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Calm Down

from White Collar Punk by Timon Marmex

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about

Are you still in touch with all of your old high-school friends? Do you respect all of their life-style choices? Some call it moving on, but sometimes it feels like being abandoned. But then, self-doubt kicks in... what do they think of my choices? Who abandoned who? Indeed, from the other perspective, perhaps I am the wrong one? Have I written a song about a friend who has abandoned his friends, or have I written a song about my own selfishness.

In the beginning of the song, I talk about what "they" say, but at the end of the song, I talk about what "we" think. Aren't "they" and "we" really one and the same? And who am I to suggest that I am part of "we" any more than the accused. Perhaps I too have "moved on" in the eyes of others. Certainly I have done so physically, and maybe even mentally. But, I try to justify myself by suggesting that others have moved away from me.

Taken at face value, the song seems very condemning of a friend, and perhaps that was the thought when it was written. But when I read it again, I feel as if I am looking uncomfortably at a mirror image of my own fear and insecurity about my own "moving on". I say "I won't pretend that it's still yesterday" but when I say "we'll be waiting" that is exactly what I am doing.

No doubt some of you out there are reading these liner notes and thinking all this talk about "insecurity" is wimpy crap... that I should just diss my friend and get it over with. Well, this is White Collar Punk... part of being an adult is realizing that you might be wrong. If you can get through your life without a shred of self-doubt, I envy you, but I suspect that it is impossible unless you are a real jerk...

lyrics

They say that you’re too high strung, and that there’s no right way for you.
They’re begging you "please" but you never calm down!
They say that the price is too high, but the cost means naught for you.
You’re ready to buy and you never come down.

It’s not to late to realize
You’re becoming what we all despise
I won’t pretend that I don’t know or that I don’t care.

I won’t pretend that it’s still yesterday
But I just won’t let you look away
There’s no reason for this behavior, so quit that stare.

You’ve based your whole personality on what they think of you.
You’ve got all the things but they never come round.

You’ve got all items designer, but that’s not enough for you.
You’ve got to "succeed" so they don’t see a clown.

I know you just don’t want to compromise,
But now you’re too absorbed to hear our cries.
If this is what you call success then we just don’t care.

You could find someone who cares for wealth.
You could trade your friends for someone else.
We could give you up for "lost" but we wouldn’t dare.

You think you’re still one of us, but there’s only one of you;
If you want to come back, then you’d better calm down.
We hope that it won’t last, so when you feel so alone
We’ll be waiting here, if you ever calm down.

credits

from White Collar Punk, released June 1, 1999

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Timon Marmex Los Angeles, California

Timon Marmex never fully recovered from the fall of Atari back in the 80's.

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