Mike Posner & The Legendary Mike Posner Band – i was born in detroit on a very very very very very very very cold day

In the summer of 2016, my band and I played 66 shows, and in a vain attempt to impress my bandmates, I performed a new poem each night. I would write the poem either immediately after the show before or right before we went on stage or sometimes on the stage itself. These are just as few of those poems collected, intuitively, kind of at random, and I hope you enjoy them. This is ‘i was born in detroit on a very very very very very very very cold day.’

I believe this to be the truth
And I pray it doesn’t bore you.
I don’t believe life happens to you,
I believe life happens for you.
I believe in more than I can see.

I don’t belive in right, I don’t believe in wrong.
I believe I’m a poem, though you believe I’m a song.
I do not believe in dwelling on the shit you never had.
I believe I’m a good kid tryna convince the world I’m bad.
I believe this is Heaven! I believe this is hell!
I believe it’s beautiful to be part of something bigger than yourself.

Perhaps I’m the tool of another; a rock to be thrown at the wall.
I believe those that really know say next to no words at al.
So, what does that say about me?
What’s that say about us?
We’re just 6 stars in the galaxy caught in the gravity of a tour bus.

I believe that angels sometimes wear tattoos.
I believe we like to numb ourselves
With shit food advertisements and bad booze.
But I’m not a savior.
Shit Kev, I’d be content with survivin’.
Later I’ll sing my more popular songs, that’s all you really want.

I believe in Matthew Musto.
I believe in Jacob Scesney.
I believe each one of us is free to believe what we want to believe!
Make some noise if you agree!
We are free; do you agree?
We are free; do you agree?
We are free; do you agree?

I believe the prophet speaks softly.
This is all a dream.
I believe that beautiful things do not beg to be seen.
Beautiful things do not beg to be seen.
I believe in God
Though I couldn’t tell you why.
I do not believe he’s an old white man sitting on top of the sky.
Rather a twinkle in an iris, an iris purple in bloom.
I believe you can be happy in December just like you can be sad in June.

I believe I might not belong here.
Maybe I showed up too soon.
But for some odd reason,
I believe in every single living, breathing, beautiful soul inside of this room.
There is nothing wrong with you,
Or you, or you, or you, or you, or you, or you, or you.
And sometimes people come along and they try to change you to somebody new.
Your teachers try to change you to somebody new.
Your parents try to change you to somebody new.
Your friends try to change you to somebody new.
The TV tries to change you to somebody new.
But when that happens all you have to do
Is say, “don’t you ever, don’t you ever,
Don’t you ever ask the sun to shine more like the moon!”

Dear Mom,

When I was young me and Mom had beef.
17-years-old kicked out on the street- I deserved that!
I’m ashamed of the way I used to speak to you.
Wish I could but I can’t reverse that.

Especially to you.
Your daddy told you a woman’s place is in the house and not in the school.
You paid your own tuition, got your own degree,
Started your own business, and then you had me.
How can I repay the lady that looked me in the eyes when I took my first breath,
Held my little hand when I took my first step?
I can’t wait to sell out that arena on my own for the first time.
You always told me,
“It’s not your first try, it’s how many tries after that.”
I mean, how lucky am I
That I was born and you were mine?

Life’s crazy.
You know, my parents used to worry about me
Because I barely talked to anybody,
Just made beats.
Now isn’t it ironic I get paid by the syllable?
I gotta thank them though.
I know it can be difficult
As I tiptoe in and out of zip codes.
All on a mission to love- that’s what I live for!
I got big dreams Ma, I got big goals!
You see my old ones now because I lived those!
Whoo!

You gotta admit Ma,
I told you I’d get into Duke, and I did Ma.
I told you I would get signed, and I did Ma.
Look at this Ma!
Look at this Ma!

But as I get older, you do too.
Our time gets shorter, and that’s just truth.
So I leave with three words.
They are not eloquent,
They are cliché,
And they are not clever,
They are:
I
Love
You.

Are you entertained?
Are we everything you hoped for?
Good.
Screams and smiles ain’t really what we go for no more.
Results in being in a cold war with my own ego.

I’m floating on an ocean of solipsism, no shore.
I gotta text from my ex.
It said, “An artist, by definition, can never belong.”
The bird does not sing because it has an answer,
It sings because it has a song.

