The Thought Chapter, by Color Theory

The Thought Chapter

by Color Theory

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Chickenwarlord A classic and thoughtful piece with a positive outlook. Favorite track: If It's My Time to Go.

Sylvia Odhner This was the first Color Theory album I got, and I fell in love with it. The music seems really deep and thought-provoking, and I relate to it in oddly specific ways. To me, it conveys a sense of profound satisfaction with life that I don't often find in music. Favorite track: If It's My Time to Go.

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of This Whole Nothing, Lucky Ago, Phobiac, The Majesty of Our Broken Past (Instrumental Edition), The Majesty of Our Broken Past, In Motion (Night Raptor Remix), Glory Days Remixes, The Ghost in You, and 20 more. , and , .

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1.	Figured Out 05:05	lyrics	buy track

2.	Zero Crossing 04:31	lyrics	buy track

3.	We're Not Getting Any Younger 04:18	lyrics	buy track

4.	Hypothetically 03:30	lyrics	buy track

5.	If Not Now When 04:17	lyrics	buy track

6.	I Should've Kissed You 03:19	lyrics	buy track

7.	Behind the Rhine 03:29	lyrics	buy track

8.	Photobooth 03:51	lyrics	buy track

9.	I Stand By My Mistakes 04:39	lyrics	buy track

10.	Pins and Needles 04:55	lyrics	buy track

11.	If It's My Time to Go 04:40	lyrics	buy track

12.	Our Shadow 05:10	lyrics	buy track

about

Five years of sonic exploration culminate in eleven new originals and a Death Cab for Cutie classic.

CD available at CD Baby: store.cdbaby.com/cd/colortheory18

credits

released November 17, 2008

Color Theory is Brian Hazard

All songs written, performed, and produced
by Brian Hazard (ASCAP) © 2008 except:

Photobooth
Written by Benjamin Gibbard © 2000
Published by Where I'm Calling From Music (BMI)

Backing vocals on 2, 7, 9, 12 by Michelle Hazard
Bass on Hypothetically by Jay Piccirillo
Bass on I Should've Kissed You by Caesar Filori

Drawings by Maya Klein www.bentkey.net
Mastered by Resonance Mastering www.resonancemastering.com

Too many to thank here, but Thomas Hanewinkel, Keith Gillard, and Ken Porter deserve special recognition

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about

Color Theory Huntington Beach, California

Somehow I never outgrew the 80s.

All major releases are here, including several not on Spotify. I also release at least one new song on Patreon every month, which you won't find here or anywhere else.

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Track Name: Figured Out: Woke up this morning
A mix of boy and man
Struck with a vision
A daring master plan
To kidnap your heart in
A desperate attempt
I’ll take no ransom
I won’t accept a cent

No I won't give you back for anything
No I don't really have a doubt
No you won't need to worry about a thing
I got it figured out

No I'm not crazy
Just temporarily insane
I’m falling in love and
You’re the one to blame
You're coming with me
You'll regret it if you don't
Don't make me force you
Because you know I won't

You'll be sorry if you try to bust me
So I guess that you'll just have to trust me

You're feeling doubtful
I can see it on your face
It's all taken care of
Everything's in place
Won't let you slip through
My fingertips this time
I know we'll be happy
Is that such a crime?

Come along quickly
There’s no time for goodbyes
I can’t make you love me
But I’m sure going to try.
Track Name: Zero Crossing: In this rhythm me and you
In this rhythm me and you
Watching ones and zeros flow
Through this sonic scene we drew
Shape is sound and sound is mood
All emotion crystal clear
Layered sine waves speak to me
Like a voice inside my ear

Why do we always fight
For the right of way, right away?
Ever the hero caught at a zero crossing

In this rhythm me and you
In this rhythm me and you
Plus and minus dissipate
To a common point of view
When you're down I bring you up
When you're up I bring you down
Out of phase I cancel you
At the speed of silent sound

A flattened line became our sign
I sacrificed a dimension for you

In this rhythm me and you
In this rhythm me and you
Words unsaid are deafening
Like a charge we hold on to
When we touch a static shock
Echoes through our fragile past
Clashing with a frequency
That could almost shatter glass

And when we signed the dotted line
I sacrificed a dimension for you.
Track Name: We're Not Getting Any Younger: I say I should take you home but you want to stay here
On the beach all alone with our blankets and beer
In the dark how we ache to fulfill this hunger
Cherish it now cause we’re not getting any younger

