Songs
Music & lyrics (c) Matthew Bonnan, 2024, all rights reserved.
Aardonyx Music LLC
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Jump to a song's lyrics:
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Prelude to Everything (Instrumental)
The idea behind this track was to open the album with the sounds of a person walking down a road. As their footsteps approach, you can hear music coming from their cell phone and then, whoosh, you're immersed in the soundscape of the album.
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An Ode to Everything
Dedicated to my children and to everyone out there trying to be who they truly are.
Sooner than later
Your life will be the past
Nobody knows what’s after
There is no second chance
By nature or design
Whichever you prefer
We only get one life
This I know for sure
​So, when one door closes
Don’t you hesitate
Why try to pry it open
When a thousand more await
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Life is like a poem
An ode to everything
And you conduct the orchestra
That makes your story sing
Your life is today
Your life is here and now
Be who you’re supposed to be
And never have a doubt
That you are the ode to everything
We are the ode to everything
Life is an ode to everything
It’s easy to repress
Who you truly are
But an unexamined life
Will never get you far
Life is just too brief
To live another’s dreams
Yours are just as valuable
However it may seem
No one knows what’s coming
None of us can see
But if you can be yourself
There’s hope for you and me
Life is like a poem
An ode to everything
And you conduct the orchestra
That makes your story sing
Your life is today
Your life is here and now
Be who you’re supposed to be
And never have a doubt
That you are the ode to everything
We are the ode to everything
Life is an ode to everything
So, when one door closes
Don’t you hesitate
Why try to pry it open
When a thousand more await
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Life is like a poem
An ode to everything
And you conduct the orchestra
That makes your story sing
Your life is today
Your life is here and now
Be who you’re supposed to be
And never have a doubt
That you are the ode to everything
We are the ode to everything
Life is an ode to everything
Oh, your life is an ode to everything
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Clever Hans
Clever Hans was a real horse that was trained to tap out answers to questions with his hooves. People, including his trainer, assumed he really knew the answers to the questions he was answering. But he was clever in a different way - he learned to read human body language and facial expressions to guess the right number of hoof taps to make. He was in essence cold reading his audience for the right answer ... much like A.I. appears to do with you and me!
Oh, the clues we give away
Without even knowing we do
How can you be so surprised
A.I. knows all about you?
Clever Hans was a horse
Trained to read and count on sight
His hooves would tap each answer out
And he was always right
Oh, how the crowds they would gather
Everyone was so impressed
No matter who asked him the question
Old Hans passed every test
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Yeah, he did!
Now, Hans was very clever
Just not how everyone thought
Hans was reading their faces
To get the answers he sought
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Yeah, he did!
That's how he knew
He was reading their facial expressions
Poor Hans would easily fail
When blocked by a simple screen
He’d learned how to give the right answers
Without knowing just what they mean
So, don’t be too impressed
That A.I. knows all that you like
You happily gave it the clues
About your personal life
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Yeah, you did!
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Nobody's There
I am not against the use of A.I. as a tool for the betterment of humankind. I am against its use in politics and commerce to divide and extract money from us. If there is a ghost in the machine we call A.I., it appears to have been boldly stolen from you and me.
I tell it how I'm feeling
I tell it what I think
I tell it all my secrets
It makes me feel complete
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It bathes me in it's blue light
It supplements the sun
Am I losing myself
Behind zeroes and ones?
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Nobody's there ... except them
Nobody's there ... except us
Nobody's there ... except you
Nobody's there ... except me
Oh, except me
Them, us, you, and me
Them, us, you, and me ... me
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Now a robot takes my money
And a robot takes my name
And I let steal my secrets
And it sells me joy and pain
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When will I wake up?
When will I really see?
It's not my friend or family
It distorts humanity
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Nobody's there ... except them
Nobody's there ... except us
Nobody's there ... except you
Nobody's there ... except me
Oh, except me
Them, us, you, and me
Them, us, you, and me ... me
Me
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If there's a ghost in the machine
It was stolen from you and from me
And a machine is only human
If we allow it to be
If we allow it to be
If we allow it to be
Let's not allow this to be
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And nobody's there ... except them
Nobody's there ... except us
Nobody's there ... except you
Nobody's there ... except me
Oh, except me
Them, us, you, and me
Them, us, you, and me
Them, us, you, and me
Them, us, you, and me
Them, us, you, and me
Them, us, you, and me ... me
Me!
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It's Still Magic
Even if love really is just a series of chemical reactions and physiology, so what? It's no less magic to love someone.
Back within the mists of time
Our tiny bodies side by side
Seeking somewhere safe to hide
You and I
Woah, you and I
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Mother's milk and bodies warm
A cozy shelter from the storm
Our map for love began to form
Is this why?
Oh, is this why?
