Tepid Nightstand Water
quirky alt-pop, theatrical indie pop, bouncy bass, dry funky drums, plucky muted guitar, toy piano accents, warm Rhodes chords, strange sleepy bedroom atmosphere, playful vocal delivery, clever dense lyrics, catchy simple chorus, sudden speedy rap break, half-awake comedy, intimate midnight production, crisp percussion, warm analog mix
Tepid Nightstand Water
quirky alt-pop, theatrical indie pop, bouncy bass, dry funky drums, plucky muted guitar, toy piano accents, warm Rhodes chords, strange sleepy bedroom atmosphere, playful vocal delivery, clever dense lyrics, catchy simple chorus, sudden speedy rap break, half-awake comedy, intimate midnight production, crisp percussion, warm analog mix
Lyrics
Intro
It is 3:17
And I have become
A desert with a blanket
Verse 1
I woke up with a tongue like a postage stamp
Stuck to the roof of a little mouth camp
Where the air got rented by a snore machine
And my lips went missing from the moisture scene
I was dreaming of fountains and glacial streams
Little blue gods in my fever dreams
Then I came back down to my mortal plight
With a throat like cardboard in the middle of the night
Pre-Chorus
Oh, I don’t need wisdom
I don’t need grace
I don’t need answers
From the void of space
I don’t need meaning
I don’t need power
I need one sip
At this ungodly hour
Chorus
I need water
Just a little water
Tepid nightstand water
In a cup from yesterday
I need water
Mercy in the slaughter
Tepid nightstand water
Don’t care what people say
Verse 2
My mouth is a museum of abandoned rain
A chalkboard sermon in a dust campaign
Every breath I took was a theft from me
Now I’m a raisin with anxiety
There’s a cup by the lamp like a holy grail
With a fingerprint moon and a stale exhale
Is it fresh? No, baby, but I do not care
There are chemical wars in my bedroom air
Pre-Chorus
Oh, I don’t need comfort
I don’t need light
I don’t need justice
In the court of night
I don’t need angels
I don’t need bread
I need that cup
By the side of my bed
Chorus
I need water
Just a little water
Tepid nightstand water
In a cup from yesterday
I need water
Mercy in the slaughter
Tepid nightstand water
Don’t care what people say
Post-Chorus
One sip
One sip
One sip and I’ll survive
One sip
One sip
Bring my little mouth back to life
Break – speedy rap, dense and breathless
I’m brittle in the middle of a midnight brittle-mouthed crisis
My sinus signed a treaty with the dryness and the vice grip
I’m lip-split, throat-hit, cotton-swabbed, dehydrated
Half-awake, negotiating with a cup that’s been marinating
On the nightstand, slight bland, lukewarm relic
Little glass chalice with a dust mote aesthetic
Room-temp blessing, bedside confession
I don’t need a beverage with a sparkling impression
No ice, no slice, no purified rite
No mineral spring from a mountain of light
No cucumber hint, no artisanal mist
Just a criminal sip from a cup I dismissed
I rise like a goblin with a medical mission
A tactical crawl in a parched condition
Every molecule calls from the rim like a choir
Singing “drink, little fool, you are ninety percent fire”
I’m a dry-mouth mammal with a blanket cape dragging
Jawbone clicking and the pillow still bragging
That it stole all the moisture from the cave of my face
Now I’m speed-running thirst in a half-dark place
So I grip that glass with a pilgrim precision
Make one small choice with enormous conviction
And the whole room stops for the sacred transaction
Tepid little sip, catastrophic satisfaction
Drop Back
Ahhh
Bridge
I do not care
That it’s warm
I do not care
That it’s old
I have crossed
The dunes of sleep
For the treasure
I can hold
Final Chorus
I need water
Just a little water
Tepid nightstand water
In a cup from yesterday
I need water
Mercy in the slaughter
Tepid nightstand water
Don’t care what people say
Final Post-Chorus
One sip
One sip
One sip and I’ll survive
One sip
One sip
Bring my little mouth back to life
Outro
It is 3:19
And I have returned
To the swamp