Ashes in fire pits and fires in our hearts as we move
Crashing waves in an urgent and quickening groove
Consummating the end of a perfect summer
Cherish it now cause we’re not getting any younger

If I never felt this way again
That would be okay
I could die right now a happy man
Because we had today

I peel the tag off a bottle hands dripping with sweat
Write a note on the back that says “never forget”
The best moments race by in a head-twisting blur
Cherish it now cause we’re not getting any younger

Just before sunrise we’re caught in a warm summer shower
So we climb to the top of a dry lifeguard tower
And we’re rocked to the core by the gentle thunder
Cherish it now cause we’re not getting any younger

We’re truly alive today
I’d trade all my tomorrows
For one more taste of this naiveté
For this naiveté
I’d trade all my tomorrows
Truly alive today
In love with the whole world today.
Track Name: Hypothetically: Imagination is powerful stuff
It can get ugly
It can get rough
Sometimes I dream horrible things
Just to try on how they might feel
To see what reactions I can reveal

I want to know
What if I lost you
I want to know
What would it mean to me
If your life were threatened
Hypothetically

Maybe a car crash
Maybe a plane
Maybe your heart stops
Maybe your brain
Would CPR in the ER trigger an SOS in my head
Bring my emotions back from the dead

It goes without saying
I mean you no harm
Don’t let these musings
Cause you alarm
Still if I find my idle mind
Conjuring visions of distress
It’s an experiment
Only a test

Yes it’s morbid but
I want to know
Do I still love you
I want to know
What would my future be
In a world without you
Hypothetically

I want to know.
Track Name: If Not Now When: In a little while
The lines will deepen on our faces
As the longest mile
Begins to circle home
Can’t help thinking that
We regulate our deepest feelings
Like a thermostat
To match our comfort zone
As we stand here toe to toe
If you kiss me now I’ll know
That our happiness is just a matter of permission

If not now when
It's now or never
We've just one life to live together
So little time to stop and mourn
What might have been
If not now when
It's now or never
All things must end
There's no forever
So little time to stop and mourn
What might have been
If not now when

In a little while
Our world will crack in hairline traces
Like a crooked smile
A Mona Lisa grin
At the very end
I’ll liberate these inhibitions
But I can’t pretend
It’s easy to begin
Cause the devil that disturbs
Daring acts and candid words
Is the part of me that worries it’s too late to love you

Maybe on another day
Always something in the way
Now I realize that life is one long string of somethings.
Track Name: I Should've Kissed You: You said, “I’m sorry if I misinterpreted you.”
“I guess I overanalyzed.”
But I’m an idiot and you were right all along
It’s me who should apologize
We kept the stars awake confessing everything
'Til there was nothing left to say
And then you turned to me your eyes halfway to a dream
What kind of man would turn away?
Nobody but me

I should've kissed you
I should've kissed you
Totally blew it
I didn't do it
But God I wanted to
I should've kissed you
I told myself when
You leaned in closer
Here comes my big chance
But then it was over
And now I miss you
I should've kissed you

I play that moment back a hundred different ways
Each time I kick myself again
You had to settle for a hug and squeeze of the hand
The consolation of a friend
My eyes abandoned you to chase a light in the sky
An airplane flying high above
I wanted so badly to tell you this isn’t me
I need your love – I believe in love
Despite how it seems

You know this wasn’t
What I was intending
A tale for the ages
A storybook ending.
Track Name: Behind the Rhine: I'm back from hell and back again
To make amends
Your pocket swallows up your hand
When mine extends

All is forgiven
Give me the will
Give me the way
This is the time
Leave it behind the Rhine

Don't play it back inside your head
There's no rewind
Guilt has an expiration date
A soft deadline

All is forgiven
Give me the will
Give me the way
Swallow the pill
Empty my head
Throw it away
This is the place
This is the time
Nothing to face
Leave it behind the Rhine

As I lay down my burden by
The riverside
I vow to never cross again
The great divide

The darkest part of me still lingers
It must survive
Without regret how will I know
That I'm alive?

