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We're Just Happy To Be Here

by Chance Lewis

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1.
I'm a slice of life, no wait Imma slice the life out of your party make your face white Cut the tension in the room with a dull knife Make you overthink the world until you hate life Oh there goes Chance Lewis again Making a fool of us watcha gonna do with this kid Bringing his crew with him into Muse Music at ten For a secret set, pay him no attention I'm not trying to rain on your parade I'm just saying that the whole thing's a big charade And if I have to stage a fake parade to illustrate my point Then it's already been made When a terrible movie is a box office smash Or a horrible artist lives large off his cash When life gets you so down it's not even funny When headlines look like they came from The Onion Hold onto your money and don't lose hope You just figured out that life's a joke And one of these days, you're gonna figure out soon That if you get lucky the joke is on you I'm not bad, not well Just happy to be here can't you tell We're living life like it's all gonna end Cause it feels like we're ancient They say good things come to those who wait... ...and patience is a virtue... But they also say that the early bird catches the worm or Life's a race, you can justify Just about any way of life with some old wive's tale or saying A half truth cliche to explain away the world Like there's reason or rhyme, instead I like to live by this one liner: Life's a Joke, for better or worse Setup, punchline and then you die I'm not bad, not well Just happy to be here can't you tell We're living life like it's all gonna end Cause it feels like we're ancient And if you cry all night, we're all gonna laugh with you The secret of life is that it's all one big joke And the reason it stays a secret is this: Any time someone exposes it, they're labeled a joker And no one takes them seriously Meanwhile, every artist you ever loved is a standup comedian And you refuse to notice I'm not bad, not well Just happy to be here can't you tell We're living life like it's all gonna end Cause it feels like we're ancient And if you cry all night, we're all gonna laugh with you A musician, salesman, and a politician all walk into the club The host looks em square in the eye and says "What'll it be?" He's like "Table for one" God bless the overlooked jesters Who make more sense than their masters Take more shots than the messengers Save more souls than the ministers I march to the beat of a sinister drummer with two left feet And he plays just a little too fast to the pace of a life that's A joke so funny I forgot to laugh
2.
They told me that I'm too specific and that's why I've got no appeal (Try singing more about peace and love and California, buddy) They told me "Lewis you're such a pessimist" I was like, maybe you don't realize who you're messing with I've been calling out the whole world from an SM57 Ever since I was a minor and you called me Clift Back in Nazareth, Blue Eagle freshman Wrote a song about some older kids that I thought would get my ass kicked Called it Rappin Minivan it was my first quote "hit" We were Peyronies I was hype man to Chris Wojcik I was a product of the homophobic 90s Post-Ricky Vasquez Pre-Glee find me Before it was cool to wear glasses Before CNN told my atheist friends what LDS meant Post-grunge pre-9/11 bleached tips The Infinite Sadness was gone, we had nothing yet to be angry with I kept my head down cranked a few tunes out And took the first chance I got to move out They told me that I'm too specific and that's why I've got no appeal (Try singing more about peace and love and California, buddy) I was a Provo rookie can you picture this Innocent pop-punk kid misfit? Not the kind who wear eyeliner and a Misfits shirt C. Montgomery Clift, kinda reminds you of that selfless elf dentist Those were the days when every band in town was named after its frontman So I thought it would be funny if a punk band Did the same thing to get some more exposure Maybe try and trick some young fans Who never knew us into thinking the Chance Lewis Project was just like The newest chill acoustic group of students making music And the truth is when Matt Lewis heard about what I was doing with his name He was too pissed, but now it's who you know me as They told me that I'm too specific and that's why I've got no appeal (Try singing more about peace and love and California, buddy) Shoutout to my east coast natives turned Provo transplants With stage names and changed plans, throw up those hands (Chance, that only applies to you and Allred) Alright then, here's to our ten years of 100 block handstamps (They told me that) I shouldn't sing about my band face Cuz I would alienate my fanbase Always a little too on the nose Tried to write jingles but instead I kept coming up with long prose Check out my single and listen to how this song goes Anyone who's been around me long knows There's no mystique to me, I'm just an honor rock & roll Band nerd with the ego of a rapper in the wrong clothes They told me that I'm too specific and that's why I've got no appeal (It won't suffice to say I was born now I made it up to here) They told me that I'm too specific and that's why I've got no appeal (Try singing more about peace and love and California)
3.
For the fellas, let me hear you scream Babes come dance with me For the ladies, let's retaliate No way Jose I nearly lost it when I saw you there at Starry Night Hired a secretary to schedule you into my life I was a loner artist; a stranger to the block Tried unsuccessfully to make a little small talk But the whole crowd there danced so loud I couldn't see the notes coming out of your big mouth I tried to let loose; was trying way too hard Knew I was doomed from the start It doesn't matter what I say here When words lose all of their meaning As long as we can keep the lights out It doesn't matter what I say here For the one who got away I sure do see you here an awful lot You probably got a scripted weekend with a thoughtful plot Your love is like the pointless banter in between my songs Thought you paid attention to it all along but I was wrong It doesn't matter what I say cuz I'm invisible It doesn't matter what I do it will be pitiful It doesn't matter how I say it too because you'll still Think I'm only kidding so... What's the point, it doesn't even matter what I say here As long as we can keep the lights out It doesn't matter what I say here For the fellas, let me hear you scream Babes come dance with me For the ladies, let's retaliate No way Jose And you can be my philosopher If I can ride your dinosaur I was a stupid kid, I was a maniac I'm just an idiot man, I'm still a train wreck I broke down you provided me the soundtrack You cam around back then I had a little black Book with your number written in it like a tattoo Got a new phone put your info into that too Sent out a mass text when I had a show You replied "who's this"? and so I say It doesn't matter what I say here When words lose all of their meaning As long as we can keep the lights out It doesn't matter what I say here
