Boat Songs, by MJ Lenderman (2024)

1.

Jordan wanted to sign with Adidas for shoesBut Nike gave him an offer that he could not refuseIt wasn’t a pizza that poisoned him in UtahWith the hotel bill to prove Three thousand dollars on just five dudesI bought fake JordansThey weren’t even shoesOh he looked so sickIt was all over the news But it wasn’t the pizza and it wasn’t The fluYeah i love drinking tooI love drinking too

2.

It’s plain to me to seeYou have bought yourself a boatSince the last time you and me spokeYour laundry looks so pretty Soft threads hanging and relaxing in the windYou’ll feel so much better When you wear these clothes againThe waves ruin the beach houseEvery year on your birthdayThey gave this hurricane your human nameHow many more bug bitesAnd other subtle misfortunes can I withstand tonight?Someone snuck their mothballs in my headlightsThe neighbors are cussingAnd throwing shit in the yardWhile echoes of the minor leaguesTumble down the road

3.

It’s hard to see you fall like thatThough I know how much of it’s an actIn this tables, ladders, and chairs matchWhere all things goLike your shoulders, your hips, and kneesThey all hurt youThey will work you Just need to take some of theseAnd all things goThat’s why you do what you gotta doJust to get throughAnd I know life will make you crazyI doNow it’s not the same as when we were boysThe playful way we would destroyHalf naked taking steroidsAnd watch us goI always believed you every time you saidYou were gonna be like our heroes somedayWell, babyAll our heroes now are deadCause all things goThat’s why we do what we gotta doJust to get throughAnd I know life will make us crazy I doAnd i know why we get fucked upI know why we get so fucked upI know why we get so fucked up I doIt’s hard to see you fall so flatFrom so high up hard down on the mattIn this battle royale cage matchWhere all things go

4.

Toontown frownI’m your beat down rodeo clownWith his pants pulled downFaded face paint smileLeave the end on simmer for a whileDid you find my Disney World?Did it make you dizzy, girl?When it fell apart,Did it break your heart?Now I’m crying in the bathroomOf our dying world in a vacuumStill trying to be funnyYou can see right through meHoneyToontown frownJust some watered down romeo clownWith his pants pulled downDid you find my Disney World?Did it make you dizzy, girl?When it fell apart,Did it break your heart?

5.

I still have the keyTo your boyfriend’s SUVI keep it by my bedLike a picture of you and meYou caught me in my bathrobe You caught me on my knees You caught me on my weekendCatching up on my TVMy TV

6.

I had it under controlI had it under controlAnd then it snow balledAnd rolled and rolled and rolledAnd I don’t have control anymoreCan’t say I didn’t knowBut sometimes you get so aloneI’d always seen the corner And still I stubbed my toeCan’t say I didn’t knowDon’t remind meDon’t remind meWhat I already knowDon’t remind meDon’t remind meI knowI got my wheels in a ditchThere’s a word for thisFor what used to scratch the itchAnd then some day it quitAin’t that a bitch

7.

My daddy saw Dan MarinoAt a Harris TeeterIn South CarolinaBy the shoreHe hustled his ballsAnd looked at a cereal boxHe did not see his faceBrady’s has replacedTom Brady’s has replacedBut I think big Dan will be alrightFor he’s a hall of famerThe next day we saw dolphins From a friend of ours boatFrom a friend of ours boatWe saw dolphinsFrom our friends boat

8.

Pretty little puddleIn Miami blueHuge water slideInto a drained out Community swimming poolSeed fell out of the feederAnd the birds are eating on the groundJackass is funnyLike the Earth is roundRogan’s home for the holidaysThe conversations are goodAnd the dinners are greatIf only for being homemadeI bought you a shirtFrom the local merch at the airportGave it to you and screamed“You are every girl to me”

9.

