Ethan Palmer - The Things You Need To Know

The album I’ve been working on is just about all finished at this point, and I thought it would be fun to post some of the songs up here every couple of days to get the word out.  But for now, here’s one that didn’t make the final cut of the album.  It’s called The Things You Need To Know.  I originally wrote the chorus freshman year of college, but significantly reworked the rest of the song and made this version at the end of 2008.  It’s fairly straightforward and lighthearted, nothing too intense here.  It is about a certain person I know who is so convinced that he’s got everything figured out that he doesn’t realize he’s full of shit. Special thanks to James Nolte on backup vocals and Devin William Daniels on guitars.  Lyrics are below, let me know what yall think!

Days like waves keep floating past
And I can understand nobody wants to sail in last
But if you’re tangled up in yourself you’ll never go fast
You’re looking ahead when you should be looking back

Well I think that you just want to dive right in
and end up wherever the currents are taken
but you’re looking at it wrong before you even begin
life gives you lemons, you throw away the fruit and keep the skin

And didn’t you say “love is a cliché”?
“If you hunger for only one heart you’ll always end up starved.”
God forbid we ever meet you half way
You say “you’re doing it wrong if you haven’t gone too far”
And you think we should all just love you
for who you think you are…

You say you almost cared enough to give a damn
but you were always trying to live it up and be a real man
and now nobody knows exactly where the hell you stand
Hey, this is reality here, do you even know who the fuck I am?

And didn’t you say you had the answer?
Listen up ‘cause you know exactly what to do!
You’re a calm, collected cool romancer
and the words you sing reflect right off of you
While the rest of us realize
that you haven’t got a clue…

And you know
there’s too much shit to know
And I know
that you don’t even know
the things
that you
need to know…

You better watch out or you’re gonna lose yourself
left with the pieces to pick it up and throw it all out
and you think you already know what life’s all about
happiness is having someone around to hear you think out loud

And didn’t you say it’s never over?
Even when you spill your heart out on the floor
A long slow march till you can’t control her
It just keeps getting harder to keep the score
You already took it all
but you keep coming back for more…

And you know
there’s too much shit to know
And I know
that you don’t even know
the things
that you
ought to know…

And I never got to say
what I thought was the right way
God, I know I’m not perfect, and I’ll never aim to be
that way…

Cause you know
there’s too much shit to know
And I know
that you don’t even know
every day you will grow
and I know you don’t even know
the things
that you
need to know…