New-ish

Here's another song that I wrote a little while back but only recorded as a multi-track composition for the first time this evening:

 

 

I'll keep working on it, but I thought I'd let you in on the process. 

Posting updated versions of these songs here is also one of the ways that I listen to them on different devices as I continue to work on them. 

I welcome you to embark on this journey with me. We'll see where it goes. 

 

Lyrics:

If I could build a time machine
I would be a better man
I’d be a wiser version of me
And everything would work out like I plan

I would learn to learn from my mistakes
Leave notes to my former self
Tell him to give more than he takes
And this is the only life that you get

Because time only moves in one direction
And no one ever gets it quite right
All we ever have is our best intentions
And a perfectly imperfect life

But if I could build a time machine
I would be a better friend
We could see all that we’ll never be
And everything that could have been

Like particles in variable dimensions
Our crooked paths seldom cross
At these random and chaotic intersections
We’re here for a moment, then we’re off

Because time only moves in one direction
And no one ever gets it quite right
All we ever have is our best intentions
And a perfectly imperfect life

But if I could build a time machine
And relive any moment
I wouldn’t change a thing
Except the stupid words I had spoken

I would work out every perfect line
Leave the script behind to memorize
And if I didn’t get it right on the second try
There’d be ample opportunity to revise

But time only moves in one direction
And no one ever gets it quite right
All we ever have is our best intentions
And a perfectly imperfect life

© 2025 Zach Sands, PhD

 

 

Another song

I wrote this one a few years ago but only recorded it for the first time this week. This is today's version. As with my other recent recordings, it is a work in progress.

   

 

Thank you for listening. 

 

Lyrics:

Singing with the stereo in a parked car
Belting out the words like we were rock stars
"It doesn't get better than this," you said
You rocked my heart and you wrecked my head

We were young lovers under covers in the summertime
You said we'd meet again some other place, some other time
And I went looking for you out there
Ghosts and mirrors everywhere 

It was always you
It was always you
In my dreams and in between
It was always you...

I still remember in September when she went away
My heart was broken, mouth wide open with nothing new to say
Like ice water in my veins
Through my brain and back again

I can't forget her, wrote a letter that I'll never send
Don't want to upset her, hope she's better, found herself a new friend
But we keep telling the same old lies
It hurts too much to realize

It was always you
It was always you
In my dreams and in between
It was always you...

Got back together, you said forever and we'll never be apart
You sang my songs, you played along, fiddled around with my heart
Until we were everything we are not
Like shards of glass in the parking lot

I suppose we were better writing letters from our parallel lives
Expose the wires, start a fire, don't know if we'll survive
Do we walk away or watch it all burn?
All we have is all we ever learn 

It was always you
It was always you
In my dreams and in between
It was always you...

"Circumstance is happenstance," you say, "a game of chance we play"
But what becomes of the lucky ones, and were they just born this way?
It's all so confusing
At least we have the music

I got my shit, you got your wish, you've got your vitriol
Choking down this poison does you no good at all
What doesn't kill us makes us numb
Strangers to who we've become

But it was always you
It was always you
In my dreams and in between
It will always be you... 

 

© 2025 Zach Sands, PhD

Pablo Fiasco

I've been recording another song. Here it is, still in the early stages of production:

 

 

As with the other song that I recently recorded, I will keep updating new versions to the linked page as I continue to work on it. Check back regularly to hear them improve.

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Lyrics:

Don't have to be a victim
Of a corrupt, broken system
Serf City and landlords
Billionaires who rob the poor
    It's never enough
    It's never enough
    It's never enough
    It's never enough
        There's always more!

They steal from the working classes
Write the laws and pay no taxes
While infrastructure's left to rot
They'll buy another mega-yacht
    It's never enough
    It's never enough
    It's never enough
        It might take everything we've got!

            Well, I am an honest man
            In a land of disaster
            And I don't understand
            These un-united states of matter
            Has somebody got a plan
            Because all I've got is laughter
            Slapped by the invisible hand
                You can call me Pablo Fiasco...

