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The Laughter's Rehearsed

by Happy Tooth

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    A physical cd of the 2021 feel-good-record-of-the-summer "The Laughter's Rehearsed.
    Artwork and layout by Damn Selene.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Laughter's Rehearsed via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    edition of 100 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $5 USD or more 

     

  • An enamel pin of the artwork design by Damn Selene.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Laughter's Rehearsed via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    edition of 50 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $5 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $5 USD  or more

     

1.
u gud? 03:19
Hey whats up? You alright? Yeah, I don't know, you just, you look sad. If I wanna go to an open mic and read poetry, then I'll go and do it for five people equally as broke as me. Woe is me. An ode to grief's the motif usually. But local reach is slow to peak. No one can be as blue as me. We want stories with a happy end. But we don't see the whole thing just the credits not what's after them. Everything happens for a reason and I don't fucking care. That doesn't take away the pain, it's here and I don't want it there. "You should just get a more positive outlook." But it seems toxic to drown in all of the found good. All I mean is it's okay, to not be okay. Swallowing emotions is for grown men who won't go away. Let em laugh at me. I'll shrug it off casually. You're lack of sensitivity's savagery. Let me cry in this Applebee's. No one's mad at me, except you. You're a sociopath. Sounds like a great life, have a safe night, and I hope it lasts. What I wanted to say, "Let me be sad today." What I needed to say, "It's alright I'm okay." I'm fine, no really I'm doin good. I feel great today. If I wanna ignore my phone for several days. It's cause I need to seperate and get away. It's just a phase. If I wanna record a full-length of me crying. Then I'll make it abstraction, and call it "Heat Lightning." There's always one guy sayin, "Look on the bright side." Get the hell out of my eyeline. Denial for a lifetime. They'll tell you to pull yourself up by the boot straps. The easel's cerebral and equal to their loose facts. Naw but like I read this thing online, mental illness isn't even real it's your perspective. (This guy's a doctor. This guy read an article) I'm wearin my grump face. It's been a junk day. And I don't feel the need to tell you what's wrong, for fuck's sake. Look around the world's always on fire. And you think I should be thankful just to perspire. Blame my tardiness on the fact that I used to be a party kid until I realized the world is run by narcissists. Fuck you if you think I should stay on the sunny side. Tellin me I need another try and no one wants to die. All that negativity gets compartmentalized. Until you're dead inside, and you're petrified heart gets gentrified. The zoom intensifies, and you're starin in a mirror. Your reflection gets clearer, and sadder, and weirder. Don't be so judgemental. It's not coincedental that what seemed so eventful turned out to not be any of your fucking business. If it's a sickness you're one of the symptoms. Nowadays that "good vibes" shit just hits different. (Chorus) Did you see that guy? The one in the first band? (Happy Tooth?) Aw man I was gonna go talk to him and he was just like, lookin so sad in the corner. (Yeah, he's a baby.) I'm like man just cheer up, you know? Come on. (Right.) What's wrong with you? (Yeah.) Like, you should be happy. (His set sucked.)
2.
Eat the Rich 03:44
Nine times outta ten a tenant's outta time. The landlords can't afford to own a garden where the flowers die. Found a line but I'm too afraid to cross it. When you're a hostage to an office there's not many options. (Sample:You may not have all you want/all you need) You may not have all you want or what you need. But there's still people who will shame you for it publicly. They'll scream, "Get a job," and then slither off. Imperceptible, like the minutes lost to ticking clocks. Sick as dogs that don't even know they're rabid yet. No wonder criminals see your purse and just wanna snatch it quick. I'm yellin (Sample: Help!) Like anyone can even hear it. I'm by myself as well, judging from your appearance. They say they don't know what it's like to not have (all you want/all you need) I say we go commit some robberies and burn some properties and possibly block some streets. (Help) when the hands are in the air we gotta leave. Painfully aware of the shared modesty from the economy not ever properly providing (all you want/all you