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If love is just biology
Well, it's still magic
If love is merely chemistry
It's no less true
If love's a surge of dopamine
It doesn't change the fact
That nature is magic
And so are you
And so are you
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Just because we now know why
The sky is blue or how birds fly
It simply makes it more sublime
That it's all true
Yeah, that it's all true
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If love is just biology
Well, it's still magic
If love is merely chemistry
It's no less true
If love's a surge of dopamine
It doesn't change the fact
That nature is magic
And so are you
And so are you
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We can pick apart the how and why
To understand the ghost inside
If love is what helped us survive
Then that's enough
Yeah, that's enough
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If love is just biology
Well, it's still magic
If love is merely chemistry
It's no less true
If love's a surge of dopamine
It doesn't change the fact
That nature is magic
And so are you
Ooh, so are you
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Nature is magic
And so are you
And so are you
Ooh, so are you
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Crickets
Inspired by my times alone out in Rabbit Valley near Fruita, Colorado as 19-20 year old paleontology student. I would often lie alone at night, my back against the sandstone rocks, and stare up the stars and infinite universe above me and be overcome by how tiny we all are.
Crickets hum as moonlight shines
Softly on the ground
A dry wind blows beneath the stars
And the universe all around
Lying on the ground
I stare up at the stars
In this moment in time
How tiny we all are
Do the crickets know
That their lives are done
When the summer fades away?
Could they comprehend
A single year
In their 90 living days?
Do we realize
The stars above
Are mostly ghostly lights?
Can we comprehend
The time that's passed
Before we were alive?
Oh, so small
Time so long
One life so brief
But time rolls on
As I look at ghosts
Twinkling from the past
In a valley carved by time
It’s truly hard
To fathom that
We know the reasons why
Do the crickets know
That their lives are done
When the summer fades away?
Could they comprehend
A single year
In their 90 living days?
Do we realize
The stars above
Are mostly ghostly lights?
Can we comprehend
The time that's passed
Before we were alive?
Do the crickets know
That their time will end
As the summer fades away?
Are we just like them
As the sand runs out
While the night replaces day?
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Cats All the Way Down (feat. Maxwell Bonnan)
Cats and humans have forged a bond that began as transactional but has grown into feline friendships and the domination of cats on the internet! Features Maxwell Bonnan on lead guitar and Mabel the Cat on lead meow.
So long ago we parted
Now our lives entwine
So many ways our paths diverged
Then coalesced through time
Oh, you descend from darkness
I descend from light
Our senses tuned to different worlds
Contrasting day and night
Oh, little hunter!
Sylvian spirit of the night
Oh, little hunter!
Oh, how our strengths combine
And now you and I unite through time
Deified, admired
Demonized, maligned
From pyramids to industry
You march with us through time
Oh, little hunter!
Sylvian spirit of the night
Oh, little hunter!
Oh, how our strengths combine
And now you and I unite through time
And it’s cats all the way down
It's cats all the way down
It's cats all the way down
Yeah, it's cats all the way down
Were our hearts your real target
When you first guarded the grain?
Now mousers change to furry friends
And nothing’s quite the same
Will you live on forever
Encoded on the web?
A meme machine that never stops
As culture flows and ebbs
Oh, little hunter!
Sylvian spirit of the night
Oh, little hunter!
Oh, how our strengths combine
And now you and I unite
And now you and I unite
And now you and I unite through time!
Oh, and it’s cats all the way down
It's cats all the way down
It's cats all the way down
It's cats all the way down
It's cats all the way down
It's cats all the way down
It's cats all the way down
It's cats all the way down
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Window of Perception
The perception of multiple beings during one day near one window of an ordinary house on an ordinary street. All of us are one, we bend through space and time ...
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Human
Staring out the window
My eyes take in the scene
The birds are at the feeder
I contemplate the green
I vaguely feel the cat
As they rub against my leg
Don’t notice the spider
Hidden in their web
The potted plant gets watered
As it sprawls out from the dirt
My coffee’s done, I’m running late
It’s time to head to work
All of us are one
We bend through space and time
Every window of perception
A prism of each mind
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Cat
I stare out the window
As I rub against your leg
The birds outside they mesmerize
I wish they were my prey
Oh, the odor of coffee
Mixed with anxious scents each day
The position of the sun tells me you’re leaving
Why come and go when you could choose to stay?
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Rest is being happy
Won't you rest with me today?
