The Noble Knave by Ryan Parmenter

The song portrays a character about whom I had written several short stories, a manchild who represents just how silly and obnoxious I would be if I had no conscience or inhibitions. I figured it sets the tone for the album pretty well.

2. Keep Crying

I wrote "Keep Crying" around the holidays in 2000. The words were a tongue-and-cheek expression of some of my relationship frustrations, scrawled one evening in a coffee shop. I circulated a CD of a demo version to friends and family (as I am wont to do) in 2001. As the song would suggest, the relationship did not last.

3. Dating My Frankenstein

In 2005, I was dating a girl I had been friends with in high school. In her opinion I had been something of a mentor to her, where "mentor" equals "corruptor." She suggested that, by connecting with the personality I had helped shape, I was in essence dating my Frankenstein. How could I not make a song about that?

4. Starving

I wrote "Starving" in 2002, about being forced from a relationship one does not want to leave, whether through loss, breakup, or distance. The song is about the deparate feelings that can arise in any such situation.

5. Diamond Eggshell

Written in 1996, "Diamond Eggshell" is about being over one's head in a relationship, and not knowing how to properly communicate to address issues. In other words, songs like this will never be irrelevant as long as there are humans wandering around.

6. I Dig Your Head

I wrote "I Dig Your Head" in the spring of 1999, mere hours from ending a school year. Apparently I was feeling rather goofy, intent, and creative all at once. If there is anyone out there who can strongly identify with this song's speaker, please seek guidance.

7. All Ways

Who doesn't love a cheesy love song? In 2004, I apparently thought the same.

8. Sterilized

I came up with the first line of this song years ago, sitting up in the otherwise vacant bleachers at my high school on a sunny summer day. All at once, I knew there was some serious Freudian stuff loaded into it, but I couldn't figure out where to go with it. I finally broke through in early 2005, during final preparations for the 2nd Eyestrings album. I produced a demo that the band didn't think fit with the rest of the material, so "Sterilized," perhaps like the song's speaker, became a symbolic orphan.

9. Dream

Not much to say about "Dream." I wrote it in 2000, and it's about not wanting to wake up.

10. No Matter How You Spend Your Day

I wrote "No Matter How You Spend Your Day" in the summer of 1999. I thought of the first line right on the verge of falling asleep one night and had to get myself out of bed to write what turned out to be most of the lyrics. In the second chorus, the "letter" is an allusion to a girl I liked who thought that a friendly note I had sent to her was stalkerish. After that, I was much more reluctant to invoke the use of rhyme in notes to girls. Remember that: rhyme = stalker. And I turned her reaction into part of a rhyming song, which I think is a great example of creative retaliatory irony. Anyhow, the rest of the song is a charming study of the infinitessimal impact any given person has on the universe, and with its charming melodies, the song been a pet favorite of mine since its composition.

11. I'm Just A Guy

Written in the earliest part of 2001, "I'm Just A Guy" was and is my categorical apology to the ladies.

12. The Noble Knave

There's always something significant to a title track, right? Well, maybe not. "The Noble Knave," written in 1999, has only two lines of lyric, the second contradicting the first, and it sounds like the theme to a goofy superhero show. I just kinda like the title.

13. Come Along

This is the newest of the bunch, and it's got an anthemic quality to it, so I saved it for last. I wrote "Come Along" for a reunion show that my old high school's choir directors organized prior to the closing of the school. The song is about turning cruddy a situation into an oportunity.

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