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SOMETHING GIGANTIC

by Brett Miller

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1.
We are settled in here like matchsticks Side by side in this box There’s potential for explosion But we are safe behind these locks We fight the fire that’s not burning When we try to up and leave this place We walk on walls like friends of kings And it’s tattooed on our face CHORUS When we gonna go Or are we gonna stay right here It is the alchemy of soldiers That keeps us marching to our death We were raised to follow orders Even when they take our breath We love love until we run the numbers Then we run away from love We calculate the over-under But it’s never good enough CHORUS Let’s make this dream that we’ve been having Or we can huddle here in fear If we just grow where we’re planted Our roots may disappear CHORUS
2.
Closed up the house don’t wanna talk no more Not a word walk on by You’ll never know ‘em ‘til you stand in their shoes And even then you don’t ask why We’re not the kind of people who ask why Pulpits and politics turn us to ghosts We become enemies The songbird’s sound can soothe our souls But we can’t cure this town’s disease We can’t cure this town’s disease CHORUS We can’t cure this town And we can’t leave We got nothing left to learn ‘cept maybe history A little science wouldn’t hurt Nothing left to kill but the demons in our heads And nothing lost we can’t convert Nothing lost we can’t convert This paradise we were promised Rests in the hands of these thieves The songbird’s sound can soothe our souls But we can’t cure this town’s disease We can’t cure this town’s disease CHORUS
3.
HOLD 03:51
We’re strangers on the interstate We calculate our interest rate Then tell a story well-defined For binding us all to the crime That we committed long ago Before the world went mad We started running far away Learned to say that I’m okay But I don’t feel the way I said We were fed a comment thread That we kept feeding all night long Until the world went mad They say that it’s all temporary Where we just momentarily Lost our way along the trail We’ll course correct when we exhale We keep waiting to exhale But I can’t exhale CHORUS Let’ s put this on hold Let’s hold on a minute Before we lose sight Of the people who are in it Let’s hold each other close Pull each other close Let’s hold We love the things that separate us Educate and decorate us We wear the labels sold to us Controlled by what is told to us By heads that talk on our machines Since the world’s gone mad There’s this thing that I have found As I’ve traveled all around There’s good folks in the north and south If we’ll just shut our mouths And hear their hearts in pain We all want to get out of the rain CHORUS When the steeples all fall down When the king has lost his crown We’ll gather ‘round what remains of us Trust there’s something in the dust That we recall from long ago Before the world went mad
4.
COMPLICATED 03:39
I wanted to say hello My name is Angelo Patrolman Mancuso What I don’t know could fill this whole room I’m the one in the ballet tights I’m out here on these streets at night I always seemed to be starting fights But fights are not the things I wanna win You can tell if you talk to me I ain’t got no advanced degree But this place got a hold of me I read philosophy and it changed my life CHORUS You’re the unspoken premise in my enthymeme You carry the water for my daydream I know I am exactly as I seem But I will be more than that some day I’ll be complicated It’s more than sophistry It’s more than theology I’m squaring my geometry So you can see I got me some angles I feel invisible Like I’m the one whose criminal My impact here is minimal I spin the wheel of fortune and I spin again CHORUS I wanted to say hello My name is Angelo I know I got a ways to go I got more to know But I’ll get there and I’ll be complicated
5.
THIS HOUSE 03:51
This house, so divided Cut, collided Lights are out This house, knuckles writing Poets fighting Got my doubts CHORUS On the road to Jericho With horns marching past our door On the road to Jericho I don’t want to live here any more This house, on the border Out of order About to fall This house, can’t ignore her Or civil war her Can’t build a wall CHORUS This house, was our debut Where we pulled through When we were young This house, was our rescue Where our kids grew It’s where we’re from CHORUS
6.
Whether it ends in fire and ice Whether or not we paid the price After we have rolled the dice we wait It’s bigger than me and bigger than you It’s the dropping of the other shoe It’s evolution pushing through the gates Your profile pic’s our epitaph But life is more than photographs I feel you laughing lying next to me You have left us stranded here With nothing left to fear but fear It’s not exactly clear what we should be CHORUS Let something come of it Something gigantic This kind of love needs to survive Let something come of it Something gigantic It’s keeping all of us alive We fear when we return to dust That no one will remember us After we are crushed beneath the earth But we were then and we are now Not I and It it’s I and Thou Love alone allows what we are worth Even when we change machines Nothing’s ever as it seems Left is right and right is left behind No matter what may come of this We were built for this abyss I just want your kiss if you want mine CHORUS BRIDGE Lord, let me die, but not die out Don’t let me disappear Lord, let me die, but not die out We’re still here (5x) Let something come of it Something gigantic
7.
You pull the trigger pushing you to pull that final punch You punch the ticket sold to send me back You bite the bullet meant for me And pay up all my rent You become all the things I lack You’re set against the sentiment that sends me off to war Your search and rescue mission’s losing ground But you tell me tales of reverie And soothe my troubled mind You stay with me all the way around CHORUS It’s your brilliant fallacy You see things I can’t see Oh, your logic baffles me Your brilliant fallacy You bought the things I busted up And brought them home to stay You populate this house with hope and dust We tear apart the terror Waiting just around the bend We’ve become exactly what we must CHORUS (2x)