need) (Help) (Chorus) Eat the rich. x3 (x4) *Last one is x5* Everything we do's derivative. And no one gives a shit. Music makes money with less intimate penmanship. All that influenced by old white guys with big houses. They get a million and the artist only gets thousands. A puzzle where the pieces can't be disassembled. A film where the ending just isn't as suspenseful. Leaving my optics miopic. Fuckin up my process. If we're collecting objects like a contest, then I lost it. If this is all for profit, then what's it really costing me? And you don't really think logically, or possibly, or honestly you'll ever even get (all you want/all you need) Everyone I know tells me to sell myself and most importantly make sure you never ask for (Help!) They wanna know your worth, not what you've felt. Everyone I know is under the spell. They just wanna take away (all you want/all you need) And make you beg for (Help!) There must be something beyond the price. Where we can compromise and all our awful lives aren't monetized. And corporations still make sure the cost is high. So you stay lost inside and can't afford to get (all you want/all you need) (Chorus) Eat the rich is a phrase they don't wanna hear. The planet won't be here in a hundred years. Forget about the present, drink a couple beers. And assume solutions just appear when money's near. Eat the rich is a phrase they don't wanna hear. The planet won't be here in a hundred years. Forget about the present, drink a couple beers. And assume solutions just appear if money's near.
3.
I'm more than cautious, as far as safety goes. Between the cold and the concrete, awake with achy bones. Thinking on a future, that's beaten down and pistol whipped. A place we are now, where the instances are rigorous. I'm a symbolist that's a little bit too direct. This art is a weapon the meaning's always a threat. We're both in the same cell. This won't age well. We're all breakdown or breakthrough. Some people wake up just to hate you. Another lonely crowd I won't even know what to say to. My hands bleed more the older I get. One man lives his dream, the other's told to quit. A hole to fix, but we just keep on shoveling. Shuddering while my brother sings of the suffering. We're in the same hell. This won't age well. I wanted to burn it all. So I bought a worry doll. Purely to forget the wording of how I would murder ya'll. I forgive you. Like I forgave my body. Been friends with criminals that couldn't wait to come rob me. I woke up only thirty with a hurt knee burning. All my neighbors probably heard me squirming. Cursing the first thing that started worsening. It hurts to think. And I can feel my rib cage swell. This won't age well. It's like I'm acting alert while napping at work. That's all the energy I had to exert. I'm too sad to converse. We had to disperse. And the laughter's rehearsed. Life's an inside joke we aren't in on and we're mad at the words. Injured by the embers. Or a virus that enters the center. I wish I could censor my temper. We won't remember our ender. I wish I could forget what the page held. This won't age well. Be the chains you wanna see broken in the world. Be as strange as the emotions in your journal. I'm a guesser who keeps his etchings inside the dresser. I stopped wearing my heart on my sweater. I keep it sequestered. I've wished I wasn't born before. But only when I'm buying plastic items from the corner store. There's never more remorse than when something fake sells. This won't age well. This is my song to you. A dedication. To all the wrongs I've mused. A resignation. Some days the city's an eyesore. Others I'm leaving out the side door just to try and drive more. I feel like Van Gogh who's own success he can't know. And so the days seem to pass so god damn slow. If you have a better way to live than pray tell. This won't age well. This is a love song for people that don't love themselves.
4.
Freestyle 01:22
Hi, I decided to be a rapper. And I hope that that's great, even though people don't gather. And my ego don't matter cause there's nothing to say. About how I just threw all of my things away. Cause I wanted to make beats, I wanted to stay sweet. I wanted to just say that it was just gonna make me be the best that I ever fucking could but I'm not that great. No, I'm not that good. And I think people they're just too judgy. You kinda tell em you're a rapper and the subjects, they get touchy. They say don't touch me. And I just wanted to say you look lovely, and that maybe we could stop calling people junkies. Cause everybody's got their different afflictions. And I think that its also something you could judge, like this addiction. Like me just wanting to be this wordsmith, that's a little bit too nervous, and on the surface lacks a purpose. So let's see where the thirst is, and what even matters. I don't really think that people know why they wanna be rappers.
