Echoes of the Catapult

Lyrics

[Intro: Static crackle, distant chopper blades] 
… they said it’d be a vacation…
Little house cat in the big green cage… [Verse 1]
I was fat and lazy on the windowsill back home,
Chasing laser dots and knocking glasses off the chrome.
Warm milk in the morning, belly rubs at night,
Then they stuffed me in a crate and killed the porch light.
Now I’m deep in the tall grass, monsoon on my fur,
Whiskers twitching at every shadow that stirs.
Charlie’s in the bamboo, eyes like yellow moons,
I’m just a house cat learning how to kill raccoons.
Claws out, nine lives down to three,
Pissing on the claymore just to mark my tree.
C-rations taste like regret and tin,
Dreaming of yarn balls while the mortars spin. [Chorus]
I’m a jungle cat, lost in the wire,
Purring through the pain, walking through the fire.
They took me from the couch, threw me in the mire,
House cat in the war, singing in the choir.
Meow-meow, rat-a-tat-tat
Nine lives fading, never coming back.
Meow-meow, rat-a-tat-tat
Just a house cat… in a jungle trap. [Verse 2]
Buddy cat from the next hooch got his tail blown off,
Now he stares at nothing, won’t even chase a moth.
We huddle in the bunker, sharing one warm can,
Telling stories ‘bout the good life, back when we were soft.
Agent Orange misting like a bad perfume,
Leaves falling yellow, sealing up my doom.
I stalk the treeline, belly low and mean,
But every night the darkness plays the same bad dream:
Momma opening the door, calling out my name,
But I’m just bones and fur now, nothing left the same.
Sentry duty, eyes like headlights in the black,
Waiting for the mice that never quite come back. [Chorus]
I’m a jungle cat, lost in the wire,
Purring through the pain, walking through the fire.
They took me from the couch, threw me in the mire,
House cat in the war, singing in the choir.
Meow-meow, rat-a-tat-tat
Nine lives fading, never coming back.
Meow-meow, rat-a-tat-tat
Just a house cat… in a jungle trap. [Bridge]
(Spoken, half-rapped over minimal beat and distant radio chatter)
They said I’d come home a lion…
But I’m still just scratching at the screen door of my mind.
Fur matted with red, collar long gone,
Trying to remember what the sun felt like on the lawn…
Yowl into reverb [Verse 3 / Outro]
Years later, back on the sill, but the glass is cracked,
Jump at every loud noise, can’t relax.
Kids want to pet me, I show them teeth instead,
House cat with a thousand-yard stare in his head.
But sometimes at twilight, when the shadows get long,
I hear the jungle calling in an old forgotten song.
I sharpen my claws on the leg of the chair,
Still hunting ghosts that ain’t really there. [Final Chorus – slower, haunted]
I’m a jungle cat… still lost in the wire,
Purring through the silence, walking through the pyre.
They brought me home again, but I never left the mire,
House cat from the war… forever in the choir.
Meow-meow… rat-a-tat-tat…
Nine lives over…
Fade into static and rain.