Album: Comfortable Bugs
Artists:
- Michael Guy Bowman
Date: December 21, 2012
Date Added: February 12, 2021
URLs:
- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/album/comfortable-bugs
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lQtx7uCpOsNFM-1-7GCFR4oW7XEfrFDYo
- https://open.spotify.com/album/5K0P8sCoc8oMUi2fnpUkMx
- https://music.apple.com/album/comfortable-bugs/1410923925
Cover Artwork:
- Date: January 1, 2015 # see crediting sources
  Artists:
  - Michael Guy Bowman
  Tags:
  - Michael Guy Bowman
- Label: Original cover art
  Directory: original
  Source: >-
    [RYM](https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/michael-guy-bowman/comfortable-bugs/)
  Artists:
  - Michael Guy Bowman
  - Tavia Morra (photography, logo)
  Tags:
  - Michael Guy Bowman
- Label: Revised cover art
  Directory: revised
  Attach Above: true
  Date: March 12, 2013
  Source: >-
    [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/seeyoutmorra/44986472800/iambowman-your-eyes-dont-deceive-you)
Color: '#c3dcaf'
Groups:
- Michael Guy Bowman
- Beyond
Commentary: |-
    <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> [Bandcamp about blurb](https://web.archive.org/web/20130218030532/http://bowman.bandcamp.com/)

    <i>A very cozy effort (as the title implies). A combination of classic rock sounds of the 70's and some modern electronic tricks to create the mix-tape you always wanted to hear.</i>

    <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> [Bandcamp about blurb](https://web.archive.org/web/20130429132724/http://bowman.bandcamp.com/album/comfortable-bugs), sometime 3/7/2013 - 4/29/2013

    <i>This album is as faux-retro as Bowman gets. I dig deep into classic sounds of the 70s, approaching soft rock, fusion, soul, and other vinyl-age styles from a modern angle to create a very intimate experience. Comfortable Bugs is an album fine-tuned for living room speakers everywhere.</i>

    <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Bandcamp about blurb](https://web.archive.org/web/20160802045459/http://bowman.bandcamp.com/album/comfortable-bugs), sometime 6/30/2016 - 7/21/2016)

    After spending part of the year doing a lot of different kinds music for commissions, I honed in and got personal on Comfortable Bugs. Flavors of Steely Dan, The Beach Boys, Roxy Music. I wanted the sounds time forgot.

    This an album for you and the stereo. Get comfortable.

    <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Bandcamp about blurb](https://web.archive.org/web/20170523002054/https://bowman.bandcamp.com/album/comfortable-bugs), sometime 10/10/2016 - 5/23/2017)

    Get comfortable.

    <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/seeyoutmorra/44986472800/iambowman-your-eyes-dont-deceive-you), around 3/9/2013)

    Your eyes don’t deceive you, Bow-fans! On March 12, I’ll be dropping the exclusive new Comfortable Bugs Slightly Different Cover Art Edition.

    And yes, it is EXACTLY what it sounds like. No bonus tracks, no remasters, nothing that legitimately improves upon the quality of the album’s actual content AT ALL. Just a SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT cover with titles placed in an ever-so-different fashion and a subtle reduction of the original’s green tinting that will have absolutely no effect on the music itself. And you can take that as a 100% satisfaction guarantee!

    I know what you’re thinking: it’s probably “But Bowman, isn’t altering the cover art to a digital-only album to be only SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT basically the easiest imaginable change you could make?” Well Jimmy (your name’s Jimmy, right?) you’re absolutely on the mark about that (or was your name Mark and you’re absolutely on the jimmy about that?) - that’s why it’s your responsibility as a good, honest citizen to make AS BIG OF A DEAL about this otherwise negligible change as physically possible!