5.
Unknown 04:10
I'm so underground I'm on the other side. I don't promote these tracks at all. Maybe just to hide. Maybe just to hide them. But posting constantly on social media's exhausting. I just wanna eat the cake, I don't need the frosting. I'm so underground I make records only for my dog. That weigh in my head then the pressures fully gone. My equipment's held together by a piece of duct tape. If I ever made some money I'd upgrade it one day. I record upside down, with a mic that's dipped in milk. And I'm all my own features, the position's since been filled. I'm so fucking underground I just record in basements. The dog barks and I leave it in. She's singin my praises. I'm so unknown, no one listens to my songs. I'm so unknown, no one ever sings along. I'm so unknown, all the people got it wrong. I'm so unknown, they won't miss me when I'm gone. My merch is vials of blood, most of it mine. Most of the time get fired from jobs sellin mixtapes for the low on the side. My interface is just an old leather shoe. I only wear T-shirts from other rappers who quit rapping too. This afternoon my influences are names I can't pronounce. Tell me your mainstream saviors so I know who to denounce. I've been to more rap shows then funerals or weddings. I'm so underground my whole fucking life is depressing. (Chorus) This isn't what I wanted but I'm here now. And everyone looks like surgeons. So it's a weird crowd. I don't carry a phone, just a pen and notebook. I'm a sensitive artist, defending all my slow hooks. My pop filter is a hanger and some pantyhose. Confessing my flaws to strangers, I'm just so damn exposed. (Chorus) My record's only on platforms that don't exist yet. No matter how bad the show gets I'll say, "Hey, sick set." My mom's my biggest fan and my partner's the second. If you're insecure the art will start to reflect it. My favorite acts quit music or they haven't started yet. All anyone wants is to be part of the argument. At the heart of it, we want you to see the vision. But then we act like we don't give a fuck when no one listens. (Chorus) They won't miss me when I"m gone.
6.
Morse Code 02:03
Alright so, the next poet coming up to the stage goes by the name Happy Tooth. He's new to our show, so let's give him a warm welcome everyone. Happy Tooth. My dead father's lamp keeps flashing in the corner. I checked the outlet, and switched the bulb to another lamp to see if the problem reoccurred. And it didn't. This could only mean he's trying to communicate in morse code. And that's where my brain goes immediately. But I don't know morse code. And I don't think he did either. Maybe he learned it in the afterlife, but I was too scared to figure out if the flashes had meaning. I could've looked it up and transcribed it but I think if it was him, he was either saying fuck you, or I love you. And I'd like to think it's the latter. I'd like to get a ladder, and climb up to see him. But I can't assume he's with the angels when in life he made friends with his demons. Every evening. I still talk to dead friends like they're in the room. So I easily added him to that pool of names. That pool of blood. But speaking with the dead is one sided. Mostly. And I just wanted to assign meaning to the flashes, the creaks, the sounds we only notice when it's silent. My dead father's lamp keeps flashing in the corner. I check the outlet and switched the bulb to another lamp to see if the problem reoccurred. And it didn't. I checked the chord. Dusted it off. And even tried talking it into stopping. But even if it is my dad, I don't know what I would say. He knows I miss him, and I love him. The energy never really leaves. It just changes forms. That bond doesn't go away. So I changed the lightbulb. And the flashing stopped.
7.
Sorry for the dramatic shit I said today. I need better excuses, besides Mars has been in retrograde. And these chemicals are just as safe as breathing in the murky air. Hopefully Armageddon won't mess up your perfect hair. I've been putting myself down longer than you have. All my friends and family just ask, "Why would you do that?" I'm a little uneven, I open doors for a living. And get a bit out of sequence. And so damn sure something's missing. This is so self-deprecating. I need meditating. This is so self-deprecating. I need help medicating. This is so self-deprecating. I feel myself detonating. This is so self-deprecating. Soul and body separating.
8.
