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On The Impossible Past

by The Menzingers

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sentient meat
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sentient meat A great record with tons of great tunes. Casey hits hard with a punch of nostalgia and makes me miss old high school friends. Favorite track: Casey.
Zach Wells
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Zach Wells An introspective album with intelligent lyrics that make you both nostalgic and hopeful for the future at the same time. There are so many anthems on here that force me to press repeat more than once. Favorite track: The Obituaries.
luna_m
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luna_m This is one of those special albums that grows on you with each listen. Each song holds an important place in the album, and it's very easy to see how this record was frequently thrown into the AOTY conversation in 2012. Favorite track: Gates.
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1.
Good Things 02:23
I’ve been having a horrible time pulling myself together, I’ve been closing my eyes to find the old familiar failures. I’ve been closing my eyes to find why all good things should fall apart. Like when we would take rides in your American muscle car, I felt American for once in my life and I never felt it again. So all good things should fall apart.
2.
Here’s to you, the same chords that I stole From a song that I once heard The same melody I borrowed from the void I’d rather observe than structure a narrative The characters are thin, the plot does not develop It ends where it begins It’s on the screen, in paperbacks In section 8 and cul de sacs Electro haikus and drunk sonnets Are moving me along You cut my hair You left red ink everywhere Do my hands tell a story? Is it boring? What I’d give to force your sigh What I’d give to see you cry What I’d give for your caress To see your blue cotton dress Balled up on the floor Certain memories are the problem Certain drunken lines are the shame Seven hundred miles and four years I can’t fight the flame, it burns Was I wishing on satellites? Tell me how you’ve been doing that trick I’m just wishing the flame away Now I’m wishing the flame away
3.
We stumbled and stared at the carnival lights that lit up New York City, from a rooftop in Brooklyn that was covered in bad graffiti, and then I let a thousand splinters pierce right through my spoiled liver, or whatever that was left of it. I’ve cursed my lonely memory with picture perfect imagery, maybe I’m not dying I’m just living in decaying cities, but I’m still healthy, I’m still fine, and I’ve been spending all my time reading the obituaries. But I will fuck this up, I fucking know it. Because I am the shadow of the waxwing slain, I fell for the false azure of window panes, I am just freaking out, I’ll be fine. But I will fuck this up, I fucking know it.
4.
Gates 04:04
I am the pain that beats through your temples, every morning when you wake up. I am the boy with alcohol poisoning, from all the parties Chris was throwing that summer they took us in, like every other American, for getting drunk around back of a lions club, waiting for the shitty bands to finish up, and some kids played hacky sack while the others just got high. Its not hard to fall for a waitress, when you both smoke the same cigarettes, you’ll get seated as diners or lovers, you’ll get the check as friends for the better, you’ll carve your names into the Paupack cliffs just to read them when you get old enough to know that happiness is just a moment. So I’m marching up to your gates to today to throw my lonely soul away, cause I don’t need it you can take it back. And they will make examples out of us, like when they caught you in the CVS parking lot, but I fed the liars everything I got, in my cabinet brain of canned thoughts.
5.
Ava House 03:40
Ava are you trying to get high? I hope the floor holds this time We’ll dance in subtle romance together While we’re making our time While we’re making our time While we make our time I saw the knife, now I’m leaning forwards Straight city light cut me down to size The bums are scheming on their Tall Boys I can hardly open my eyes I saw the knife, now I’m leaning forwards I’m two wheels barreling down your way You can’t touch us we’re untouchable Lament the beginnings that we celebrate Never afraid, we’re fearless together The rest, they’re waiting their lives away Gold has us slurring and pissing out windows Enemies are so far away We’re alive Celebrate
6.
Sun Hotel 03:50
I remember you well at the Sun Hotel, where we were waiting impatiently for a decent nights sleep. Its like I’ve landed in the rubble of my past life and I’ve never seem to bought a return flight, from the shame, the fear, the guilt that’s tough to mention, the kind that always pries your eyelids open. I’m pretty sure this corner of the world is the loneliest corner in the whole world, maybe its me or the bartender, this Budweiser or the other customers. When all eyes are glued on the 6:00 news, for another fire and another successful deer season. I’ll leave you alone and you will leave me alone. I remember you well at the Sun Hotel, where we were running out of money, where we were grinding down our teeth.
7.