You know I’m no hardassYou know I couldn’t be lessBut what did I tell youAbout wearing that dumb hat?You know the one I’m talking aboutOn the sidewalkBy the butcher shopWhere we bought our expensive meatThat we had planned to eatOn the sidewalk by the butcher shopYou screamed and I trippedYou screamed and I trippedMmmmm honeyIt tastes just like it costs

10.

Dripping wetFrom the log rideInsecure from the car rideDestroyed by your loveOn a stringOn the spinning swingsWhere no one could noticeNo one could noticeI have never Felt aloneThe way I didAt the Six Flags over TexasI’m not countingI’m not countingNo one’s countingYour mistakes

Jake Lenderman lives in Asheville, North Carolina. He plays guitar in the indie band Wednesday, sometimes fishes on the Pigeon River, and creates his own music as MJ Lenderman. His latest solo release with Dear Life Records is titled Boat Songs. Lenderman describes the album as his most “polished” sound to date, built around songs that “chase fulfillment and happiness”—whether that means buying a boat, drinking too much, or watching seeds fall from the bird feeder.

Boat Songs is the followup to Lenderman’s 2021 label debut, Ghost of Your Guitar Solo, and subsequent release, Knockin’, with Dear Life Records, both of which were critically acclaimed for their off-the-cuff alternative country sound. But with Boat Songs, Lenderman emerges confident as ever, an innovative yet unassuming artist, straightforward and true.

Recorded at Asheville’s Drop of Sun with Alex Farrar and Colin Miller, Boat Songs is the first album Lenderman made in a professional studio. WWE matches and basketball games were silently projected on the studio walls during recording sessions. And you can hear their power in these ten unapologetically lo-fi tracks, each brimming with pent-up energy and the element of surprise.

A clavichord honks throughout ‘You Have Bought Yourself A Boat’ with the playfulness of a live Dylan/Band set. ‘SUV’ screams with My Bloody Valentine distortion. When Xandy Chelmis beautifully bends his steel guitar on ‘TLC Cage Match’ you can't help but think of Gram Parsons. And ‘Tastes Just Like It Costs’ howls with the intensity of Crazy Horse era Neil Young. Boat Songs is fearless and it’s exciting. It challenges the perception of what modern day country music is supposed to be and where it can go.

But no matter where Boat Songs goes sonically, the album is deeply rooted in Lenderman’s natural gifts as a storyteller. Someone once asked Hank Williams what made country music successful and he said, “One word: sincerity.” Filled with everyday observations ripped straight from his journal, Lenderman’s lyrics are sincere in their absurdities, with the vulnerability and honesty of Jason Molina and Daniel Johnston. There are moments of humor (‘Jackass is funny like the Earth is round’), admission (‘I know why we get so fucked up’), and recognition of beauty others might not stop to see (‘Your laundry looks so pretty...relaxing in the wind’). Read alone on the page, ‘Hangover Game,’ ‘You Have Bought Yourself A Boat,’ and ‘Dan Marino,’ stand out as perfect little poems, unpretentious and real. Simply said, these songs are unforgettable.

Or you could also say it like this: listening to Boat Songs by MJ Lenderman is like joining your best friends out on the porch. The neighbors might be yelling and the bugs might be biting. But y’all are shooting the shit and letting loose, telling the same old stories again and again. But it don’t matter how many times you’ve heard them, because they're from the heart—and in the end they always make you feel alive again.

--Ashleigh Bryant Phillips

released April 29, 2022

All songs written by MJ Lenderman except for Toontown, written by MJ Lenderman and Andrew James

All instruments played by MJ Lenderman except for bass, keys, and trumpet played by Colin Miller
And Pedal steel by Xandy Chelmis

Guitars on You Are Every Girl To Me played by Alex Farrar and Lewis Dahm

Back up vocals by Karly Hartzman and Colin Miller

Recorded and mixed by Alex Farrar at Drop of Sun in Asheville, NC
Produced by MJ Lenderman with help from Alex Farrar and Colin Miller
Mastered by Colin Miller

Album art by Andrew James, layout by Jon Samuels for Dear Life Records