We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Half Life

by Hybird

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

about

Middle age, which is scary, but brings a whole lot of wisdom. Becoming a parent gives you a completely new perspective on your own parents and your childhood, and all the things like birth order, or how your parents communicated (or didn’t communicate) that turned you into what you are now. But the flip side is that you can get to this point in your life and have all the same insecurities and fears that you had as a kid. Writing and singing my own songs without a band, in secret, was where I started, in middle and high school. Before I even had a four track cassette studio, I was overdubbing on a double cassette boombox. Returning to this kind of writing, I felt like I was having a conversation with that kid, checking in, seeing what had changed and what had stayed the same. And it’s interesting because the lyrics came after the music, and were somewhat inspired by how I put that track together. My daughter Willa had gotten this toy Barbie guitar that played chords and riffs depending on which button you hit. I was sitting in her room one morning just playing a little sequence of chords and I was like… wait…that’s a song. So I went upstairs and recorded the chords, pitched them correctly (they were a little flat for some reason), chopped them up and resampled them. I eventually got Willa to add some children’s chorus at the very end. I just wanted the song to really feel like this conversation between adult and kid versions of me.

lyrics

Used to be a little boy
Same age as my daughter
Brother’s records on the stereo,
Never thought about birth order

Family like an army
You grow up a good soldier
You put on your uniform
You march where you’re ordered

Don’t fall back
Or you gotta make it up
Don’t talk back
Don’t ever interrupt

Flashlight was a microphone
Mirror was the camera eye
Boombox was a studio
Nothing felt like a lie, lie, lie

And those were my best days
And that was really me
That boy is hiding somewhere
That boy wants to be free

Don’t look back
Unless you’re mind’s made up
Don’t turn back
Unless you’re ready to grow up

Don’t look back
Unless you’re mind’s made up
Don’t turn back
Unless you’re ready to grow up

Under stars in my back yard
Family’s all asleep
I can think about the next day
But I can’t get too deep

Half life down the drain
I’m acting so strange
What if nobody thought of me?
What if nobody came?
Don’t react
Or you’ll look like the weak one
Stick to facts
Leave the feelings to the children
Don’t react
Or you’ll look like the weak one
Stick to facts
Leave the feelings to the children
Leave the feelings to the children
Leave the feelings to the children
Leave the feelings to the children
Leave the feelings to the children

credits

released March 23, 2017
Special thanks to Mattel for the Barbie Rock N Royals Guitar

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Hybird image

Hybird New Haven, Connecticut

H Y B I R D is an indiepop/folktronica artist from
New Haven, CT

Some things that interest me lyrically: the space between technology and nature; truth in a post-truth world; mundane personal mythologies.

contact / help

Contact Hybird

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Hybird, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now