1. |
Lost At Sea
03:25
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CHORUS - Cyle
Save me
‘Cause I’ve been lost at sea for so long.
Drifting away
As the sirens sing their songs.
VERSE 1 – The Top Civilian
So sing with me and give praise to the painful.
Birth that was the essence of life, the strain pulls
At my heart strings. Plucking them out like Kano.
This mic I clutch tight, this life I let go.
Forever grateful to the deejays and turntables,
The house party ciphers before I played shows.
Homies mixing vinyl records by the crate full,
Poyo’s beat machine S. Blairing as I freestyled poems.
Words refracting light, BluBlocking a strange glow
Before I dated the rapping and married the microphone.
But I haven’t bent at the knee or wrote passionately
In so long; I can't believe passing time that’s passing me.
Pass the mic so I can breathe. I'm drowning in the deep.
Resuscitate my breath and resurrect the best of me.
‘Cause there’s no light or glow left to keep me afloat.
Slowly sinking to the bottom, anchor tied around my throat and…
CHORUS - Cyle
Save me
‘Cause I’ve been lost at sea for so long.
Drifting away
As the sirens sing their songs.
BREAKDOWN - Cyle
Save me
‘Cause I’m lost in a sea of stars.
Drifting away
As the sirens steal my heart.
VERSE 2 – The Top Civilian
I’m shooting flares at heaven, hope God hears my call.
‘Cause nowadays I don’t talk to many friends at all.
The random Facebook posts are our sole interactions
And having real conversations: getting taken for granted.
You see words are magic as they vibrate from our lips.
And I’m scared for the generation we’re leaving our kids.
Why do hurt ourselves just to take away the pain?
Why do we choose to burn in hell just to dance with the flames?
…Of addictions that spin like pinwheels in the wind
Robbing me of my dreams as my inner light dims.
I pray the music I make shoots tingles up your spine.
Amplifying the way you’re feeling ‘til your heart’s inspired.
By more than sex, food and sleep, wasting money to buy things
You pretend will make you happy - but you’re still fucking crying.
Slowly dying at work, just to live check-to-check.
Drowning in the waves, hear my SOS (my SOS… SOS…)
CHORUS - Cyle
Save me
‘Cause I’ve been lost at sea for so long.
Drifting away
As the sirens sing their songs.
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2. |
These Things Take Time…
02:24
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VERSE ONE – The Top Civilian
Give me a kiss goodnight; I miss the light
That used to radiate inside before the struggles and strife.
Fists to the sky if you feel like you’re feeling too much.
My grip’s been slipping since existence and I came to erupt.
It’s so hard to touch the world - the world’s so out of touch.
Masses addicted to every facet, and still can't get enough.
No one opens up. Broken trust leads to fear of society
That raised us up, then lied to us. Flooding social anxiety.
Kindly fuck the cynics: I need mental emancipation.
Cyanide for the critics, do or die in the chains you’re made in.
Slay the dragon chasing, deciphering pure from pollution.
Don't be a sheep lead to slaughter counting dreams of revolution.
HOOK - The Top Civilian
You keep telling me to breathe like… it’s gonna be alright.
And you keep telling me to believe… that these things take time.
VERSE TWO – The Top Civilian
While I’m facing the facts that I need this mic release.
‘Cause I’d implode or explode in my attempts to get free.
See on the stage with the mic is the only place I know
To make peace with my soul before I give up the ghost.
My rhymes require you to read at the college level grade.
With hints of genius and seamstress patches of being insane.
The only escape is bleeding down drains in burgundy rains.
So watch me seep my shattered mind state through the mic grate.
I'm great, minus financial and emotional problems.
Plus time wasted on trivial anecdotes about how to solve ‘em.
Book full of poems you can revolve them through that false sense
Of security as purity of poison pushes your tolerance and…
HOOK - The Top Civilian
You keep telling me to breathe like… it’s gonna be alright.
And you keep telling me to believe… that these things take time.
VERSE THREE - The Top Civilian
But lying sounds better than taking the medicine.
Despise the sun setters sucking on sounds like sedatives.
Gimme vegan venison, the need to flip the rhetoric.
Plant me purpose and I'll pulsate with painful penmanship.
‘Cause I’ve been up with this music and down with this movement
Since you bitch asses still believed in Santa and Cupid.
I get stupid to stupify and dream of dying in lucid,
Think I’m a figment of your imagination? Wake up and prove it!
Start the movement this moment, let’s all focus our thoughts.
Plant the seeds and teach the children that there’s light in the dark.
Deep scars inspire stars to lend a spark to this terrestrial
Landscape that manmade while I seek the celestial.
HOOK - The Top Civilian
You keep telling me to breathe like… it’s gonna be alright.
