MADISON CUNNINGHAM | S5, E11

"All I've Ever Known" and "Inventing the Wheel" written and performed by Madison Cunningham.
Recorded January 31, 2024 at The Village Studios in Los Angeles, CA.
@MadisonCunningham
www.madisoncunningham.com/
madicunning...
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Producers: Madison Cunningham, Roger Brown, Beane, Liza Levy, Jennifer Roe
Recording and mixing: Hope Brush
Video direction: Maximillian & Madison Shelton
Video editor/producer: Adam Jones
Color: Parker Foster
Theme music: Julia Gartha @juliagartha
LYRICS (Inventing the Wheel)
She's missing in action
You can read her like the times
Splitting hairs and giving airs
She's guilty of the crime
Don't underestimate the murder
Your eyes can commit
Killing me so tenderly when you won't just admit
You're suffering
Gold rush and mercury indoctrination spoon
Some buy their way in mercy
Some get taken out too soon
The rest of us run underneath
Like rain in the ravine
Flowing with bloodline and pollution
Trying to get clean
Life and all its fragility
Leaving her imprints upon me
A riddle I cannot begin to guess
She's not inventing the wheel
She's not the first to feel
Like she's the only one coming up against herself
She's the spitting image of her old man in a spiral
The more responsibility, the more you crave denial
The wind speaks like an orator, some message from the wild
With the courage of a mother letting go of her first child
Life and all its fragility
Running at the center of living
A riddle I cannot begin to guess
She's not the crop or the cream
She's not about to seem
Like she's the only one coming up against herself
How long, how wide, and how deep?
How bad could it be
To blow it off and run away from yourself?
Waking up to a heavy cup
Ambition drinking me
Helpless I watch another death
Play out on TV
I render it down to size and sound
'Til it comes as no surprise
To sleep all through the night and still wish
To open my eyes
Life and all her fragility
The midwife of this urgency
A moment I may never get again
Oh, a moment I may never get again
A moment I may never get again
LYRICS (All I've Ever Known)
In a fifteen passenger van to Ohio
The Chrysler invention hums and blows
Warm air through the vents sends it straight to the bone
Outside it's nine below
It's a pain I've never known
I lost my heart to the great golden state
And the lanterns in little Tokyo
If the fumes don't kill you first, then the dreaming surely will
You tell me on the phone
It's a pain you've never known
I look out the window and let my mind wander
From order to the open sky
And sometimes I swear I'll just never return
But it's all I've ever known
It's all I've ever known
Will you take me as I am?
In perfect obedience to all these demands
I'm a child to the wonder but a victim of the change
When I see you again, will I know what to say?
I'm not immune to a piece of bad news
I just do what I must to move on
Give me truth but put me under so I don't feel a thing
It's the only way I know
It's the only way I know
I hear nothing, no rescue coming
Just church bells drawing out the dogs
I'm afraid that you were made by invention and odds are
I may never know
I may never know
Will you take me as I came?
In this resistance to the sound of my name
I'm a daughter to the mystery but a servant to strain
When I see you again, will I know what to say?
Will I know what to say?
Will I know what to say?
You're all I've ever known
You're all I've ever known
You're the only thing that I know
And I'm afraid of what I don't, don't know
You're all I've ever known
You're all I've ever known

[@TheSpentPenny123]

Madison Cunningham is the best songwriter out there and her voice is like butterscotch to the soul.

[@BenCDaugherty]

Great way to put it!

[@JeffSipe]

I’m blown away, Madison is singing and playing so beautifully and evolving so fast! Always growing,she is such a wonderful force of nature

[@gustavsenrecords9196]

Madi did a killer opening for John Mayer in oslo! First time hearing her and now I've been listening every waking minute

[@saltlicksessions]

Same. Same.

[@BenCDaugherty]

Seeing her with Juana on Saturday!

[@ralphmunn6689]

This is brilliant and beautiful. I hear so much Joni in her voice and so much Jeff Buckley in her chord progressions, it's wonderful to hear her reference those influences. She's quickly making her way onto my "short list" of modern musical forces, and tempting me to use the Genius word. 🙏

[@saltlicksessions]

Yes. You nailed it. Same.

[@nudnick]

Brilliant and flawless, as always. I appreciate that she is not only dedicated to reinventing herself with each new song she writes, but also committed to reinventing whatever old songs she's performed countless times, each time she performs them again.

[@neilfilobeddow5648]

I love her!

[@saltlicksessions]

Same! 🙌💖

[@bernal_music]

Beane, there's such a great energy between you two! A pleasure to watch. I share your enthusiasm for her music, thanks for saying out loud exactly what I think :)

[@saltlicksessions]

Thank you for the kind comment! 💖

[@luciusblackmail8129]

Man, this is such a charming interview, and madison of course is an increadible musician. Nice work.

[@jg8678]

Fantastic Ver of Inventing the Wheel - Thx for the upload! Any chance you taped 10 more songs for upcoming release? 🎉

[@saltlicksessions]

As fellow fans of this recording, we sure wish it were so😌. Big shoutout to engineer Hope Brush

[@ryanstevens11]

Beane! Hearing you say Madison Cunningham is the artist you listen to the most of everyone you’ve had on the show so far makes perfect sense after seeing you crush it opening for Tiny Habits at the El Rey on Saturday night. You Are The Mistake hits big time 🤌🏽

[@saltlicksessions]

Hey, thanks for coming out to the show! 💖

[@losdemas2000]

❤

[@amanda-alb]

stoked on the Eisley and MuteMath love in this interview! they're both great

[@papitas6061]

I looked up the band she recommended, "Flight," and there's so many bands with that name. Anyone want to guess which one it is?

[@CamilleRuz]

it’s spelled Flyte!

[@papitas6061]

@@CamilleRuz oh tight thanks

[@bernal_music]

@@papitas6061Flyte, yes :) Also: Daniel Rossen and Juana Molina

[@lawrencelittle4827]

Madison has way more screws in her head than most of us.

[@saltlicksessions]

Bingo

[@bachanbhai3841]

Fuck