Leave it behind the Rhine
Nothing to face
Leave it behind the Rhine
Let it all go
Leave it behind the Rhine
Behind the Rhine.
Track Name: Photobooth: I remember when the days were long
And the nights when the living room was on the lawn
Constant quarreling, the childish fits
And our clothes in a pile on the ottoman
All the slander and double-speak
Were only foolish attempts to show you did not mean
Anything but the blatant proof
Was your lips touching mine in the photobooth

And as the summer's ending
The cool air will put your hard heart away
You were so condescending
And this is all that's left
Scraping paper to document
I've packed a change of clothes and it's time to move on

Cup your mouth to compress the sound
Skinny dipping with the kids from a nearby town
And everything that I said was true
As the flashes blinded us in the photobooth
Well I lost track and then those words were said
You took the wheel and you steered us into my bed
Soon we woke and I walked you home
And it was pretty clear that it was hardly love

And as the summer's ending
The cool air will rush your hard heart away
You were so condescending
And this is all that's left
Scraping paper to document
I've packed a change of clothes and it's time to move on

And as the summer's ending
The cool air will rush your hard heart away
You were so condescending
As the alcohol drained the days

And as the summer's ending
The cool air will rush your hard heart away
You were so condescending
And this is all that's left
The empty bottles, spent cigarettes
So pack a change of clothes cause it's time to move on.
Track Name: I Stand By My Mistakes: The silence sets in toward the end of the day
When the ringing in my ears dies away
Time to slow down
A chance to reflect
Let’s share a toast
An exercise in disrespect

To each shooting star that broke its promise to me
To every birthday candle wish guaranteed
Raise your glass high
Dress me in black
In memory of
The dreams I had
I’ll drink to that

I stand by my mistakes
I did the best that I could do
Each hour of the day
Reveals a different point of view
And when the best years of our lives
Have burned away like morning dew
I’ll stand by my mistakes
I’ll stand by you

It would be so easy now to curse at my fate
And point at someone else to shoulder the weight
No smoking gun
To bolster my claim
No chain of command
I have only myself to blame

Over many years our paths became intertwined
To form a knot too tangled up to unwind
Each move I make
Tightens it more
Holds me in place
Yet somehow makes me feel secure

Bow your head down
Dress me in white
A ghost of the man
I thought that I’d be by tonight.
Track Name: Pins and Needles: You mumble something cryptic
And then giggle in your sleep
A smile so wide I know you can’t be dreaming about me
The lack of circulation to my arm under your head
Makes pins and needles dance as I lie helpless in your bed

Want to hear the awful truth?
I really do believe
That we dance on pins and needles
We dance on pins and needles

And try to keep our balance though we stumble every day
We never stop to wonder what got lost along the way
You grip my hand too tightly as you feel me letting go
My fingers unresponsive like a mitten full of snow
Want to hear the awful truth?

I really do believe
That love means one thing to you
Another thing to me
Just the tingle of severed nerves
Where feeling used to be
We dance on pins and needles
We dance on pins and needles

You sit down on my lap without a warning or a word
And kiss me like a teenage girlfriend waiting at the curb
I taste the desperation in you and it makes me blush
To find my thighs desensitized to any youthful rush.
Track Name: If It's My Time to Go: Never quite sure when it will come to pass
Living each day like it could be my last
Cause the planet seems to spin a little bit faster
When you wake up every day awaiting disaster

Took a long time for me to admit defeat
Too many dreams just lying there at my feet
But I’m older now it seems
A little bit smarter
So I won’t go to extremes by playing the martyr

If it’s my time to go
You should know how much I love you
If it’s my time to go
I am ready
If it’s my time to go
Then go on ahead without me
Close my eyes
Kiss my cheek
Let me go

Coming to terms changes your attitude
Tempers the fear with genuine gratitude
I’ve enjoyed some happy years
Collected some trophies
But the end is drawing near
So listen up closely

All bets are off
There are no guarantees
What happens next
We’ll have to just wait and see
Let this song be my goodbye
Don’t try to reject it
No loose ends for us to tie
We’re interconnected.
Track Name: Our Shadow: I spent a lifetime chasing shadows
Haunting the space where two lives crossed
Just when the sun was in alignment
The clouds came in and all was lost

I thought I would leave you too
And say, “This is it – we’re through”
But then I saw the dark

The alchemy of you and me
Our shadow
A witches’ brew of me and you
Our shadow

Can’t tell one of us from the other
Our forms and features overlap
No light can pass between our union
Our bodies blend without a gap

Admiring the shade we cast
I let go of futures past
And watched our worlds combine

A safety net in silhouette
Our shadow
This earthly bond will last beyond
A shadow of a doubt

We’ll never fade.