This is probably the exciting part of the album for most people – and probably the most marketable part of this album, to be honest. I am very, very hesitant to call them “pop” songs, but that’s because I have an elitist musician mindset that would strangle me if it ever found out I was describing my music that way. I really don’t know what genre these pieces are. Some are acoustic, some are electronic, there’s a bit of jazz and folk influence. Specific influences will be listed under the relevant song titles.

  These are my first attempts at writing lyrics. I wrote all of these in 2022, but I have since improved my lyric-writing to the point where I’m a little embarrassed by some of the lyrics here. I hadn’t really begun to explore poetry yet. I used the excuse of calling some of them “nonsense” songs in an attempt to reduce the lameness of some of the lyrics. There are some good ones in there, though.

  I should also note that these are a lot more personal than the previous ones in the album, mainly due to the fact that I use words to articulate feelings more clearly. These songs actually tell a story about me and my experiences with the world (shock horror!) that I wouldn’t normally share with people in my day to day life, which is fine and dandy for people who I don’t know very well, but for people who I see all the time, I’d be worried about them listening to some of the songs. Some that I ask my friends and family to avoid and skip over are Where Love Never Ends, I Want to Be Free, This Birthday, Block Them Out, Soldier Sam, On the Bus and These Past Few Years. I’m very aware that this is a full half of this section.

29. Where Love Never Ends (4:30)

  Originally, this song was going to be about COVID. And then I was like, “You know what? Screw it. The world is going to get enough COVID music. Enough about being trapped in your house. Enough about losing the ability to socialise due to not enough practice. Let’s hear about me.” And so, I wrote this song.

  I usually have a tough time fitting in. I’m not going to get into the semantics of “fitting in” vs. “belonging,” although there is a lot to be said about that. I’m odd. I’m a bit weird. This is due to autism. I used to think that the world was awful, and that nothing would ever go right for me. And then, at some point (I don’t know when) I had an epiphany and realised that the only reason I wasn’t getting what I wanted in life was because what I wanted was unreasonable. The point is, if you start to appreciate the good things, you notice and feel the good things. I don’t know. I’m not here to give life advice. I’m not experienced enough for that.

30. Challenges (5:35)

  I’m not certain, but I believe that out of all the pieces in this 45-piece album, this was the second one I wrote (beaten only by Prelude to 2020). In 2020, I started a YouTube channel (which is still active! Leo Amadeus (Doctor Penguin) is the name of it) and in one of the first videos I did, I tried to write a song in a day. I wanted to write the most pop song-ish piece, so I chose an abhorrently basic chord progression and wrote stupid lyrics to it. I’m pretty sure the chords in the second verse are inspired by Episode 3 of the original Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared webseries.

  Anyway, about a year after the first version of this song was written, I created a remastered version of the song which was completely a cappella, as was my preferred style on YouTube at the time. And then, once again, a year after that version, I created this arrangement, and recorded it with my brother and his wife, Caspian & Tabitha Scott. Thanks, you two.

  Also, if you’re looking to find my old videos from 2020 and 2021, well…they’re private now. You’ll never see them.

31. The Marvellous Café (2:45)

  I’m what they call “one of them queers.” I thought I would write a song about it (original, huh?). You can hear some musical theatre influence in this one, as well as me beginning to experiment with modulation and singing outside of my tessitura. Whoopsies.

  The actual “Marvellous Café” unfortunately doesn’t exist anymore, and I never really thought it was that marvellous, although they did a mean butterscotch hot chocolate. A couple of my friends met up with me there once and that was nice.

32. Onions (2:25)

  This song is about someone who made me cry once (but it’s okay because they’ve never made me cry since). My dad actually gave me the idea of the final lyric of the chorus, “You made an onion out of me.” I then realised that if someone makes you an onion, then they would be the one crying, hence “I know the words are the wrong way round.”

  Anyways. I know this technically isn’t jazz and I’m not going to claim that it is. But it’s certainly jazz-inspired. Thanks to Tabitha and Caspian once again for doing drums and bass respectively.

33. I Want to Be Free (2:15)

  As I mentioned under “A Quiet Day,” I find it hard to not be working. This song sort of puts that into words. I have to be working because I’ve got so many ideas that I want to create. I have to be working because people love the product. People tell me that I should take a break or that I deserve a break, but the truth is…I don’t know how to take a break. I don’t know when to stop.

  And so, I don’t. I write a forty-five piece album, and a twenty-five minute short film for my first ever short film – and before I’ve even finished producing the album I have another EP in the works.

34. This Birthday (4:15)

  So. That deadline I was talking about before? I met it. I had found what I loved about music and performing. I had developed the discipline necessary to become an artist. And so, that promise that I made a year ago? Invalidated. Gone-zo. Not like the muppet. Like a businessperson trying to say “gone” but also trying to seem cool at the same time. Gonezo.

