Notions

by Sockpuppet

 
1. The Supper Club
Lyrics

A place where you belong, a place to sing a song
Welcome to the supper club
Everyone is nice, giving you advice
Every night at the supper club

We take you as you are, whether near or far
Just come on down on in to the supper club
No-one needs your name, we’re always glad you came
All are welcome at the supper club

Be the way that you want to be
Comfort is what sets you free
We’re your friends and your family
All night long at the supper club

We’re happy when you’re glad, saddest when you’re sad
Please join us at the supper club
Precious fish to fry, reminder of days gone by
Every Friday at the supper club

We relish when you’re here, love when you drink our beer
Please relax at the supper club
Have a drink or three, connecting you and me
The rest of your life at the supper club

Be the way that you want to be
Comfort is what sets us free
We’re your friends and your family
All night long at the supper club

A place where you belong, a place to sing a song
Welcome to the supper club
We love you through and through, it’s something old and new
Please enjoy the supper club
We love you at the supper club

About this track

Originally for Song Fight! Live in Madison, Wisconsin, 2019

Song Fight! is a weekly-ish songwriting contest where a title is provided for everyone to write a song to. People write songs, they’re put up for a vote, somebody wins, and it’s all just a pretty good time overall.

Once a year we try to get together and do a little in-person concert where we get up on stage and perform our songs together. And part of Song Fight! Live involves a "live fight" where we’re given a title to write a song for and debut at the show.

In 2019 we went to Madison, Wisconsin, and the live fight title was The Supper Club. I was having Thoughts about Song Fight! at the time and decided to write a song about how Song Fight! as a community is a place where you should feel comfortable to express yourself in whatever way makes you most comfortable. I don’t know if anyone got that message from the song but it’s something I feel deeply all the same.

2. A Grand Parade<3
Lyrics

I do not want you going outside right now
There are so many things to see
It’s going to overwhelm and how
You will not be very happy

The giant duck is gonna quack
And the dogs are gonna bark in back
And the Marshall of the big parade
Doesn’t care if you feel safe

And the TV man is gonna say
It is such a lovely sunny day
And I know you want to go out and play
But I want you to say inside

I do not want you going outside right now
There are so many things to see
Why not stay inside and meow?
I just want you to be happy

The clowns will juggle and the bands will play
And the noise will scare you far away
So let’s stay cozy all the day
Inside where we are safe

I do not think you will want to be
Outside out there away from me
So let’s just drink a cup of tea
In the morning we will play

I do not want you going outside right now
There are so many things to see
I am feeling overwhelmed and
I just want to be happy

About this track

Originally for Song Fight!, 2024

Song Fight! has been running for a long time; it started in 2000, making it an extremely old website by today’s standards, and it’s probably one of the first and is almost certainly now the longest-running songwriting communities on the Internet.

In 2024, the 1000th title was posted, "A Grand Parade," and for this we all decided to dig up as many past participants as possible to try to get to 100 songs. We succeeded at this!

At one point I was entering under an alter-ego, <3, a vessel through which I was trying to express some gender-related stuff, and she was pretty popular. So for A Grand Parade I opted to bring her back for another song.

3. Material Change
Lyrics

Reupholster me into leather or pleather
Make me watertight for every kind of weather
Wouldn’t I be nice made of plush or of ice
You have my permission, don’t have to ask twice

Take me apart and use me as a toy
Make my only purpose to bring people joy
Polish me up and make me shiny and clean
I’m your willing servant, please be my new queen

Once was a human long ago
But now this is all that I know
Every change brings an afterglow
What a wonderful way to go

Look me in the eyes and turn me into stone
Chisel me down and sit on me as a throne
Make this second skin someplace I can begin
Reshape me into something with a dorsal fin

Carve me out of wood, make me a work of art
Paint me with pictures of my old broken heart
Please do not forget what I used to be
And please don’t forget to always love me

Once was a human long ago
But now this is all that I know
Every change brings an afterglow
What a wonderful way to go

Reupholster me it would bring me such pleasure
Make me into a pooltoy for bright sunny weather
Wear me like a costume so that you can be me
Make all of my decisions so I can be free

You took me apart and used me as a toy
I can’t remember if I was a girl or boy
Please do not forget what I used to be
And please don’t forget to always love me

Once was a human long ago
But now this is all that I know
Every change brings an afterglow
What a wonderful way to go
Oh woh

About this track

Originally for Song Fight!, 2022

This title went up when the Roe v. Wade reversal took place, and was a reference to the material change in constitutional law that had just taken place. Plenty of other people wrote songs about politics, so I felt okay with taking the title a bit more literally.

