Turntable handle

Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit

Courtney Barnett 2015

Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit

A side songs

Title Lyrics Song Credits Duration Plays
play_circle_filled Elevator Operator (clip preview) menu_book 3:14 4
play_circle_filled Pedestrian At Best (clip preview) menu_book 3:50 3
play_circle_filled An Illustration Of Loneliness (Sleepless In New York) (clip preview) menu_book 3:10 1
play_circle_filled Small Poppies (clip preview) menu_book 6:59 2
play_circle_filled Depreston (clip preview) menu_book 4:52 1

B side songs

Title Lyrics Song Credits Duration Plays
play_circle_filled Aqua Profunda! (clip preview) menu_book 1:59 1
play_circle_filled Dead Fox (clip preview) menu_book 3:33 1
play_circle_filled Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party (clip preview) menu_book 2:46 1
play_circle_filled Debbie Downer (clip preview) menu_book 3:17 1
play_circle_filled Kim's Caravan (clip preview) menu_book 6:47 1
play_circle_filled Boxing Day Blues (clip preview) menu_book 3:02 1
About

Courtney's super fun break out album.

 

℗© 2015 Marathon Artists under exclusive license to Mom+Pop for North America.

Recorded at Head Gap Studio, Preston VIC, AUS.
Mixed at The Grove Studios, NSW, AUS.
Photos taken at at Bakehouse Studios & Head Gap Studio

Lyrics

Title Lyrics
Elevator Operator

Oliver Paul, twenty years old
Thick head of hair, worries he's going bald
Wakes up at quarter past nine
Fare evades his way down the 96 tram line
Breakfast on the run again, he's well aware
He's dropping soy linseed Vegemite crumbs everywhere

Feeling sick at the sight of his computer
He dodges his way through the Swanston commuters
Rips off his tie, hands it to a homeless man
Sleeping in the corner of a metro bus stand and he screams
"I'm not going to work today
Going to count the minutes that the trains run late
Sit on the grass building pyramids out of Coke cans"

Headphone wielding to the Nicholas building
He trips on a pothole that's not been filled in
He waits for an elevator, one to nine
A lady walks in and waits by his side
Her heels are high and her bag is snakeskin
Hair pulled so tight you can see her skeleton
Vickers perfume on her breath
A tortoise shell necklace between her breasts
She looks him up and down with a botox frown
He's well used to that look by now
The elevator dings and they awkwardly step in
Their fingers touch on the rooftop button

Don't jump little boy, don't jump off that roof
You've got your whole life ahead of you, you're still in your youth
I'd give anything to have skin like you

He said "I think you're projecting the way that you're feeling
I'm not suicidal, just idling insignificantly
I come up here for perception and clarity
I like to imagine I'm playing SimCity
All the people look like ants from up here
And the wind's the only traffic you can hear"
He said "All I ever wanted to be
Was an elevator operator, can you help me please?"

Don't jump little boy, don't jump off that roof
You've got your whole life ahead of you, you're still in your youth
I'd give anything to have skin like you

Don't jump little boy, don't jump off that roof
You've got your whole life ahead of you, you're still in your youth
I'd give anything to have skin like you

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Pedestrian At Best

I love you, I hate you,
I'm on the fence
It all depends
Whether I'm up, I'm down,
I'm on the mend, transcending all reality
I like you, despise you, admire you
What are we gonna do
When everything all falls through?

I must confess,
I've made a mess
Of what should be a small success,
But I digress,
At least I've tried my very best, I guess
This, that, the other
Why even bother?
It won't be with me on my death bed,
But I'll still be in your head

Put me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint
You tell me I'm exceptional and I promise to exploit you
Give me all your money and I'll make some origami, honey
I think you're a joke but I don't find you very funny

My internal monologue
Is saturated analogue
It's scratched and drifting,
I've become attached to the idea,
It's all a shifting dream bittersweet philosophy
I've got no idea how I even got here

I'm resentful,
I'm having an existential time crisis
What bliss!
Daylight savings won't fix this mess.
Under-worked and over-sexed
I must express my disinterest.
The rats are back inside my head
What would Freud've said?