And you keep telling me to believe… that these things take time.
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3. |
Hello There
03:43
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HOOK - Cyle
Hello there…
Angel in my dream, won’t you wake me up. (Please wake me up.)
‘Cause I don’t, I don’t wanna sleep alone.
And I’m so alone. Hate sleeping alone.
VERSE ONE – The Top Civilian
I see you chillin’ with your friends while I'm waiting to mingle.
There’s no ring on your finger; praying to God that you’re single.
‘Cause I wanna send tingles up and down your spine.
Reprogram your circuitry and make your inner stars align.
You got that shy girl vibe- you’re all alone and you’re lonely.
But your knight in shining armor ain't the drink that you’re holdin’.
See you don’t know this, but I'm the mate of your soul,
And someday I'll hold you close while I recite my poems.
Yeah, I’m the man of your dreams, so damn funny and smart.
You’re such a beautiful lady; I feel the thump of my heart.
I wanna rip you apart, and lick your T and A,
Make your clit my BFF and mix our DNA.
Tongue painting constellations all over your body.
Playing your passion on piano like Ludovico Einadi.
Here's hoping that my naughty compliments your nice.
Shooting arrows like Cupid, only hitting bullseyes.
HOOK - Cyle
Hello there…
Angel in my dream, won’t you wake me up. (Please wake me up.)
‘Cause I don’t, I don’t wanna sleep alone.
And I’m so alone. Hate sleeping alone.
VERSE TWO – The Top Civilian
You'll be the love of my life, and I'll be your vice versa.
Should I buy you a drink, or would you think I might hurt ya?
I ain’t much of a flirter, but I ain't missing this chance
To make a lasting impression, fall in love at first glance.
So may I have this dance? I know you’re diggin’ this song.
Give me your hand and I'll lead before the feeling is gone.
Our hearts pulsing in sync, with the beat of the music,
Melting our essence together in each fiery movement.
The sparks from our two lips will keep us warm in the cold.
Growing as best friends and lovers, intertwining our souls.
I promise to hold you forever, even if beauty gets old.
So take me home tonight ‘cause I don't wanna sleep alone.
HOOK - Cyle
Hello there…
Angel in my dream, won’t you wake me up. (Please wake me up.)
‘Cause I don’t, I don’t wanna sleep alone.
And I’m so alone. Hate sleeping…
OUTRO - Cyle
Hello there…
The voices in my head tell me this is real.
But what is real?
‘Cause I woke, I woke up in my bed all alone.
And I'm so alone… hate sleeping alone.
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4. |
Keep Pushing Through
04:06
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CHORUS - Cyle
So choose your poison, how you live or die is up to you.
Believe my voice when I say, you gotta keep pushing through.
So choose your poison, I don't wanna lose you.
Believe my voice when I say, you gotta keep pushing through.
VERSE ONE – The Top Civilian
Hearts don't break in two, they shatter to
A million little pieces of love you can't glue
Back together. Keep it together and don't lose
The light inside; it's meant to all consume.
Incinerate your eyes like fires of Zeus.
Burning since day one and I’ve got the scars to prove.
I'm still here. Still taste the tears.
I still believe in God, but I haven't prayed in years.
And I fear this life got the best of me.
So I wrote this song to manifest my destiny.
Pour passion into rapping, hope for better things.
Loudly purging my agony over guitar strings.
You keep telling me everything’s alright.
Some of the brightest stars are meant to fall from the sky.
So make a wish, may your dreams come true.
But if you’re lost in the dark, let me push you through.
CHORUS - Cyle
So choose your poison, how you live or die is up to you.
Believe my voice when I say, you gotta keep pushing through.
So choose your poison, I don't wanna lose you.
Believe my voice when I say, you gotta keep pushing through.
VERSE TWO – The Top Civilian
A roller coaster of emotions, I need melatonin
To help me sleep and forget that I'm broken.
Salt of oceans in each tear passing.
Sip magic potions to make up for what I'm lacking.
Love ain't lasting, it's falling and crashing
To the ground without padding; it can be the saddest thing.
Can be your everything or lead to your unraveling.
Can be your salvation or you can be its casualty.
Casually it comes, casting its spell
Until your heart’s in heaven, purgatory, or hell.
Love ain't easy: it don’t come with directions.
It can bring you happiness, but when love ends,
It leaves you broken, depleting your levels of serotonin.
Impossible to cope when memories are all you’re holding.
Inside my heart is a piece of you.
And it’s all I need to keep me pushing through.
CHORUS - Cyle
So choose your poison, how you live or die is up to you.
Believe my voice when I say, you gotta keep pushing through.
So choose your poison, I don't wanna lose you.
Believe my voice when I say, you gotta keep pushing through.
