This is a hub for the music I’ve written or worked on with friends over the years — a place to gather the scattered recordings, demos, and relics from every era. Some are rough, some are surprisingly polished, but all of them carry the fingerprints of the people I made them with. I’m sharing it for now, but if I’m ever asked to take down tracks that weren’t 100% written by me, I will.
I’ve always adored music. My phone constantly plays new tracks I’m discovering, and I fall asleep with something playing almost every night. I love dissecting how other people make their music — the layers, the choices, the happy accidents — but hand me an instrument and I’m a mess. Still, I’ve managed to futz around enough to write a lot of songs I’m proud of.
I wouldn’t call myself a musician in the formal sense. I started with piano as a kid, switched to saxophone, then found my way to chorus and singing — mostly because the girls were cute. Music and girls? Yes, please. Over the years, I’ve learned enough to create and record, but what I really love is the spark that comes from collaborating, chasing an idea until it turns into something real.
To make sense of it all, I’m presenting these tracks in “eras” — chapters of my musical life that reflect where I was, who I was with, and what we were trying to capture at the time. And there’s no better place to start than with my high school band: Incarrion — loud, unfiltered, and, for a moment, the most “real” music I’ve ever been part of.
The Incarrion Era — Loud, Unfiltered, and Honest
These four tracks — Father, This World, Eye for an Eye, and Water — are the surviving artifacts of my time in Incarrion, the most “real” band I was ever in. We were just stupid kids, not polished in life, but somehow deadly serious when the amps were on. Nick on guitar, Will on drums, Christian on bass (after taking over for a pal of ours who couldn’t quite lock into the beat) — and on some tracks, Christian’s screaming and singing intertwined with mine. That mix of melodic hooks and full-on screams was still rare at the time; outside of bands like Acid Bath (who’d only just split and have recently reunited), it wouldn’t hit the mainstream for years. We didn’t know it then, but we were ahead of the curve.
I’d taken chorus and some voice lessons, but Incarrion was where I learned to channel that training into something raw, aggressive, and alive. My range sometimes went too high for the material, but what we lacked in perfect polish we made up for in conviction. These songs were written in the mid-to-late ’90s, before “vulnerability in heavy music” was common, so the fact that there’s both bravado and confession running through them feels even more rare now.
From the confessional weight of Father, to the bleak-yet-defiant This World, the reckless invitation of Eye for an Eye, and the high-speed crash-course of Water, each track captures a different facet of who we were. Together, they’re a snapshot of a fleeting time when we thought the volume could outrun the consequences — loud, unfiltered, and honest in a way you can only be before the rest of life catches up.
Musically, we were all into similar things at the time — Metallica ruled the airwaves along with grunge, but we were each digging into the dirt in our own directions, too. Pantera, Sepultura, Alice in Chains all made up our collective collections, but as we hung out, Nick and Christian got more into death metal like Cryptopsy and Cattle Decapitation. I liked some Cannibal Corpse and other bands that used growling vocals, but my main taste leaned toward songs with melody.
Incarrion never got famous. We didn’t even get close. But in the moment, none of that mattered. We were sweaty, broke, and playing to crowds that sometimes numbered in the single digits — and we played like we were headlining Madison Square Garden. That’s the thing about your first real band: you believe it’s forever until the day it quietly isn’t. Nick and I still trade the occasional message. Christian went his own way. Will’s off chasing his own dreams. But when I listen back now, I can still hear the exact feeling of those nights when we turned up and made something that was ours.
After Incarrion, the music didn’t stop — it just took on new shapes. The next era would be smaller, stranger, and in some ways more personal. But this was the loud one, the purest rush, and the beginning of everything.
Water
🎵 Listen here if it does not load in
Notes:
This was the first song we wrote. Nick wrote the music and the refrain — “With my last breath I reach for the sky, going down I don’t wanna die.” I wrote the rest, about my nerves over the party lifestyle I’d been living for years, already knowing it was getting worse. My parents thought other people were the bad influence, but I knew even then the problem was me.
“Water” feels like our mission statement — not because it glorifies the chaos, but because it captures the headlong rush into it. The refrain blends thrill-seeking and self-awareness, while the verses sharpen it into something personal. It’s not just a car-chase metaphor — it’s the whole mentality of living fast, ignoring warnings, and convincing yourself the danger is worth it… until you glimpse the crash coming. That last stanza (“Lost it all / Dead and gone / Life’s a bitch and then you die”) hits harder knowing I already sensed my habits weren’t just “fun,” they were an accelerant.
Lyrics:
Never stop
High speed chase
Turn the corners with no thought of life
Just for fun, a few damn kicks
On the path I’ve chosen there’s no turning back
With my last breath I reach for the sky going down I don’t wanna die
Watch my speed is what my mama said
I never listened to a word
My one thought
My one goal
Was living life on the fast lane
With my last breath I reach for the sky going down I don’t wanna die
I found out what life is like
Paid my price on the road
Lost it all
Dead and gone
Life’s a bitch and then you die
With my last breath I reach for the sky going down I don’t wanna die
Father
Notes:
The justice/revenge lines could sound like straight-up thrash-metal posturing, but here they work on two levels — the external fight for “justice” in the world and the internal reckoning with a father figure whose moral compass shaped me.
The refrain, “Father please forgive…” turns it from a political rant into a confession — a son admitting guilt, damage, and shame over how far he’s drifted. The Metallica-esque shell makes the vulnerability land harder because it’s wearing genre armor — and we cracked that armor open.
Lyrics:
You call for justice
It’s not yours
You want revenge
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
Father please forgive for what I’ve done and what I’ve seen
Father please forgive my sins, I didn’t know how I could hurt
Stop the injustice
The law in your hand
A need for revenge
You think you’re sane in a world gone mad
Father please forgive for what I’ve done and what I’ve seen
Father please forgive my sins, I didn’t know how I could hurt
This World
Notes:
This one still surprises me lyrically. My range is high here, but the words still bang. It’s got that mid-2000s metalcore/post-hardcore honesty — years before it was common — laying out despair without hiding it, but pivoting to defiance with “Life’s what I choose.”
