Kyle Craft may have been born in Shreveport, LA, but he lives in Portland, which is perfect because he’s a wordsmith genius and Portland is a songwriter’s haven. NPR wrote about his music, saying it has “striking imagery, rich wordplay, and a rambling poetic energy,” and that’s pretty much spot on in our book. Have a listen to Rager:
Rager
(with lyrics)
She walked in,
Her hands in fur coat pockets,
She brought her best bad habit,
She’s looking for to kill.
If not herself, then,
Maybe tonight’s boyfriend,
Maybe some sad random,
Looking for his fill.
And though I know I’m just some perk,
She lets me hang around and watch her work,
‘Cause she knows what I like to do,
And she knows what I like to see,
And she knows how to bring about,
A shattered heart that don’t belong to me.
This one’s a rager,
And all the cute girls hate her,
And all the boys run terrified,
From her powder-white toes.
“Who’s she?” they ask me,
As she stumbles past me,
It’s one of twenty different names,
Depending where she goes.
But I still don’t know which one’s real.
She lets me hang around and watch her deal,
‘Cause she knows where a man gets weak,
She leans in with a low-cut dress,
She knows what I like to see,
Her victims walking out the bar a mess.
Now it’s search and destroy
For the player of the playboy
For the walking apocalypse
And the heels she staggers on.
She courts the shadows,
She swings about the gallows,
Rope to rope, she gets her thrill
And lays awake at dawn.
But who could live that way this long?
I’ve seen plenty good girls go wrong,
But I never seen someone like you,
Burning holes in a four-post bed,
Passed out with your knees all bruised,
Your sleeping hand holding a cigarette.
And your head never hurt so bad,
Thinking ’bout the fun you had.
What on earth did we do last night?
Why’s there blood on the shower wall?
Who’s that sleeping on the hardwood floor?
And what’s the number written on my palm?
Yeah, my keys are somewhere in my pants,
But I ain’t trying to get back home.
Then she wakes up, and she quietly laughs,
“There’s a party tonight if you wanna go,”
“There’s a party tonight if you wanna go.”