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It's Good to Be Us

by ANIMAL NATION

/
1.
SkidLife 02:36
Garnet 6, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, Go! Garbage pail kids in the street with the dumpsters Dirty alley cat trying to find a little supper, Fucked with the Skid Life back when I was younger, still do, Married it and called it my lover, hitched to that drunk-summer bandwagon, still got my black-denim pants saggin' still walk around town with my headphones blaring, staring at cute girls and not really caring if it's Karen, Connie, Calyysa, or Carmen, that I'm kissing, Harmon Kardon walkman always swearing/ problem child, with bright red hair and, Two middle fingers up like I don't give a Double dog dare you To drink a fifth of rye and go drivin, I rhyme, so it's fine that i'm high all the time straight faded, I’m wasted, and i'm wasting away, but that's what you get with the Animal Neeiiigghh… Mike Shun, slut, dumb luck, smell like dumptruck, <brrrap, shut up, mackel!> I dont give a fuck! Get high, barely get by, get action, get off my case lets forget what happens, Get off on her inner thigh, cover lies with bigger lies, Yo, I gotta go, so I ditch her with no kiss goodbye, I ain’t gonna gonna kiss the lips that I just had my dick inside! Mr. Right Now, hit it,quit it in a Guiness Time, This guy-just might-die-in-a-minute- I…. live life too fast, sprinting for the finish line, Get behind the wheel nerves of steel when i drink and drive , sober up by sniffin’ lines and rip em til’ my lips are dry, <oh my> kiss the sky, low-life living like, Richard Prior getting high and spittin’ all these written rhymes, Mixing in the rhythm to solidify my vision, eyes spinning, I’m kidding but I used to live a skiddish life. Garnet/Mike i'm fickuh fickuh fucked up, a pocket full of love drugs, wound up so tight that I think i'm coming un-done, you do your ziggy zigs, i'm gettin drunk drunk, ahh ziggity ziggah zigg zig, man shut up! can't even tell if what I'm doing is a sin,> well I guess that depends on which State you're in, one night in Vegas, somebody save us, bottle of vodka pepto bismol chasers Hide your daughters, hide your wives, Animal Nation's back and we're too indecisive to decide Low life Scum bag Asshole jackle Greasy Grimy Rascals We are Tom Sawyer, and Huckleberry Finn, Ren and Stimpy, Jazzy Jeff and the Prince, I don't give a fuck, cause a fuck I don't got Don't Stop
2.
Garnet I love it on the southside, I love hanging with the rebels, listen- i'm ordinarily a very nice guy, but when i'm rollin' with My friends is when I tend to let go, Bad habits, I try not to fret though, Nails bit down to the quick it shows my stress yo, My uncle told me I was showing my demons, That was 10 years ago and the last time I seen him, I know, I grow, with the trials and tribulations, Still doesn't make it any easier to face them, Grew up in a broken home like everyone my age, man My parents aren't perfect, but I'm not trying to change them In fact, I love the way they handle complications Either stack them in the basement or face them, sayin' So let me stay up on the SouthSide for a minute, get twisted, wake up, then straight back, to livin' SouthSide. Chorus Kyprios I love it on the South side, my mind is on the good life, feeling free from the hard times, and I’m never going back, ‘Cause I love it on the South side, well everything is alright, man we gettin’ so high that we’re never coming down. Mike Everybody's judging, fuck it, only thing that sickens me, I’m judging how they’re judging making me a hypocrite ya see, bits of me are mixed with easy going vibes and simple things, the rest I must confess is just a complicated mystery, Here’s the thing, inner demons diggin’ in deep are limiting me, In a sense I’m innocently feeling a guilty villain in me, Trying to save a few G’s, settle the score <Fugees> strumming my pain with my middle finger, singing my life and it’s killing me, breathe! Counting sheep, can’t sleep, how am I supposed to be living the dream? Feeling defeated, needed to flee the scene to reach abilities peak, willing to meet my demons, understand em’, face em’, embrace em’ and say good bye, change my stride, kill em’ and leave, still on my feet, given that these, hills are steep I’m finished with pills, sticking with weed, building on instilling my will to reach the sky, The ceiling’s been breached, Dealing with heat of a million degrees, no sweat, dripping with beads, Spine chills down mine the South Side’s giving relief. Chorus Background Abi Dunford I grew up there so don’t talk about my city, from the hood to the ‘burbs we all stay busy, from the bottom to the top we’ve got it on lock, from the hood to the ‘burbs we all stay busy.
