LISTEN HERE: BEHIND THE SMILE — SUNO

Jim appeared happy and always understanding, while quietly struggling with all the issues he was handling.

Hiding his own deeper thoughts, caring about others in everyday situations — while never revealing matters of confidential conversations.

[CHORUS] Behind his smile, there were feelings he could never explain.
Understanding others while keeping quiet about his own persistent pain.

Although Jim seemed strong and independent, he served as the executive restroom attendant — processing his own emotions while sorting the towels, assorted toiletries, and lotions.

His outward behaviour rarely reflected his inner well-being, especially while listening to all that gossip, backstabbing, and double dealing.

A smile does not always mean happiness, silence does not always mean peace, and Jim’s overall compassion doesn’t make his particular personal concerns decrease.

Jim notices how some quiet or caring people are silently secretly suffering. He often attempts to learn ways to aid in their recovering.

[CHORUS] Behind his smile, there were feelings he could never explain.
Understanding others while keeping quiet about his own persistent pain.

Jim’s strength is not about hiding what he feels, nothing of that sort, but recognizing that he and others are at times needing greater support.

Jim listened to their troubles, their complaints, and their daily indignities, while quietly attending to all their restroom comforts and lavatory facilities.

His greatest kindness was making others feel welcome, cared for, and secure… while no one really knew what more Jim would constantly endure.

At the end of another long day, Jim stood before the restroom mirror — with no one left to greet or reassure.

He straightened his collar and smiled as he’d done for so many others before, as he turned toward the exit door.

[CHORUS] Behind his smile, there were feelings he could never explain.
Understanding others while keeping quiet about his own persistent pain.

For the first time, he wondered why he’d spent long years making everyone else feel understood, while no one ever asked how he was doing, as someone surely should.

None of those executives ever thought to ask Jim how he became their washroom attendee — never inquired beyond what they expected him to be.

Through all those years, not one of them ever knew… he owns the entire business and every building on the block… Jim’s responsible for it all — their foundational solitary rock.

[CHORUS] Behind his smile, there were feelings he could never explain.
Understanding others while keeping quiet about his own persistent pain.

… his own persistent pain.

© 2026 Peter W. Collier

LISTEN HERE: WAY TOO HARD — SUNO

[CHORUS] Truth can leave resentments no one gets to set straight. Always telling the truth may sometimes be a mistake.

When receiving a useless gift… by resisting when asked what you honestly liked about it.

When someone proudly shows their haircut, which looks horribly wrong… while hoping it will grow back before too long.

When someone asks if they’ve disrupted, after already thoroughly interrupted.

When someone wonders if you were listening to what they just said. You nod as though you heard it all… while still thinking of something else instead.

When at a school reunion, describing your successful life without any self-delusions.

When at a new job interview, asked to review why your previous employer thinks negatively of you.

When at a funeral — as requested — to say something nice… as expected.

When at a wedding, being asked, if you believe the marriage will ultimately last.

[CHORUS] Truth can leave resentments no one gets to set straight. Always telling the truth may sometimes be a mistake.

When friends ask for an honest opinion of their terrible plan after already investing more than they should or can.

When telling someone what you know could bring a friendship to an end. You wonder if your honesty would help or merely hurt a friend.

When someone asks if you’ve forgiven all the hurt they put you through. You tell them that it’s over… although the memories remain still haunting you.

When honesty would reopen wounds that haven’t completely healed.

When the pain would serve no purpose once the truth is wholly revealed.

When the truth would turn a cherished memory into a much more painful one or expose what cannot ever be undone.

When telling what you know would bring an innocent person shame.

When someone else would suffer though they weren’t the one to blame.

When honesty would punish someone innocent all along… who has done nothing wrong.

When telling the truth offers nothing but cruelty if you try, and the answer causes more pain than the lie.

When the truth comes too late to protect greater interests or to make any difference.

When people can’t tell the truth — not necessarily because they’re dishonest or proud, but because the truth is too embarrassing, inconvenient, dangerous, or simply impossible to say aloud.

[CHORUS] Truth can leave resentments no one gets to set straight. Always telling the truth may sometimes be a mistake.

When the truth is what they need but not what they can bear to hear.

When silence seems more loving than confirming someone’s greatest fear.

When admitting the truth leaves someone unable to cope or would destroy someone’s last remaining hope, while already walking a thin tightrope.

When the person asking isn’t prepared to hear the answer, especially when suffering stage four brain cancer.

When speaking honestly would steal someone’s final peace or silence provide some solace or small release.