Maybe my songs are songs,
And my microphone is pointing God’s finger.
Maybe I’m a prophet wearing the mask of a pop singer.
Maybe I’m a sociopath, hoping the mainstream media picks me next.
Maybe I’m a fake, I’m just here for the money and the free sex.
Maybe I’m just tryna get my tour bus moving as fast as the Earth spins, but in the opposite direction,
So I finally feel like I’m standing still then.

Maybe I’m on the brink of enlightenment.
I’m David reincarnated.
Maybe I just can’t figure out how to separate
My love from my hate.
Maybe my bar is too high.
Thus my heart is still on the shelf.
Maybe I’m just scared of putting time and commitment into anything but myself.

Maybe beauty is more easily seen by the untrained eye.
Maybe it’s impossible to be a voice of a generation
And somebody’s boyfriend at the same time.

Maybe I’m headed for a disaster
I’m inching towards hell
Or maybe, I’m on the tip of something magnificent
Only time will tell

Maybe having no shtick has become my shtick.
Maybe I only smile on stage- And back there I’m a dick.
Maybe I never took that pill in Ibiza- I made it up!
I know what sells, you’re here.
Maybe Mike Posner’s a fake name, I’m really somebody else.

Maybe I’m Illuminati.
A mathematician, an engineer.
Or maybe I really am Mike Posner!
One-sixth of the dopest fuckin’ band you’ll ever hear!

Maybe I’m what it looks like
When God moves at a slower pace.
I’ll never tell you who I really am
Because this… this, is my poker face.

(The crowd screams “we love you, Mike Posner!”)
I love you back.

Could be worse, huh?
Look where you are!
Reading the calendar today it said Park City,
We thought we were going to like a dive bar.
Could be worse, right?

This piece is called ‘Gratitude.’
My band teacher told me quote-
“Mike, you ain’t shit.”
But it wasn’t until I heard that, that I quit.
And bought that Motif, made them dope beats.
Turned that old car to this window seat
Where it all makes sense.
Now, God gives me hints every time I burn incense.
Don’t that make you so incense, Mr. Z?!?!
Whoo! I blew up and ain’t visit your class since.
But wait- I didn’t write this to say I told you so.
Because without you, I never would’ve sold out shows.
I thought that was worth a page or two.
Dear Mr. Z, this is dedicated to you.
Gratitude: Thank you!

My dad called when Uncle Fred died.
I didn’t want my mom to see me cry
So I got ’em all out on the flight back.
People looking at me funny but it’s like that.
See, Uncle Freddie was a good guy.
He was proud when I started to win.
My aunt told me he loved me
And I swear to God she gave me one of his pens.
And the same pen that I wrote this song with.
The same pen that I’m about to put my team on with.
Because he keeps giving me dope shit.
And people keep on telling me, “Mike, you’re so sick!”
I hope that’s enough to change your mood.
Transform a Utah sky from grey to blue.
I thought that was worth a page or two.
Dear Uncle Fred, this is dedicated to you.
Gratitude: Thank you!

This verse can never pay you back.
Shit.
A lot of my friends never had no dads.
And before we knew I had a sick style.
Used to drive me to the studio to rap on Six Mile.
Showed me that a real man ain’t afraid because he hugs, kisses, and cries.
April to April stays faithful,
Loves, listens, and tries.
So, when I do find Mrs. Right,
Best believe that my game gonna be zipper tight.
Like you’re still making Mom breakfast every morning.
You start her car up in the winter when it’s snowing.
Remember when you broke it down in New Orleans?
I didn’t tell you I had my phone out recording it:
Said, “Why’d you marry Mom?”
Said, “Well, Michael, in my heart, I knew I loved your mother.”
And I said, “Is your heart more important than your head?”
Said, “I don’t know, you’re 28, you’ve got to figure some things out on your own.”
Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is some G shit.
When my son’s 28 I’m gonna show him this poem.
He’s gonna need this.
I’m sorry, but I thought that was worth a page or two.
Dear Dad, this is dedicated to you.
Gratitude: Thank you!

I got that soul.
I got too much pride.
I got a funny job.
And there’s no place to hide.
But I got them songs.
I got that real shit.
I’m a savage!
I’ve got the looks and voice too,
Baby, I’m the whole package.

I got bars for days
Because I’ve been scarred in ways that are hard to say.
Bodyguards can’t save me from myself.
I got exes.
I got commitments I’m still running from.
I got shooting stars.
I got darkness.
I got nightfall.
I got suns.
I got Jesus Christ.
I got Buddha.
I got Mohammed in my swag.
I got piano fingers.
I got 50 songs in the bag.
I got the music and the poetry in my head.
It’s always going in the background.
Zach, I got the psilocybin running in my veins.
Couple mushrooms hidden in the black lounge.
Now I got your attention.
And I can do whatever I want with it.

