Misery is a Riot

**Genre**

"Misery is a Riot" is a song written by Mikaela Thorn and recorded under her alias ThornBrain. It was released on her third album, *Buried Secrets & Old Lies*, and the demo/proof-of-concept was included on the free *Quaero* compilation. It was slightly remixed along with the rest of *Buried Secrets...* in 2020.

## About

The song describes the funeral of the characters Buried Secrets and Old Lies, wherein many have arrived to mourn the hope-inspiring Buried Secrets but not the abusive, conservative priest Old Lies. Old Lies' had has been kicked down the road by a child, to be referenced again in the track "For Not 206". The song also criticizes the lack of compassion in the right-wing with the line "Silent absence, their one act of decency".

Thorn had trouble deciding how to structure the song or find the right tempo for a few months, eventually being inspired by the 1-2 drum pattern in "Get Ready for Love" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The chorus guitar riff is inspired by the riff from "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" by U2. The song originally used a Yamaha keyboard on its organ setting, but this was replaced in the 2020 mix with Thorn's Casio run through her Stylophone.

## Lyrics

We are gathered around two holes

Filled by two halves

One that we barely met

One we wished we didn't know

It's not what I'd call a crowd

But an outpouring

And I can't help but notice

The types that bothered to show

To the left of me

A weeping, grafted family tree

The other side, there's nothing to see

Not that I don't know what their words would be

Misery is a riot

Misery is a riot

This deceitful mass

This clastic man's waistband everlastic

His collar, less so

Perhaps it was all misread

When it rains here, it hurricanes

He called it a blessing

He wrongfully called for praise

He rightfully lost his head

To the left of me

The mourning hoping they will be free

The other side, they might disagree

Silent absence their one act of decency

Misery is a riot

Misery is a riot

He's determined

To reach the bottom

Of the river

Where his decayed father lies

He's determined

To reach the center

Of the universe

And let his fist leave a crater

Misery is a riot

Misery is a riot

We are gathered around one grave

To pay back what's owed

To thank those who won't behave

Its emptiness yet unknown

The head we've forgotten

A child kicked it down the road

The hole has been filled in

This clastic man is half the man his better half the bone

He's determined

To reach the bottom

Of all feeders

And be at his father's side

He's determined

To be the center

Of the universe

And let his fist leave a crater

The preacher saw the mountain

His faith moved the mountain

And it crushed all in its wake

The preacher saw the desert

The preacher lost in desert

The bones had all that they could take

The bones came to the city

The forest took the city

The rest were no longer bereft

You say two wrongs don't make right

We've gone so long without a right

Nothing of consequence is left

To the left of me

The forest came into the city

On the other side they feel they should flee

In their minds there is only one guarantee

Misery is a riot

Misery is a riot