Royal Ruckus > Summer of the Cicadas > Track 24
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Intro
“My dad left this world at age 37.” That’s where my verse on “Lost Boys” begins.
The grief on the second disc reaches beyond the breakup. Cookbook opens the song with a father’s death too. Between our verses, Eligh follows a relationship through the damage of leaving things unsaid. He keeps assuming time will sort it out, until it has made things worse.
Chris Felix made the music. Cookbook went back and recorded his verse a line or two at a time, freestyling it. I wrote about my biological dad and the missing years I couldn’t recover.
The chorus keeps calling for a way out of reality. My verse asks what you do with a lifetime of questions.
Videos
Behind the Cicada Ruckus (commentary)
All services · Bandcamp album · Apple Music · Spotify · Music video
Lyrics
Chorus (Vocal Sample):
“Run, run, lost boy,” they say to me, “Away from all of reality.”
Cookbook, Verse 1:
Yo, right before 2005 my father up and died
Never knew what’s up inside, said he was cool but he musta lied
Mustered up the strength because “I must survive,” muscles aching, so much pain I see inside my mother’s eyes
Mother why? Why did he die? Why did he leave us?
Ain’t we some good believers? We always put our faith in Jesus
He heals diseases, man, I take it back
He took a wonderful life and made it wack, fade to black
In my father’s house we stayin at, we facin’ lack
She start to disrespect my mother, I ain’t taking that, take it back
We made a pact but girl I’m gonna break it
I do what’s best for Jason, she started doing some investigation
You turned my friends against me, you had my father’s blessing
He even lent you money, man I’m bout to learn a lesson
And I’m gonna have to learn it on my own, I’m all alone
My daddy’s gone, and my family’s torn, 2005 and I felt the scorn
Eligh, Verse 2:
We fought about it one evening late
Then I brushed it aside, like nothing
Debate within my brain, between the
Grains of sand…
Time will pass, and she’ll forgive, and
I’ll forget, its nothing big, nothing to
Be concerned about, love is bigger
Than the both of us, I doubt it will
Linger past the fight
But nights and days passed, and she’s depressed
I broke the plain of trust and now it’s dead
Inside her chest, I can’t resuscitate the heart
The part is played
I slayed us both
By letting too much time pass
Laziness, and avoidance killed the dove
And filled the void with doubt, and now
It rots…the consequence of
Abandonment, speak up, or lose her
That’s accurate…
Eligh, Bridge:
Me and you can work this out
If you can find inside
Me and you can work this out
Don’t forget, or abandon me…
Chunjay, Verse 3:
My dad left this world at age 37
Didn’t expect to leave a lifetime of questions
Thought I got my lessons, they’ve all come in sessions
I make my confessions, each one is getting deeper
Tried to be a teacher looking for a leader
Siblings my seniors, mom the cheerleader
Mom got remarried, Mark tried to carry
The burden left behind from the father we buried
No way to understand the weight of a missing man
Or calculate missed time on a second hand
No chance to plan, no way to say goodbye
A lifetime of why and an occasional cry
Too many goodbyes in this life add up
Dips and ties things end abrupt
My soul erupts with a proper corrective
I’m trying to bring myself a fresh perspective
Credits
Music: Chris Felix
Lyrics and Vocals: Chunjay, Eligh of Living Legends, & Cookbook of LA Symphony
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: Music: Chris Felix Lyrics and Vocals: Chunjay, Eligh of Living Legends, & Cookbook of LA Symphony These source credits are attribution information, not a lyric-scope blocker; they do not specify legal ownership shares. Source explicitly labels the chorus a vocal sample; the sample source/owner is not identified there.
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