I got a need to be loved.
The spotlight isn’t gone, is it?
I got my daddy in my heart
Even when he’s not around.
Tell Bruce it’s cool when he wants to chill.
The Mike Posner Band, we here, we got it now.
I got a legacy in the Midwest!
My old stomping grounds.
I done come this far, ain’t no way in hell I’m stopping now!

I came this far, ain’t no way in hell,
Ain’t no way in hell I’m stopping now!

I got that good cologne.
I got that courage inside of me.
I got one of the best bands in the world standing right here behind me.
I got a kick drum for a heart.
I got a hi-hat in my step.
I got this feeling in my mind we might be the best.
I got the vibe in my veins, I’m tryna explain.
I’m done tryna explain why I’m so strange.

I got a freedom fighter’s heart, a Navy Seal’s discipline.
I got North Carolina blue and a grey found only in Michigan.
I got a mother that’s a killer.
A sister that’s a hippie.
I got way too many women in my past,
Groupies in every city.
Groupies in every city.

And I got money now, you can’t buy me.
I keep telling my managers all of this shit I will not do.
I got Scesney, I got James, I got Nate, I got Kev, I got Ben
And Edmonton, tonight, I guess I got you.
And, didn’t I? Didn’t I get you?
Didn’t we cut through this shit like a knife?
I got a question.
If I keep pretending I’m not gonna have a death,
How can I live a good life?
No cheers for that, but it doesn’t matter.
No.
If I keep pretending I’m not gonna have a death,
How can I live a good life?

My friends say I got it all.
I tell ’em I only got love.
I got what I got.
And maybe, maybe that’s enough.
Thank you to the Mike Posner band.

When I was 21 I met Kanye.
I was really excited because I was a struggling musician.
He was one of my heroes,
And I knew if he liked my music he could change my life.

My friend Big Sean introduced us.
Then Sean played him a song of mine.
“Kanye, this is Mike. He made the song you just heard.”
And he said, “Cool!” and gave me a fist bump.
The awkward silence ensued.
So I said, “did you like it?”
He said to me, “no.”
And he wasn’t being mean he was just being honest.
He’s not the kind of guy to tell you he likes something when he doesn’t think it’s good.
And I must have been wearing my broken heart on my face
Because he said to me, “sorry, sorry man.”
“Sean bumped it, you said it, I had to spike it.”

And in that moment all I wanted to do was make more music.
I couldn’t wait.
So that’s exactly what I did.
It lit a fire up in me!
It lit a fire up in me!
It lit a fire up in me!
And no setback,
No hater hiding behind a keyboard,
No member of the press,
No sickness in the family,
No bodily injury,
No bad day.
Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing could ever burn out.
Massey’s on my side, it’s my turn now.
We’re going straight to the top, boys.
Buckle them seatbelts, hop on this back right here.
I don’t need help!

I didn’t come here to tell you that I can do some things that you can’t do.
I didn’t come to change you.
I came to tell you that if you look deep enough inside, underneath the curfews, perfumes, etc.
I bet you’d find a flame too.

I want to thank you for having us.
We’re the Mike Posner Band.
Oh yeah, and I saw Kanye a few years later at the EMAs.
And he said, “Mike Posner, I really like some of your songs.”

I heard the story of the soldier and the boy not too long ago.
There was a soldier in Afghanistan,
and he’s about 6 months into his campaign,
and he’s really struggling; he’s in and out of combat every day.
He was drinking a lot, and he keeps hearing from these townspeople that there’s this boy.
There’s this magical boy, and he’s, he’s meditating under a tree, and most of the time he hears it, he says, “Ah, that’s a bunch of bullshit.”
But one night, he’s especially missing home, and he’s drinking, and he thinks, “I’m gonna go find this fucking boy under the tree.”
So he climbs up the mountain, and sure enough, there’s a little kid, maybe 10 or 11 years old. And he’s sitting under the tree cross-legged with his eyes closed, and the soldier says, “Hello.”
The boy doesn’t move.
The solider starts to get mad.
He said, “You don’t know. If you know so much, teach me about Heaven and Hell.”
The boy opens his eyes slowly, and he says, “You want me to teach you about Heaven and Hell? Look at you. You smell bad. You’re not a real soldier. You got dip in your mouth, you reek of alcohol, you’re drunk. I can’t teach you about Heaven and Hell.” And the soldier’s getting madder and madder.
The veins in his neck are starting to poke out.
He takes his revolver out and points it at the boy’s head, and the boy says, “That’s Hell.”
The soldier realizes this boy has just sacrificed his life.
He put it on the line to teach him.
He puts the gun down and starts to cry, and the boy says, “That’s Heaven.”
My name’s Mike Posner, we’re The Mike Posner Band, thank you, guys.