  This song is definitely inspired by some of Bill Wurtz’s stuff. At some point in 2022 I found a lot of his music and was like. Woah there. That’s pretty cool. 

35. Moving On (2:25)

  I learnt a very valuable lesson in 2022: don’t wait for people who won’t wait for you. I spent a while waiting for someone which, upon reflection, was a bit of a waste of my time. I love the idea of crushing on people but it really is quite unhealthy to do.

36. Dainty Man (3:20)

  Oh, goodness. This piece was a roller coaster. It still is. I can’t decide whether I like it or not. I went through a period of loving it, then hating it, then loving it again, once more hating it and then loving it.

  At the top of the score, I wrote “Satirically Alpha-Male.” This piece is sort of meant to be an anti-selfish-billionaire piece, disguised as this protest-style song, but the protesters don’t really know what they’re talking about and so they seem really dumb, so in a way it’s also parodying far-right speakers.

  All of the background voice lines between the verses and choruses, and in the “fight sequence,” were improvised and hastily recorded with the intent of just getting the piece done. I’ll leave it up to the listener to decide whether they’re funny.

  I believe this piece was somehow inspired by the Violet Beauregard piece from the remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?? I wrote this in some notes and I haven’t bothered to check if this is accurate, so maybe someone can get back to me on that.

37. Block Them Out (3:10)

  Everyone has off-days. In 2022, I was having a couple off-months. I was struggling with social connections (and I still do, quite a lot!) and people were constantly getting upset at me for reasons I didn’t quite understand. I didn’t fit in or belong, and it felt like I didn’t have many friends. And the reason it felt like that was because I didn’t.

  People are loud. Even my friends are loud (and my friends at the time certainly were). And my brain tends to tune out/cut off really loud things. I miss things that people say and I deliberately avoid really loud environments. And I think that because I was struggling so much at the time, my friends noticed that I was talking to them less and isolating myself a little.

  I suppose this is a sad song. But I assure you, woe isn’t me. I turned out fine (I guess you could say that’s up for debate) and though I still struggle a lot with social engagements and the like, I have my ways of pushing myself through them in a healthy way.

38. Soldier Sam (2:55)

  Soldier Sam was one of the first pieces I wrote for this section of the album. It was originally called Soldier John, but then when I continuously forgot the name and kept calling it Soldier Sam instead, I realised that it was probably better to call it the thing that sticks in my head.

  This is also the first time I tried using multiple different pronouns for myself. And it felt good. So I stuck with it. Oh yeah, I’m Soldier Sam. Spoilers.

39. In Defence of Irony (1:50)

  There are a billion things to say about irony which I don’t have the space to say here. Irony and satire are two of the most powerful tools in comedy that we have to make people laugh and think at the same time, especially in comedy and theatre, and you mustn’t shut them down. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to look at characters with backwards views and laugh at how stupid they are, and we wouldn’t be able to marvel at how far we’ve come as a society.

40. On the Bus (3:40)

  This is one of my favourite pieces in this section of the album. I wanted to write a satirical version of those really depressing pieces that musicians write. Of course, the thing to remember is that the best jokes are based in truth. I used to get really depressed on the bus because it was the perfect opportunity to overthink. But in this song, I exaggerate that a hundredfold.

  Originally, I was going to write a love song akin to “Beautiful Stranger” by Laufey, but decided against it and wrote a satire instead, which is one of the most on-brand decisions I’ve ever made.

41. I’m Glad to See You (4:00)

  One of my best friends that I hadn’t seen for a while came out as trans around the same time that I was going through some gender-identity questioning. This song is dedicated to her. That’s right, May. This one’s for you.

  This song is inspired by some of Lizzy McAlpine’s stuff – the rhythm is based on the rhythm in Pancakes For Dinner, and I think in the “You-ou-ou-ou went through a similar experience” bit, the “You” is taken almost exactly from In Agreement, but the first note of it is a tone down and so I can’t get sued.

42. Won’t Fret (3:20)

  This piece went very quickly from being my favourite piece to my least favourite. I think the spirit is there, and maybe if I wasn’t so stubborn and didn’t insist on writing it in a key too high for me to sing in then it could have been something good. Oh, well.

  Although in this song I call it “Optimistic Nihilism,” what I am really referring to is absurdism – in the philosophical sense. Embracing the meaninglessness of life. Etcetera. I don’t know, go watch a TED Talk or something if you’re interested.

  I don’t like this song anymore. You could probably make a sick cover of it. I probably could’ve spent more time on the vocals, yeah. But where’s the fun in not listening to me scream, “let goAAAAAAAAAAURGH of who they say you are.”?

42b BONUS. These Past Few Years (2:05)

  Woah, this song’s name is the title of the album!

  Yep. This is a reflection that I wrote in March of 2023. It’s a celebration, an apology and a vent. I feel like the lyrics are pretty self-explanatory, so I’m not going to comment on it.