OUTRO VAMP - Cyle
And you keep telling me that everything is alright.
But some of the brightest stars are meant to fall from the sky.
So make your wish and may your dreams come true.
But if you’re lost in the dark, let me, let me push you through.
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5. |
Fly Away
03:35
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CYLE
Free bird, why won't you fly away?
Locked up in your thoughts like a cage.
You're too smart to not pursue.
You can stay or you can leave - it's up to you.
Free bird, why don't you trust to seek?
Just spread your wings and fly away with me.
Free bird, you don't know how beautiful you are.
Free bird, you're the rhythm of my guitar.
Free bird, why don't you fly away?
Locked up in your thoughts like a cage.
Even caged birds can sing songs.
Will you sing for me when I'm gone?
Free bird, are you to scared to fly?
If you don't spread your wings this is goodbye.
Free bird, free bird fly. (Fly away.)
Free bird, free bird fly. (Fly away from here.)
Free bird, why don't you fly away? (Why don't you fly away?)
Free bird, I hope you find your way.
Free bird, free bird fly.
Free bird, free bird fly. (Fly away from here.)
Free bird, why don't you fly away?
Free bird, I hope you find your way.
Free bird, why don't you fly away?
Locked up in your thoughts like a cage.
Even caged birds can sing songs.
Will you sing for me when I'm gone?
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6. |
Nero (Mainstream Music)
04:11
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CHORUS - Cyle
Pass the mic, you're a dud.
Mainstream music: I’ve had enough.
Where’s your heart at?
Tell me, where you coming from...
VERSE ONE – The Top Civilian
I can’t be your hero, I’ll burn this shit down like Nero.
Spit bars ‘til your ears full. You listen but you don’t hear though.
I got a fierce flow and I’m a weirdo, but I’ve never been known to waste time.
As I transcribe and transpose endless quatrains and gang signs.
I’m done letting these wack busters bust wack raps over back tracking.
Their pussy posse onstage hyping: a clusterfuck of jackasses.
I’m last laughing, you ain’t savage - less stage presence than a garden gnome.
You got a trap beat, and a trap house, but Im’ma trap the fuck out this microphone.
‘Cause I take the time to elevate
My mind state’s prone to escalate.
Saying ‘fuck you’ to you fake MCs.
I’ll never waste love on what I hate (on what I hate, on what I hate…)
CHORUS - Cyle
Pass the mic, you're a dud.
Mainstream music: I’ve had enough.
Where’s your heart at?
Tell me, where you coming from...
VERSE TWO – The Top Civilian
I’m a next level rhyme rebel, and every verse I compose is a masterpiece.
And you’re another no-talent glam rapper who ain’t got shit on Master P.
‘Cause you’re talentless - without a pot to piss -
Your style’s not unique in the slightest bit.
Kickin’ mumbled words that are meaningless.
And I don’t give a fuck whose beat it is.
Who you beefing with, who you breeding with…
‘Cause honestly ya’ll sound illiterate.
Just a constant drip of ignorance to usher in the apocalypse.
You gutter snakes, and your skin shedding, keep up the gimmicks, I’m going sledding.
Got constant stressors - so under pressure.
With each pen press I’m bloodletting (I’m bloodletting, I’m bloodletting…)
CHORUS - Cyle
Pass the mic, you're a dud.
Mainstream music: I’ve had enough.
Where’s your heart at?
Tell me, where you coming from...
VERSE TREE – The Top Civilian
I’m another bastard kid, so imperfect so pass the sin.
But I’ve been known to puff on the cannabis and get lost in contemplation.
By all means, keep your gats and cash ‘cause they don't mean shit to me.
I don't give two shits about your bad bitch, your stash house or your weed.
‘Cause lyrically you’re wack as fuck and each verse is laced with profanity.
Just an autotuned, carbon copy devoid of originality.
I’ll kill your music making, your thug faking and I’ll bury you deep in Calgary.
While you ride on dubs, acting hard, I’ll be rhyming with the Valkyries.
Catching ciphers in the balconies. I’m roaring with a lion’s tenacity.
And I’ll never have to sell my soul ‘cause this here’s the art of alchemy (of alchemy, of alchemy, alchemy…)
CHORUS - Cyle
Pass the mic, you're a dud.
Mainstream music: I’ve had enough.
Where’s your heart at?
Tell me, where you coming from…
OUTRO - Cyle
Where you coming from...
Where you from…
Where you coming from?
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7. |
Extravagant
03:20
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CHORUS - Cyle
This is a hymn, not a song.
I cannot be saved ‘cause I'm already gone.
A king with no kingdom, serenading the pawns.
Know I'm destined for greatness by the crease of my palms.
