Ethan Essick
Drums by Kevin Shisko

Additional credits where noted

Album art by Megan Krol
Mastering by Jacob Folk

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

THANKS. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

contact / help

Contact THANKS.

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like THANKS., you may also like: