Released: September 18, 2001

Songwriter: Blockhead Aesop Rock

Producer: Blockhead

[Intro: Sample]
Yes, yes, y'all, and you don't stop
And keep on, 'til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y'all, and you don't stop
And keep on, 'til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y'all, and you don't stop
And keep on, 'til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y'all, and you don't stop
And keep on, 'til the break of dawn

[Verse 1]
Put one up for Shackle Me Not, clean logic procreation
I did not invent the wheel, I was the crooked spoke adjacent
While the triple sixers' lassos keep angels roped in the basement
I walk the block with a halo on a stick, poking your patience
Y'all catch a thirty-second flash visual
Dirty cooperative med platoon
Bloom, head-trip split ridiculous
Fathom the splicing of first-generation fuck-up
With trickle-down anti-hero smack (Kraken!)
I pace my game for zero hour completion cretin, splash
Duke of early retirement picket dream
American Nightmare hogging the screen
I'll hold the door open so you can stumble in
If you'd stop following me around the jungle gym
Now it's honor, and I spell it with the 'H' I stole from heritage
Merit crutched on the wretched refuse of my teeming resonance
I promise, tempest-tossed breed with a bleeding conscience
See, the creed accents responsive but my sports divorced the wattage
And I'm sleeping now — wow! — yeah, the settlers laugh
You won't be laughing when your covered wagons crash
You won't be laughing when the buzzards drag your brother's flags to rags
You won't be laughing when your front lawn is spangled with epitaphs (You won't be laughing!)
Then I'll hang my boots to rest when I'm impressed
So I triple knot 'em and forgot 'em
His origami dream is beautiful
But man, those wings will never leave the ground
Without a feather and a lottery ticket, now settle down

[Chorus]
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way

[Post-Chorus: Sample]
Yes, yes, y'all, and you don't stop
And keep on, 'til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y'all, and you don't stop
And keep on, 'til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y'all, and you don't stop
And keep on, 'til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y'all, and you don't stop
And keep on, 'til the break of dawn

[Verse 2]
Slacker-bound intimate tabloid headline with a pulse
Shimmy cross the centerfold, enter dead time engulfed
Divvy crumbs for the better souls
With seven deadly stains, adhere the blame to crystal conscience
The result's a lowlife countin' on one hand what he's accomplished
Okay, link me to activism chain activate street sweep
Plug deteriorating cenobite pendragon
I hock spores coursed by the morbid
Spreading of mad men, Alley gospel
Sinking your Lincoln-Log cabin and Charlie Chaplin waddle
I could zig-zag and zig 'em again
For the badge dreams sparkle in my brick wall windows
Another thick installment of one night in Gotham
Without the wretched; Houston, we have a problem
Attached to the festive batch of city goblins
Who split holiday freaks on a box cut cinema high road bellow
Head gripped, watch red bricks turn yellow
Sort of similar to most backbones at camp Icarus
Where all fiddler crabs congregate and get pampered for bickering
Life's not a bitch, life is a beautiful woman
You only call her a bitch 'cause she won't let you get that pussy
Maybe she didn't feel y'all shared any similar interests
Or maybe you're just an asshole who couldn't sweet talk the princess
Kiss the speaker wire Peter/pacifism pegging threshold
Stomach full of halo kibbles
Wings span cast black upon vigils
Here to Duck Hunt ticker tape vision and pick apart the pixels
I got a friend of polar nature, and it's all peace
You and I seek similar stars but can't sit at the same feast
Metal Captain, this cat is askin' if I've seen his bit of lost passion
I told him: "Yeah," but only when I pedaled past him

[Chorus]
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way

[Outro: Sample]
Yes, yes, y'all, and you don't stop
And keep on, 'til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y'all, and you don't stop
And keep on, 'til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y'all, and you don't stop
And keep on, 'til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y'all, and you don't stop
And keep on, 'til the break of dawn

Aesop Rock

Born Ian Matthias Bavitz, Aesop Rock was a pioneer in the new wave of underground hip-hop in New York City during the early 2000s. Regarding his name, he

I acquired the name Aesop from a movie I had acted in with some friends. It was my character’s name and it sort of stuck. The rock part came later just from throwing it in rhymes.

Aesop has a solid discography with 8 albums spanning over the course of 20+ years. He started in 1999 by selling his first album, Music for Earthworms, through his website while he was a student at Boston University. He has since gained a cult following and been named one of the best artists of the 2000s. His most successful albums are None Shall Pass, Skelethon, and The Impossible Kid which peaked on the Billboard 200 at #50, #21, and #30 respectively.