    And remember, once the cover art is officially replaced on March 12, the old cover art will become a collectors item of almost UNSPEAKABLE value… so unspeakable, I’ll link to a full-res copy of it here: [(dead link)](http://iambowman.com/Comfortable-Bugs-old-cover.jpg)

    This is not to say that the NEW cover isn’t a collectors item in itself. This exclusive new cover almost CERTAINLY makes the otherwise totally-unchanged album totally worthy of being re-purchased at full price. And don’t even TELL me you’d EVER consider just downloading the new cover for free at this link: [(dead link)](http://iambowman.com/Comfortable-Bugs-slightly-different-cover.jpg)

    So until March 12, I encourage you to change your Tumblr icon, Facebook photo, XBox Live avatar, or whatever the hell else you kill time on to be SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT. Show the other clowns whose rodeo this is - or should I say Bow-deo - and don’t forget to share the official promo video [(dead link)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJoFT-wEgjA) with friends and highly-influential entertainment journalists alike. You’re the one doing THEM a favor.
Crediting Sources: |-
    @@ [Bandcamp credits blurb](https://web.archive.org/web/20130429132724/http://bowman.bandcamp.com/album/comfortable-bugs), sometime December 21, 2012 - January 29, 2013

    All tracks written and performed by [[artist:michael-guy-bowman|Michael Guy Bowman]].<br>
    Photography and logo by [[artist:tavia-morra|Tavia Morra]].

    @@ [Bandcamp credits blurb](https://web.archive.org/web/20150131172246/http://bowman.bandcamp.com/album/comfortable-bugs), sometime September 16, 2014 - January 1, 2015

    Written and produced by [[artist:michael-guy-bowman|Michael Guy Bowman]].

    <i>Quasar Nebula:</i> (wiki editor, 4/23/2025)

    We aren't 100% certain who was involved in creating the current artwork for this album, nor exactly when it replaced the 3/12/2013 revised one. There was a great hurrah for the revised cover; gauging by some passing mentions in the Bowmantown Discord server, the new cover might've been released with little word at all.

    This wiki has historically credited the current artwork to [[artist:tavia-morra]], dating to the initial addition of Michael Guy Bowman's solo discography, January 2021. We didn't specify a source for this credit, but within the same commit we *did* include the very original version of the album cover, which *is* credited (as "photography and logo") to Tavia Morra on old captures of the album page on Bandcamp - where we likely found it. We probably just reused the Tavia Morra credit, assuming it also applied to the new artwork.

    As of this writing, we're now crediting the current Comfortable Bugs logo to just Michael Guy Bowman, and the original one (as well as its March revision) to both Bowman and Tavia Morra.

    Wayback Machine captures indicate the new artwork (and updated credit blurb) were released between [9/16/2014](https://web.archive.org/web/20140916232747/http://bowman.bandcamp.com/album/comfortable-bugs) and [1/1/2015](https://web.archive.org/web/20150131172246/http://bowman.bandcamp.com/album/comfortable-bugs) - latter date going by Bandcamp's `TralbumData.current.mod_date`, which is the latest modification to the album as a whole, as of that capture. Considering it's New Year's Day, we're taking that as *probably* the exact date, but we aren't 100% certain on this.

    Discogs editor K4L31D0 also wrote in 2022 that [this particular](https://www.discogs.com/release/25292218-Bowman-Comfortable-Bugs) version of the album was released in "2015", not specifying a precise date.
# Additional Files:
# - Title: Album Credits
#   Files:
#   - credits_page.jpg
---
Track: Hard Reset
Duration: 4:06
URLs:
- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/hard-reset
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kUE2vKhvsA
- https://open.spotify.com/track/5YIQ7axE8Ia4ainO2Z9bps
- https://music.apple.com/album/hard-reset/1410923925?i=1410927281
Lyrics: |-
    It's been a long time
    It's been a long run
    I think I'm ready for some - a little
    Hard Reset

    This is a new day
    I've got a new job
    I've got to tell everyone about a
    Hard Reset

    Hard Reset
    Caught you on the rebound
    Hard Reset
    Caught you on the rebound

    This is the right place
    This is the right time
    I'm telling you right now - this is a
    Hard Reset

    I'm on a new page
    I've got a new beat
    I'm so glad to have you on a
    Hard Reset
---
Track: '69423'
Duration: 4:03
URLs:
- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/69423
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zdjvvqFuME
- https://open.spotify.com/track/1nmVpa1RYbP5m9R1RZ2brx
- https://music.apple.com/album/69423/1410923925?i=1410927283
Lyrics: |-
    This train will make you feel pain, will make you feel pain
    Tick tock trains - running on the fumes now
    Turn it on, and how
    Got to get high get down get lost come round

