LYRIC: Ballad of an Aging Punk with a Keyboard (May 2025)

Fingers stained black again

Those fanzines marked me

in more ways than one

Filled my head with strange ideas

Like anyone can have a voice

Do things for passion, not for pay

Create the worlds you want to see

And champion all the things that you love

Here’s three chords now start a band

And when the band breaks up

Just keep on Doing It Yourself

Doing It Yourself

Bands nobody heard of

Except all of us that had

Records shipped from bedroom distros

To ears all over the world

Singing:

We accept you one of us

No more gatekeepers of talent

Ability in the beholder’s eye

Make your own kind of noise

Here’s three chords now start a band

And when the band breaks up

Just keep on Doing It Yourself

Doing It Yourself

This life’s not like the pop songs

This life’s an ugly mess

This life’s not perfect plastic

This life’s what we protest

Re-used envelopes through the door

Packing tape and thick black marker

Missives of hope from better worlds

That truly saved my life

Don’t let the bastards grind you down

Call out whatever needs calling out

And when the bullshit gets too much

You’ve got to get in the fucking van

Here’s three chords now start a band

And when the band breaks up

Just keep on Doing It Yourself

Doing It Yourself