The Cheese is Structural
Gerald Potts sits on an uncomfortable cushion and does not move. He has been in a parking garage for four hours. He is not lost — he knows exactly where he is, and that’s the problem. Five tracks of deadpan existential dispatch: clocks ticking for no one, certificates of completion for things never attended, the persistent suspicion that everyone else might be robots. The absurdism is the point. The mundanity is the knife.
Tracks
- 01 The cheese is structural 2:36
Lyrics
[Intro] The cheese is structural. The cheese is structural. [Verse 1] Woke up Tuesday, forgot what hands are Called my landlord, he was made of cold stars Thirteen pigeons in a business meeting Someone's always leaving, someone's always leaving [Pre-Hook] I said okay~ I said okay~ The elevator wanted to talk today [Verse 2] My nemesis works at a smoothie place Every morning, perfect blender, perfect face I owe a debt to a man I've never met He knows what I did and he hasn't told me yet [Hook] The floor is wet but only for me The floor is wet but only for me Everybody else is fine, everybody's fine The floor is WET but only for me~ [Verse 3] Received a certificate of completion For something I didn't attend The font was Comic Sans Which somehow made it worse Which somehow made it worse [Bridge] ...I have been in this parking garage for four hours. I'm not lost. I know exactly where I am. That's the problem. [Hook] The floor is wet but only for me The floor is wet but only for me Everybody else is fine, everybody's fine The floor is WET but only for me~ [Outro] The cheese is structural... okay~ okay~ the floor is wet... certificate of completion... I know exactly where I am... the cheese is structural... okay~
- 02 The smell of today 2:16
Lyrics
42:T48e,[Intro - slow, almost reverent] The smell of today is... ...no. Never mind. [Verse 1] Something on the ceiling caught my attention I was already on the floor so I let it The start of the end started sometime last week I marked it on the calendar in the wrong month [Verse 2] Went outside to see the leaves Stood there for a while February doesn't care what you were expecting February has never cared [Hook] Have you seen the clocks tick they tick all night long have you seen the clocks tick there's nothing wrong they're just ticking they tick have you seen them tick~ [Verse 3] I can taste the ceiling which tells me something I'm not sure what it tells me but I've made a note of it [Bridge] When does the end of the start of the end ...end. [Hook] Have you seen the clocks tick they tick all night long have you seen the clocks tick there's nothing wrong they're just ticking they tick have you seen them tick~ [Outro] February... the ceiling... a note has been made... the clocks... they tick... I think i have... have been here... the whole time...
- 03 Cushion 2:22
Lyrics
[Intro] I sat on a cushion yesterday. It wasn't very comfortable. I stayed anyway. [Verse 1] I could have moved it was within my power to move the cheese puffs were right there I could have gotten up for the cheese puffs but to fix the cushion no that wasn't happening [Verse 2] The days are longer than the nights or maybe I die every night and come back every morning I don't believe in dreams I've never had one but I hear they're nice [Hook] Are they all robots~ I think they're all robots are they all robots~ I think they're all robots it would explain several things [Verse 3] I made it to the store it was an act of congress which isn't really relevant anymore congress is congress is what it is what business is that of mine [Bridge] The cushion is still there. I'll sit on it again tomorrow. Nothing will have changed. I find this acceptable. [Hook] Are they all robots~ I think they're all robots are they all robots~ I think they're all robots it would explain several things [Outro] I was going to say something else about the cushion there was a point I wanted to make it was a good point actually it was about the nature of discomfort and
- 04 Eyes 2:59
Lyrics
[Intro] There's a sound in here someone left on not loud enough to hear on purpose but it's in the room and so am I so I suppose we're both committed now [Verse 1] Ten inches of nothing on every side someone measured that held something flat against the empty part and decided how much empty was correct The thing in the middle is smaller than my hand it has been centered I checked not on purpose but I checked [Hook] There's a word for it~ I think it's French~ I don't speak French but I'd know it if I heard it~ [Verse 2] Red pen on newsprint wet the ink goes where it wants after the first line you can be precise about where something starts the bleed is not your decision Someone crossed out every set of eyes in the room with the kind of care you'd bring to something that mattered I'm not going to say it mattered I'm just saying the care was real and it had to go somewhere [Spoken] The last one was torn. Not cut. You could see the other ones still hanging on at the edges. Bits of someone else's thing. Not quite gone. [Hook] There's a word for it~ I think it's French~ it means the thing you didn't quite describe and that was closer~ [Outro] But the halos were gold perfect circles on a torn-out page someone was very careful about that part everyone else was looking at the metal in the lobby I was in the corner and the halos were perfect the halos were absolutely perfect and I don't have the word for it but I was there
- 05 my stomach hasn't brought it up 2:22
Lyrics
[Intro] There's something I should be doing I've been not doing it for a while now not the whole time I did other things but the thing is still where I left it which is where it was before I noticed it was there [Verse 1] I should be hungry it's been long enough for that to be true but my stomach hasn't brought it up so either my mind is running things now or I'm just not bored enough to eat and I don't know which one of those is worse Is boredom the space between the things or is it the things I wasn't going to think about that but here we are [Hook] I want to be bored when I'm busy~ busy when I'm bored~ I've been moving all day and I haven't gone anywhere~ [Verse 2] Something keeps pulling me sideways not a screen not a sound the device is the pulling itself it's hard to explain to someone who isn't standing in it I was going to look inward but I looked at the wall instead the wall was fine the wall has always been fine [Spoken] Two steps forward. Two steps back. I think I've been doing that for four hours. Did someone fill my windows with glue? [Hook - shifts] I want to be bored when I'm busy~ busy when I'm bored~ I've been standing still all day and I'm exhausted~ [Bridge] Is it the space between the neurons or the neurons [Outro] There's something I should be doing I've been not doing it for longer now I did some things the thing is still there the thing is anyway