3.
Mike People, place or thing, Mackel he’s to blame, thats ‘cause he’s insane, faculties deranged, masks on people’s faces acting real but ain’t, asking me to change? Have to ease the pain. Garnet Nudes on the phone, groupies at the show locked bathroom doors, brought back some whores, chalk up a line, snort it off the breast, got the Heaven's Devils patch up on your chest, Mike Apathy is taking place after we erased, wait stay, that’ll be the day, Actually it’s great, casualties of fate, had to leave, away, said Auf Wiedersehen, Garnet expensive microphones, cheap studios, she can sing it gritty, she's a beauty though, redhead in a red dress read the paper on her way to breakfast, left her doggy in the booth while she was screaming through the Neumann-87 in the vocal room engineer'd by Watson, got the part in minutes, drove across the city to a few auditions, Mike It’s happening too late, have to see the day, that I lead the way, randomly astray, rather be a maze than stranded in it either way, these days it takes a battle to behave.
4.
The Scene 02:56
Chorus Woke up, one day feeling no love knew I had to say no to these drugs that know us, too well, too well, farewell to the scene that seems to know us better than we know ourselves, Garnet Go cop a zip, go roll a blunt, sit 'neath the bridge that the trains rolls on, gettin' out my head, gettin' gettin' out my head, it's hard enough these days just getting out bed, and I ain't been sober in months, and I don't remember much 'cept the times that sucked and the people that i love/ everything else turned back to dust, she taste like whiskey, her kisses like whiskey, my limbs attached to corners of her lips yeah, her smile lifts me, and I wanna keep all her kisses to myself got her name and her number in a book up on my shelf see it written in the cell-phone of everybody else, it takes all my energy not to be jealous, and I watch the faces in the photos change, year after year, it's weird to age, it's weird to stay the same, so eh, go play with friends, enjoy the day i don't put the same amount of thought into pain as I used to, choose to, feel more contained, or i'm happy, dumb, surrounded by things that'll keep my brain numb until i'm a-lone again, Mike Every moment that I’m knowing that I’m breathing and existing is an omen that I notice, soak it up and feel the rhythm. Go nuts, blow up, shit is getting so fucked, no love, don’t judge, thankful that I woke up. (Chorus) Mike Indecision had me imprisoned but I’m changing lanes and I’m very driven, I know that I’m aging but made the decision to take the mistakes that I made and dismiss em’ same shit, die before I make sense, paint a perfect picture with a pencil and erase it, save up all the shavings for a rainy day and take it, to the pages, memories are fading, she fuckin’ gets me, I know she fuckin’ gets me, then I got so lost somewhere, somehow, so fast, so fed up and empty, but I got no doubts, I will not slow down, rather pick up the pace then keep pacing around, 30 years young, still a snot nosed child, never been the one to judge so you can stop right now. (Chorus)
5.
6.