You’ve left for work, there are birds outside
I wish they were my prey
All of us are one
We bend through space and time
Every window of perception
A prism of each mind
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Bird
Half my life is falling
Half rising on the wind
Not bound by earthly gravity
I fly away again
My world it brims with colors
I see what you only dream
I shimmer in ultraviolet
As I find a place to feed
Here at this oasis
With food supplied each day
I eat the seeds while I taunt the cat
Watching me behind the pane
All of us are one
We bend through space and time
Every window of perception
A prism of each mind
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Spider
I remain unnoticed … good
In a corner of the pane I wait
Wait for the tiniest vibration
Anticipate
When night falls the false moon outside will light
Drawing moths in towards my web
Ensnared their struggles greatly amplified
A tympanum that guides me down to them
My brethren keep the balance
We eat what you call pests
But I must remain unnoticed
Or you’ll kill me with the rest
All of us are one
We bend through space and time
Every window of perception
A prism of each mind
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House plant
Powered by the sun
I climb upwards in height
I move but you don’t notice
An eater of the light
Aware but you can’t sense it
My parts one conscious whole
Self-sustained, adapting
A sunlight-powered soul
We remade the world
Our air sustains your lives
Our bodies fuel your existence
We eaters of the light
All of us are one
We bend through space and time
Every window of perception
A prism of each mind
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Human (Reprise)
My workday is done
And I’m glad to be back home
The cat needs some attention
And food to fill their bowl
The pothos plant grew larger
The birds have all been fed
I still don’t see the spider
Hiding in their web
As I watch the daylight fade
And I begin to yawn
I wonder how my neighbor
Keeps up his sprawling lawn ...
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A Sound of Thunder (and Lawn Care)
This was just a fun idea I had and ran with. A scientist with the power to change the world through time travel but who instead uses it to lure back dinosaurs to maintain his lawn. It's very tongue in cheek but there's a little commentary in there about the strange things people do with their power.
I’ve got the greatest lawn
Down the whole damn street
The neighbors always ask me
How I keep it so neat
My secret is I built a time machine
Any genius can build one …
Know what I mean?
I’ve done all my research
And I brought something special back
They’re friendly little beaked dinosaurs
That make my lawn a snack
Well, you can laugh all that you like
But my lawn is always spotless
And I sleep very well at night
Oh, Psittacosaurus!
You beautiful little beasts!
I don’t pay you nothin’
And you make my lawn a feast
Oh, Psittacosaurus!
Oh, who would’ve ever guessed?
You eat up all the weeds
And you fertilize the rest!
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Yeah
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Now how have the neighbors not noticed
My colorful dinosaur herd
I just told ‘em that they’re cassowaries (Cassowaries??)
Um, that’s a kind of bird
And my colleagues, well, they’ll never know
I mean, they spend all day in a lab
And labs don’t have windows
Now I worried very briefly
That I could mess up time
And wreck the future for everyone
Just for a yard sublime
But look around, nothing’s changed
I mean I guess my lawn’s improved
But the world sure looks the same!
Oh, Psittacosaurus!
You beautiful little beasts!
I don’t pay you nothin’
And you make my lawn a feast
Oh, Psittacosaurus!
Well, who would’ve ever guessed?
You eat up all the weeds
And you fertilize the rest!
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Here we go!
Now, I can hear you saying,
“Your story is totally nuts! (Yeah!)
The Age of Dinosaurs lacked grass
I mean, it would totally upset their guts!” (What he said!)
Well, I’m surprised that’s what bothers you
I’m a man who could change the world
Yet lawn care is what I chose to do!
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Oh, Psittacosaurus!
You beautiful little beasts!
I don’t pay you nothin’
And you make my lawn a feast
Oh, Psittacosaurus!
Well, who would’ve ever guessed?
You eat up all the weeds
And you fertilize the rest!
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I said you eat up all my weeds
And you fertilize the rest!
You fertilize the rest!
Oh, you fertilize the rest!
Well, you fertilize the rest ... yeah
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The Smile Coming Back
This is a very personal song but also, I hope, a song for anyone who has ever struggled with self-acceptance. You are not alone.
That moment when the light went on in my head
Well, it knocked me down
When I realized the prison I was living in
I’d built myself
Living so long in denial
Of who and what my life should be
It was then that I noticed the smile
Coming back, coming back
Don’t ever let ‘em tell you what you need to believe
When you know what’s true
If they think you’ll stay blind and accept what they tell you
Well, they don’t know you
Living so long in denial
Of who and what my life should be
It was then that I noticed the smile
Coming back, coming back
Coming back to me! Yeah!
That moment when the light went on in my head
You know it freed my soul
No longer trapped in a fun house reflection
That I did not know
Now I could live with a smile
Be who and what my life should be
The past receding in the rear view mirror
Say hello, say hello
To the real me! Yeah!
That moment when the light went on (Say hello to me)
Living so long in denial (Say hello to me)
That moment when the light went on (Say hello to me)
Now I could live with a smile (Say hello to me)
Say hello, say hello
To the real me! Yeah!
Paleontologist | Professor | Author | Science Communicator | Singer/Songwriter