    This yarn will make you burn barns, will make you burn barns
    Big black barns - quite iconoclastic
    How long will you last
    If you should trip the light fantastic

    And I'm not such an innocent kind of guy
    'Cause it all comes down to do or die
    So I won't pretend that I never get high

    69423
    Don't you blow your smoke on me

    This knot will get you caught, will get you caught
    Get your soul bought - keep it on the outside
    Take it on your stride
    'Cause you can't fall can't look can't run can't hide

    This brick will get you sick, will get you sick
    Just a big brick waiting in the windows
    Every good friend knows
    That once they're open they won't get closed

    And I'm not such an innocent kind of guy
    'Cause it all comes down to do or die
    So I won't pretend that I never get high

    69423
    Don't you blow your smoke on me
    I'm not crazy can't you see?
    This is where I wanna be

    69423
    More than just your fantasy
    Chain them up, don't set them free
    These bright stars belong to me
---
Track: Bad Dudes
Duration: 2:45
URLs:
- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/bad-dudes
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0w54kvN0QQ
- https://open.spotify.com/track/5kCMSOMGmcYaa4nFgre9Tp
- https://music.apple.com/album/bad-dudes/1410923925?i=1410927284
Lyrics: |-
    Now that you have joined the cause
    You act as though you're owed applause
    Is this your fight or are these bragging rights?

    Don't pretend you really care
    All you've changed is what you wear,
    What you say, and who you turn away

    You think you're bad (so bad)
    With the flag that you've been waving (so bad)
    With the world you think you're saving (so bad)
    Is it a fight that you are craving?
    Maybe it's just food

    Are you a bad enough dude
    To carry a torch, to ignite a feud
    To change the whole world when you change your mood
    It's hard to conclude
    Are you bad or just rude?

    Can you honestly afford
    To spend your life a sandwich board
    Your thick skin is only t-shirt thin

    Your enormous sense of pride
    Is just another place to hide
    Let it go - your life is not for show

    You think you're bad (so bad)
    With the people you've been taunting (so bad)
    And the message that you're flaunting (so bad)
    But is the change that you've been wanting
    All just attitude?

    Are you a bad enough dude
    To carry a torch - to ignite a feud
    To change the whole world when you change your mood
    If I might intrude
    I think you're just some prude

    You think you're bad (so bad)
    It could almost be inspiring (so bad)
    But from you it's only tiring (so bad)
    If it's attention you're desiring
    Maybe you're just screwed

    Are you a bad enough dude
    To carry a torch, to ignite a feud
    To change the whole world when you change your mood
    It's hard to conclude
    Are you bad or just rude?
---
Track: Looking For A Rock
Duration: 1:57
URLs:
- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/looking-for-a-rock
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckP1KrC1o3U
- https://open.spotify.com/track/5KCaA4h8T633SVH6u16Nwv
- https://music.apple.com/album/looking-for-a-rock/1410923925?i=1410927285
Lyrics: |-
    Please forgive me - I was not privy
    The words I needed I'd not heeded
    Now I see that I've made a blunder
    I'm looking for a rock I can crawl under

    I've enforced such a needless course
    To a mindless goal that consumed my soul
    But now that I've been torn asunder
    I'm looking for a rock I can crawl under

    Don't ask why it took 'til now
    Cast your stones, I'll take my bow
    If you think you do no wrong
    Then you've been under your rock too long

    Judge me as you would judge yourselves
    We have all got skeletons on our shelves
    If we don't let them fossilize
    Our pet rocks will rule our lives

    Though it's an impediment
    I won't turn to sediment
    Before you bring your gavel down
    Look at the gravel all around

    (Wait a minute, we're getting ahead of ourselves here.)
---
Track: Comfortable Bugs
Duration: 4:41
URLs:
- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/comfortable-bugs
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HGVCc2yd7k
- https://open.spotify.com/track/4Pe2svtxPS9uPw4f2GfL1P
- https://music.apple.com/album/comfortable-bugs/1410923925?i=1410927286
Lyrics: |-
    We're comfortable bugs
    And we don't really care what we're giving away
    We live to laugh and love and play
    Each magical day

