The Future Isn't What It Used to Be
Into the brightest future, with interlacing fingers
Synchronizing strides would bring us home
We were singing every anthem that brought us close together
’Til I forgot how it feels to be alone
Through the whitest winter, we’d weather any blizzard
Harmonizing voices to keep warm
With the sound wrapped around like blankets by the fire
’Til we forgot the feeling of the cold
I came to feel nowhere could be too far from home
Now the future isn’t what it used to be
Broken in selective memory
Soon the darkest summer would chill me to the bone
Paralyzed in choice, but not my own
With the future I remember in photographic fiction
Revisions of the truth you’d always told
Your smile became my home; I see it in everything I own
And the future isn’t what it used to be
Broken in selective memory
Where the truth is mixing with the make-believe
Twisted in revisions of history
Through blurry vision, I see your smile
A joyful image frozen in time (A sweet illusion burned in my mind)
I feel our future leave me behind (I’m unable to rewind)
I violently shiver, though I’m on fire
I had a dream that you loved me again
Then I awoke to this empty bed
Now the future isn’t what it used to be
Broken in selective memory
Where the truth is mixing with the make-believe
Twisted in revisions of history
Love, I want to see you happy
But you should know
My home leaves with you when you go
The album’s title song, "The Future Isn’t What It Used to Be," recounts a failed relationship’s joyful beginnings through a lens of grief and disillusionment—from losing not only a planned future, but also a shared past with someone who seems to have rewritten the story of their own feelings. The final line connects the song back to the song "Home (Source and Target)" as the speaker’s sense of home becomes elusive again.
Every song on this record (The future isn't what it used to be.) began simply with acoustic guitar and voice, but this is the only one that remained so close to that throughout production, adding only strings and sparse percussion.
Music & Lyrics by Tyler Jameson Newton
Performed & Recorded by Tye Newton
Produced & Mixed by Tye Newton
Consultation & Mastering by Justin Newton
Art direction by Tye Newton
Cover art design by Tye Newton
Photography by Tye Newton
The Future Isn't What It Used to Be
The Future Isn't What It Used to Be
Into the brightest future, with interlacing fingers
Synchronizing strides would bring us home
We were singing every anthem that brought us close together
’Til I forgot how it feels to be alone
Through the whitest winter, we’d weather any blizzard
Harmonizing voices to keep warm
With the sound wrapped around like blankets by the fire
’Til we forgot the feeling of the cold
I came to feel nowhere could be too far from home
Now the future isn’t what it used to be
Broken in selective memory
Soon the darkest summer would chill me to the bone
Paralyzed in choice, but not my own
With the future I remember in photographic fiction
Revisions of the truth you’d always told
Your smile became my home; I see it in everything I own
And the future isn’t what it used to be
Broken in selective memory
Where the truth is mixing with the make-believe
Twisted in revisions of history
Through blurry vision, I see your smile
A joyful image frozen in time (A sweet illusion burned in my mind)
I feel our future leave me behind (I’m unable to rewind)
I violently shiver, though I’m on fire
I had a dream that you loved me again
Then I awoke to this empty bed
Now the future isn’t what it used to be
Broken in selective memory
Where the truth is mixing with the make-believe
Twisted in revisions of history
Love, I want to see you happy
But you should know
My home leaves with you when you go
Music & Lyrics by Tyler Jameson Newton
Performed & Recorded by Tye Newton
Produced & Mixed by Tye Newton
Consultation & Mastering by Justin Newton
Art direction by Tye Newton
Cover art design by Tye Newton
Photography by Tye Newton
Lovelorn Lullaby
This is home, warmth, love, happiness
Time, gratitude
It’s my home with you
And I see you when I look around
In every inch of my life
I see the way I’ve felt with you
Glowing in this light
I can see, hear, feel us laughing and
Loving, singing, planning, dancing
It’s a dream
Falling asleep here with you missing
In our empty apartment
Feels like giving up
I’m so tired but I’m not ready
I’m not ready
It was "no more nightmares
Sleep easier, now we're home"
"We’re really living the dream, aren’t we?"
And now it’s "goodbye sweet dreams"
Our foundation crumbles as I sleep
The nightmare is awake, not me
Not me
Here is our home, new again; bare walls, patient with potential
The gold hardwood floor still waiting for the shadow of our black faux leather sofa
The forsaken guest room door ajar, beyond the dark, unwanted television
The bright, open kitchen wishing for the soundtrack of Elbow and Damien
Rising through the stairway landing where we’ll integrate our friends’ art on display
The old brick and space left naked for the photographs we’ll take but never frame
The hollow of the walk-in closet where we’ll laugh at how even your jeans fit me
In the nook with the red Japanese chair, the deluge will lull us both to sleep
The skylight in the vacant corner of the loft will cast our bed like a cathedral
Where I will sneak snapshots of you dreaming blissfully in that summer sun cascade
Nearby, the gas stove—sitting cold—will drive the winter from our bones
Beside the gap for the piano and the strings we’ll tune to summon the spring
And we will choose our favorite sad songs, substituting words to make them happy
Recorded evidence of our love, compellingly performed but incomplete
And we will learn to synchronize our walk and let the music move us in time
And I will try to lead you, hand in hand, cheek to cheek, your chest pressed to mine
We’ll embrace until the dance is over, then we will leave no trace of it behind
Only the bats in the ceiling will remember that vinyl record skipping in my mind
But I’ve already carved the shape of you into the songs and rhythms of my life
It’s too late to separate the future from the dream
Releases
