The Brand New Me (my shit's fucked up...)

I know I've been promising everyone recordings of my stuff and generally not delivering. Recording is harder than you might think, and I'm too aurally sensitive for my own good, which results in obsessive deletion and re-recording of my stuff. I'd like to promise I'll finally hook it up with my youtube channel before I leave on the 8th (gulp), but knowing me like I do, I should probably just say I'll try really hard. Anyway, I'm sure you're all crying yourselves to sleep for lack of my music...

Anyhoo, I wrote another song, and I felt like sharing the lyrics. It's (obviously) about the general tendency of people these days to medicate copiously. Whether it's self-medication or prescribed medication makes no difference. As long as they don't tie you down, it's all self medication in the end, no?

        Brand New Me

Hey there, buddy, have you heard the news?
All about the brand new you?
Drinkable, shootable, inhaleable, doable
Comes in pill form too!

Just take it down
Never a frown
Buddy, it'll help you fit

Just put it away
Three times a day
Share it with the wife and kids!

I'm goin down to the corner store
Gonna buy a cure for my blues
Ain't seen my baby for a month or two
Don't know what to do

Gonna drink it down
Sink right down
Won't feel bad no more

Gonna kill my pains
With the brand new me
That I got at the corner store

Well, my bossman, he don't treat me right
Mama don't like me too
"Better find a way to fit, before you get licked
Or you'll never get ahead, you fool"

So I'm goin' down
To fix my frown
Make a good boy outta me

Can't wait to see
How proud they'll be
When they see the brand new me

Hey there, buddy, do you have the time?
I got somewhere to be
Gotta get to work, make a dollar or two
So I can buy a brand new me

I'm gonna work
'Til the sun comes up
Don't need to sleep no more

'Cause all I need
Is the brand new me
That I got at the corner store

Need a pill or a shot
Or an herbal remedy
Gonna ask my doc
What's right for me
Change my name
Numb my pain
Find a way
To play the game
Buy me a me from the man on the corner
Just five times a day
Won't need any more
Just a little at a time, and I'll be fine
Won't be mad, won't be sad
I won't care if the world's unfair
Need no more than a pill or four
Can't wait to see how proud they'll be
Cause all I'll need
Is the brand new me
That I bought from the corner store!


I think it needs to end, obviously. What started off as an honest (albeit somewhat misguided and misunderstood) attempt of folks in the '60s and '70s to "expand their minds" has turned sour. Most of the drug craze was initially about rebellion against the cultural status quo. I'm all for moving outside the mainstream, so I give credit where credit is due to that generation for mixing it up and endeavoring to find a way to think and live outside of the proverbial box. Unfortunately, they decided on a pretty dysfunctional way.

While it's true that drugs have been used for a long time (which, by the way, is not in and of itself a justification of anything), they have previously been used with respect. Like... in sacred rituals, ceremonies, and other once-in-a-long-time practices. This is because the first time it's used, it might be revelatory. Maybe the second or third too, if you space them far enough. But the western ideal of  "more is better" has once again bested us, resulting in all this addictive "regular maintenance" shit. I'm glad people are starting to realize we, as a species, are a little fucked in the head. But sadly, trying to fix your spiritual and mental problems by numbing them with chemicals is a bit like trying to cure your broken leg by beaning yourself over the head with a 2X4. Yup... it'll stop hurting for awhile, but what happens when you wake up in the morning?

I dunno... that's my two cents, anyway. I've seen enough people I've liked or loved exacerbate their problems with habitual medication, most of these problems coming from the belief that they need to "fit in" instead of being themselves.  I feel this is something we need to let go of. It's pretty clear that we as a species need to grow up a little (sooner than later, too) and that's not gonna happen through a chemically induced fog.

In lieu of an actual recording of my song, I'll leave you with another song on a similar theme.

Badass guitar on that one, too.

Oh, and for the record, I'm not claiming saintliness here. My shit's fucked up too, ya know, and I've dabbled in self-medication myself over the years. But, like the man says, "the shit that used to work, don't work now".
                  Peace!
                      -Mojoe