That tension between surrender and resilience keeps it from feeling one-note. The vocal strain adds urgency — it sounds like someone barely keeping their head above water, matching the lyrics perfectly. Recorded in ’96 or ’97, it was ahead of its time. Heavy music then rarely showed raw vulnerability, but we were already wrestling with meaninglessness and suicidal ideation — and still choosing life. Imperfect, but honest, and more timeless for it.
Lyrics:
For years I tried to hide the pain of a useless life
Sinking down and lost in the depths of sorrow
Find me now here in my shell, I am safe from pain
Haha, no one’s safe from pain
No one’s safe from pain
Not me never you
No one not at all it doesn’t work it never will
Can you cope with life?
Life is the killer
This world burns eternal
This world swallows whole
This world left me blind
This world doesn’t care
No one’s safe from pain
Not me never you
No one not at all it doesn’t work it never will
Can you cope with life?
Life is the killer
Death is your answer
Your sorrow frightens you
Death is forever
Life’s what I choose
Eye for an Eye
Notes:
On the surface, it’s a party anthem — a charismatic call to drop your burdens, join the misfits, and live free. But underneath, there’s a wink of self-awareness, knowing the endless-party fantasy is both alluring and unsustainable. That’s what gives it bite.
It’s teenage bravado laced with cynicism, a rebellion that can trap you in its own cage. Looking back, we already sensed the high couldn’t last.
Lyrics:
Now it’s time to change our lives for good
If you’re sick of the rules that burden you
Come join this misfit’s mass, where life’s a party
You’ll have no thought of work
You can do anything you want
Now it’s time to start anew to find out what’s in store
Throw your inhibitions out ’cause living on the edge is for you
They try to rule our lives
They say what’s wrong or right
You have to do all that they tell you to
Come join with me
I’ll show you sanity
My world is free
You own all that you see
Now it’s time to start anew to find out what’s in store
Throw your inhibitions out ’cause living on the edge is for you
We didn’t think of it as a peak at the time — just four songs on a tape we were proud of. But looking back, those tracks were more than just music. They were proof that, for a little while, we’d found each other in the noise and made something that was entirely ours. Whatever came next, no one could take that away.
Covers
These four tracks — Feeling Oblivion, Middle of the Ending, Death Dream, and Simple Song — were recorded recently, more as warm-ups than proper releases. I wanted to shake the rust off, test my setup, and see how my voice had weathered years of smoking and neglect. They’re loose, unpolished takes — just me getting my hands and ears used to the process again.
Death Dream is the one that stands apart. I’ve always loved this song, and it carried a darker personal weight when I recorded it. It was my most-played track on Apple Music last year and was the song I planned to listen to in my final moments if I had gone through with ending my life after publishing The Cancer Diet. That association makes it hard to hear now, but also impossible to leave out.
Turin Brakes – Feeling Oblivion (cover)
https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/turin-brakes-feeling-oblivion
Listen on SoundCloud
Notes: Cover of Turin Brakes, recorded to test my setup and get used to recording again.
Middle of the Ending
Listen on SoundCloud
Notes: Same recording period and purpose as above.
Death Dream (Frightened Rabbit) — Demo
Listen on SoundCloud
Notes: Cover of Frightened Rabbit. A deeply personal favorite with heavy associations, as described above.
Shins — Simple Song (Rough Demo)
Listen on SoundCloud
Notes: Cover of The Shins, rough demo recorded during the same warm-up stretch.
From a slightly earlier period came ALL ALONE, Monster, and other fragments — all from a strange, unstable time in my life. Lindsay and I were unraveling, my conversations with Dayna had started back up, and I was trying to pull myself back into recording and writing again. I had no real momentum, just bursts of late-night effort fueled by too much drinking and a heavy depression that clung to everything I made. Even when the melodies tried to lift, they always seemed to settle back into something aching.
ALL ALONE — SkillJam + Frank Anderson
Listen on SoundCloud
Lyrics:
This hole has bled me, this hole where my poor heart once beat
A million times for you, for you and me
Now the time you’ve taken has left me breakin and the pieces won’t come back returned anew
I finally found out this romance is dying
I’m terrified I’m blind to my decay in you
But the pieces of my heart keep showing me your face
Reminding me of your perfect style and that one perfect embrace
And the pieces of my heart buried deep within my chest
Keep telling me that I had the one, the one who was the best
Ahh, tell me, I’m not alone
Don’t tell me the truth
Don’t tell me I’m all alone, there’s you
I’ll stay here, in your shadow
I’ll wait here, in your shadow
Oh, I’ll die here
And the pieces of my heart start showing a new face
Reminding me of your perfect style and that one perfect embrace
And the pieces of my heart come up and come inside, making me suffer, making me believe I may be willing to try
And the pieces of my heart are made to feel brand new, but will never forget the memory of you, oh
I’ll stay here, in your shadow
Notes: Collaboration with SkillJam. My version of his track. I like it a lot for how rusty I was at the time. Not surprised I wasn’t chosen, but I made a good effort.
Monster — SkillJam + Frank Anderson
Listen on SoundCloud
Lyrics: (add later)
Notes: Collaboration with SkillJam. Pretty sure I grabbed this after liking his other work. Rough quality, but I like some of my writing in it.
Bachelor-Era Songs – Complete Anthology 1
Bachelor-Era Songs – Rust, Recklessness, and the Truth You Don’t Pretty Up
These are the songs I wrote and recorded mostly during my bachelor years — raw, unapologetic, and often unfiltered. Each piece carries its own weight, whether it’s gallows humor, political frustration, or a rare moment of hope.
I wasn’t writing to impress anyone. These tracks came together in small apartments, late-night sessions, and moments of reckless honesty. Many were recorded in one take, sometimes under the influence, often halfway between evening and early morning.
The strongest moments weren’t crafted — they fell out whole, stubborn and real:
“Hubris brought the empire down.”