Put me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint
You tell me I'm exceptional and I promise to exploit you
Give me all your money and I'll make some origami, honey
I think you're a joke but I don't find you very funny

I want to wash out my head with turpentine cyanide;
I dislike this internal diatribe
When I try to catch your eye
I hate seeing you crying in the kitchen
I don't know why it affects me like this
When you're not even mine to consider

Erroneous,
Harmonious,
I'm hardly sanctimonious,
Dirty clothes
I suppose
We all outgrow ourselves
I'm a fake,
I'm a phony,
I'm awake,
I'm alone,
I'm homely,
I'm a Scorpio

Put me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint
You tell me I'm exceptional and I promise to exploit you
Give me all your money and I'll make some origami, honey
I think you're a joke but I don't find you very funny

Put me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint
You tell me I'm exceptional and I promise to exploit you
Give me all your money and I'll make some origami, honey
I think you're a joke but I don't find you very funny

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An Illustration Of Loneliness (Sleepless In New York)

I lay awake at four, staring at the wall
Counting all the cracks backwards in my best French
Reminds me of a book I skim-read in a surgery
All about palmistry, I wonder what's in store for me
I pretend the plaster is the skin on my palms
And the cracks are representative of what is going on
I lose a breath... my love-line seems intertwined with death

I'm thinking of you too

I lay awake at three, staring at the ceiling
It's a kind of off-white, maybe it's a cream
There's oily residue seeping from the kitchen
It's art-deco necromantic chic, all the dinner plates are kitsch with
Irish Wolf Hounds, French baguettes wrapped loose around their necks
I think I'm hungry, I'm thinking of you too

I'm thinking of you too
I'm thinking of you too
I'm thinking of you too
I'm thinking of you too

Wondering what you're doing, what you're listening to
Which quarter of the moon you're viewing from your bedroom
Watching all the movies, drinking all the smoothies
Swimming at the pool, I'm thinking of you too

I'm thinking of you too
I'm thinking of you too
I'm thinking of you too
I'm thinking of you too
I'm thinking of you too
I'm thinking of you too
I'm thinking of you too
I'm thinking of you too

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Small Poppies

I stare at the lawn, it's Wednesday morning
It needs a cut but I leave it growing
All different sizes and all shades of green
Slashing it down just seems kind of mean
In a way it's a a shame you get a way
Thinking it's just a game
Who am I to deny myself a pawn for you to use?
At the end of the day it's a pain that I keep seeing your name
But I'm sure it's a bore being you

I don't know quite who I am, oh but man I am trying
I make mistakes until I get it right
An eye for an eye for an eye for an eye for an eye
I don't agree with that, why can't we just talk nice?

Oh! The calamity, I wanna go to sleep for an eternity
Who am I to deny myself a pawn?
Oh! The humanity I wanna disappear into obscurity
But I'm sure it's a bore being you

I don't know quite who I am, oh but man I am trying
I make mistakes until I get it right
An eye for an eye for an eye for an eye for an eye
I used to hate myself but now I think I'm alright

I don't know quite who I am, oh but man I am trying
I make mistakes until I get it right
An eye for an eye for an eye for an eye for an eye
I dreamed I stabbed you with a coat hanger wire

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Depreston

You said we should look out further, I guess it wouldn't hurt us
We don't have to be around all these coffee shops
Now we've got that percolator, never made a latte greater
I'm saving twenty three dollars a week

We drive to a house in Preston, we see police arrestin'
A man with his hand in a bag
How's that for first impressions? This place seems depressing
It's a Californian bungalow in a cul-de-sac

It's got a lovely garden, a garage for two cars to park in
Or a lot of room for storage if you've just got one
And it's going pretty cheap you say, well it's a deceased estate
Aren't the pressed metal ceilings great?

Then I see the handrail in the shower, a collection of those canisters for coffee tea and flour
And a photo of a young man in a van in Vietnam
And I can't think of floorboards anymore, whether the front room faces south or north
And I wonder what she bought it for

If you've got a spare half a million
You could knock it down and start rebuildin'
[x6]

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Aqua Profunda!

I saw you in the lane next to me
You were doing freestyle, then you switched it around
To a little bit of backstroke
I couldn't see underneath
Your swimming cap, but it appeared that you had
Dark colored hair, maybe it was blonde for all I know
I had goggles on
They were getting foggy
I much prefer swimming to jogging

I tried my very best to impress you
Held my breath longer than I normally do
I was getting dizzy
My hair was wet and frizzy
Felt my muscles burn, I took a tumble turn
For the worse, it's a curse
My lack of athleticism, sunk like a stone
Like a first owner's home loan
When I came to, you and your towel were gone

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Dead Fox

Jen insists that we buy organic vegetables
And I must admit that I was a little skeptical at first
A little pesticide can't hurt
Never having too much money, I get the cheap stuff at the supermarket
But they're all pumped up with shit
A friend told me that they stick nicotine in the apples

If you can't see me, I can't see you

Heading down the Highway Hume
Somewhere at the end of June
Taxidermied kangaroos are littered on the shoulders
A possum Jackson Polluck is painted on the tar
Sometimes I think a single sneeze could be the end of us
My hay-fever is turning up, just swerved into a passing truck
Big business overtaking
Without indicating
He passes on the right, been driving through the night
To bring us the best price

If you can't see me, I can't see you

More people die on the road than they do in the ocean
Maybe we should mull over culling cars instead of sharks
Or just lock them up in parks where we can go and view them
There's a bypass over Holbrook now
Paid for with burgers no doubt
I've lost count of all the cows
There'll be no salad sandwiches
The law of averages says we'll stop in the next town
Where petrol price is down...
What do I know anyhow?