These are a couple more poems from the summer of 2016, that I thought didn’t stink. There are more of these on YouTube, it’s hard to get the rights to legally release them, so enjoy and if you really like ‘em, go down the YouTube hole and there’s more. I love you. This is ‘i was born in detroit on a very very very very very very very cold day’ – Part 2.

It’s ok, you can just listen to this part.

We walk inside packed rooms
And get the hands up like statues.
Me and James, we ain’t got no home to go back to.
But who needs a home when you got a family?
When you got the microphone, who needs a Grammy?
Poetry written underneath a groupie.
Fast forward two hours I’m on stage screaming,
“Who you gonna substitute me with?”
Another sheet of loose leaf, rich.
Another pair of blue jeans, stripped.
Balled up in the corner of the back lounge,
Evidence of a commitment to never back down.
The spoils of victory.
I went from class clown to King! King! King!
You could see me, I’m in the black crown
And I smell good too.

We out here, we’re talking about prophecy.
Prophecy, on my mind constantly.
People get rich when they take the time to copy me.
Mike Posner’s Odyssey, don’t forget the apostrophe.
My prerogative is to shine bright baby, no Bobby B.
I got a new philosophy: honesty, honesty.
Do whatever you feel and offer no apology.
Make some damn noise!
I want this night in my biography!

I said make some damn noise!
I want this night in my biography!
Make some damn- no, I want every night in my biography.
Make it a million pages long, we made it here, impossible.
???
You show our velocity.
Mama, are you watching me?
Uncle Fred, are you watching me?
Stewie, are you watching me?
David Foster Wallace, are you watching me?
We rocked every arena in this country, no choreography.
I said we rocked every arena in this country, no choreography.

It’s hard to be a prodigy in a democracy.
People don’t really care about equality
As long as they got their shopping sprees.
Right?
But I tell you something else,
I’d rather earn another million dollars than wake up and win the lottery.
My bibliography will be one word long: God.
We talkin’ about prophecy.
Prophecy, on my mind constantly.
If we’re considering real shit, the Mike Posner Band gotta be
On the tip of your tongue.
When I listen to one,
Let me cool off.

Y’all doing alright over here?
We’re on a world tour.
We are chasing something.
Something ineffable, a feeling.
You get it when everyone’s listening, from the front row to the ceiling.
Anyone had one of those moments where everything just sorta makes sense? Say yeah!
It’s better than sex, it’s better than drugs.
It’s true.
“You don’t wanna be high like me.”
Maybe I was wrong- you do.
Because I got the feeling right now D.C.!
Do you?
I said I got the feeling right now. Do you?
I got the feeling right now! Do you?
Put your hands together for the Mike Posner Band.

Talkin’ about prophecy, prophecy.
On my mind constantly.
Bibliography will be one word long: God.

Sometimes the truth don’t come in a pretty melody.
Sometimes it rains down, like a thunderstorm in July
Making you ask, “How close can heaven get?”

Sometimes it rains down like a crash symbol under Kevin’s stick.
Or a nasty strung under James Bone’s pick.
A pretty note under Jacob Scesney’s lip.
Or a blues riff, off of Ben’s fingertip.
Or when Nate plays a funky lick.

Oh shit!
Just wanna take this in for a second.
We weren’t promised this man.
Wasn’t so long ago I was making beats in mom’s basement.
Now I’m on the big stage, my haters can’t say shit!

What’s the difference between knowledge and wisdom?
I looked at the newspaper, filled with the names of crooks, liars, and schemers.
And five years from now the newspaper will be filled with the names of a new set of crooks, liars, and schemers.
That’s why after we do the hits I always take the time to put the guitar down
Because two hundred years from now, the words of this poem will be just as beautiful as they are now.
Politics is to poetry, as knowledge is to wisdom, that’s the difference.

And we just want a guy we can memorize.
A lover who never lies.
A million likes on Facebook.
And a neighborhood that’s been gentrified.

