We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Amphetamine Library

from Amphetamine Library by Amphetamine Library

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

MANKO: Donny, Andy and Hunter assembled this one around Donny's lyrics in the basement while I was out of town and Andy was visiting after moving away. I added some electric piano to it at some point and it became "the Basement Song" Originally the "Amphetamine Library" lyrics I wrote were attached to a long psychedelic jam with me on bass and Donny on ambient echo guitar, but when we met in Nashville to record these we decided to try fusing/braiding the two pieces.

For me, life in the dormitories of VCU often meant spending hours exploring the huge campus library if there was nothing else going on late at night. There I discovered Thomas Pynchon, and, in the Special Collection, a rare copy of the Principia Discordia. "The Tavern/Castle of Crossed Destinies" is a shoutout to Italo Calvino.

None of us has any recollection of where the phrase "amphetamine library" came from. Something about speed reading, maybe? We were originally called "Black 44," and then we made a long list of other names we could try, and in the end we all hated "Amphetamine Library" less than all the others. I still have the list, I think. But the piece of campus sidewalk where Hunter and I wrote "AMP LIB" in drying cement has probably been repaved by now.

DONNY: The original jam boombox recording was very quiet as we recorded t about 1am on New Year's Day in our basement. My vocal/lyrics are about the same as the original and were made up on the spot. It was all pulled from an argument that I had with a former girlfriend. Some are her words, some are mine - all blended together as you often remember emotional situations. Manko stepped up and added in his touch and lyrics. A great collaboration.

lyrics

Up from the coast comes a heavenly host
She's a blue-blooded beauty with a bust to boast
You want to hold her attention for a minute at least
But turn, turn away - she belongs to the beast

You can cry in your coffee for the dreams you lost
You can laugh about the tavern where your destinies crossed
But steal what you need - it'll never be free
Until you borrow from the shelves of the amphetamine library

Two hands stay clenched together
Two heads are pulling them apart
Don't listen when I talk to myself
Don't touch me when I wanna be alone

Out of these words come desperation
I don't ever want to see you again
Your cold speech just leaves me so quickly
Your empty thoughts are freezing me inside

In a dream you chased her fashion face
And it felt so good when you lost the race
And she was a priestess and you were her priest
And you laughed and you laughed, because now you belong to the beast

That woman who painted your breakfast black
Wants to meet you in the back of the magazine rack
To browse all night in aisle 23
Of the Special Collection of the Amphetamine Library

You think you're the only one who ever felt this
You think you'll never trust anyone again
I don't question you, I don't believe in you
How could I give to you what you want me to?

credits

from Amphetamine Library, track released October 18, 2014
Lyrics - Manko Eponymous & Donny Shattuck
Music by Amphetamine Library (mostly Andy Thompson, Donny Shattuck, and Hunter Duke, and a little by Manko Eponymous)

license

tags

about

Amphetamine Library image

Amphetamine Library Richmond, Virginia

Guitar - Andy Thompson
Drums - Hunter Duke
Bass, Vocals - Donny Shattuck
Guitar, Vocals - Manko Eponymous

contact / help

Contact Amphetamine Library

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Amphetamine Library, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.
listen now