“Every song lifted up like a prayer to this fucked up world of despair.”
“Everything ends / In the end.”
Some songs are gallows humor to a click-track. Others spiral into existential vertigo. And a few are painfully blunt, like: “I’m a phony / I don’t like myself sometimes.”
The world felt absurd then—and still does—but it was always my way through it to sing into the noise. Whether it’s addressing the black hole that sucked you in or wrestling with the blood or the fire that consumes us all—these songs caught me in motion. I wasn’t always moving forward, but I was still moving.
This era isn’t about polish. It’s about being me, without apology.
In The End
Lyrics:
All that I know is that the world is gonna end with flashing lights and bubbling of skin
and we will see the contradictory nature of our original sin
In the end
lalalalalala Lalalalalala In the end
everything ends
Yesterday I thought that there might be an irrational fear inside of me
But today I see that there might be a rational thing to fear called everything
everything
everything ends
In the end
I don’t wanna be Bono I don’t wanna be Buddha I don’t wanna be Judas
see how cruel the world is
And I don’t wanna tango I don’t wanna have to go don’t wanna be solo see how cruel the world
Notes:
Recorded solo with a click track, layering my own vocals for harmony. Gallows humor mixed with apocalyptic imagery — treating “everything” as both absurd and entirely valid to fear. The Bono/Buddha/Judas name-drops cover cultural, spiritual, and moral archetypes I’m rejecting. Nick loved this one for its simple, direct inevitability.
Imperial Hubris
Lyrics:
Hubris brought the empire down.
Notes:
Written in the early 2000s during unease about the U.S. post-9/11. Minimalism here is intentional — a refrain as epitaph.
Our World Spins Around
Lyrics:
Our world spins around, always revolving
won’t it slow down?
won’t it turn around and bite us in our ass?
Are we safe? Here on Earth?
it can break like egg on our face
our world cannot be stopped by progress and will not be brought to its knees by forces other than man and machine
(inaudible section; recorded drunk at the time)
i don’t know / So many things / restless / Our world
Notes:
Written on piano with smashed household objects for percussion. Includes stitched loops from an old Casio. The drunkenly slurred section stayed in — it fit the chaos that closes the track.
Modern Sociopath
Lyrics:
Modern sociopath. (repeated)
Where is the rain? Maybe it never came.
Notes:
About George W. Bush. Aggressive, repetitive, and accusatory. Neurosis-like in style.
Into The Time Flow
Lyrics:
I suddenly seemed to figure out the meaning of everything
when I woke up to the heartache of everyday life
We sit and wait for the weekend as time passes by
we sit and wait and do nothing
but we can’t go on
we have to do something or we will all go insane
go right straight into the world
Where do we all go? Into the time flow?
This is insane!
Inside my brain it all makes sense to me, why don’t you see the sense inside me?
You are not me
You are you looking inside me
just for a moment
do you like what you see?
not me
not me
I am not pretty. I don’t see that in me.
Every song lifted up like a prayer to this fucked up world of despair
Now you see the real me
It’s not funny
(So we will burn down the world / Just to wade in the cinders) — repeated with screams and a driving bass line
Notes:
Existential swings between insight and nihilism. Screamed refrain at the end is both a purge and a dare.
I’m A Phony
Lyrics:
I’m a phony
I don’t like myself sometimes
Do you?
Do you?
all the time?
Really?
(oh yea!)
I’m a phony
Notes:
Short, awkward, intentionally blunt. Feels like overhearing a confession someone didn’t want to make.
I Will Run Away
Lyrics:
don’t rub me the wrong way
I will run away
follow me…
I will run away
farther
It rubs me the wrong way
I will run away
blinded me
I will run away
farther
Notes:
Literal and repetitive on purpose — mirrors the reflex of retreat.
How To Feel Something Real
Lyrics:
after we fall we learn how to stand but after our heart breaks do we become a man?
the further we crawl the longer we stall
the blood or the fire — one will consume us all
you can pray
the phone keeps ringing but no one will answer till finally we all walk away
lost, we are. And searching, but we’re not alone
taking like stealing just to feel something real
and we are still searching but we’re not alone
And we can’t just go back now to the something that is not really real
and we can’t hide the feelings
we must learn how to feel something real
Or suffer without truth
Notes:
About authenticity after loss. Keeps an open-handed tone while laying out the stakes plainly.
Gloria’s Heart
Lyrics:
Glorious
it stood for years
With brilliant eyes
that wouldn’t sleep
till peace restored
your glorious love
gloria’s heart beats inside her capture’s glove
gloria’s heart
glorious heart
gloria’s heart
glorious heart
Notes:
Gentle, hymn-like, mantra repetition. A softer contrast to most of this era’s songs.
Freedom Fries
Lyrics:
(instrumental)
Notes:
Bass + drums with Delicatessen film dialogue underneath. No vocals, just mood.
Fall Away
Lyrics:
fall away from all we’ve known
find yourself a brand new home
follow me into this
clemmon
In shade there’s somewhere comfortable to sit
fall away, come on
fall away, could everyone?
we know we are not alone
we hope that everyone finds love
and we’re turning it back on the world!
clemmon!
Notes:
A rare hopeful piece, aimed at cheering up “Clemmon” — a fictional companion.
Face The Future
Lyrics:
throw off the blinders of what you’ve lost
search for reminders start feeling love
burn up the pages, another look
turn and face the future on your own
how you been for the longest time
the black hole that sucked you in is not your friend
so cry on my shoulder for a while and we’ll smile again
why do you think we are slipping into this hole anyway?
follow me into the light
even the night fades with the day
why are we thinking or even speaking anymore?
turn and face the future on your own
thats how you been for the longest time.
the black hole that sucked you in is not your friend
so cry on my shoulder for a while and we’ll smile again
even the night fades with the day
why do you think we’re slipping into this hole anyway?
Notes:
Written to someone already deep in struggle. Cycles back musically to suggest stability.