(Bum Theory/Chorus) Could, would, should. Missed for good. Misunderstood. Like Robin Hood. Staring from the back With those raccoon eyes Tryna carve a path Through the bathroom tiles Was running with the sun Was the one who smiled While summing up Succumbing to obtuse trials (BdotJeff) Staring from the back With those raccoon eyes Tired of carving paths On my bathroom -- okay I never carved a path, but I paved the way This just ain't to say those weren't rainy days Gotta face the snakes when I rake away Running into hurdles when you on track this way Facing fate is more than facing days And I ain't insane life is made this way Opposition operates appropriation Hate the citizens but love the nation No protection when your melanin is baking Racing, but got Rock Lee's weights and (Like Robin Hood) Disenfranchised is starting to rise Militia militants are militarized Maternal monetization prioritized Admiration addressing an apartheid Boy you better hide If you ain't on the side of the rising tide Cause like prophesied You may end up with 100 bullets between the eyes Better stand back before I buck back and tear that hide. (Chorus) (Bum Theory) Alcoholic and brewless, a foodie and toothless, Julius Caesar had Brutus/ Truth is, advice won't improve this, I often feel clueless, my logic is useless, I can't overrule this unruly and ruthless, grueling to-do list, it's true if a human gets through all this hubris/ musing is cool if Djimon G. Hounsou like a fool goes and loses the jewel, shit (Blood diamond) (Happy Tooth) Staring from the back with those raccoon eyes. Trying not to focus on your tattooed spine. Got a bad news mind. And a feeling I'm not welcome here. Always running from something that keeps hunting with jealous fear. Eat the frog. Sleep it off. If they ask, we need a lot. See the dog breathing odd. Ego lost to fiendish thoughts. Eyes'll sting. Spiralling. To end up misunderstood. I'm never in front of the stage, especially if it wasn't good. Capitalism the cause of death on my certificate. I don't need your permission slip to give a shit. Eyes look like I rubbed em with pepper spray and broken glass. Don't know the way home. But they said to stay, I'm getting sober fast. (Chorus)
9.
I often imagine Heaven as a type of comfort. So I can see old friends and family if I'm not the fastest runner. Last the summer and we'll see where it goes from here. My sardonic hard logic art faucet, makes it unclear what to fear. Bring me the head of whoever said this was easy. I think of the dead and if my life story's worth reading. If time is linear, and birth and death's just a signature. One day I'll remerge, an instant burst of finished words I meant at first. Right in front of you and newly undead. Maybe from being unfed and I'll say the things I left unsaid. But it's been so long and I'm a much different person. Back in those days I was just a diversion. A sunken perversion of the thing I became. I only say that now because I think that I'm ashamed. I don't know what the difference is between good and evil. Am I the sum of a whole? Or the parts I couldn't equal? I hope you recognize me, nothing's really death-defying. Come to think of it, I'm not sure you ever liked me. (Chorus) Heaven's just a place full of strangers. Heaven's just a place full of strangers. Heaven's just a place full of strangers. And all the angels are singing the same words. We romanticize death. Fantasize about sex. Pantomime the theft. amplify the threat and canonize the rest. Let's randomize the tests, sanitize the flesh, and analyze the depths of how we can't decide why we're depressed. When I die do I have to bring all this baggage? Or do all the bad people forget that their fascists? They brought an adage to a sadness fight. I'm burning bridges in afterlives with what I felt I had to write to last the night in tragic times. (Chorus)
10.
(Happy Tooth) Things are as they are cause they were as they were. I can feel you staring as I'm learning the curve. Skepticism is a symptom. The default position. By definition it's something we've all envisioned. Dreams all conditioned. And god created overdose. We sleep in rhythym and the dog knows when his owner's home. We don't mean no harm, so far. We just want honest ears. If I ever bled I had a head full of my father's fears. I won't have children, if they inherit loneliness. The last thing the world needs more of is broken kids. I said what I said. Embedded in webs. Indebted in a sense. Death is repetitive. Dredging regrets. Let it unrest. Let it ache and burn if it's about to rain. Invest in my mistakes. The body breaks when bound in pain. Things are as they are cause they were as they were. Past lives are secrets. The burden's a blur. (Sure.) Things are as they are until they aren't anything. We don't see death's door until we start entering. (Then we sing.) (Chorus) I don't know how I know. But I don't know anything. (Dug) I inherited some demons family heirlooms so I keep them but I wonder if I am the first one of us who