SIDE A:
1) Targets of your Ridicule
2) Making Friends with the Universe
3) These 4 Walls
4) Spinning Plates
5) Rockn' Rolling
6) Walked Away

SIDE B:
7) Garden Girl
8) Let the Dirt Fall
9) Shoes and Human Animals
10) Shut Your Mouth
11) Frown
12) Speak Your Mind

TARGETS OF YOUR RIDICULE
If we could read each other’s minds
We’d know what’s real and what’s a lie
We’d see the dreams we hold inside
That the world can never see
That the world can never see
But we know nothing
Is that something to shout about? I don't know.
We’re both imbeciles pretending, to be fools.
Targets of your ridicule.
If we knew each other’s past
We’d know the hurt and lack of trust
We have for those that we pass
As we walk along the street
As we walk along the street
But we know nothing
Is that something to shout about? I don't know.
We’re both imbeciles pretending, to be fools.
Targets of your ridicule.

MAKING FRIENDS WITH THE UNIVERSE
In deepest space, there's a smiling face
It holds me by the hand, to help me stand.
Imploding suns begin to run,
Past the point of no return
It’s a love, that I haven’t earned.
So I'm making friends with the Universe
The end is just another start
In the blackest holes, are restless souls
Caressed by cosmic dust
The satellites begin to rust.
Rocket ships on amazing trips
Dance round the sun.
As asteroids collide in God's mind
But he's not playing...
So I'm making friends with the Universe
The end is just another start

THESE 4 WALLS
If I was genetically altered
I’d withstand psychological torture
If my wings weren’t clipped, I’d leave this place
I’d start again without any trace.
I fell in love with something too rich for my blood
I can tell you now that it wasn’t drugs, though I wish it was!
I fell in love with something I can’t explain
These 4 walls are home in this cell I must remain.
I’ve got a broken bone of contention
And my leg needs medical attention
If my brain wasn’t “chipped” I’d move away
But I can’t so I guess I’ll stay.
I fell in love with something too rich for my blood
I can tell you now that it wasn’t drugs, though I wish it was!
I fell in love with something I can’t explain
These 4 walls are home in this cell I must remain.

SPINNING PLATES
Yeah everyone's spinning plates, hoping to not break them
Yeah everyone is spinning plates, I watch them hit the floor
Well everything moves in slow motion, at important times of life
interviews for a job you'd kill for, or the girl you'd ask out twice
Yeah everyone's spinning plates, hoping to not break them
Yeah everyone is spinning plates, I watch them hit the floor
The world revolves on its own axis, it doesn't revolve around me
Cos evolutions like a taxi, that we can share and split the money
Round and round they go...
Yeah everyone's spinning plates, hoping to not break them
Yeah everyone is spinning plates, I watch them hit the floor

ROCKN' ROLLING
I've taught my brain to go insane, when I hear the radio
All love is free and there's no sea, so I dive into my soul
There's nothing better than rock'n roll...
There's nothing better than rock'n roll...
My heart's a song and I belong, wrapped in joker's smile
My head's a bomb when the engine's on, so let's drive this baby for miles
There's nothing better than rock'n roll...
There's nothing better than rock'n roll...
There's nothing better than rock'n roll...
There's nothing better than rock'n roll...

WALKED AWAY
When I picture what we had, I can’t help but cry
Don’t want the world to see my face, but there’s no place to hide
I made a hole in my soul for you
But you didn’t want to jump through
I cut my heart into pieces
But you just walked away
I remember all the laughter, and all the good times
It hurts so much I cannot cope, just makes me want to die
I made a hole in my soul for you
You didn’t want to jump through
I cut my heart into pieces
But you just walked away
Guess I should give up the ghost, and I should say goodbye
Put the bottle back on the shelf, wipe the tears off my old life
Yeah I made a hole in my soul for you
You didn’t want to jump through
I cut my heart into pieces girl
But you just walked away

GARDEN GIRL
Don’t feed the birds or the sharks
Don’t walk on water, don’t walk on grass
Don’t you cry and don’t you laugh
Don’t lose your mind, oh yeah
I don’t really know where, the world is going
Or what I hold in my hands, so I’m just making plans
Can't you understand? Oh yeah, let’s get to it!
I’m not climbing on the walls, so don’t you treat me like
Don’t treat me like a fool. Cos we’re not in school.
C’mon show me the garden girl, and your roses made from stone
I’ve been getting tired, and need a brand new home
Can you hear the music? Can you feel the noise?
Can you hear the music? Can you feel the noise?
Yeah, let’s get to it!
I’m not climbing on the walls, so don’t you treat me like
Don’t treat me like a fool. Cos we’re not in school.
C’mon show me the garden girl, and your roses made from stone
I’ve been getting tired, and need a brand new home