4.
I handed out those fliers Copied em black and white Til I got that grand exposure Since then I've seen the light Since then I caught fire Kinda blew up overnight But never got closure Got caught up in that fight Between a bitter veteran And spoiled younger gentleman Who can't remember when A band like his would have to Test their mettle in a bigger city Just to have an itty bitty shot of "making it" These days if you're in last place Can't blame the race Cuz your shoes weren't laced And you fell flat on your face If McLuhan were alive Today I'll bet he'd say that this whole Medium is up in flames I NEED MYSPACE Words are my weapon Put a bullet in my bulletins Got some fancy ammo In my bio yeah i'm full of it I'm what would happen if Ann Landers And Sam I Am had a kid Wouldn't be the first or last I Am to come from Nazareth Give me a moment of your time I'll cherish it I'm on cloud nine Where the cherubs sit Sitting online in my chair I get The contact info of my nemesis I was playing Sego Fest And he was rocking Sega Genesis And now they're telling me that He's the one who's supposed to represent the rest of us? Don't wanna hear a song that's dissing on technology Blowing up my twitter feed And constantly barraging me In the garage when we were hashing out this section of the instrumental Musical direction was a sentimental process Sprung from experimental nonsense Not from how many plays your little bot gets I handed out those fliers Copied em black and white Til I got that Grand Exposure Since then I seen the light Since then I caught fire Kinda blew up overnight But never got closure Got caught up in that fight I got that Grand Exposure And now I'm seeing the light
5.
It was a 100 block summer The kind where you forget how much you hate life I was just another up & comer Never destined for a meteoric rise, more like a safe climb Indie deserts, fake beaches, what a bummer I've been on the list for so long I Forgot there was a cover It was a 100 block summer No sign of a 100 block summer That was my recipe for madness back in '05 Hanging out on Gif's Corner We used to renovate Velour so it could go live I was too high strung for a lover I was way too numb to feel the vibe Like a good drummer, we were living under rocks & lumber You livened up this slumber, so did I You start believing you're a menace to society When life gets boring you start looking for variety But I was a one-man-street-team Always hitting shuffle on a one-track-mind I tried to relax, but couldn't ignore the facts I did the math Aligned my state of mind on an X-axis over a Y-timeline Carried the 5, If this is how Depressed I am in August, you don't wanna see me Christmastime It feels like winter's on its way, but it's not coming It was a 100 block summer
6.
Did you miss me? Did you even notice I was gone? Did you even think to look in the last place you saw me? Are you already moving on? Vagrants Blankets Statements Patients Wait this Sick town just started to Make sense Switch up that cadence High-life low-maintenance Tried to get clean But stand the fragrance Make friends Date Send Letters to my folks Lie Say I got a girlfriend Life like a vacation Too punk rock to pay rent Too proud to live with parents I'm on my own errand Programmed to be a salesman But got distracted by the cheering When you're a singer You're not just slinging merch You're getting people to purchase a piece of a politician Hey you with the red hair and earrings Heard you're trying to get to heaven lemme be your red herring Wearing that pair of jeans says hipster when you're Bearing your hips it screams sorority sister We're Back Did you miss me? Did you even notice I was gone? Did you even think to look in the last place you saw me? Are you already moving on? Vacant Hated Born sixth of 8 kids Always told she'd get by if she faked it She translated that to mean she'd get what she wanted from all men if she would only get naked So indie her first words were DADA Dated a drummer just to piss off her father He didn't bother to teach her the difference between a no-good dropout and good kid with ambition I'm just a good kid with ambition Did you miss me? Did you even notice I was gone? Did you even think to look in the last place you saw me? Are you already moving on?
7.
Just like my younger brother And all my closest friends I see your world falling apart I crash and burn again I see you there and I remember how it was back then You know how this all started I'll show you how it ends First comes the paranoia Then loss of appetite Constantly overthinking Things will keep you up at night But here's the twist: You weren't overthinking things enough You're outta luck and it's too late to call her bluff Imma crash and burn From being in love Imma crash and burn From being someone Starts on a cloudy morning Back roads icy be warned No heater front seatbelt torn Just trying to keep yourself warm You crash into that bank Cause it looked at you a little wrong You make sure she can hear it You know she wanted you gone She did a number on you You did a number on her front lawn All of the leaking fluids fall To make a little pond Your tires dig into the gravel of that awful liar Starts on a cloudy morning Ends with the smoke and fire Imma crash and burn From being in love Imma crash and burn From trusting someone Starts with these crazy stories Denying all the guys she's kissed Start running for the door because This chick is a lip fictionist The only way you can win her back is to live like a limp bizkit riff And even then you have to live with this My prediction is: She'll run around town for years Spinning her gears Getting burnt out, shedding tears She's got that trying so hard to be every thing to everybody fear But she'll end up nothing to nobody here Preying on the broken hearted So you give in and end up right back where you started Imma crash and burn From being in love Imma crash and burn From trusting someone Imma crash and burn From being in love
