In the Key of K

The new album, Out of Time Out of Tune, is streaming everywhere! However, you can buy physical copies here.

The original concept of this song was very clearly Misfits inspired in my head. In the context of time, it is filled with lots of punk rock anger just for the fun of it. The original lyrics for this song were written sometime in 1995 or 1996 but were pretty awful and re-written several times before this version. It reflects on my attitude through the early to mid 90s as a teenager in a small, closed-minded, shitty town in high school. The title is making fun of high school graduations—Pomp and Circumstance by Edward Elgar (1857-1934) is the quintessential processional music that all U.S. schools use for graduations.

This was the third track on 1998s “Out of Time Out of Tune” cassette tape (re-released in 2026). I hilariously misspelled “Pompous” on the original insert–good thing I never paid the editor (me). 🤣 😺

//
Pompous Circumstance
Is it there?
Is it in my head?
Can you feel it all erupting with a scream.
Boiling inside.
Do you really think that you control my ways?

Rip it open. See what’s inside.
Break it open. Catabolize.

All I want to do is move through it my own way.
All I want to do is walk and run and rise.

Are you there?
Are you in my head?
Can you feel the hate erupting from the dream.
Growing inside.
Just have to try and find another way.

All I want to do is learn what I don’t know.
All I want to do is walk and run and rise. 

All I want to do is learn what I don’t know.
All I want to do is claw out another way.

All I want to do is move through it my own way.
All I want to do is break through the other side.
//

Play it? There are three sections to this song.

A section:
G5 and then strike touch harmonics, third fret strings 4, 5, 6.
———————————
———————————
———————————
———————————
-5-5-5—-h5-—————-
-5-5-5————h5-———
-3-3-3——————h5—

B section:
|G5***|D5*C5*|G5***|A5***|

C section:
|E5***|E5***|G5___|A5___|

Form:
A B A C B A C A C C A

This is a silly little song that was originally about hate and violence but morphed into a song about introspection and self-awareness, combined with sprinkling of the occult. After reflecting on these old recordings I’m surprised by how many songs I have written that don’t rhyme. Sometimes it is all about the melody in your head, I guess.