8.
I want good times and you want good times But every move we make feels like a crime We broke the rules and you knew we would We can break ‘em again and you know we should Thought if I drank more wine and shook more hands Thought if I’d take more time and take more stands Thought I would make it to the final curtain call But in the end the bullet’s coming for us all CHORUS If I knew all that maybe I’d live free If I knew all that maybe you’d see me If we did all that under the chestnut tree I sold you and you sold me Waiting for the bullet The story’s all been cleaned and the crowd ginned up Voices quarantined and poured into our cup Dinner’s served and the table’s all been set But we don’t have to sit down ‘cause we’re not dead yet CHORUS
9.
He sounded like lightning Put her doubts to rest His words were her thunder He took her breath He took her breath He bought her a train, he bought her a ship Carved out the ocean With a diamond and a whip With a diamond and a whip CHORUS She knows what she needs Not his fist or his creeds She’s gonna push ‘til he leaves Then she can breathe He said she was broken From the beginning of time Original sin Was the scene of her crime CHORUS She shines like a cymbal She beats like a drum She fills us with wishes It’s her glitter and hum CHORUS
10.
Everybody’s talking ‘bout true religion Everybody hears the train They just wanna make big decisions I just want to walk with you in the rain I don’t care if you cross over Jordan I just want you to cross over here to me It doesn’t matter which train you’re boarding Just get a seat where you can see CHORUS I tried your true religion And it was all right with me I tried your true religion We’ll see what we can see Everybody’s talking about true religion And man they’re talking loud They use it like hollow point ammunition And they aim it at the crowd Sittin’ in this bar tonight Man, I don’t want to start no bar fight I just want to hold you tight I just want to be free Everybody’s talking about true religion Everybody hears the train They just want to make big decisions I just want to walk with you in the rain That’s true religion
11.
She grew up hard and early With her hands balled into fists She took what she had coming And not what she had wished A lifetime of playing the fool Living by someone else’s rules There’s a winter deep beneath her bones And deep under her feet She can start a flame But she cannot feed the heat One log alone can’t hold a fire Sometimes fate drowns out desire Well she’ll be here again ‘Cause she’s been here before Her blood runs methamphetamine And burns through her like war She waits for her troubles to begin She pays the wages of our sin And there she goes again It’s not like the movies Where the hero gets there just in time Every day’s like Sisyphus With nothing but the uphill climb If she makes the rent this month She’ll be doing fine, doing fine With the fist of her ancient god And the fruit of her beliefs A mind like Deuteronomy And hands like common thieves She waits for her troubles to begin She pays the wages of our sin And there she goes again There she goes again We wait for our troubles to begin And we pay the wages of our sin Here we go again
12.
They ask when I’m gonna leave, where I’m gonna land But I’m rollin’ up my shirtsleeves, cutting through the tall weeds Got a place to stand I don’t always line up, with the politics and creeds But I’m sticking around here, where the middle leads CHORUS I’m sticking around In the same damn town Where the sounds of my neighbor And manual labor Are the common ground Not heading to the West Coast At least not to stay I’m sticking around here For another day Not sure what I believe, coming off the rails No guarantees, don’t have a Socrates Don’t have a heads or tails I don’t always wind up, with the saints or with the thieves I’m sticking around here, where the middle leads CHORUS World’s not gonna get me (3x) CHORUS
13.
We invented monsters ‘Cause we’re afraid to die We put them in closets/Put them under our beds Put ‘em in our battle cries We invented monsters ‘Cause we need to be afraid We stand at attention/Stand at altars We march in your parade We invented monsters They’re all tooth and claw No mercy/No forgiveness And they’re coming for us all The only thing for certain Is that nothing ever is And nothing is ever the only thing We invented monsters To give our fears a face We are fragmented/We read the good books We can’t keep pace We are fragmented/We say the right things We can’t keep pace We are fragmented/We get the good looks We can’t keep pace We are fragmented/We blame the bad guys We can’t keep pace We are fragmented/We buy tombstones We can’t keep pace So, we invented monsters
14.
We ride our shiny bicycles, wear ribbons in our hair We talk about our future, and you teach us not to care You fill us up with fairy tales, and whip us in a rage Then you send us door-to-door, to make this world our cage You medicate our pain, and you educate our weakness You sell us down the river, and you make us think it’s Jesus The walls that you build, keep us from asking questions But our memory’s improving, and you’re losing our affections CHORUS There’s a world out there (3x) Let’s go Here we are, sitting in the margins of the error You’re trying to convince us, that we don’t have a prayer But love isn’t shattered by a bully or a fist And god doesn’t give a damn whose lips we kiss CHORUS I do not apologize, for my lack of decorum I once had some manners, but I forgot where I stored them Gonna mean what I say, and I’m gonna be mean when I say it You can lay down the law, but I won’t obey it CHORUS

about

Praise for SOMETHING GIGANTIC:

One of the Top Ten New Albums of 2020 in Missouri (Columbia Tribune)

"Miller creates full-bodied Americana. His delivery lands somewhere between Dylan’s throaty, punctuated phrases and Jay Farrar’s conversational asides — with a trace of Steve Earle just around the eyes...Miller has much to question about his native Midwest, but his new album preaches a gentle sermon about perseverance and living to shape the people, places and things you love." - Aarik Danielson, Columbia Daily Tribune

"powerfully written. Thoughtful themes with provoking refrains, this album comes at an eerily perfect time for dedicated lyrical listening" - Rountree Neighborhood Isolated Times

“two words: Bob Dylan…Brett appears to have a seamless way with his art…a tunesome folkster…the perfect record for a spring in full bloom” – mp3hugger

“passionate melodic lines with real lyrics that cut to the core…the instrumentation adds dynamic contrast” – All Authentic

“heartfelt folk with lovely vocals and a raw personal quality to the sound” – We All Want Someone To Shout For

“Brett has the chops of a seasoned songwriter” – Two Story Melody

“very edgy-raspy, soulful vocals and lovely harmonies…thought-provoking lyrics with some striking phrases…charming and soulful guitar work” – Music Lover

“love the banjoy…vocals are stunning…dig the lyrics as well” – Indie Folk Central

“loved the production, the vocals and harmonies are so good” – Tove Music

“love the raw vocals” – Gobsmag


Brett Miller is a singer-songwriter from Springfield, Missouri. After over 15 years writing songs, singing, playing rhythm guitar, and recording three studio albums with his band Brother Wiley (also known as Mincks & Miller), Miller released a solo album of 14 original tracks, recorded and produced by fellow Midwest musician, Barak Hill.

Half of these songs were originally created for Wild Bob’s Musical Book Club, which meets monthly at Lindberg’s Tavern in Springfield. A select group of songwriters read the same book, then offer up their original music on stage. Brett’s song, “Nothing Hurts,” is his take on Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, and is available on the first Wild Bob’s compilation, Vol. I: So It Goes. The other half of the songs on this album are about leaving – leaving organized religion, leaving careers, leaving home, and stepping out of the marching orders we’ve been given by our culture of complacency and outrage.

After he left the religious faith of his childhood, Miller quit his career as a communication professor at an evangelical university. A few months after the 2016 presidential election, he and his wife left their jobs, sold their house and cars, bought a van, and traveled the country for a year listening to people’s stories and trying to make sense of the deepening social divide. This album becomes a voice in that conversation.

Helping Brett and Barak achieve this unique form of lyrically-driven indie folk/Americana were an all-star cast of musical Missourians: Liz Carney, Molly Healey, Melissa Henderson Rea, Jin J. X, Karl Eggers, Dallas Jones, Brandon Moore, and Jonathan James.

There is an undeniable dishonesty and darkness in the world. These songs speak truth to power, while accepting that people are complicated, simple creeds aren’t helpful, and the audacious belief in love is still our greatest hope.

credits

released March 19, 2020

All songs written by Brett Miller (BMI)

Produced by Barak Hill and Brett Miller
Recorded and mixed by Barak Hill at Folkpile Studio, Springfield, Missouri
Mastered by Jonathan James, Springfield, Missouri
Photography and design by Barak Hill and Magic Bullet, Inc.

Brett Miller: vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica, percussion
Liz Carney: vocals, acoustic guitar, piano
Melissa Henderson Rea: vocals
Barak Hill: electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Karl Eggers: banjo, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Molly Healey: violin, cello
Jin J. X: electric guitar
Dallas Jones: bass, organ, piano
Brandon Moore: drums

Thanks to all my gigantically talented friends who helped me create this album.

Special thanks to Carter, Genny, and Stephanie Cramer; Mallory Roth and Mark Leicht; Todd Mincks, Jessica Balisle, and Kenny Wirt; Wild Bob’s Musical Book Club; Lindberg’s; Marshall Hill; Will Chiles; Betsy and Cassidy Miller; and Carsen and Kevin Prather.

Thanks to the hundreds of people Betsy and I met on the road who shared their lives and stories.

Thanks to the inspiring poetry and prose of James Dickey, Bill Bryson, Harper Lee, John Kennedy Toole, George Orwell, Zora Neale Hurston, Daniel Woodrell, and Lois Lowry.

Made possible by generous support from the Cramer family.
Dedicated to the memory of Megan Cramer, who taught us to make something of this life…something gigantic.

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Brett Miller Springfield, Missouri

Brett Miller is a singer-songwriter from Springfield, Missouri. After over 15 years writing songs, singing, playing rhythm guitar, and recording three studio albums with his band Brother Wiley (also known as Mincks & Miller), Miller released a solo album of 14 original tracks, recorded and produced by fellow Midwest musician, Barak Hill. ... more

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