8.
I'm a squeaky wheel Who speaks evil of snakes & weasels If you say please I'll Plug your measly blog to all these people See everyone's a cheerleader And nobody's a critic No report about the train wreck Everyone was in it This DJ made me fire Cory Layton then unfollow him from Twitter Just to have one of my rap songs be considered For a little online local music contest The winner gets the privilege of selling 50 tickets to a dinner And a concert, now I'm bitter cuz I didn't win it I found out You can't get very far unless you are the highest bidder Don't call them out just let them go and carry out their schemes Regurgitate that bio, local journalist you're burying the lead Ah here we go again it's this guy grabbing the mic? He's so white so I'm panicking right Bet half of his life has been spending pacifist nights Him manage a fight? Nah he's never knuckled in his life Where's the street cred? This guy is so effeminate His offbeat nasally tone, there's no defending it And while we're mentioning what's up with the chains and locks? It's a shame to watch, I'm saying just stop And not for nothing, I bet he's on the low though I know he's never in his life said "No Homo" Yo, yo, must like to show off his figure too Tight clothes, skinny jeans, haircut like Hitler Youth That's not enough reason alone, well beyond these This dude's only on, cuz he's down with Neon Trees The name's Apt and the picture's incomplete They sound so daft when they're burying the lead Provo's not the next Seattle, Brooklyn or next anything But it's not something to be apologized for in SLUG Magazine Or hidden from your bio, let me fact check your resume I'll proudly rep this town & all the friends I've made And since the university without diversity assigns these Naive writers to its local culture beat In the Daily Universe we see the same old boring Surface-skimming stories quarterly Maybe if you dug a little deeper and wrote more you'd see This town for what it is: Dopest local scene per capita But the fact that you don't recognize it is the very reason I'm attacking you Like Bleeding Gums Murphy's fate come fall If you're sleeping on 100 block consider this your wakeup call
9.
He switched states His state of being His state of mind He say he leaving I say he lying He weighs the meaning of his life as he rises to the grind He contemplates the signs Despite those self-righteous freaks who determine what those signs mean So in spite of them he takes his life And he spins it with his own hand He's weaving what he's woven It's something great He hears the claps and the laughs And it seems that he's met his fate Here he is on the stage He does it for himself But the wealth's in your scream And if you wanna love me, love me And if you wanna hate me, hate me But I don't believe in anyone I don't believe in anyone I don't believe in anyone but you Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch Chance Lewis, and I'm here to call myself out Shoutout to self doubt I do this for myself now In other words, this is not a comeback I never left, so I'd prefer you didn't call it that Spoiler alert: I've been dead all along Music really was the girl in the song By next summer she'll be gone And by fall we'll all be trying the new lineup on Lining up just to be proven wrong And if you wanna love me, love me And if you wanna hate me, hate me But I don't believe in anyone I don't believe in anyone I don't believe in anyone but you Brothers and sisters, Have you got the weight of the world on your shoulders? Well I'm telling you, shrug You only get so many exhales in this life How many you wanna waste on sighs? You say the skies are too gray? Well I say gray's a mighty beautiful color And if you wanna lose the clouds You damn well better bring the rain yourself Cuz it goes pay that toll shake, shake roll Two dice weight the same as a soul Turn around no eyes on the goal No lady luck, got stuck on your own Don't fuss and moan Upend the throne Fate's been dead since tusk in the bone Heed your guts and trust in your goal Light that fire clutch it and own What are you waiting for? GO! GO! GO! I get the feeling that my life is like a movie and I'm losing control And it goes flashback, montage, credits are rolling Who decided when the good old days officially ended? I'm not ready to roll over and give up like my friends did I'm not here to tell you what to believe And by you I mean I, and by I, I mean we We are Chance Lewis, we're just happy to be Right here, right now On the block, no end scene And if you wanna love me, love me And if you wanna hate me, hate me But I don't believe in anyone I don't believe in anyone I don't believe in anyone but you
10.
Poor you Reality's hit you like a pound of feathers Is it getting better or Is the weight of the pillow on your head too much? I know that life is hard Hell I'm a walking example of how to play your cards wrong But I get by from good friends who stay in touch Poor us We're a part of a narcissistic generation Overfed with attention Where the kids in glass houses only wanna go and play in the sand I know that wherever we go These pitiful partiers will never fly solo Despite the word on the street Life's not that bad What's going on? Where did everybody go? It's like I see you every day Every day you're reaching a new low Like it or not, looks like I'm here to stay Cuz I took off my PA plates today Sorry about that time I missed your birthday Sorry about that time I missed your game At least I saw you at the show we had last weekend I'm so glad that you all came Poor me I'm becoming redundant like a broken record Is it getting better It's insignificant, cuz I'm indifferent today I haven't done much with my life so far That's what I'm playing with a full deck of sympathy cards So come on over We'll gamble our lives away What's going on? This place is falling apart Can't look you straight in the eye Cuz it breaks my heart Like it or not, looks like I'm here to stay Cuz I took off my PA plates today You're sitting in a car down in east-coast-burg You're singing in your car but you don't know the words You're trying so hard to be like all the other girls Like you're going somewhere slow