When, with every truth you author, silence is the only kindness you have left to offer.

When telling all you know would only tear lives apart. You learn that being truthful might not be kind at heart.

Not every untruth is intended to deceive, and not every truth is intended to relieve.

When telling the truth is a matter of different degrees. What is true, what is right, and what is kind don’t always agree.

[CHORUS] Truth can leave resentments no one gets to set straight. Always telling the truth may sometimes be a mistake.

…be a mistake.

© 2026 Peter W. Collier

LISTEN HERE: WAYS TO REMEMBER — SUNO

I put my small change in the same place every day, unless I forget where that place was yesterday.

I tie a string around my little finger, then spend half the morning wondering why or what that was there to remember.

I leave my own number beside the telephone, with a note to call home.

I put an important object right in front of the door, then step around it not remembering what I put it there for.

I write appointments on my calendar, circle them twice, then set an alarm to remind me to check it — which mostly works out quite nice.

[CHORUS] I wrote a note, then another, to remember to first read that note and not the other. I left them somewhere I couldn’t possibly forget… I just haven’t remembered where that is yet.

Sometimes I make checklists of my lists. Still, my forgetfulness persists.

I cross things off when they’re done, one by one, then wonder why there’s more left over than when I’d begun.

Inside my jacket I leave both my wallet and keys… yet find my jacket in the freezer with the frozen peas.

I concentrate too hard on remembering people’s names… yet somehow forget them just the same.

Familiar ones are becoming harder to find, and some have quietly slipped from my mind.

I set timers to remind me about alarms, and alarms to remind me about timers.

[CHORUS] I wrote a note, then another, to remember to first read that note and not the other. I left them somewhere I couldn’t possibly forget… I just haven’t remembered where that is yet.

Photographs help remember faces. Old songs bring back places.

I retrace my steps, repeat things aloud, use little tricks whenever I can.

I leave myself messages even writing on my hand.

But through all the notes, the lists, the strings, the alarms, and everything else I do — I never needed anything to remember you.

… to remember you.

© 2026 Peter W. Collier

LISTEN HERE: OUR CHANGING LOVE — SUNO

No need to ask how or why.
It’s something you just can’t deny.
Never can we make it right.
You’re colder than before at night.
I know it now, deep in my heart.
It’s time to go, for us to part.
Still neither of us will ever leave.
Holding tight what we need to believe.

[CHORUS]
We’re growing much more estranged, while waiting for our love to change.
You’re waiting for me.
I’m waiting for you.
Neither one knows what else to do.

My heart just aches for someone new.
I’m sure you feel it that same way too.
It’s something you just can’t reject.
I feel lost; we can no longer connect.
We don’t talk about anything that matters.
Our silence leaves more cracks waiting to shatter.

[CHORUS]
We’re growing much more estranged, while waiting for our love to change.
You’re waiting for me.
I’m waiting for you.
Neither one knows what else to do.

It’s something you just can’t refuse.
Our relationship is completely ill used.
It won’t be long until we hate each other.
Staying together, we’ll mutually suffer.
Neither of us is really to blame.
We’re trapped together… exactly the same.

[BRIDGE]
There was a time when being together was all we ever wanted to do.
Now I lie here waiting for you — while you’re lying there waiting too.
Neither of us wants to say, it’s through.
Neither wants to finally admit, “I’m no longer in love with you.”

[CHORUS]
We’re growing much more estranged, while waiting for our love to change.
You’re waiting for me.
I’m waiting for you.
Neither one knows what else to do… what we both should do.

© 2026 Peter W. Collier

LISTEN HERE: THE LAST STRAW — SUNO

Limits drawn, one after another, you crossed every line.

You’ve gone much too far this time.

When I say, “That’s more than enough,” you always laugh and act so tough.

You’re just disagreeable; not considered remotely reasonable.

[CHORUS] After I drew another line, there you were — already on the other side.

You’ve pushed me too far, gone past reasonable limits, overstepped the mark, and stepped fully right in it.

Now completely out-of-bounds, beyond the farthest boundary — entering my enemy territory soundly.

You’ve ventured where you shouldn’t… a place I thought you wouldn’t.

You seem wholly unconcerned, now to the point of no return.

You’ve done that which should never have been done… burned your last bridge and now flying too close to the sun.

[CHORUS] After I drew another line, there you were — already on the other side.

You went outside good judgment, outside good taste, and any common basic decency.

You’re now further than you ever should be… even too far for me to see — further than all acceptability.