VERSE ONE – The Top Civilian
My life is not extravagant (‘gant);
I can barely pay bills and make rent (rent).
But in a hundred years I’ll be famous
So for now I’m content with being broke and nameless.
Overanxiously gripping to the hands of fate (fate).
I know the sands of time fall as they may (as they may).
Lose my grasp a bit more every day.
Slowly slipping away, how I wish, how I wish I could stay. ‘Cause…
CHORUS - Cyle
This is a hymn, not a song.
I cannot be saved ‘cause I'm already gone.
A king with no kingdom, serenading the pawns.
Know I'm destined for greatness by the crease of my palms.
VERSE TWO – The Top Civilian
We’ll all born broken, so the light can seep in
And I'm wearing BluBlockers to keep the light in.
My future’s so fucking bright that I squint in the shade.
And I’m always two breaths away from imploding onstage
As passionate prose erupts from my face (my face).
There's a glazed stare in my eyes ‘cause I’m - I’m losing faith
In the whole human race. We're detached (detached)
From the love that we’ve lost and it ain’t coming back. But…
So these are the days of our lives.
My guardian angels at war with the demon inside.
‘Cause sometimes it storms before the calm.
You gotta pray for the sun and keep holding on. ‘Cause…
CHORUS - Cyle
This is a hymn, not a song.
I cannot be saved ‘cause I'm already gone.
A king with no kingdom, serenading his pawns.
Know I'm destined for greatness by the crease of my palms.
BRIDGE – The Top Civilian
Deep conversations about the meaning of sacred.
Some drunken contemplation about the stardust we're made in.
‘Cause I find salvation in the melodies and memories.
And this music brings heaven to all the hells in me. And…
OUTRO CHORUS - Cyle
This was a hymn, not a song.
It's was less of a rap and more of a psalm.
A king with no kingdom, serenading his pawns.
Know I'm destined for greatness by the crease of my palms.
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8. |
Letting Go
03:18
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9. |
Lost At Sea - Remix
03:16
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CHORUS - Cyle
Save me
‘Cause I’ve been lost at sea for so long.
Drifting away
As the sirens sing their songs.
VERSE 1 – The Top Civilian
So sing with me and give praise to the painful.
Birth that was the essence of life, the strain pulls
At my heart strings. Plucking them out like Kano.
This mic I clutch tight, this life I let go.
Forever grateful to the deejays and turntables,
The house party ciphers before I played shows.
Homies mixing vinyl records by the crate full,
Poyo’s beat machine S. Blairing as I freestyled poems.
Words refracting light, BluBlocking a strange glow
Before I dated the rapping and married the microphone.
But I haven’t bent at the knee or wrote passionately
In so long; I can't believe passing time that’s passing me.
Pass the mic so I can breathe. I'm drowning in the deep.
Resuscitate my breath and resurrect the best of me.
‘Cause there’s no light or glow left to keep me afloat.
Slowly sinking to the bottom, anchor tied around my throat and…
CHORUS - Cyle
Save me
‘Cause I’ve been lost at sea for so long.
Drifting away
As the sirens sing their songs.
BREAKDOWN - Cyle
Save me
‘Cause I’m lost in a sea of stars.
Drifting away
As the sirens steal my heart.
VERSE 2 – The Top Civilian
I’m shooting flares at heaven, hope God hears my call.
‘Cause nowadays I don’t talk to many friends at all.
The random Facebook posts are our sole interactions
And having real conversations: getting taken for granted.
You see words are magic as they vibrate from our lips.
And I’m scared for the generation we’re leaving our kids.
Why do hurt ourselves just to take away the pain?
Why do we choose to burn in hell just to dance with the flames?
…Of addictions that spin like pinwheels in the wind
Robbing me of my dreams as my inner light dims.
I pray the music I make shoots tingles up your spine.
Amplifying the way you’re feeling ‘til your heart’s inspired.
By more than sex, food and sleep, wasting money to buy things
You pretend will make you happy - but you’re still fucking crying.
Slowly dying at work, just to live check-to-check.
Drowning in the waves, hear my SOS (my SOS… SOS…)
CHORUS - Cyle
Save me
‘Cause I’ve been lost at sea for so long.
Drifting away
As the sirens sing their songs.
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Ghosts of Patrick Swayze Geneva, Nebraska
Acoustic Hip-Hop duo made up of The Top Civilian and Cyle. Better for the soul than chicken soup.
Ghosts of Patrick Swayze recommends:
LIFEmidCRISIS
by The Gateway Drug
The Top Civilian is also one third of The Gateway Drug, an award winning Hip-Hop group.
go to album
Falling On Def Ears
by B.R.E.W.
A true wordsmith and beatsmith, B.R.E.W. is a beast on the mic and behind the boards.
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