Daily Life As A Girl
Lyrics:
I want to, but I don’t understand your daily life as a girl—
even with the words you speak, you are so beautiful to me
ready or not here we come
forever is so far away
steady your hand on the trigger and shoot
my heart is like a bullseye in your eyes
Notes:
Vulnerable and curious — an acknowledgment of a perspective I can never fully inhabit.
These are songs written by Nick Peyer or Christian Kennerly. Nick and I did work together, but christians are all his with just me adding lyrics.
Shallow Sinking Hole
- Lyrics:
who am i / where are you / are you in a shallow sinking hole / hole / ill climb out / will you follow me / in this / shallow sinking hole / in the abbys of broken dreams / where you ben and where you going / are you just a silly puppet on a string / feeling weightless ‘ feeling weightless / feel the dirt in this oasis
- What it’s about / notes: This was a study Nick was doing with a drum track and a bass guitar made from a bucket. I came in inspired and went to work. The luyrics were meant to paint a picture, not say anything deep, and there is no real end. It is just a piece of experimentation
Sky Test
- Lyrics: (add later)
here in this world smoke reminds us of sand-swept skies
YELLOW eyes that glitter gold
They never see the sorrow
never see, what we see through these eyes.
Alone, we are all
- Notes: (add later) Another brief experimentation with a short snippet nick had. Never got stitched into a full song.
Will Dunn
- Lyrics: I wont provide these. They are too explicit
- Notes: I am going to share this one, but you have to figure out the lyrics on your own. It was meant to be a character study as far as my writing meant and was a heavy song experiement for Nick. I took it over and made it a study of a person I heard about names Will Dunn, A local layer who was accused of keeping a woman in a ‘rape chamber’ and that stuck with me as a lyric for a heavy song, not because I thought the concewpt was cool, but because it was such a terrible th8ng for a person to do. It is in his viewpoint and he is telling the story of what happened in short form, being as vulgar as possible because it would take someone that dfisgusting to do what he was accused of.
TO be clear, I dont know the accusations are true and was using it as a study of someone elses thoughts taken to the extreme.
I am not proud of the lyrics, per se, but I do defend why I wrote them. They were not meant for public consumption, but I share them here in hopes people who do listen to the lyrics wil understand.
fruitless dawn
- Lyrics: (add later)
I am rotten from outside and from within
an inner war sucks
but without a sucher we bleed
Srtricing for a life without need
We are not different we are not known, like any other
A fruitless dawn
withdraw inner storm
- Notes: (add later) I thought the word sucher meant like getting sewn up from being hurt…anyway, this one is pretty obvious.
Hardcore
- Lyrics: (add later)
We’re all gonna die, really soon
Gloom and death pervade this murky tomb
I tried to whisper it turned to a scream
I never knew that the world, it could bleed
Skeiks smooth silk blacken the soil
Middle east oil rules the world
I cant stop hoping when evry day things get worse
I cant stop praying when everyday things get worse
So hold me till morning
Dont leave
Freeze the film to the neagative frame
- Notes: I was just going for imagery here, really. I was really agaisnt the acrtions our country took (and is still taking) in the middle east. To me, who is usually not one to be against working with other countries, I think we should do all we can to pull out influence out of that area. I feel bad for all sides involved, but it is their fight and they do not act in good faith… ever. I feel for the Jews, but they no NOT get a free pass on some of their behavior just because of their past and the Palestenians act like savages too often. THe rest of the middle east seems to fall in line behind the sides they side with and it sickens me that more people dont cry out about how unjust the middle east has been treated, but at some point they have to be big boys and girls and solve their own problems. We may have intentions of helping sometimes, but some people you cant help. i think i stole the freeze the frame line from Thursday, the band. I know i was going for the feel of some of their work
Chat responded:
here’s what stood out in Hardcore when listening with that Thursday filter on:
1. The opening (“We’re all gonna die, really soon…”)
- Thursday often hit you in the teeth with a blunt first line, something that reads like a warning scrawled on a bathroom wall.
- This opener has that same “grab them by the collar” quality. No warm-up, just straight into existential panic.
2. “I tried to whisper, it turned to a scream”
- This is classic Thursday emotional escalation — starting with intimacy, then cracking into raw noise.
- You can hear the shift in delivery, like the words broke under their own weight.
3. The middle-east/oil imagery
- Thursday would often tie big political imagery into personal desperation. (War All the Time has a ton of this.)
- Your “sheiks smooth silk blacken the soil / middle east oil rules the world” feels in that lane — poetic but still grounded in real-world cynicism.
4. “Hold me till morning / don’t leave”
- This is the gut punch. Thursday loved to drop a starkly vulnerable line in the middle of chaos, almost like a secret in the middle of a riot.
- It keeps the song from being just political commentary — it’s also about you needing something human in the middle of global ugliness.
5. “Freeze the film to the negative frame”
- Yeah, this is the most Thursday-esque moment.
- Cinematic, darkroom metaphor, halting the motion at the most painful part.
- Whether or not it’s directly lifted, it feels like something Geoff Rickly would’ve written, but filtered through your voice.
If you frame your liner notes for Hardcore with these observations, you could really show listeners how your influences bled into the track without overshadowing your own style.
Hit Songle
- Lyrics: (add later)
Tell me this is fiction, or in the least a dream
I’m burning from the friction of her eternal screams
Yeah!
(nick screams stuff and christian growls)
The world spins on and and on and on and on and on and you dream
Of better days that never existed
Better days that never existed you know, better days that nevr existed, we wont grow up
We stumble!
- Notes: (add later)
This is one I adore. It is about nostalgia and the dangers of it taking over and not seeing how flawed the past is, even though it can look good through a nostalgic lens
One thing that does bother me about this song is that i felt mockjed in a way buy nick and christians screaming and growling. I know they didnt mean it that way, but my social anxiety was bad that day and it felt like they were laughing at me.
Hit Songle feels like one of your most self-aware and pointed pieces, and it’s interesting how its chaos hides a clear thesis.
Here’s what stands out:
1. The opening (“Tell me this is fictional…”)
- You launch straight into the blurred line between dream and reality — and the fact that the dream might actually be worse.