Once too often, you’ve stirred the pot, not knowing when to stop.

Taking me for granted, you’ve now pushed your luck… everything you do just sucks.

[CHORUS] After I drew another line, there you were — already on the other side.

Taking advantage once too often, I warned how you should have used more caution.

You’ve stretched my patience too thin and pushed the wrong button… acting entirely like a glutton.

[OUTRO] The last chocolate cookie was mine; you finally crossed the last red line.

…the very last red line.

© 2026 Peter W. Collier

LISTEN HERE: CHASING OLD RABBITS — SUNO

LISTEN HERE: CHASING OLD RABBITS — YOUTUBE

There is a quiet split necessary for changing your life — something you must admit — and almost nobody tells the truth about it.

Self-improvement is all about the guilt of abandoning something you’d already built.

Shifting your career, outgrowing old habits, and even altering boundaries can create the most profound changes — rearranging countless interpersonal exchanges.

Change provides an immediate sense of liberation… yet restructures your entire inner foundation.

It can’t be understated how complicated personal daily reality has been created.

[CHORUS] When you actually begin to evolve, the dominant emotion is rarely relief. It is more often grief.

It’s not uncommon to feel a hollow sadness right in the middle of a massive shift in your worldview — while abandoning that specific older version of you.

We all build psychological scaffolding — a social operating structure based upon stability and predictability.

When finally ready to let go, you start saying no and stop performing your historically assigned role.

You’re also removing a load-bearing pillar from everyone you know and their connected comfort zones.

[CHORUS] When you actually begin to evolve, the dominant emotion is rarely relief. It is more often grief.

It’s not just changing your own destiny, where everything ripples forward unpredictably and endlessly.

Others respond because you’re forcibly altering your mutually shared history.

It’s an intentional act not rooted in malice, yet to friends, family, and colleagues, it’s like burning down the palace.

They may seem to sabotage your success, but some are simply mourning the loss of that predictable version you formerly expressed.

[CHORUS] When you actually begin to evolve, the dominant emotion is rarely relief. It is more often grief.

True growth requires a brutal but necessary rupture — a temporary fracture — misunderstood by those you love because you had become part of their identity and foundational structure.

Try surviving this without retreating into your previous patterns and habits.

…or chasing old rabbits.

Chasing old rabbits.

© 2026 Peter W. Collier

LISTEN HERE: THE GANG — SUNO

Bully wasn’t big, wasn’t strong as an ox;

Bully just had friends and they liked him a lot;

They’d do what he asked, no matter how odd;

They’d do what he said, no matter how flawed;

Marky would do what Bully would say;

Even if Marky wouldn’t do it that way;

Mikey would do what Bully would do;

Mikey would do what Marky did too;

All hanging around to do what they do;

Marky would do what Pete did too;

Pete just joined their group… he didn’t know better;

Pete and his dog… an Irish red setter;

There was Marky and Mikey, and the new kid named Pete;

They were all Bully’s gang, on Marguerite Street.

Their boredom meant setting something on fire.

Their monotony was wasted without slashing tires.

Why leave windows completely intact?

It’s all better when broken or cracked.

Doorbells were rung when nobody was there.

Toilet paper was hung everywhere.

Garbage cans went missing somehow.

Garden gnomes moved three houses down.

[CHORUS]

Bully said do it, so somebody would.
Nobody asked if they shouldn’t or should.
Marky followed Mikey, and Pete followed too;
all hanging around to do what they do.

By late afternoon, Bully had nothing to say.

Marky waited for Mikey to lead them astray.

Mikey waited for Pete to decide what to do.

Pete waited for Bully, and the red setter too.

Nobody smashed anything. Nobody ran.

Nobody came up with any new juvenile plan.

Nobody shouted. Nobody fought.

Nobody damaged a single car in the used car lot.

No windows were broken or even attacked.

Every garbage can stayed fully packed.

No tires were slashed. No fires were lit.

They stood on the sidewalk and wouldn’t commit.

Bully looked at Marky.

Pete looked at Mikey.

Marky looked at Pete.

Mikey looked down the street.

The dog simply sat there and scratched at his ear.

It was the most uneventful day of the year.

[CHORUS]

Bully said nothing, so nobody would.
Nobody wondered if they shouldn’t or should.
Marky followed Mikey, and Pete followed too;
all standing around with nothing to do.

By quarter past six, they were still standing there.

Mayhem and anarchy had vanished into thin air.

The gang hadn’t changed, and nobody had quit.

Nobody bothered to start all of it.

Nobody bothered to start any of it.

