Needle In the Groove
(By Eric Erdman)

Shadows consume the entire room
even when it’s high noon 
Make the wounds you thought you had entombed 
come back in full bloom
Gloom twists into dark fantasies
Creep up and turn what you see 
into what you think you see
and the walls close in

Chest cavity constricts 
the breath you need sticks
Happens so quick
Silence starts to deafen 
as the options are suppression 
or popping antidepressants 
like dinner party refreshments 
when you reach in every direction for affection 
you find only aggression
Start to second guessing and then to question
will you ever breathe again

I want you to know the peace you seek
Is as simple as letting your speakers speak
so turn the knob to 10, and let’s begin

I found a way to take the distance between me and you 
and put it some where else
I found a way to take a flame to the difference 
they claim on the 6 o’clock news 
and watch it melt
And I found it’s really not that hard to do
Just gotta Listen for what’s missing
ya hear that pop and scratch at the end of the record skipping?
You gotta Lift the arm, slide it to the right ….
and drop the needle in the groove 

Like a sonic apothecary 
the record store will take your weary 
beaten and battered mind, mortar and pestle a tune from the grind
elixir from the crates, tincture from the greats
to be applied to any place 
where you’ve been worn thin

Soothes like auditory medicine 
Soon as it spins it seeps beneath your skin and you begin
to notice that the places from before 
where you were torn
They’re on the mend 

I want you to know the peace you seek
Is as simple as letting your speakers speak
so turn the knob to 10, and let’s begin

You have way to take the distance between me and you 
and put it some where else
You have a way to take a flame to the difference 
they claim on the 6 o’clock news 
and watch it melt
Yeah I’m not only one able to
Just gotta Listen for what’s missing
ya hear that pop and scratch at the end of the record skipping?
You gotta Lift the arm, slide it to the right ….
and drop the needle in the groove