Archival Permanence (by amadis)

from Fourth Strike Song Jam 2023 by Fourth Strike Records

Combination of Week 2 - inspired by 'Surrealism on TV' and other works by Robert Heinecken - and Week 3 - in the style of The Mountain Goats

Archival Permanence

lyrics, vocals, mixing/production by amadis lyrics, backing vocals by garf cello by jun guitar by moodyabyss

Few, maybe very few, 
will understand what it is 
that we did here

Our screens 
and their meanings
aren't exactly crystal clear

Some things will always end up 
buried where secrets go:

In the back of a busted worn out truck 
to a landfill deep in New Mexico

This is only one 
of several 
recordings

Take it as instruction
a lesson
a warning

Work all night 
into the morning

Recreate the meaning 
in the performing

Press play
Let yourself get carried away

Circulate the tapes
Whatever it takes
Don't let what we did here be erased
Keep it safe
Keep it


What you are seeing
Isn't exactly 
what we made

What you are hearing
Isn't exactly 
what we played

Even a body of work
Must eventually decay

It's in the act of perceiving 
that we interpolate

They will tell you
It's better left forgotten -
They're wrong

Hundreds of names in the credits
Hundreds of hours gone

Two hundred sixteen thirty five millimeter slides on the wall

20+ band members
Twenty times as many songs

Pick one
Wait for the click and the hum

Circulate the tapes!
Circulate the zines
Even if no one remains 
that remembers what they mean

Circulate the tapes
Whatever it takes
Don't let what we did here be erased
     (Don't let us be erased)
Keep it safe
Keep it


Can you still see me?
How much of my meaning 
has been retraced?
All these images replaced 
by a single static screen

Buy the name, kill the process
Then write it all off, lest
we let it exist
Tell me how can all of this
be better left unseen?

There's always gonna be dark spots 
in our history, so some one’s got
to save the things
they think that no one wants to see

Maybe sooner or later
all we made will have faded 
all it's architects long gone 

So take a copy and pass it on