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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

Link to Music Video

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)

Link to Music Video

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

 

  • 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

 

  • 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

 

  • 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

 

  • 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)

Link to Music Video

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

Link to Music Video

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!

An Ode to Everything
Clever Hans
Nobody's There
It's Still Magic
Crickets
Cats All the Way Down
Window of Perception
Sound of Thunder
The Smile Coming Back

Matthew F. Bonnan, Ph.D.

Paleontologist | Professor | Author | Science Communicator | Singer/Songwriter

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