Bones and Ribs

Inspired by the skeletons that we all have at our core.

Written and performed by Dylan Owen and Aidan Cooper

Featuring Aidan Cooper
Produced by Skinny Atlas
Music by Skinny Atlas, Aidan Cooper
Background vocals by Regina Zaremba
Acoustic guitar played by Nate Sander
Trumpet played by Nate Sander
Additional percussion played by Nate Sander
Violin played by Gabe Valle
Recorded under the stairs by Skinny Atlas
Additional recording by Tommy McCormick at Lovesound Studios in Walden, NY
Additional recording in Dylan’s apartment
Mixed by Skinny Atlas
Mastered by Chris Gehringer

Aidan Cooper

At the end of another painful run
Hoping tomorrow never comes
They say it’s life but it feels more like hell
And I just had a second look
In the mirror of the life I took
Are those eyes mine
Cuz fuck if I can't tell

And we are ribs
Just bones and ribs
Oh still broken from the pain we had as kids

And we are ribs
Just bones and ribs
Left in the streets where we first found our sins

Dylan Owen

If you dig deep down enough inside yourself
You’re bound to hit some lonesomeness
Down below your cloak of skin
Down where it’s just bones and ribs
Where there’s nothing there but holes to stitch, muscles, foam and limbs
Just scattered pieces where the cracking regions of your soul get chipped
I starved my feelings
Stripped em down to nothing
They’re just bolts that click
I used to live off my body of work
Now it’s just bones and ribs
I thought I’d become someone else

One day I almost did
But you don’t become someone else when someone else’s clothes can fit

Aidan

We’re just ribs
Just bones and ribs
Oh still broken from the pain we had as kids
And we’re just ribs
Just bones and ribs
Left in the streets where we first found our sins

Dylan

No matter how high the tide gets I try to roll with it
In New York down at sea level, I’d never felt as low as this
The last few years were affirmations, mantras, anecdotal myths
Dylan...
You always left the answer blowing in the wind
So what if I don’t ever make it home again?
What if I never see the poetry in life the way that Leonard Cohen did?
Will I still have a hole to fill
A skeleton of bones to pick
To strike something that’s gold
All that dirt and stone left over
Stretched right over all the rest
Of my cartilage
I’m growing thin
I take the tissue in between my joints and wipe my nose with it
So I don’t know, I walk alone, below the bridge
Re-walk the diner rooftops where I used to try not to approach the edge
When I’d need hot cement to lock my feet down just to hold me in
I feel the wind pinch my cheek at last
And say, “You’ve gotten older kid”
Finally, I see you underneath it all
And you aren’t even broken, you’re just cold, weathered, sober, different
I tried so hard to shelter out the lonesomeness
I dove in it
So I’ve been numb, nothing, only this
Bones and ribs, bones and ribs

I've been numb, nothing, only bones and ribs

Aidan

Been day after day of just running on bones
To get through a night spent awake
Been year after year of just running from homes
To get through a life we forsake
And I won't hurt
No
Anymore
For the times you won’t
For the times you won't remember
And I won't bleed
No
Anymore
For the time we lost
We finally lost forever
And we're just ribs
Just bones and ribs
Oh still broken from the pain we had as kids
And we're just ribs
Just ribs and bones
Oh still broken from the time we left our home

Aidan and Dylan

At the end of another painful run
Hoping tomorrow never comes
They say it’s life

But it feels more like hell
And I just had a second look
In the mirror of the life I took
Are those eyes mine
Cuz fuck if I can't tell