about

My friend Chance Clift is the most important musician right now in Provo, Utah and here’s why:

He is absolutely and unabashedly in love with this city. Everything he talks about, every move he makes is directly inspired by and for this weird little town. He goes to almost every bands show, whether he’s working it, doing sound for it or attending it because he wants to. He has been doing this long before I moved here, 10 years to be exact.

Chance’s latest album finds him waxing nostalgic about things and places and people and moments of Provo/100Block history all set to the sampling and remixing of local artists and bands. Some of these local’s songs he, dare I say it, improves upon, adding his flare for production techniques and his unique flow and storytelling to the pieces of music.

Chance has always been the underdog, the actual wallflower, the unsung hero of this town. He may always be that guy. I think he knows it, and that’s what is so wonderful about him as an artist, as a friend and as a Provo enthusiast. He expects nothing but the opportunity of putting out something he really loves, and really that should be the heart and soul of every musicians recordings.

Chance leads the life of one extremely funny, totally overblown inside joke, and to know him is to love him. Yet he rarely can get a headlining set or actual respect from any of the “cool” local kids. We all know Chance, he’s been coming to all of our shows for years and years. We some how are surprised he actually is creative or smart simply on the fact that he hasn’t ever followed a local music trend or desired to be anything but himself. He never plays down his love for this town. He never will. HE LOVES YOU. YOU the local musician, YOU the local venue worker, YOU the local cafe waiter, you the local 7-11 employee, YOU the local college skank, YOU the local BYU guy, YOU the local punk, YOU the local homeless man, YOU the local kid playing his/her first time at open mic, YOU the local bishop, stake president or primary teacher. YOU the folk guy. YOU the emo kid still living in 2004. YOU. Genuinely and whole heartedly. We should be so lucky that someone finds us so fascinating and worth any thought. This man has turned you all into icons, and you don’t even know it.

His name is Chance Clift, his pseudonym is Chance Lewis.

-Tyler Glenn

credits

released December 12, 2012

full liner notes at werejusthappytobehere.com

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Chance Lewis Provo, Utah

Chance Lewis is a producer, songwriter, and rapper from Provo, Utah. He is a co-founder of hip hop collective House of Lewis and has produced tracks for artists such as Dessa, James the Mormon, and Madge.

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