"Smoke and Mirrors" genre: Country General
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	Originally intended "37 Cents Per Minute Part 1," this song was expanded to an additional track in order to accomodate a different instrument arrangement. It's the first track on "Room in their Bellies", a very simple country-blues progression that begins the album in a subdued tone. If you like "37 Cents," download this one to play right before it - it's a cool dynamic as well as an insight into the way the original song was written.
	CD: Room in their Bellies Credits: Lyrics written by Matt Smith and Eric Mayer, Music by Eric Mayer
	Story Behind the Song This song was written in May 2001, the same period in which the songs "37 Cents Per Minute," "Treading Water for the Freaks," "I Won't Be There," "Up to Speed," "Analgesic Hallucinogen," and "July 29, 1984" were written. It was originally part of "37 Cents Per Minute," as an introduction, and retains this quality in the tracklisting of the album "Room in their Bellies." "37 Cents" and "Smoke and Mirrors" are indefinitely linked in my mind, but can still exist on their own as different arrangements and individual songs. While there is little similarity in the music of "Smoke" to "37 Cents," the lyrics maintain a certain continuity; the theme of smoking cigarettes, an obsession of mine at the time, is mentioned in both songs. Also, a certain pretentious introspection is hinted at in both songs, somewhat sarcastically. I don't think I intended any particular meaning in this couplet of songs when I wrote them. However, now with a wiser eye for lyrical interpretation (if such a thing is possible), I believe the song is about the ridiculousness of any supposed "transcendence" in the philosophical sense ("I've been down these roads before..etc"), especially in the context of young adulthood. "37" has many references to real people who affected my friend Matt Smith and I in our "younger and more vulnerable years" (Matt co-wrote the lyrics to both songs); these references reiterate the immaturity of the narrator. The immaturity of the narrator, in turn, negates the sense that any real growth or transcendence has been reached in his/her introspection. Hence, there's a grave dramatic irony pervading the song. In short, it's about someone who doesn't know just how full of sh*t they are nor how much they have to learn. Lyrics He was smoking a cigarette The smoke billowed in his mouth He was sittin' there a-thinkin' 'Bout his worries and his doubts His mind was floating over the ozone And the candles he had lit The wax began to melt The hot matter produced seeped in all his welts And it healed everything inside him once again. 1-2-3-4...

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