I Put On My Headphones
I’m in the wings when you push me on
But I never learned the words to the songs
And there I stand naked; they’re staring at me, laughing at me
I’m by the locker turning the dial
The hallway is empty and stretches for miles
Then I’m on a boat heading over the falls
You reach for my hand but it just breaks off
I suddenly wake up was only a dream
I’m back in the gilt cage that you made for me
But when you are working or fast asleep
I put my headphones on
I put my headphones on
I’m in the backyard burying the bones
Don’t know why I did it, hope no one will know
I can’t seem to hide the remains of my crime; I never learned to fly
I suddenly wake up was only a dream
I’m back in the gilt cage that you made for me
There might be someone who listens to me
I put my headphones on
I put my headphones on
Flip the record, headphones on
Court and spark, the 7th song
Joni sings love is gone, “love is gone”
Janis Ian’s “Seventeen”
That song from 10cc
Alone again naturally
Someone has is worse than me
Sam Stone, Major Tom
Captain Jack and Delta Dawn
Alvin Tustig, Sweet Jane
Music wash away my pain
I put my headphones on
I put my headphones on
jillsobule/robin eaton
I have a small head. As a pre-teen, I had a pea-sized head. So picture me with this pair of gigantic Koss headphones on. They covered half my face, and must have weighed at least three pounds. I even wore them around the house when I wasn’t plugged in. I liked the heft and size. The foam against my ears made me feel safe. I could shut out the world around me. I could shut out my parents arguing. I could fill in the silence of a lonely unpopular shitty 7th grade where the phone wasn’t ringing off the hook with party or date offers. But I did have friends like Bowie’s Major Tom, The Kinks, Lola, and Elton’s Bennie (with his electric boots and mohair suits). I also somehow found comfort in characters that had it way worse than me: like the sad and crazy Delta Dawn, John Prine's Vietnam Vet junkie Sam Stone, and even that deeply in need of love or meds, Eleanor Rigby.
I wasn’t a total downer. I did believe that one day t I would take off the cans (Brit talk for headphones). One day I could unplug and actually share my music with someone else- someone special and maybe a little odd like me… Maybe, at the new school next Fall? I kept on playing repeatedly and believing, “ooh-oo child things are gonna get easier. Ooh-oo child things'll get brighter…”
Here is a link to the studio recording on Nostalgia Kills (produced by Ben Lee). Roger Manning, Dave Carpenter, Petra Haden, and Steve Weisberg were among the amazing musicians gracing the track