Royal Ruckus > Summer of the Cicadas > Track 15
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Intro
I duck into a grocery aisle because I think I’ve seen her. Pigeon John sings that he’ll be around.
“Coulda Swore I Saw You” closes Act I with Jimmy still finding Sally in familiar places. Sometimes he isn’t sure it’s her. At the brewery, there’s a hurried side hug while she’s on her iPhone.
My first verse leaves the door open. In the second, I want her to see how much I’ve grown. By the third, being available has become something I can’t keep doing.
Pigeon John’s chorus keeps returning to the promise. My last line changes it: “I wish you all the best… but I can’t be around…”
Videos
Behind the Cicada Ruckus (commentary)
All services · Bandcamp album · Apple Music · Spotify · Music video
Lyrics
Chunjay, Verse 1:
Coulda swore I saw you at Whole Foods yesterday
Brown hair and eyes you had that smile on your face
The one I’ve seen in place like a thousand other times
Except on this occasion, your smile wasn’t mine
I dipped into an aisle didn’t want to catch your eye
I didn’t want to ask why an I didn’t wanna lie
And I didn’t want to hear you talk about some other dude
Not trying to be rude but it was you who walked away
I gave you my heart you know I’d give it back again
The Summer of Cicadas was the summer of my Zen
And it was a funeral hymn one of the hardest things I’ve done
The death of our love when we’d only just begun
I know I wasn’t dumb we were on the same page
We were lovers we were friends, we weren’t actors on a stage
Imma try to act my age and stand on solid ground
Can’t make any promises… but I’ll be around…
Pigeon John, Chorus:
Whenever…I’ll be around round round
I’ll be around
Whenever…You know down down down
You know down
Whenever… yeah…
I coulda swore I saw you just the other day
Whenever…I’ll be around round round round
I’ll be around
Whenever…I’ll be around…
Chunjay, Verse 2:
Coulda swore I saw you driving by the church
If it wasn’t “Salt” I can tell you it still hurt
I was in the shirt you know what I’m talking bout
I wish that you could see my growth I think that you’d be proud
I guess I owe a lot to you for stirring up my soul
Bursting up my bubble now I’m learning to be whole
Learning to be me, learning to be free
I may be yearning for your touch I’m making peace with this debris
I may look a little funny with these ashes on my face
I may be a little hungry from the splashes and the chase
Thought it was a race at first, fought you and embraced the curse
Brought you in my world til you stopped and hit reverse
…taking care of business
Got a lotta love for you as God as my witness
Forgiveness is yours and you know that I am down
We can make it better… I’ll be around…
Chunjay, Verse 3:
Coulda swore I saw you down at the brewery
No, I know I saw you cause you hugged me in a hurry
Wave an a side hug, you were on your iPhone
Cicadas be noisy bugs, diamonds turned to rhinestones
From in-zone to friend zone don’t really know how
Feelin kinda silly when I put my hand to the plow
Push through the mess, trying not to stress out
Spending all my time second guessing all your doubts
I spent too many days thinking what you thinking on
I went into a phase I was drinking too much drink and on
I don’t really see what I’m spending all my time for
At some point you became a pretty little eye sore
I guess that time is now, I’m really sick and tired
I gave you 100 but everything backfired
Loved every ounce of you—my efforts have been drowned
I wish you all the best… but I can’t be around…
Pigeon John, Outro:
I’ll be down for you, you’ll be down for me…
Narrator:
The sixty days of a cicada’s life are the sixty years of a man’s life. The creature which spends so long in preparation for life accomplishes much living once he has begun. A man needs sixty years to accomplish so little because he prepares for nothing. He is thrown into life and he does not know what it is about. The man longs to live a year as thoroughly as the cicada lives a single day.
Credits
Music: Flatline
Lyrics and Vocals: Chunjay and Flatline
Narrator: Heath McClure
Additional Lyrics and Vocals: Pigeon John
Album-wide credits
Additional Credits
Production: Flatline, Chunjay
Mixing, Engineering, Co-Production, Mastering, Additional Scratches, Everything but the Kitchen Sink: DJ Sean P at TWLVS in Fort Worth, Texas
Vocal Production/Consultation: Krum
Pre-Mixing: Flatline, Chunjay, Krum, Shedlyn/Chris Felix, Annex, Grizzly Beatz, David Mathewes
Background Vocals: Flatline, DJ Sean P, Chunjay, and Friends
Executive Producer: Chunjay
Lyrics and music copyright 2017 Neopolis Media in partnership with Invisible Library Records. All rights reserved. M. Walker & J. Bennett Artist rights (BMI).
Guest/co-writer FYI: Act I shared credit: Music — Flatline; Lyrics and Vocals — Chunjay and Flatline; Narrator — Heath McClure. Track-specific: Additional Lyrics and Vocals: Pigeon John These source credits are attribution information, not a lyric-scope blocker; they do not specify legal ownership shares.
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