© 2026 Peter W. Collier

LISTEN HERE: THE CAR WASH — SOFT FUNK — SUNO

LISTEN HERE: THE CAR WASH — ALTERNATIVE R&B— SUNO

LISTEN HERE: THE CAR WASH — SOFT COUNTRY — SUNO

All the many car washing steps were simply working proficiently, cleaning and rinsing the whole vehicle efficiently.

Josh was instructed to conduct a pre-wash inspection, as some cars may need additional closer attention.

[CHORUS] Wash it. Rinse it. Leave it gleaming clean. Making cars cleaner, by every means.

Hard or goopy packed-on debris must always be removed manually.

It’s best to soften it up — muck pre-soaking — so as not to remove the paint coating.

At the high-pressure rinse — before the main wash — that’s often where they positioned Josh.

Using brushes and spray nozzles, foaming detergent soap is applied, which often got into both Josh’s eyes, then he’d mix up the next steps of the whole washing exercise.

While still half-blinded pressing wrong buttons and flipping incorrect switches, that was how, sometimes, the whole car wash cleaning process glitches.

[CHORUS] Wash it. Rinse it. Leave it gleaming clean. Making cars cleaner, by every means.

Going through those soft brushes and cloth strips — equipped to drip, flip, and softly grip — they should never cause the paint to chip.

Such agitation and scrubbing all do the trick without excessively rubbing. When done backwards, there’s only that bunching and loud thudding.

The rinse cycle is to ensure a clean and residue-free surface, but it always made Josh extremely nervous.

[CHORUS] Wash it. Rinse it. Leave it gleaming clean. Making cars cleaner, by every means.

At the final phase, it uses blowers and hot air-dry blasting, for the wax to stick completely, spot-free, and long-lasting.

That one final result was unlike anything Josh was ever thinking.

He’d never heard of car wash car shrinking.

…car wash car shrinking.

© 2024 Peter W. Collier

It’s about the more mature and often sadder realization that two people can genuinely care about each other and still not belong together.

LISTEN HERE: JUST FRIENDS — SUNO

LISTEN HERE: JUST FRIENDS — YOUTUBE

Every day seems to be the same.
My heart just aches to start again.

We’re less compatible despite.
Nothing will ever make it right.

I’ve looked for something, something lost.
I need to regain it at any cost.

No excuses, no reasons why… don’t pretend with pathetic lies.
We’re not what we hoped we would be.
I’m sure you agree with me.

[CHORUS] With nothing to mend and no reason to make amends.
I’m ready… ready again, to be just friends.

I know it now, deep in my heart.
It’s time for us to move apart.
We should have stopped before the start.

There may be nothing I can do.
I know you feel the same way too.
If not you, then someone new.

I’ve looked for something, something lost.
I need to regain it at any cost.

No excuses, no reasons why… don’t pretend with pathetic lies.

[CHORUS] With nothing to mend and no reason to make amends.
I’m ready… ready again, to be just friends.

Ready again, to be just friends.

© 2026 Peter W. Collier

LISTEN HERE: LETTING YOU GO — SUNO

LISTEN HERE: LETTING YOU GO — YOUTUBE

[CHORUS] I’m ready to be on my own.
I won’t cry from letting you go — only from you moving too slow.

Your promises were never true.
Each time you lied, I always knew.
There’s no way I ever would trust you.

All you shared was fear and pain.
I’ve got nothing to lose but restraining chains.

Your need for me now at an end — that’s how I feel and what you said.

You only make me very unhappy… my hatred for you is strong.
Nothing you can do or say will mend what is seriously wrong.

[CHORUS] I’m ready to be on my own.
I won’t cry from letting you go — only from you moving too slow.

Why are you waiting… what don’t you know?
My door is wide open just for you to go.

Stop staring and looking for a supportive response.
She can have all of you, if she wants.

I used to wonder where you’d belong.
Now I just want you to quickly move on.

No sense arguing in the rain.
Nothing more can cause me any pain.

[CHORUS] I’m ready to be on my own.
I won’t cry from letting you go — only from you moving too slow.

I remember your every word.
All those promises my gullible heart sincerely heard.

There’s no one here asking you to stay.
No need for you in any way.

You can’t believe I’m such a serious dunce.
No one will miss you — not even once.

I’ve looked back and cried, wept tears for reasons why.
Now it’s time for you to just say, goodbye.

[CHORUS] I’m ready to be on my own.
I won’t cry from letting you go — only from you moving too slow.

© 2026 Peter W. Collier