Garnet VERSE 1 i watched her spray out our names with a black spray can, on the back of the old water tower on the mainland, fast but exact, no hesitation, she looked at me and smiled, said "happy birthday" i was waiting on the ground below, i was pacing, holding her lock cutters that she used to break in, cut through the fence cut through my gaze when she kissed me in the back of the cruiser, amazing. driven to the station, finger printed faces, figured out pretty quick the pigs were only fakin, they asked our names, we said "young and dumb", ten minutes later we were back on the run, back back on the streets in the middle of summer, back to the fact i gotta feed my lover, blacked out t's and i'm feelin the heat bash grandpa on his skull pull the fucker out his seat, stole that car, stole that man's life bitch back seat crying, stole that man's wife look at my girl like what next? she looked in the back, "you move, you're dead." pull out the duct tape, pull in a parking lot, my girl's in her bra 'cause the summer heat is so hot, eating a peach, and it's dripping down her lip, pop the glove box, now we rich, it's good they had cash cause we had none, now they've got nothin and we've got some, throwing dollar bills in the air for fun, while wifey's hog-tied in the trunk, hundred miles down the road, with anywhere to go, girl says "threeway?" I say "motel" bitch dives out, dies, we say "oh well", sunset cruising, sunset cruising, sunset fucking, drugging, boozing, some say my girl made me sick! i say, fuck you, suck my dick, sunset living, sunset lovin' sunset I don't give two fucks man some say my girl made me change, but summer'll do this to any manngg Willa Summertime, and the living is easy, Summertime, and the living is free. VERSE 2 now we're running through the hallways of the hotel lobby, she's reapplying lipstick, everybody's watching, hair look a mess, got her shoes in my hand, don't got no pants, don't got no plan! the concierge, shouts "Mr Clare", that'll be $40 and fourty cents, we stop, turn, smile, I pull out a hundred bucks, my girl shoots him in the head, pop pop the fire doors, oh! alarms blare! and like a car alarm, nobody cares like polite children, nobody stares, maybe they're too busy, maybe they're scared, maybe everybody walking up and down the streets Is too concerned what they act like to see we're all the same, might as well be staring at the sun, instead of the man with no pants and a gun, 5 shots fired, and 4 dead then a man jumps out his car at the red, and it's bad to steal, but to leave it's worse, we cleared up a traffic jam, now we got a porsche, driving high, spotted by a pilot in the sky, trying to hide, but hidings harder when you're in a ride that blinds the eyes, fly inside a tunnel, stop! first car's a pig, so we killed a cop. GO! go Go go Go go Go go Go go Go go Go to think it all started with a little bit of spray paint, 140 down the highway trying to maintain, followed by a fleet of five-oh either 25 years or we die yo, we both know, nowhere to hide so we stop, kiss one last time, and drop, VERSE 3 I wake up, day dream, i can hear a spray can, fast but exact, no hesitation it's night time at the water tower on the mainland, holding the lock cutters that she used to break in, she climbed down the ladder and kissed my face then we walked through the fence with the hole she had made, and turn around to take it all in, amazing she looked at me and smiled, said "happy birthday"
7.
LoveLife 02:21
Mike They say I was a perfect baby never really cried, Momma’s bundle of something arrived, 18th of July-1984, M.D.A. was born, Dave and Laura didn’t know it yet, they procreated a storm, I was the, best baby, cool kid, troubled teen, in a hazardous phase and knew it wasn’t for me, but that was the past and I’m grateful for that, bad decisions, good times, creature of habit was angry and mad I can’t believe my fam stood by, but I’m so glad they did it, they always saw the silver lining in the mind of this kid, since the glimmer poppa tricked my mom with, from newborn, to infant, to dumb kid that still is, strung out but moved on from voids I was filling, resisting temptations that poisoned my system but listen, I’m doing just fine, set my limit, stay within it, livin’ good and love life. Chorus Love Life. Love Life. Garnet Swimming while it rains, I used to call her up, she used to call me insane, Do you care to join me today? If I do or if I don't, it's all the same We would swim in the pools where the skiers used to practice their flips, they'd leave around five, we'd come around six, they spent all day trying to top each other's tricks, we spent all night trying to get these girls top-less, stood out back of Tapley's, for someone that was cool, or was comfortable in asking to buy us some liquor, we called it a Boot, at 15 we did what we had to do, mixed the vodka in our slurpees and we called it the juice, walk to the skate park and watch while they do what they do while we drank and we smoke to get loose, not much has changed, same shit's still cool. Chorus
8.