This song is dedicated to my friend Beltrami, who is featured alongside me in the cover art. May we someday cross paths in this reality, too.

4. Robot BabySo<kpupp3t
Lyrics

(<3)
I am not in love
It is not what I am thinking of
But my life is needing something more
Somebody that I can care for

The morning is alright
But by the time that it becomes night
I don’t know what to do
My empty nest is making me feel blue

(fluffy)
Hey, sister, I got what you need
It’s a robot baby that you don’t need to feed
You just plug it in every night
And it also doubles as a convenient light

It slices, it dices, it makes julienne fries
And inside the box is another surprise
It’s a diet pill that’ll make your hair long
And the side effect is that you’ll break into song

(<3)
I waited my four to six weeks
But by the time it was getting bleak
A package it came for me
I plug it in, but then what I see

When I try to sleep it glows
This is something that must too lay low
I am getting annoyed
At this silly malfunctioning android

(fluffy)
That’s not covered by the warranty
But we’ll sell you one for an additional fee
The product went through a focus group
And what everyone wanted was a big feature soup

You can’t expect everything to work right
Our scientists made it overnight
Just be glad you got it in only one piece
Try our other product, a robotic niece

(<3)
This is such crap, I am sending it back
Everything you make is so totally wack
And the diet pill had the opposite effect
I now weigh fifty pounds, but my song is in check

I do not think you went to the FDA
I will sue you all and make you all pay
To get the address I call the support line
In Indonesia on my very own dime

(Jane Barbe)
The number you have reached
Is not in service
Please check the number
And dial again

(<3)
Oh, fuck…

About this track

Originally for Song Fight!, 2006

Back before the iPhone came out there were a bunch of early smartphones which were all pretty bad. This song was inspired by one of them in particular, and about how technology can be pretty awful and self-serving. I don’t think things have really improved all that much since then, putting it mildly.

For this one I decided to do a "collaboration" of sorts between Sockpuppet and <3.

5. Wait Right Here
Lyrics

Wait
Wait right here
There’s something I have to tell you
Wait
Wait right here
It is a thing I think you know too well
Wait
Wait right here
There’s something I have to show you
Wait
It’s oh so clear
I can’t hear the ringing of the bell

Wait
Wait right here
There’s something I’ve only realized now
Wait
It’s so clear
I think we all need our own real space, oh
Wait
Wait right here
I’m trying to find a proper way, how
Wait
It’s so dear
The world can be a big beautiful place

I can’t hear the image that you’re saying
I can’t hear, I wish I knew you well
I can’t hear the image that you’re singing to me
I can’t hear, I know you wish me well

Wait
Wait right here
There’s something I have to show you
Wait
Wait right here
It’s time for me to have my show and tell, oh
Wait
Wait right here
Remember the thing that I tried to tell you
Wait
Wait right here
Of all the people I’m wishing you well, so
Wait

About this track

Originally for Circle of Titles, 2020

One of the other Song Fight! traditions is Circle of Titles, where we provide titles for each other to write songs for in a one-on-one way. In 2020 I got this lovely title from T.C. Elliott (known better as Pigfarmer Jr. on Song Fight!) and decided to write a song that was inspired by another friend’s manic episode from their untreated bipolar disorder.

I haven’t spoken to them in a while, and I hope they’re doing okay.

(The bipolar friend, I mean. T.C.’s doing fine.)

6. After Hours
Lyrics

Open up your door
Open up your door
Open up your door
Please open up your door

Open up your door
Please open up your door
Open up your door
Please open up your door

Open up your door (Open up!)
Open up your door (Please open!)
Open up your door (Could you open the door please?)
Please open up your door (I know you’re in there!)

Open up your door (I can see the light on through the window)
Please open up your door (Could you please open the door?)
Open up your door (The door, you should open it!)
Please open up your door (I know you’re in there!)

Open up your door
Please open up your door
Open up your door
Please open up your door

Open up your door
Please open up your door
Open up your door
Please open up your door

Open up your door
Please open up your door
Open up your door
Please open up your door

Open up your door
Please open up your door
Open up your door
Please open up your door

Open up your door
Please open up your door
Open up your door
Please open up your door

Open up your door
Please open up your door
Open up your door
Please open up your door
I need to use your bathroom

About this track

Originally for Song Fight!, 2010

This was a dumb idea I had right before the deadline and the original recording took me about 5 minutes to do, including composing it and writing the lyrics.

This version took me a little longer to do.