Worker exploitation
For low pay and no vacation
While shareholders take more than they need
Driven by their endless greed
    It's never enough
    It's never enough
    It's never enough
        We sweat until we bleed!

Late-stage capitalism
Force-fed cannibalism
It comes down to who you know
To maintain the status quo
    It's never enough
    It's never enough
    It's never enough
        Corporate profits have to grow!

            Well, I am an honest man
            In a land of disaster
            And I don't understand
            These un-united states of matter
            Has somebody got a plan
            Because all I've got is laughter
            Slapped by the invisible hand
                You can call me Pablo Fiasco...

This is a call to action
Consumer dissatisfaction
Has reached a fever pitch
Buy nothing and eat the rich
    We've had enough
    We've had enough
    We've had enough
        It's high time we burn this bridge!

Castaways and hungry sharks
Blood-thirsty oligarchs
Soulless and self-absorbed
Sociopathic to the core
    We've had enough
    We've had enough
    We've had enough
        We won't take it anymore!

            Well, I am an honest man
            In a land of disaster
            And I don't understand
            These un-united states of matter
            Has somebody got a plan
            Because all I've got is laughter
            Slapped by the invisible hand
                You can call me Pablo Fiasco...

 

© 2025 Zach Sands, PhD

   

In the Meantime

Here is a very early demo of a new song. It's still pretty rough, but I think that it's starting to come together:

I'll update the track as I continue to work on it and re-record the various elements, but I thought I'd share what a song sounds like at the beginning of the process. 

This is the first full song that I have recorded and produced on the new PC setup, too, which I am still figuring out. 

Thanks for listening. I hope you dig it. Check back. It'll get better as I keep working on it. 

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Lyrics:

Nothing truly lasts forever
Existence is finite
And all we have is one another
And the moments that make a life
An image emerges from the paper
Of a photograph
I hope you find it some years later
And it still makes you laugh

Don't let your life pass you by
In the meantime
I hope you find a reason to smile
In the meantime
Keep a love that keeps you warm
Through the storm
In the meantime...

Spend our lives making a living
Learn to earn to pay to play
Never wonder what we're missing
Waiting for another day-
dream of an extended vacation
All the places we could go
On some unexpected occasion
Experience is how we grow

Don't let your life pass you by
In the meantime
I hope you find a reason to smile
In the meantime
Keep a love that keeps you strong
All along
In the meantime...

They say life moves too fast
And I don't know if that's really true
Or that the good times never last
Because sometimes they really do
And every once in a while
Everything works out
Or you may walk a thousand miles
Only to turn back around

Don't let your life pass you by
In the meantime
I hope you find a reason to smile
In the meantime
Keep a love that keeps you loved
It's enough
In the meantime
In the meantime
In the meantime...

 

© 2025 Zach Sands, PhD

 

 

Real to Reel

I have been recording music again lately.

I also wrote another feature-length screenplay, which is now in the revision stage.

Over this past week, I worked out some technical issues in my updated recording setup and spent some time getting myself better acquainted with the software. In doing so, I recorded a very rough version of a new song. 

This is the first step. I expect that by the time get through recording another full album worth of material, I'll go back and re-record a lot of it, just because I will likely have learned quite a bit in the process. This is how it goes. Still, having something recorded at this point, even if it's not perfect, is infinitely better than nothing.

With all six of my other self-produced albums, I used GarageBand on an old MacBook Pro. Unfortunately, ever since the most recent update that I did of the operating system, that computer has been ridiculously slow. I suspect that this is part of Apple's planned obsolescence, intended to make people think that they need to invest in a new computer.

Rather that play into that nonsense, I bought a refurbished desktop PC that I can upgrade myself as necessary. However, it has taken some time and effort to get everything working properly, and I'm still trying to figure how to do a lot of the stuff that I was able to do in GarageBand, namely the sequencing of realistic-sounding drum tracks.

It has been a rather steep learning curve so far, but my recordings on the PC are gradually getting better. The song that I recorded this past week is the first one that I've done on there that sounds like a complete song, albeit rather unpolished at this point.

Once I have something from the work-in-progress album that seems worthy to share, I'll post a link to it on this site. 

As always, thank you for supporting independent art.