I remember when you came around I was younger, burning statues to the ground Now I’m older and tired, I no longer see the differences I remember the taste of the fruit Disremember all we knew Said we wanted to be interesting Then we fell asleep These days you’ll find me where the nectar is plenty The looks are cheap and the talk is heavy Where liars lie to themselves I remember You said, “Sometimes I need you around” You said that my conveniences are so convenient You said you wanted to be interesting Then you fell asleep Walk home single, seeing double
8.
You were an old friend, the kind I could confide in and drink with, on random neighbors porch steps, our glossy eyes painted portraits of the streets. You were an old friend, who covered up your innocence with bad tattoos, of all the bands you loved in high school, the ones you said that I had to listen to, all of the time. I did what I did to get away from this, cause everything that’s happened has left me a total wreck, and everything that I do now is meaningless, so I’m off to wander around the world for a little bit. Without 100 channels with nothing on the T.V., and the great pessimistic unknown. So does anyone know the best way to go, which road that I could take to get to Mexico, because I’m so sick of living in this ditch, with only the memory in the back of my head. I’m on cruise control and the radio was on, they were playing that song that we both learned on our Mexican Guitars. You were an old friend. On The Impossible Past We took rides in your American muscle car, I felt American, we shared our smokes, I held the wheel while you drank and drove, our plans were miserable. And then we crashed your car, your American muscle car, into a ditch on Saw Mill Road, there was ice on all the roads, we always dreamt of having nice things.
9.
10.
Nice Things 03:28
The western wall is a jumbo screen At the gate there is an automatic teller machine Sir, empty your pockets please before you file through The king and queen foreclosed on their crowns While the joker laughed and made his rounds He was drunk, carrying on self satisfied The western walls are closing in Are you happy, sane, are you rich are you thin? Dreaming their dreams? Singing songs of another time? Is your gold so strangely acquired? Has your name become known and desired? Have you degenerated? Are you running out of time? Do you want nice things? Sure you do Do you call nice things your own? Do you want them? Do you want to feel safe? Climb the wall, before the fall No one is waiting for, Nobody’s waiting, No one is waiting for you
11.
Casey 03:41
I sat and thought about you on the long ride back to Philly, from the way you’d wear your hair to the way that you’d laugh when you drank too much, before the plug was pulled, the fire burned out, and all the parties grew bored, you waited tables and I waited for your shift breaks. Gin and Casey used to dance inside me and I know I sound like a broken record every time I open my mouth, I want to wander around the city with you again when you waited tables and I waited for your shift breaks. Me and Casey used to get drunk before we did the dishes every evening, Me and Casey used to get high and listen to our boredom, because it was so much easier than dealing with everything. So Casey, tell me when you’re ready I’m all packed to go, to search for that old place we found forever ago, we could take my car Casey shes still got the spirit, we could live and no longer just have to hear it.
12.
Well the silence hasn’t been broken as we reach the point of utter disgust, as the weeks drag on, the lies unfold, the alcohol loses its touch, and I once held your words so close to my heart with a knife protecting all of them, but now we made our beds in a deep dense forest where sound won’t ever take the blame. As I dig my hands through the cold dark dirt in a search for whats now lost forever, with one last great hope of a messiah I check the time and admit to the surrender terms, remember the days when I had a conscience, yeah me neither, I’m warning you. That I can’t seem to tell if it’s my head of the earth that’s spinning around.
13.
Amy was a waitress at The Fire Street Grill Up route 611 she was slaving for the pill Oxy’s got her pupils pinned up A junkie centerfold With grey hairs and a death wish She was 22 years old Had it all, took the fall, had it all, took the fall Specialist Jeg, a much more honest man than you Came back from the desert where he never found the truth Now he screeches tires, fills his head with alcohol While the morbid brown faces hang like portraits on the wall Had it all, he took the fall, had it all, THEY took it all Something happened on the way to hell, the new guard they took my sister Something happened on the way to hell, the old guard they took my brother away Something happened on the way to hell, the same greed it took our parents Something happened on the way to hell, the west wall it took us with it McTiernan was a good ol’ boy, he cheated and he skimmed “A favor for a favor, it can’t be called a sin” Some may see it different, and some don’t see at all When the papers started calling he closed his eyes and took the fall Had it all, took the fall, had it all, took the fall Now we’re standing on the ledge and we’re looking at the ground I feel my body breaking on the asphalt, hear the sound Red and blue lights screaming saying “Step up off that ledge” So we wrap our hearts up in our heads and take the fall instead Had it all, took the fall, had it all, took the fall

credits

released February 21, 2012

Recorded in the fall of 2011 at Atlas Studios in Chicago IL.