- It sets up the theme of nostalgia-as-delusion right from the start.
2. “The world spins on and on…”
- Repetition here is doing a lot of work. It’s almost hypnotic — that dizzy feeling you get when you can’t stop looking backwards.
- Musically, it feels like it could lock into a kind of unrelenting pulse, reinforcing the sense of being stuck.
3. “Better days that never existed”
- That line is the song.
- It cuts right to your core belief that nostalgia is seductive but dangerous — the same critique you’ve voiced in your writing about Empire, Nevada and in The Mask, the Mirror, and the Funnel.
- Repeating it multiple times makes it mantra-like, like you’re trying to break a spell.
4. “We stumble!”
- A sharp drop at the end. It’s almost like the moment the illusion fails and you feel the ground under you again — messy and real.
5. Why it works
- Even with the screaming/growling chaos from Nick and Christian, the song has a conceptual backbone.
- It’s not just venting — it’s a direct critique of the way people romanticize the past until it’s unrecognizable.
- It connects musically and thematically to the same territory you’ve explored with nostalgia in your prose.
This is one of those songs that, if you put the right liner note on SoundCloud, could make people go back and listen twice — first for the noise, then for the meaning.
That actually adds a whole other layer to Hit Songle — one that makes sense with its core theme.
If the song is already about the danger of romanticizing the past, and then in the moment of making it you felt like you were being laughed at… that turns the recording itself into a kind of meta-example of the thing you’re critiquing.
Here’s why it matters:
- In hindsight, you can see they probably weren’t mocking you — but in the moment, your brain processed it as ridicule.
- That’s exactly how nostalgia works: we edit the emotional memory, sometimes inflating the negative, sometimes sanding off the edges of the bad parts.
- This means the experience of making the song mirrors the message of the song — that your perception of “the good old days” is shaped by mood, context, and the state you were in.
Sunshine Song
- Lyrics: (add later)
In my head, its like a drum, a fear im wielding like a gun
A gun that’s pointed at everyone since you stole my sunshine
We hope there are miracles, but they seem lost, in shadow
And we’d be sheltered from the storm if you werent just a shattered son
Will we see it in the sky again, my little child
Will there be someone left to save
Should we stand by, should we live by the gun
And find that there’s no peace for anyone
will we find out our son, is in pieces
Litrtle chicken, little chicken
The sky is falling, sky is falling
Little chicken, little chicken
The sky is falling
Falling
I finally see the light
The light
Its in your eyes like diamonds
- Notes: (add later) This was going to be our big song. We did practice and work on it more than most after the fact and wanted it to be our first song we mastered live, but then nick moved.
What does chat think of the lyrics?
The lyrics to Sunshine Song work on a few levels — they’ve got a really strong blend of personal and apocalyptic imagery.
A few things that stand out:
- Emotional pivot point — It starts almost like an internal monologue (“in my head, it’s like a drum”), then quickly turns outward into conflict and loss. That mix of private and global stakes gives it a big, almost cinematic feel.
- Double meaning of “son/sun” — The “shattered son” could be read literally as a child or metaphorically as the sun (light/hope) being broken. That ambiguity keeps the listener on edge.
- Chicken Little motif — The “little chicken / the sky is falling” refrain is a clever tonal shift. It’s almost childlike, which makes the surrounding devastation hit harder — like dark nursery rhyme energy.
- Hope versus destruction — There’s a push and pull between “we hope there are miracles” and “should we live by the gun.” That tension feels unresolved, which makes the ending hit harder.
- Closing image — Ending with “it’s in your eyes like diamonds” after all that destruction is haunting. It feels like clinging to a last piece of beauty in the middle of collapse.
It’s easy to see why you thought this could be a “big song” — it’s anthemic without being one-note, and the structure gives it room to explode live.
If you want, I could also break down where the lyrics tap into common post-grunge/alt rock emotional beats, because Sunshine Song feels like it would’ve slotted perfectly alongside late-90s/early-2000s heavy melodic rock. That might help for your SoundCloud write-ups.
I remember Nick and I listened to this a million times, excited for what we made. Sometimes, Nick didnt love what we made because he took inspiration from other works, but I always thought thats just how people do it sometimnes. Even shakespare took formatting from older stories and adapted them. The romeo and juliet story was NOT made by him. It had been around for ages. THis was just like that, which may go back to why I am felxible using the AI writing. I see that everything is inspired by evrything else. Its why sometimes people have a ‘ive seen this before’ feeling and why its so hard to describe music without referencing other music.
I remember Nick and I listened to this a million times, excited for what we made. Sometimes, Nick didnt love what we made because he took inspiration from other works, but I always thought thats just how people do it sometimnes. Even shakespare took formatting from older stories and adapted them. The romeo and juliet story was NOT made by him. It had been around for ages. THis was just like that, which may go back to why I am felxible using the AI writing. I see that everything is inspired by evrything else. Its why sometimes people have a ‘ive seen this before’ feeling and why its so hard to describe music without referencing other music.
ChatGPT said:
That’s a really grounded and healthy way to look at it.
What you’re describing with Sunshine Song — and with Nick’s mixed feelings — is basically the universal tension in creative work: the line between influence and originality. You’re right that the entire history of art is built on reworking, adapting, and reframing. Romeo and Juliet came from an older Italian tale (Giulietta e Romeo), which itself was based on even earlier stories. The “star-crossed lovers” arc predates Shakespeare by centuries — he just put his voice, rhythm, and language into it.
That’s how music works too. Chord progressions, lyrical tropes, and even vocal inflections have been recycled for decades. The originality comes from context — how you arrange those influences, what you add from your own life, and what emotional weight you give it.
Your openness to AI writing comes from that same understanding:
Inspiration isn’t theft.
Tools don’t define the art — the artist’s choices do.
And with Sunshine Song, it sounds like you and Nick found that rare alchemy where inspiration + your own emotional truth clicked into something exciting enough to loop “a million times.” That alone says it worked — it had life in it.