sees them it's Hereditary, blame it on the Paimon feel that hopelessness from way up inside your ions if when you build yourself up a little it means several more pylons the things you planned to do a week ago they start to pile on when your self acceptance feels like a selfish preference then you start breaking down, freezing up, disconnecting it's all, been reflected even if you're introspective it's a long conversation, interject or intercept it it's a game of telephone I feel I'm here to interrupt it fill up all those tears in a bucket, on a budget I'm in public and I'm wincing from the spotlight never was a moment I didn't feel a little not right it's harder to admit that all the trauma is a cycle when you don't know about the wheel and all the spokes are in denial yo (Chorus)
11.
Mask 00:30
Hey could you do us a favor and just put on a mask? Did it fall in the trash? Or your not scared of the facts? I could barely ask before he started to laugh. I said, "Forget it bro, I'm sure you've never even seen a graph. I take it back. Forget I said shit. But if you get near me clearly you must have a deathwish." He mumbled leftist, and left quick. Right to the exit. And I replied, "Let's just hope that none of us get sick. Shit."
12.
WTWAP 03:53
When the world's at peace no one will have it worse than me. Artists won't know what to talk about but clout and currency. We'll have cured disease, there won't be emergencies or any surgeries. We won't need police or priests. No one gets the third degree. We'll party all day, but we won't get addicted. Too smart to pray, but not enough to be conflicted. Hands to throw a brick with, but we'll use them to fix shit. One day I'll be a meme. But not one you've seen. Maybe then I'll live my dream to make it sensory intentionally. Instead of illusory. No questions asked stupidly. Just conclusively. No one will get wistful over how it used to be. When the world's at peace battle rappers'll go extinct. No one will take it personally or hurtfully. So you'd think. I'll write every verse for free, with a sense of urgency, and when I think about art, payment won't even occur to me. We burned all the trees. It hurts to breathe. And the past is tinted. When the world's at peace. It will have ended. (Chorus) WTWAP We won't have to seperate the art from the artist. WTWAP Everyone you know won't be starving in garbage. WTWAP The government might stop harming the harmless. WTWAP It'll be the keeping it part that's the hardest. When the world's at peace there won't be holes in our ozone. We'll stop saying FOMO, and when you want you can go home. Everyone will be so woke. We'll transcend to energy. When the world's at peace America won't be the enemy. Empty thieves, will get what they need eventually. And I won't need breathing exercises to try and center me. Old heads will fuck off and die. Or they'll get so senile they just watch the time. When the world is finally peaceful and we're equal. I'll stop making these records and bothering these people. I'd be a seagull, screeching at pedestrians. But I guess that's just what my heaven is. I won't need a specialist, psychiatrist, or therapist. we won't need to lie, we'll tell the truth we're all embarrassed with. When the world's at peace we won't even believe it. We'll go to war with ourselves until we're free to be elitist. (Chorus) When the world's at peace we can go to shows again. We'll go every night. All the drunks will have sober friends. When the world's at peace we'll have a huge party. None of our leaders will wanna start a new army. (When the world's at peace we'll instantly get bored of it. We'll turn on friends and family and we'll go to war with them.)

about

It's incredible that I've released any music at all.
Releasing a record is a time consuming, money pit.
It's even more of a hassle when it's a solo effort, but despite all the roadblocks and challenges of everything,
I somehow finished another record.
Thank you to anyone who gives it a listen.

credits

released May 31, 2021

Lyrics and vocals (except where otherwise noted) by Happy Tooth.
Beats produced by Bum Theory. (except where otherwise noted)
Mixed by Ryan Liptak at Vaughan Music Studios.
Mastered by Harold Larue.
Artwork by Damn Selene.

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Happy Tooth Columbus, Ohio

"Both Happy Tooth and BDotJeff spoke to the idea that music can be therapeutic, and writing and recording is now less about reaching a larger audience than steadying the turmoil within. “You do start to question your own motivations, like, why am I doing this?” Happy Tooth said. “And I’ve realized that I love the art, and I have to make it because deep down it makes me feel better.” - MatterNews ... more

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