    We live in the rugs
    And the things that we need we keep close at hand
    So if you'd like to join our band
    You know that you can

    'Cause when you climb on the walls and hide in the trees
    It's so nice coming down, hanging round in on your knees
    In the comfort of friends with time you can spend
    Who you'll proudly defend from now 'til the end

    We're comfortable bugs living fun-loving lives in a wonderful world
    Not a care for tomorrow, no pain, no sorrow, just boys and girls
    We're comfortable bugs living fun-loving lives in a wonderful world
    Without a care at all

    We're comfortable bugs
    But we're not really sure quite which way to go
    So if you think you're in the know
    Come be in our show

    'Cause when you climb on the walls and hide in the trees
    It's so nice coming down, hanging round in on your knees
    In the comfort of friends with time you can spend
    Who you'll proudly defend from now 'til the end

    Say it again!

    We're comfortable bugs living fun-loving lives in a wonderful world
    Not a care for tomorrow, no pain, no sorrow, just boys and girls
    We're comfortable bugs living fun-loving lives in a wonderful world
    Without a care at all
---
Track: I'm Letting Go
Duration: 4:24
URLs:
- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/im-letting-go
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3xgvhsPJgA
- https://open.spotify.com/track/0NtmjGn2grNAqsRnkL1ZOd
- https://music.apple.com/album/im-letting-go/1410923925?i=1410927287
Music Videos:
- Date: September 12, 2013
  URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3xgvhsPJgA
  Artists: # no listed credits
  - Michael Guy Bowman
Lyrics: |-
    All alone amongst the crowd a voice is in my head
    "Is there something I'm supposed to do?"
    Everybody laughing at the jokes I've never read
    Am I still a member of the crew

    Tuning to the rhythm of the music in the air
    Sounding out the words inside my mind
    The decoration fails to make me even care
    What was I supposed to find?

    I'm letting go
    Of the chances I had but was always gonna blow
    Of the beautiful people who never said hello
    Of the life I'd have lived if I knew then what I know

    Every night I sit and wait like something's gonna change
    I'll remember how to really smile
    The waves of time against my mind leave me deranged
    Can I make this worth the while?

    Your moves are fly but I'm a fly upon your wall
    Look in my eyes and make me real
    Teach me to dance when all the world's at the ball
    Give me something I can really feel

    I'm letting go
    Of the chances I had but was always gonna blow
    Of the beautiful people who never said hello
    Of the life I'd have lived if I knew then what I know
    Of the need to pretend that I'm living in a show
    Of the notion that I'd stay the same and never grow
    Of the great desperation to move against the flow
    Of all the errors I knew at the moment they were made
    Of the times that I left when I really should have stayed
    Of the secret inside that I'm still afraid
---
Track: Three Small Words
Duration: 4:04
URLs:
- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/three-small-words
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNDaaxkUaik
- https://open.spotify.com/track/4mAogGpGehDxH6eEICHRrH
- https://music.apple.com/album/three-small-words/1410923925?i=1410927288
Lyrics: |-
    Say it isn't so hard to hear the things I have to say
    Say that I'm just a fool to think there's something in the way
    I can always call you
    I could never call you

    Say I won't have to wait for some occasion to arise
    Say the words I would say to you would come as no surprise
    I can never tell you
    I can only show you

    One small chance - One thin line
    No damn way I can conceive to say what's on my mind
    I love you - Three small words
    Just the dumbest thing I'm sure that you have ever heard
    Each time I try to call it feels absurd

    Say the truth deep inside your soul will only set you free
    Say this kind of exposure makes you just as scared as me
    I can hear my own voice
    Rehearsing-all-lone-voice

    Say if you saw me at my worst you would not turn away
    Say there's more to look forward to than wondering what to say
    Something I believe in
    I'd take such relief in

    One small chance - One thin line
    No damn way I can conceive to say what's on my mind
    I love you - Three small words
    Just the dumbest thing I'm sure that you have ever heard
    For now I guess the call remains deferred
---
Track: Every Time I Look Into Your Eyes
Duration: 8:58
URLs:
- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/every-time-i-look-into-your-eyes
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IBWJebGEak
- https://open.spotify.com/track/232rQMV4PxpXnkAeRmVwFD
- https://music.apple.com/album/every-time-i-look-into-your-eyes/1410923925?i=1410927289
Lyrics: |-
    If the air gets colder
    Would you care to smolder
    Here between my shoulders
    Underneath the skin of my disguise?