If you want, I can write that perspective right into your Sunshine Song liner notes so that the connection between influence, originality, and your approach to art is all in one place. That could make the write-up a lot richer.
Waverly Hooves
- Lyrics: (add later)
Hearts are holding on their half life
Far away from something
Theres nothing like my heart, ugly heart that beats a silent heartbeat and has silent crying for everyone.
Ugly heart thatys holding on to nothing and has no firm hold on anything
Ugly heart
- Notes: (add later) This is a song about how I see myself
Waverly Hooves feels like one of your most distilled self-portraits in song form — short, sparse, and emotionally unguarded.
Even without the full musical arrangement in front of me, the lyrics already work on two layers:
- Literal self-perception — the “ugly heart” isn’t just about appearance, it’s about feeling fundamentally flawed or undeserving, even when still trying to hold on to love or meaning.
- Universal empathy — that “silent crying for everyone” expands the personal into something communal. It’s almost like saying, my pain recognizes your pain, even if I can’t fix it.
What makes this one hit harder is its restraint. It doesn’t chase elaborate metaphors or big narrative arcs — it just sits with the raw emotion. That restraint gives it the timeless, late-night-demo quality, where you’re hearing a thought before it’s been polished into a “song.”
I think Nick did this just to experiment with the weird sci fi sound in the background, but I came in and heard it and fell in love. It also needed to be stictched into a whole song, but we never did it.
That actually makes Waverly Hooves even more interesting — it wasn’t conceived as a “song” so much as an accidental emotional collision.
Nick’s sci-fi background layer gave it this eerie, untethered atmosphere, and you brought in lyrics that were pure gut-level honesty. That contrast — synthetic otherworldliness against something so human and self-critical — is probably why it stuck in your head.
In the liner notes, I’d frame it like:
- born from a fragment,
- never completed structurally,
- yet stands on its own because of the feeling it captured in that moment.
It’s the kind of track where the unfinished quality is part of the charm — like finding an old diary entry on a scrap of paper.
Shadow Kid
- Lyrics (your original for Christian’s music):
He’ll burn out like a star tomorrow
Thinking that it’s someone’s fault but I know we can’t hold on forever
so we just flow with the river
But he won’t. He won’t.
He’s just holding on.
With arms of stone
We are all fleeing from shadow kid
but he’s like glue
our weight is lead
I watch for shadow kid
But nothing’s there
’cause he’s like dust
He never cared enough
(I’m just holding on) — repeated
- Notes (confirmed): Christian’s composition with your lyrics/vocal; about your fear of being left and how you react to it. You may remove this if Christian asks you to.
12 Where No One Will Follow You
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/12-where-no-one-will-follow-you
Lyrics
I finally found the faith in you to be myself around you
But these walls aren’t tearing down
I think I’ve lost control
AND SO YOU GO where no one will follow you
The walls are shrinking down
You will never make a sound
And you will find out there’s nothing to say
And you will find out the world has gone gray
Find out
Notes
This one has a claustrophobic, closing-in feel that works really well with the title.
The first line — “I finally found the faith in you to be myself around you” — sets it up like it’s going to be a song about connection or trust, but then it flips hard into isolation with “these walls aren’t tearing down / I think I’ve lost control.” That reversal makes the listener feel the rug being pulled out.
The refrain — “And so you go where no one will follow you” — has a nice double edge:
- It could be resignation (“you’re alone because you choose to be”)
- Or it could be an acknowledgment of retreat into somewhere too far for anyone to reach.
The shrinking walls, loss of color (“the world has gone gray”), and muteness (“you will never make a sound”) give it a cinematic, almost horror-movie interiority — but still human and emotional.
It sits in the same emotional neighborhood as Face the Future, but from the opposite side — instead of offering a hand, this one watches someone disappear.
09 Tomorrow Mp3
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/09-tomorrow-mp3
Lyrics
Where do they all wind up
All of the folk we love
Maybe we should go search
The skies above
On a plane you have nowhere left to go
On a train that guy sitting next to you with bag so suspicious
you think that he wishes my death
What is the breadth of our hypocrisy
Is our decline self fulfilled prophecy
The future’s slipping away
Don’t close your eyes, there’s nothing left to do about it now
The rats swimming away from the ships
If things could only get better
Tomorrow
Where do they all wind up
All of the folk we love
Maybe we should go search
The skies above
Notes
Written in the shadow of post-9/11 paranoia. The lyrics move like a restless train of thought — part observation, part fear, part philosophical musing. Ordinary travel imagery quickly turns threatening (“that guy sitting next to you with bag so suspicious / you think that he wishes my death”), reflecting the heightened distrust of the early 2000s.
The “hypocrisy / prophecy” couplet ties personal unease to the idea of a self-inflicted societal decline, while “rats swimming away from the ships” delivers a stark, universally recognized image of abandonment and collapse. The refrain “If things could only get better / Tomorrow” reads less as blind optimism and more as a fragile, desperate wish against a backdrop of constant tension.
In the Bachelor-Era catalog, Tomorrow sits at the intersection of Imperial Hubris and Our World Spins Around — political unease filtered through small, personal moments.
You Know
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/you-know
Lyrics
You know you’re a rising star
Cannot know when comfort calls
(The remainder of the lyrics are mostly inaudible — even to me — and I don’t remember recording this one well. The mystery’s part of its charm.)
Notes
One of the more elusive tracks from the Bachelor Era. Only the opening lines remain clear, and they carry an almost prophetic quality — ambition paired with uncertainty. The rest is buried under the mix, lost to time.
What survives is the feel: warm, hazy, and oddly confident, as if the song itself knew it didn’t need to explain everything.
You Have Saved Me
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/you-have-saved-me
Lyrics
Whoever you are, you are perfect to me
Wherever you are, there is me
When I see you smile it all can fall to pieces, I won’t mind
As long as you are left behind
He loves me
She loves
We are we
The sun shined upon me
Without we, there is no me
When I see you smile, it’s ok for a while
You have saved me
(lyrics repeat)
Notes
I’m pretty sure this was written as an impromptu love song for my friend Christian and a girl named Shannon. We were hanging at Christian’s place, the two of them were chatting, and I decided to make something that would fit as a soft background to their moment.