LET THE DIRT FALL
Squeeze my coffin, and hold me close
I’m six feet under, so I hold my nose
Oh I’m not dead, I was buried alive
I didn’t kill myself, I was killing time
So let the dirt fall, over my head, over my head, over my head,
And become my bed
Squeeze my coffin, and bury me deep
With all the items, I would love to keep
Oh I’m not dead, I'm just dead tired
I'm sick of life, and all the liars
So let the dirt fall, over my head, over my head, over my head,
And become my bed
So let the dirt fall, over my head, over my head, over my head,
And become my bed
So let the dirt fall, over my head, over my head, over my head,
And become my bed
And become my bed

SHUT YOUR MOUTH
There’s an accident waiting to happen
There's a drunken surgeon who wants to perform
There’s a scandal here that's in the making
Take a million dollars and tell no one
Oh woe is me so please no photos
I sold my story and sold my soul
Oh woe is me so please no photos
I sold my story for a pot of gold
And my kidneys went to the highest bidder
Not the sickest child, but that’s the way it goes
And my kidneys went to the highest bidder
Not the sickest child, but that’s the way it goes
Shut your mouth, I’ll grease your palms
Just shut the door and walk away
Pretend you didn’t see a thing, and everything will be O.K.

SHOES AND HUMAN ANIMALS
I wasn’t born yesterday, but tomorrow I could die
I wasn’t home when you called, do you think that I’d lie
I try to breathe when I can, when my claws allows me to
I wasn’t born with a silver spoon, where are my fangs?
Where are my shoes?
Quit staring at me, I know you hate me!
That’s why you keep biting me, you’re just like a Zombie!
This world of ours beneath the stars, is full of human animals.
I wasn’t born with a silver spoon, where are my fangs?
Where are my shoes?
I wasn’t born I was made by science in a lab
I was driving in my car when I should have been in rehab
I try to rest when I can, sometimes I lie beside a tomb
I wasn’t born with a silver spoon, where are my fangs?
Where are my shoes?
Quit staring at me, I know you hate me!
That’s why you keep biting me, you’re just like a Zombie!
This world of ours beneath the stars, is full of human animals.
I wasn’t born with a silver spoon, where are my fangs?
Where are my shoes?

FROWN
Life chewed me up and spat me out, and laughed at me as the world
Called me names and played its games with me, I’m just part of the flock
The shepherd tells me where to walk, I’d like to scream but I can’t talk
Life plays its games with me, life plays its games
The door in my mind is off its hinges
They can sell you love inside syringes
Then steal your dreams legally, steal your dreams legally
So where does the magic go, when the show ends and we all go home?
Where do the good times go, when the bad times come to town?
If a smile's worth a million dreams then how much for this frown?
How much for this frown?
How much for this frown?
How much for this frown?
How much for this frown?

SPEAK YOUR MIND
What you do and say, are two different things
You say bad when you mean good, it gets confusing...
We're only here for a short time
So we should try and enjoy our lives
If there's a reason then there's a rhyme
And we can just speak our minds
We're only here for a short time
So we should try and enjoy our lives
If there's a reason then there's a rhyme
And we can just speak our minds
People act like love and hate, are just the same
Left is right and up is down, black and white and gray.
In your right hand, you hold a knife, in your left, you hold a rose
Its like fire and ice, intent remains unknown...
We're only here for a short time
So we should try and enjoy our lives
If there's a reason then there's a rhyme
And we can just speak our minds
We're only here for a short time
So we should try and enjoy our lives
If there's a reason then there's a rhyme
And we can just speak our minds
 

Work on Making Friends with the Universe started in fall 2017. Jim and Sean pulled some old songs to start recording, these included Targets of your Ridicule, Rockn' Rolling, Walked Away, Shut Your Mouth, Shoes and Human Animals, and Frown. With a good start for tracks, Jim and Sean started writing new material for the album including, Making Friends with the Universe, These 4 Walls, Spinning Plates, Let the Dirt Fall, Garden Girl, and Speak Your Mind. The instrument tracks were roughed in by fall 2018. New studio equipment expanded the number of mics and tube preamps on the drums allowing Sean to capture a dynamic drum set sound. With the help of Joe Ridgway, Sean bought a Korg minilogue 4-voice Analog Synthesizer and album’s textures took on a new sound. By late 2019 and early 2020 final vocals began to bring the tracks all together and hours of mixing followed. Jake Shives and Ben Zito lended their ears to the mix, with Ben doing the final mastering at his studio, Centennial Sound. Making Friends with the Universe is by far Jim and Sean’s best written, recorded and produced album.

Released June 25, 2020
Recorded and Mixed 10/2017 - 06/2020 at Viaduct Studios
Special thanks to Jake Shives for his ear on the mix
Mastered by Ben Zito at Centennial Sound  - centennialsound.com
All songs written, produced and copyrighted by Dunlop/Radford 2020
Cover art and guitar lead on Rockn' Rolling by Hill Dunlop
Published by Monkey Chomp 2020
Represented by Viaduct Records

WATCH "SIDE A" OF ALBUM

WATCH "SIDE B" OF ALBUM

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