Lyrics: Jamie Paige
Music: Jamie Paige
I spend my hours doing alchemy
I mix my yellows and my blues to make a shade of green
prosaic practice of depravity
suspending innocents above their disbelief
I wish that I could paint a pretty picture onto everything
and leave a mark upon the world that felt like anything
but maybe that's the essence of an artist and their legacy
just chasing down a sense of infamy
put brush to canvas with a pirouette
a simple motion makes the consequence intricate
all the little nothings and my parapet
I hope it's something that you don't forget
cadmium red is the ground beneath
cadmium orange, everything I see
cadmium yellow is the air I breathe
cadmium colors painted inside me
I can make autumn from a single leaf
steal a fine picture like a first class thief
make the water work like you won't believe
find a new world that can set you free
how could anybody ever live like me?
I spend my hours doing alchemy
I make a life refining zinc inside the smeltery
It's not exactly where I want to be
but wanting doesn't matter when there's mouths to feed
I wish that I could paint a pretty picture of a fantasy
and turn a feeling to a living for my family
instead I make the metals in the pigments in my reverie
and maybe that can be enough for me
oh, isn't it funny facing destiny?
it's like a knife inside twisting my arteries
god, I want for nothing but identity
I think that something might be wrong with me
cadmium red is the ground beneath
cadmium orange, everything I see
cadmium yellow is the air I breathe
cadmium colors painted inside me
antegrade fever, 101 degrees
shatter my body with a gentle breeze
dammit, I am real and i have my dreams
watch me burn brighter 'til I fail to breathe
how could anybody ever live like me?
(baby, do you know what it's like to die?)
(to see the sparkle fade from inside your eye?)
I can't remember what it's like to feel autonomy
can't even feel it in the moments that you left to me
(I don't wanna leave with a work undone)
(the paint can barely dry 'fore it fills my lungs)
I keep a bullet in the chamber, mocking me
but I don't wanna feel it coming out of me
I don't want-
I spend my hours doing alchemy
I mix my yellows and my blues to make a shade of green
chasing impossible philosophy
and hoping that this poison ain't the death of me
cadmium red is the ground beneath
cadmium orange, everything I see
cadmium yellow is the air I breathe
cadmium colors painted inside me
I can make autumn from a single leaf
steal a fine picture like a first class thief
make the water work like you won't believe
find a new world that can set you free
how could anybody ever live like-
(baby, do you know what you wanna hear?)
('cause you can say the word, make it oh so clear)
we're all just searching for a sense of solidarity
to hold each other close and confiscate our destiny
(no one wants to leave with a work undone)
(we only need a brush we can pass along)
I kept a bullet in the chamber for a rainy day
but what's the point in planning for it anyway?
I've got too many colors for a shade of grey
and I can make it autumn every single day!