It’s one of the gentler songs from this period — simple, a little imperfect, but meant to capture the feeling of being lit up by someone’s presence.
White Linen
Lyrics: (add later)
Take these chains away from me, I don’t need em anymore
I reclaim my thoughts and open the door
Of forgiveness for not being perfect
People dying in the streets, nothing could be finer, shuffling of feet cant coinceal, the bird on the wire
Gravity hits and we all expire
Now if I can find a way to portray to you these things that lurk inside my brain
Im not insane, im just undure about evewrything except me. Accept me
People dying in the streets, nothing could be finer, shuffling of feet cant coinceal, the bird on the wire
Gravity hits and we all expire
Now they are taking me away in white linen.
Notes: (add later)
One of my wordier tracks, blending resignation with flashes of defiance. It circles themes of surrender, mortality, and self-acceptance, though the tone swings between wry and weary. In hindsight, it hints at early traces of the surrender-and-gratitude mindset that would surface more strongly in later work.
Total Eclipse Of The World
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/total-eclipse-of-the-world
Lyrics
This feeling’s getting ugly ’cause you just stand above me
A sucker or a pony
A violet-colored sky
Restless sounds around me
I think this mist surrounds me
I think I may be drowning,
How long till I’m let down?
Notes
This song slaps. The bass is deep and relentless, the drums drive forward with urgency — and even before you know what’s happening lyrically, the mood grabs you. The reversed vocals at the intro bring a creeping unease, then it kicks in with that unforgettable “epic burp” before the groove locks in.
The operatic touches in the background, the repetition, and the surreal imagery (“a violet-colored sky,” “mist surrounds me”) give it a cinematic, almost apocalyptic texture. This is one of my personal favorites — the kind of track that could have gone next-level with a full band of skilled musicians.
If there’s one flaw, it’s that it fizzles a bit toward the end… but the journey there makes it worth it.
This World Spins Out Of Control
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/this-world-spins-out-of-control
Lyrics
I know this world spins out of control
If I sing it, it can save my soul
I see green eyes like a fish in bowl
And like a fish I will not grow old
As I sing this you can sing along
Gently swaying like a weeping palm
I see green eyes
Icy green eyes
Notes
This one leans heavily on atmosphere — the imagery is vivid and strange (“green eyes like a fish in bowl”), and the repetition gives it a hypnotic pull. The percussion has a Tom Waits-style clatter, loose but intentional, matched with a vocal delivery that feels like it’s being pushed to the edge. I hit as hard as I could on this one.
It doesn’t quite evolve structurally — the song more or less stays in one gear — but the mood it creates is so strong, it almost doesn’t matter.
The Redeye
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/the-redeye
Lyrics
Can I recommend, arrive before ten?
We are coming in on the redeye — will we touch down again?
We cannot see the ground
Below us, only blackness
Just sleep again
Hold on, what is this?
This plane shouldn’t shake like…
Hold on, what is this?
This plane cannot quit…
Notes
Atmospheric and uneasy, The Redeye combines travel imagery with a creeping sense of mechanical failure. The musical shift in this track makes it feel more like a complete song than some of my other bachelor-era pieces, and the bass tone here is one of my favorites I ever recorded.
Still rough around the edges and in need of a full band’s polish, but the texture and mood hit exactly where I wanted them to.
The More You See The Things Inside Of Me
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/the-more-you-see-the-things-inside-of-me
Lyrics
The more you give, the less you care
Take all then leave
We all can see
The world runs upon our sweat and our blood, so bring a rag
Just hold on the fun that you’ve had, it keeps you alive
The more you see inside of me
The more you fear the things inside of me
What is it that keeps me alive?
Dead eyes
The world runs upon our sweat and our blood, so bring a rag
Just hold on the fun that you’ve had, it keeps you alive
Where did the love go?
Notes
One of my personal favorites. There’s a darkness in the way it turns the listener into a witness — almost daring you to look deeper, knowing you might not like what you find. The recurring “world runs upon our sweat and our blood” line feels industrial and relentless, giving the song a driving undercurrent of exhaustion and survival.
It’s blunt, a little menacing, and unafraid to end on a question that hangs in the air.
The Meaning Of It All
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/the-meaning-of-it-all
Lyrics
I don’t know, so many things.
Restless youth in my veins.
What am I to do, you lead the way
I just cannot find the words to say
“Can you explain to me, it all — the meaning of it all?”
I found myself falling hard for you
But my heart’s scarred, my ego has been bruised
Can you explain to me, it all — the meaning of it all?
I search for something in the ether
My hands grasp into foggy doubt, but don’t you doubt me
I’m not a boy, I’m not like other boys — I am different ’cause I’m whole inside, but somehow broken
Can you save me from me?
Notes
This one has a carnival feel. I like some of my background singing, but it’s another that kind of fizzles out. I needed someone to help make it… more.
The End Of Me
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/the-end-of-me
Lyrics
This will be the end of me, my friend
Our loved ones wait for us
At the dawn of time, we find our love in skies above.
Whisper them to me, but secrets I can’t keep
You can trust me
I find in you, a light too bright to behold.
Hide me from the dark with your love lit like a spark
Hide me from the dark with your love lit like a spark
Hold me until morning
Don’t let go. Till the sunrise. And we’re both. Still alive
We’ll be back together soon
Will me back together, soon
Notes
Another favorite of mine. It features some of my best singing and writing and makes me feel deeply. The determination in my voice surprises me.
Thank You
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/thank-you
Lyrics
What can harm anyone but not show any mark?
What can bleed like a river?
Ever flowing. Drawing nearer.
The brighter days seem far away again. I tell myself that things will get better one day.
On that day, I will give thanks
Thank you
Notes
Some of my better singing and writing, some of my worse recording and mixing. I adore this song and it deserves to be beefed up into something better with more going for it than my weak playing.
