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You Helped Me Get High

by TEOA (The End of America)

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about

When love illuminates our deepest foundational flaws, we’re faced with one of life’s hardest tests: to open ourselves to the cycle of annihilation and growth, or to harden and close ourselves off in the service of being right.

I’ve failed that test too many times. My decisions, masked in pride but born from weakness, have caused good people real hurt. I’m that asshole who, in hindsight, learned the painful lesson that ego and love can’t coexist.

In one respect, “You Helped Me Get High” is an apology to all the people I’ve failed. In another, it’s a promise to the ones I love to use the higher perspective earned from my mistakes to stay vigilant for those addictive character lapses. It’s a reminder that there’s so much to fight for and a single decision made in a moment of weakness can be the reason we lose it all.

The track itself came together around the verse’s chord progression, meant to feel both hazy and off center, yet nostalgic and familiar. When we tracked the cello, piano, and electric guitar, they wove a silvery bittersweet texture that we loved. It felt like looking out a cozy window on a grey and rainy day. When the idea came to combine the fluid progression with a gently angular and hypnotic drum groove, we followed it and arrived at a place that felt understatedly cinematic.

Lyrically, the whole song can be summed up by the bridge, which describes the life-changing slap in the face that comes with being left in the fucking dust, or being rightfully lambasted by the people you love most:

Burning words of golden glass
Heaving shadows that draw maps
I can see it all so loud
From my exile in the clouds
You helped me get high

“You Helped Me Get High” was recorded remotely at each of our home studios and includes the incredible expression of additional players Katie Weissman (cello) and Josh Bailey (drums). It was produced by the band and mixed by TEOA’s Trevor Leonard. It’s the second song in a string of new singles, to be released six weeks apart for the coming year.

lyrics

I woke up all alone
As trash and bone
I’m a car crash
I just don’t get it
Said you grew tired
Of getting blood from stone
Said you’d burn out and I’d regret it

You helped me get high
You helped me get high

That it’s all my fault
Is just knives and salt
I’m fractured from when you said it
I forced your hand
Now I’ll be goddamned
You released me and I won’t forget it

You helped me get high
You helped me get high
I left you dry
You helped me get high

Burning words of golden glass
Heaving shadows that draw maps
I can see it all so loud
From my exile in the clouds

You helped me get high
You helped me get high
I can’t tell a lie
Now that I’m high

credits

released December 2, 2022
Written and produced by The End of America
Mixed by Trevor Leonard
Mastered by Dave Downham at Gradwell House

Performed by:
James Downes - Vocals, Piano, Acoustic, 12 String Acoustic
Brendon Thomas - Vocals, Banjo
Trevor Leonard - Vocals, Electric Guitars
Katie Weissman - Cello
Josh Bailey - Drums

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TEOA (The End of America) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

TEOA (The End of America) is Brendon Thomas, James Downes & Trevor Leonard: a band of friends who met on the road and found a kindred spirit in one another. TEOA’s sound weaves three distinct lead vocals into captivating harmonies over a solid foundation of folk, rock and Americana. New album NIGHT IS ALIVE was named “Best Alt Country Album of 2021” by No Depression. ... more

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