Garnet Rawr. Been around the world in a weekend, Put your Claws Up, that's the greeting Made this beat overnight while you were still sleeping on a red-eye flight home from the East End, Mike We’ve been a lot of places never asking for permission, listen, gotta lotta stories about the road and how we’re living, giving into getting lifted, fitting in with local misfits, drifting in and out of visions, roll em’, smoke em’ then we twist again. Garnet downed another dexy helps me counteract the weed smoke, drove all summer my gooood how far did we go, been dope, kids hear us and turn to geek mode, brought a bunch of bitches back to Berlin for some free shows Mike Here we go again friend, doing it up, love life, even if it’s stupid as whaaaa, do what I love when the music is bumping, I’m moving and shaking and grooving and jumping so alive, consuming the buzz, it goes with Mike like Cubans and rum, I open wide, no chewing my tongue about booze, drugs, music and puns. Chorus Garnet I feel so alive. How alive? So alive. How alive? So alive. How alive? So amazing. I feel so alive. How alive? So alive. How alive? So alive. How alive? So amazing. I feel so alive I cried out tears of laughter, smash the hammer through the glass, it doesn’t matter, just go on and take it, I feel so alive on the 10 o’clock news, with the phaser to my nasal, blast the bastard. So amazing. Garnet now we're killin time in Hollywood and waiting for the show to start, i'm taking photos backstage and drinkin’ soda pop, Mikey's rolling chronic that we bought in Colorado, putting stickers on some tits of girls and getting blotto, <Animal Nation> Made hard work the standard, I worked hard to learn her name and then smashed her lil bastard, je t'aime ton castor, This is who we are every day, no actors Mike It’s good to be us and could be because, our styles unlike-a cookie precut, they say not to judge a book by it’s cover, how the fuck else is it supposed to be judged? not looking for love, just good looking sluts, for rubbing these woodies and putting these nuts, right on their chin without biting my shit! Rawr. <run for your lives children> Chorus
9.
<Chorus> Garnet Been on the road for so long, I’m so gone, Sometimes you gotta let go to hold on, Been on the road for so long, I’m so gone, Sometimes you gotta let go. Mike It is the way it is and been the way it’s been for centuries, the difference, insignificant, is this how it’s meant to be? simple living isn’t simple as it sounds it’s difficult-unless ya be, living in a different world mentally, lately I’ve been feeling perplexed by complexity, stress gets the best of me, rest-isn’t rest to me, dreams so real I wake up gasping, searching for a breath to breathe, the enemy inside is messing with my mind relentlessly, Mark I was looking forward to the future but I couldn’t get past the present, Lounging on the road back in 2011, Kept my engine revvin’ 7 days of the week, I’m holding on to the clouds while we play in the streets, And on that yellow-brick, coolin’ with my fellowship, Like the celibate, fuck for the hell of it, A new development but we sellin’ our souls, I tried to hold on but I had to let go. Chorus x2 Mark I’ma get it in, then I’ma get it all, I’m livin’ on the edge, but I ain’t gonna fall, ‘Cause I’ve been playing shows and getting paid in alcohol, And like last year’s calendar I’m off the wall, And I hadn’t even really started yet, I’ve been living life and developing like an architect, I’m playing hard to get, you’re living easy, And if you still don’t believe me I’ma tell you this sincerely baby, wait. Mike Developing an inner beast, out of touch with inner peace, out to lunch picnic basket case, mouse without the cheese, found my niche to reach the mountain’s peak, looking down to see the plummet from the summit on who doubted me, undoubtedly, loud sounds surrounding me de-fine my boundaries, overdose on flows I need a boat before they’re drowning me, always up but down to sleep, count on me to count the sheep, don’t amount to Z’s, that’s just how I be. Chorus x2
10.
11.
