My Mind Is Slowly Slipping
Pandemic dissociation with Babidi: WFH fun while family hurts, Kafka skies and mask police: gently forgetting, quarantine and chill, mind slowly slipping.
Listen: Spotify·Apple Music
ISRC QZK6P2060455 (soundexchange)
Track ten on Masks and Monsters, feat. Babidi (Taylor James / J MESA). Co-written and performed with Luke Francis Walton; North Park lockdown, August 2020. The album essay names it alongside It Can Get Worse and Corona in the LP’s direct emotional center: pandemic psychology with a collaborator, not cartoon filler.
The whole song runs on guilt. Getting to work from home but my brother’s hurting some, and on the second pass it’s my mother’s hurting some: the same sentence reopened on a different wound, WFH ease against family suffering. The chorus turns dissociation into a lullaby (nothing else to do but chill / and gently forgetting), and the spoken break folds in track nine, Quarantine and Chill, pulling its domestic-plans script into the collapse.
Babidi’s second co-write here, heavier than that phone-call love song but sharing its chill vocabulary. Pairs with A Good Life and Pandemic Blues as the record’s unraveling thread.
Written by Luke Francis Walton and J MESA (Taylor James / Babidi). Performed by Scoobert Doobert with Babidi. Mixed and mastered by Luke Francis Walton. Album art by Gentle Giant Illustrations.
Lyrics
Dirty in the furnace I'm tryna keep all the bugs out Not sure where you hear it first But now all the people scream and shout Trees feeling deserted With the Kafka skies as a nuclear blow Who's here to report this Cause the virus spreads But I'm acting slow I get the feeling that I'm Just just having fun Getting to work from home but My brother's hurting some The kinda feeling that I wish that this wasn't true But when I look at you I wonder what's next to come My mind is slowly slipping Deeper since the beginning Nothing else to do But chill And gently forgetting My mind is slowly slipping My mind is slowly slipping Nothing else to do But chill And gently forgetting And gently forgetting Vibing with the window Open Fresh air is rushing in Pixels, letters Make you think outside's a sin Masks are the normal Cause if you don't I strike you down Couples and friends are judged Just for hanging out Wait a minute I get the feeling that I'm Just just having fun Getting to work from home but My mother's hurting some The kinda feeling where I wish that this wasn't true But when I look at you I wonder what's next to come My mind is slowly slipping Deeper since the beginning Nothing else to do But chill And gently forgetting My mind is slowly slipping My mind is slowly slipping Nothing else to do But chill And gently forgetting Oh dear This is the end What nonsense, darling (Gently forgetting) Don't forget All the lovely things we plan to do today (Quarantine and chill) My mind is slowly slipping Deeper since the beginning Nothing else to do But chill And gently forgetting My mind is slowly slipping My mind is slowly slipping My mind is slowly slipping My mind is slowly slipping All the lovely things we plan to do today Both hands towards the ceiling If you're both asked to stay home Tryna protect our cities But some don't do well alone My mind is slowly slipping Deeper since the beginning Nothing else to do But chill And gently forgetting