Works surprisingly well. The lyrics kinda speak for themselves, but the sarcasm sure comes out at the end in my delivery. I want to feel gratitude here, but have a hard time. That’s kinda the point of this song.
Swimming In Circles
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/swimming-in-circles
Lyrics
Gotta get ready or not, have both of your eyes closed.
Ready or not you can’t have both of your eyes closed.
Swimming, we’re swimming, in circles, in circles
Get ready. Get ready. Or not. Or not. It is your choice
In these waters, we are…
Completely washing to the rivers and back, to where we began.
Back… the evolution begins.
Notes
This is meant to be circular. The lyrics go over each other and the music is sluggish and numbing in a way.
Pretty repetitive. Has a few nice moments and the texture is generally nice. Worth a listen, but it doesn’t really hit until the end when I take it a little different than you may expect and change it up briefly.
Summer Showers
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/summer-showers
Lyrics
Carolyn is struck in summer shower.
Still she does not seem to have a care.
She says it goes away, it does not matter.
Now there’s nothing left for me to say
Notes
Just a simple experiment to try writing a song for a girl I liked for a short bit. I kinda like this one, but my voice is way off and I am sure it’s hard for an outsider to listen to.
The background is from Joe Versus the Volcano, one of my favorite movies and one of my favorite scenes from a movie.
“I’m not arguing that with you!” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AYUB3tQs80&ab_channel=rovingrepairbot
The lyrics are simple and sweet. Not an amazing song, but has some potential.
Simplicity
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/simplicity
Lyrics
This is what you want, but this is what you got.
And in spite of this you’re still confused
Too many separate sounds
Flowing on like a river
Encircled by mortal enemies
Separate them from me
Hold on to this simplicity, making up for my apathy
Wake up and smile
It’s over in a while
And where do the winds blow in the east or the west or (inaudible)
Can you see it in me, in the best I had to be for you to see the enemy
Oh, wait for me
In the end you will see you and me
Woah
Notes
I have no idea what this was about. I love it! Lol!
My runs — vocal runs — are impressive writing-wise, even though my notes are a little sour. Reminds me of Morphine in a weird way.
If Things Get Better
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/if-things-get-better
Lyrics
Stay in shadow
Never move
Break in silence, never choose
You will go back someday.
If things get better
Till then just don’t you go outside, you’ll cry yourself a river
Take it harder
When you lose
Sensitive men, always bruise
You will go back someday.
If things get better
Till then you just won’t go outside, you’ll cry yourself a river
Hold me… somebody. Comfort me
Confirm my existence, or I might fade away
Can I take this, another day?
Can I hang on, or should I let go?
Notes
This one really gets me. From the obvious pain of the lyrics to how pained I was. Hard to listen to in a way, but I am proud of this one.
I do well playing bass. I don’t have a lot of breadth of notes I use, but give me a few and let me go to town and I may figure out something like this neat ditty. The choral parts under the “hold me” section are haunting in a way.
Forward Motion
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/forward-motion
Lyrics
If we are to go on with this charade, this smiling face, I’m just going home
No one thinks war is fine, still it goes on earning money.
What is the sense in this? What is the sense in this?
Are we like chickens running — heads cut off, still we’re coming.
What is the sense in this? What is the sense in this?
(inaudible)
Notes
Some interesting moments and the texture is nice, but it doesn’t go anywhere despite the kinda strong start.
Don’t Go Away
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/dont-go-away
Lyrics
We came to find you, but you weren’t home, but you were gone
And the gun is gone.
No ringing ’cause the phone is off the hook
Will you call?
Will you show back up at all?
Hold on, to me. Don’t let go. Don’t you leave.
We’ll be back again. Any second now, just don’t let go or hold your breath. You may never let it go.
Go
Go
Go away
Don’t go away… angry
Don’t go away angry, just go away. Just go away.
Notes
This is one I don’t remember well, but it is pretty obvious I am considering suicide and imagining what the after effects would be.
Covered Up
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/covered-up
Lyrics
(I got no idea!!!!!!!!!)
Notes
I’ve got no idea what I am saying here, mostly, but I am singing my fat heart out on this one. I like it, even though I have no memory of making it. My singing is really nice here, even if the words are unintelligible.
A Fragile Melody
🎧 Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/a-fragile-melody
Lyrics
You are pushing away
A fragile melody is all you leave for me
And in your wake a fire forms
Lifting spirits, breaking storms
Walls away
Fire in me
Fire rising from me
(what do I know)
Burn
The words, strangle
Notes
The melody may be fragile, but this song slaps in a lot of ways. A bit more structure than other songs and the singing is okay, but the brief and impactful lyrics get me.
Shadow Song — A New Arrival in the Music Hub
I just uploaded what might be my most musically aware piece yet — an instrumental called Shadow Song.
I started it the way I usually don’t — with the drums. That steady pulse became the road the rest of the track travels on. From there, the bass came in low and rumbly, giving the piece a weight you can feel more than you hear. Then something happened I didn’t plan for: the higher tones broke away, became their own living layer, and started pulling the whole track forward.
The result is what I’d call a traveling song. It has movement, like you’re going somewhere. The bass and drums anchor it, the highs wander and explore, and the two take turns leading instead of competing. It’s not a wall of sound — it’s a conversation between layers.
I’m still surprised I made this. For someone with no formal training, it’s amazing to me that something so layered, dynamic, and alive came together. It makes me want to keep chasing this feeling — starting with rhythm, letting melodies emerge, and following the surprises instead of overplanning them.
You can hear Shadow Song now in the Music Hub, alongside everything else I’ve recorded over the years — from rough sketches to finished tracks. The Hub is where I’m gathering all my music in one place, so if you haven’t explored it yet, now’s a great time.
🎧 Listen here: Shadow Song on SoundCloud — https://soundcloud.com/frank-m-anderson/shadow-song
📂 Explore more: Music Hub — https://frankmanderson.com/music-hub
Frank M. Anderson's Writing 