If you can't see me, I can't see you

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Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party

You always get what you want
And you don't even try
Your friends hate it when its always going your way
But I'm glad that you've got luck on your side
You're saying definitely maybe
I'm saying probably no
You say "You sleep when you're dead," I'm scared I'll die in my sleep
I guess that's not a bad way to go

I wanna go out but I wanna stay home
I wanna go out but I wanna stay home

Why are you so eager to please?
I wear my heart on my sleeve
Gets harder in the winter, gotta be a fake or shiver
It takes a great deal out of me
Yes I like hearing your stories
But I've heard them all before
I'd rather stay in bed with the rain over my head
Than have to pick my brain up off of the floor

I wanna go out but I wanna stay home
I wanna go out but I wanna stay home

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Debbie Downer

Tell me when you're getting bored and I'll leave
I'm not the one who put the chain around your feet
I'm sorry for all of my insecurities, but they're just a part of me
"Envy is thin because it bites but never eats"
That's what a nice old Spanish lady once told me
"Hey Debbie-Downer turn that frown upside down and just be happy"

I don't ask too much of you
It's true and I can't read your mind

Don't stop listening, I'm not finished yet
I'm not fishing for your compliments

I'm growing older every time I blink my eyes
Boring, neurotic, everything that I despise
We had some lows, we had some mids, we had some highs
Sell me all your golden rules and I'll see
If that's the kind of person that I wanna be
If I'm not happy I'll be glad I kept receipts

I won't ask too much of you
I used to wonder what to wear

Don't stop listening, I'm not finished yet
I'm not fishing for your compliments
Don't stop listening, I'm not finished yet
I'm not fishing for your compliments

Don't stop listening, I'm not finished yet
I'm not fishing for your compliments
Don't stop listening, I'm not finished yet
I'm not fishing for your compliments
Don't stop listening, I'm not finished
Don't stop listening, I'm not finished
Don't stop listening, I'm not finished
I'm not finished

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Kim's Caravan

Watermarks on the ceiling
I can see Jesus and he's frowning at me
I see a dead seal on the beach
The old man says he's already saved it three times this week
Guess it just wants to die
I would wanna die too
With people putting oil into my air
But to be fair, I've done my share
Guess everybody's got their different point of view

I was walking down Sunset Strip, Phillip Island, not Los Angeles
Got me some hot chips and a cold drink
Took a sandy seat on the shore
There's a paper on the ground, it makes my headache quite profound
As I read it out aloud
It said "The Great Barrier Reef it ain't so great anymore
It's been raped beyond belief, the dredgers treat it like a whore"

I drank 'til I was sinking, sank 'til I was thinking
That I'm thankful for this view
I drank 'til I was sinking, sank 'til I was thinking
That I'm thankful for this view
We either think that we're invincible or that we are invisible
When realistically we're somewhere in between
We all think that we're nobody but everybody is somebody else's somebody

Don't ask me what I really mean
I am just a reflection
Of what you really wanna see
So take what you want from me

Don't ask me what I really mean
I am just a reflection
Of what you really wanna see
So take what you want from me

Don't ask me what I really mean
I am just a reflection
Of what you really wanna see
So take what you want from me

So take what you want from me [x7]
So take what you want..

Satellites on the ceiling
I can see Jesus and she's smiling at me
All I wanna say is...

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Boxing Day Blues

I know that I let you down
You're not keen on what you found
When's the funeral?
Do you want me to come?

I'm not what you're looking for
My house has an open door
You need a lock and key

I love all of your ideas
You love the idea of me

Lover, I've got no idea
Lover, I've got no idea
Lover, I've got no idea

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Album Credits

Arranged By - Bones Sloane, Courtney Barnett, Dan Luscombe, Dave Mudie
Bass, Vocals [Singing] - Bones Sloane
Drums, Percussion, Vocals [Singing] - Dave Mudie
Engineer - Burke Reid
Guitar, Vocals [Singing] - Courtney Barnett, Dan Luscombe
Lacquer Cut By - Daniel Krieger
Mixed By - Burke Reid, Dan Luscombe
Photography By - Tajette O'Halloran
Producer - Burke Reid, Courtney Barnett, Dan Luscombe
Written-By - Courtney Barnett