Chorus Mike Honeymoon’s over, no doubt, from hot and heavy fire to cold shoulder blowout, sped up, developed, got fed up then slowed down, STOPPED! End of the road, where we going now? Tried to hold out, why you so proud? Yelling so loud like the front row crowd at a show sold out, don’t care, go pout, I didn’t know before but you know I know now, I wrote poems bout’ those eyes, smiles, used to light me up inside, now the bulbs out, good idea then and bad result now, see through your words get the picture call it ultra sound, paid the price tried to keep the cost down, you lost the plot and caused an awful lot of drama on the spot just to boss me around, on my jock non-stop, put my balls - down. So I can let em’ hang swang free in the breeze, tensed up then I calmed down, liking that you’re not around, Mike’s been writing insightful songs now, you were always right, guess what? you are wrong now, hostile and volatile, not my style, all the while I was on trial, locked in the doghouse, dreading all the treading water, head above to not-drowned. Claiming it’s my fault? How? Pointing fingers, placing blame, babe we took the wrong route, drove me crazy, changing lanes, maybe we just stalled out, broke down to fall out? Rolled down a hill and off a cliff, how’s the song sound? Chorus Garnet she... broke my heart so I broke her car, after that we didn't have a reason not to break apart when she left, she broke every item in my flat broke a promise to myself I wouldn't get mad, bitch! C’mon... broke the record for the quickest breakup i had ever known no point holding on to what I knew was broke, oh, but I passed a good lesson she had all the answers, I was asking broken questions on a break at work, I broke my smoke in half, tried to light it anyway, last one in the pack had to laugh, 'cause all my luck is broken, at least i got something, 2 half smokes man, break it down now i'm writing on this breakbeat, still trying to figure out exactly what it takes to be me, learn a little more every day, the song stays the same, but yeah them's the breaks. Chorus x2
12.
Mike These days, I’m just trying to find a way out, make it outta the maze amazingly and straight erase doubt, stayed up too late, days are just a daze now, blazed about 8 pounds laying on the same couch, tried to find peace of mind, chasing dragons ain’t how, shooting for the stars is harder when I’m always aiming south, chose the cards I’m holding wanna fold em’ need the payout, hoping for the moment I can throw my pocket ace down! Fix up then break down, it sucks but hey now, dim something, take out, reasons I’m repeating where I’ve been and take the same route, made the same mistake again, I’m being who I hate! Tried to find a silver lining killing time in rain clouds, ain’t the way to go about my day it’s time to change how, I decide to find a path and not look back til’ I’m on, the right track, I’ll be right back so keep a light on. Chorus Someone is friendless and cannot find their way so I Keep a light in my window, I want to be back to help restore their faith so I Keep a light in my window, Garnet Part of me thinks i'm beginning to like this, there isn't much left of me that's still trying to fight this, i learned the less you care the more you get to keep yourself, 'cause with each failed attempt comes a reminder you can't help, and if those closest to you can't even hear you when you yell, why waste words at all? why waste yourself? i'm walking in circles on a tightrope, trying to keep my distance from the issue in an effort not to diss you and this isn't an attack, it's just something that's been on my mind since way back, no need to change though, you do you, i'll keep finding rainbows/ //follow the tracks, don't look back, and go where the train goes, eat river grass if it gets that bad, chain me from my heart to my ankles, Chorus x4

credits

released September 4, 2015

All music by Animal Nation.
Stage helped us out with a synth on track 4.
Track 12 features guitar by Sean Rose, keys by Cameron Chu, sax and clarinet by Scott Mitchell.
Cuts on tracks 4, 12 by DJ Vekked.
Background vox on 2, 4, 7, 8 by Abi Dunford.
Recorded at Animal Nation Studios, The Chamber, Naugville Studios, and The Compound.
Mastering
- tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 by Animal Nation
- tracks 4, 8, 12 by Lorne Hounsell
Art by Taka Sudo

Funding secured by Kyle Kraft for Krafty Entertainment
Animal Nation 2015 | EveryDayInTheLife.com | URBNET

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