    When the music's playing
    What can be worth saying
    Yours will leave me praying
    Every time I look into your eyes

    For your own protection
    Mind your eyes' reflection
    Like a strange projection
    You will leave your subjects hypnotized

    Radiant and dangerous
    Though the act is painless
    I go nearly brainless
    Every time I look into your eyes

    Where do all of the walls go
    When you walk in the door
    You are the "and's" and the "also's"
    I am the "either" and "or"
    You look to me like an angel
    I took to you like a drug
    Bizarro heaven or strange hell
    We both were comfortable bugs

    Like a born romantic
    Mine are words pedantic
    Left to my own antics
    Nothing I have learned at all applies

    Things that I hold sacred
    Tenderly invaded
    I am nearly naked
    Every time I look into your eyes

    I can't remember the lies
    Why is it such a surprise?
---
Track: Roll With The Punches
Duration: 3:56
URLs:
- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/roll-with-the-punches
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAyVQk1oU5g
- https://open.spotify.com/track/2XG4BaexRuxstb8wEiHILb
- https://music.apple.com/album/roll-with-the-punches/1410923925?i=1410927290
Lyrics: |-
    Who do we know when we know who we are?
    Who do we play when we're playing our part?
    Why do we keep putting on disguises
    Clinging to the cheapest of surprises?

    Clothes make the man, but the man makes mistakes
    How to survive in a world full of fakes?
    Why do we repress our on affections
    Living by the code of our rejections?

    Is it always so damn hard
    To learn to be happy with who you are
    To roll with the puches
    Admit that our hunches
    Are the only truths we know?

    Why must our praise be indulged by a score?
    How can we love when we live like a whore?
    Where did we acquire these convictions
    Guided not by joy but our afflictions?

    Why call the gaffes when we're all making bluffs?
    Who says we're made of immutable stuff?
    Why do we keep burying the layers?
    Couldn't we admit we're only players?
Commentary: |-
    <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (Bowmantown Discord, excerpt, 9/27/2017)

    this is why I got into music

    For the mashups of my serious attempts to explain my soul with stupid shit from high school

    <i>LizaWithAZed:</i> (Bowmantown Discord, excerpt, 9/27/2017)

    I can't tell if you're joking or not

    <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (Bowmantown Discord, excerpt, 9/27/2017)

    me neither
---
Track: Light Of Apollo
Duration: 4:11
URLs:
- https://bowman.bandcamp.com/track/light-of-apollo
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo_BSpf72xY
- https://open.spotify.com/track/4TG0SdasjZVtk7OCpzJia7
- https://music.apple.com/album/light-of-apollo/1410923925?i=1410927292
Lyrics: |-
    The light of Apollo rises and falls across the sky
    The cool of the evening slows your breathing to a sigh
    Lost in the lake house on the beaten path
    One broken camera snaps a photograph

    The pictures are gathered, gently slathered, fixed in place
    The walls of the gallery, climbing, towering into space
    Beckon you sweetly to forgotten sets
    One million memories in a stranger's net

    Another golden hour - a needle in the sea
    Another gift shop postcard - always close to me
    The light of Apollo flows through all we see

    The faraway beach this tour bus reaches melts away
    The thundering ocean casts erosion to the bay
    No trace at all outside my shadow box
    Printed and pinned up high behind the locks

    The dusk and the morning lull you, yawning, to your wrist
    The light and the shadows churn as paddles through the mist
    Life through a mirror might be forged of dreams
    Just one more snapshot rough along the seams

    Another golden hour - a needle in the sea
    Another gift shop postcard - always close to me
    A friend I don't remember - a place we used to go
    Someday it will heal us - someday they will show
    The light of Apollo flows through all we know