Produced and mixed by Matt Allison
Engineered by Justin Yates
Mastered by Dave Collins
Band Photo by Daniel Muller
Layout by John Yates
Cover Photo by Mark Cohen

All songs by The Menzingers except "Casey" by The Menzingers and Daniel Zezeski
JAGALOON JIVE (ASCAP)

The Menzingers are:
Tom May - Guitar, Vocals
Greg Barnett - Guitar, Vocals, Glockenspiel
Joe Godino - Drums
Eric Keen - Bass

Web: themenzingers.com | facebook.com/themenzingers | twitter.com/themenzingers
Merch: kingsroadmerch.com/themenzingers

Would like to thank: Our Family and Friends for propping us up in great times and in bad, everyone across the country and the world who has been kind and receptive to us in every way one can imagine, there is not enough space to thank you all! Toby Jeg at Red Scare Industries, Matt Allison and Justin Yates at Atlas Studios, Tony Godino, Scott Bell, Jon Murphy, Tim Zahodski and Carl Severson at Good Fight Entertainment, Ryan O’Connor at Think Fast! Booking, Phil Battiato, Tim Borror, and Tom Taffe at Agency Group, Brett and everyone at Epitaph, Vanessa Burt at Mutiny PR, Adam Kreeft at Kreeft Booking, Daniel Zezeski, Above Them, Against Me!, Algernon Cadwallader, Amy Opsasnick, Andy Clarke, Andy Nelson and R5 Productions, Anti Flag, Ava House (RIP), Bomb the Music Industry!, Boy Sets Fire, Brendan, Neil, and Chris of The Lawrence Arms, Broadway Calls, Captain We’re Sinking!, Cassie Podish, Cheap Girls, Chris Moran, Cobra Skulls, Colin Lodwick, Dan Hendricks, Dave March, Dead End Path, Dead to Me, Elway, Evan Hughes, Fake Problems, Glocca Morra, Go Rydell, HearNebraska.org, Highlights, How Dare You, Irie Idea, Jeremy Meyers at Jump Start, Jesse Cannon, Jonathon Juneau, Justin August, Kate Hiltz, The Bouncing Souls, Katie Degroote-Jeg, Kieran Kelly, Keith and Chelsea Mae Yosco, Keith Mahone, Kite Party, Leagues Apart, Lee Corey Oswald, Less Than Jake, Lock and Key Collective, Look Mexico, Luther, Make Out Party Records, Make Do and Mend, Mightier Than the Sword Records, NOFX, Nick Fanelli and Dead Industry, Nimbus Terrifix, One Win Choice, Outbreak, Paint it Black, Red City Radio, Restorations, Rise Against, Scott Engel at Russo Music (Asbury Park NJ), Sharks, Shop Radiocast, Static Radio, Teenage Bottlerocket, The Arteries, The Bombpops, The FEST, The Flatliners, The Gaslight Anthem, The Holy Mess, Love Drunk Videos, The Riot Before, The Sidekicks, The Wonder Years, Three Man Cannon, Tigers Jaw, Title Fight, Tony and Cam at No Idea, Touche Amore, White Wives, WKDU 91.7FM Philly, We Would NOT Like to Thank Laura Stevenson and the Cans. We Would Also Like to Send Our Greatest Appreciation to Kazuma at FGN Guitars, Evan O'Brien at LAG Acoustic Guitars, Derek Brooks at Ernie Ball, Chad Brandolini at Vater Percussion, Dan Bruck at KRK Systems, Steve Lobmeier at Evans Drum Heads, and Adam & Bob at Innes Clothing.

Management: Tim Zahodski & Carl Severson for Good Fight Entertainment
U.S. Booking: Phil Battiato and Tim Borror for The Agency Group
Canadian Booking: Adam Kreeft for Kreeft Booking
International Booking: Tom Taaffe for the Agency Group
Publicity: Jessica Giordano for Epitaph
Legal: Bryan K. Christner
A&R: Brett Gurewitz

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The Menzingers Scranton, Pennsylvania

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