We’re so busy taking the heart and wrapping it up in a body that’s beautiful and tanned and perfect.
And wrapping the tanned body up in clothes that are stylish and expensive.
And putting the tanned body in stylish clothes inside of a car that makes our neighbors jealous.
And putting the jealousy breeding car inside of a garage that makes our neighbors more jealous.
And putting the garage inside of a house that makes our neighbors more jealous.
That we forget
We forget about the little heart
That’s inside of the body,
That’s inside of the clothes,
That’s inside of the car,
Inside of the garage,
Inside of the house.

How’s your heart feel?
Mine’s been hurting lately.
We’re walking into traffic
Playing Pokemon Go!
Trying to score.
We are killing ourselves.
We would literally rather die than be bored.

Sometimes the truth don’t come in a pretty melody,
And sometimes it’s not followed by cheers.

I live how I want
So I wanna live.
And I give you what you need
So in time
You want what I give.

We’re running around tryna get perfect.
Perfect school, perfect job
But it’s not that far.
The first step to getting perfect
Is realizing you already are.

Cigarettes and a sip of wine.
We grew up
Tryna fill in missing time
With getting high.
Or on the cheers of the crowd,
Or on God on this divine.
Rooted to an oak tree.
I hold the record for turning the most nosebleeds to front row seats.
Most nosebleeds to front row seats.

(sigh)
Tryin’ to not take this whole time for granted.
Granted.
I am four years older now.
It’s hard to imagine getting the cold shoulder now.
We don’t feel like a band, we feel like 6 soldiers out
On the battlefield every night.
And we play our asses off so you can have memories like,
So you can have memories like this.
This has been described as:
“A moment of being” by Virginia Woolf,
“It” by Kerouac,
“Rapture” by the Scriptures,
And most recently
“This” by me.

Strobe lights and storms.
Hit songs from dorms.
Embarrassed at the fact that I still want awards.
I told Big Sean if I got signed I would never buy a chain.
I bought four.
I lost ‘em all on a Delta flight
And I haven’t bought more.
I think I’ma take the money,
Put a message in a bottle and hope it washes up on God’s shore.
And inside it will read
“The journey to more is a circle.
It starts with wanting more,
And it ends with wanting more.
It’s great to love your enemy.
It’s better to not be in a war.”
That’s why I continue on this odyssey with these 10 dudes
We vagabonding a tour bus across this country from venue to venue
Just to tell you.
Wake the fuck up, you are eating the menu.
Put your phone down!
Wake up, you are eating the menu!
Grand Rapids!
Wake up, you are eating the menu!
Wake the fuck up, you are eating the menu!
You are eating the fucking menu!
You are eating the menu!

I can see a better life in my head.
A better world.
Can you?

Sexism shrouded in chivalry.
Little men with big egos try to belittle me.
They got me in a pickle
But I’ve been freeing minds with riddles
Ever since little league,
Literally.
People sit behind their little screens and doubt me.
Meanwhile, life in my hometown goes on just fine without me.
Every time I go back, with a little more money, and a little less time.
Promises made to be fulfilled next time.
People don’t have no patience so they try to test mine.
That’s ok.
I got my notebook, I got my voice.
I gotta be free, I got no choice.

That’s an interesting sentence: I gotta be free, I’ve got no choice.
You know, I still go in the dressing room before the show every night.
Put a little gel in my hair.
I’m still tryna be cool.
But the funny thing about that is,
Everyone knows when you’re trying, so you never actually do.
And the even funnier thing about that is,
Everyone else is trying too.
So I wonder: if I drop the guard, if I cut the shit for just this one moment.
Would you?
Would you?

People we never met made all our rules
And we feel strong when we bend them.
Men in suits start wars.
Kids in camouflage end them.
I’m supposed to entertain people
but I’m not supposed to offend them.
Fuck it.

There are more valuable things in this world than attention.
??? attention, when a cheer ends.
You don’t know what to do, so you cheer again.
See I could say, “cheer.”
Or I could say, “DON’T CHEER!”
Isn’t that weird?
You don’t hear words.
You hear inflection and intention
Which means somebody saying “I hate you”
Might really be saying “I love you, I need affection.”
A change in perspective
Brought to you by yours truly.
An outlook on life
Brought to you by parents they didn’t pick in war movies.
Tour groupies.
I was born goofy
And America tried to straighten me out.
Towards Porsches, fortresses, porches, bowls full of porridge.
Who’d’ve thunk a crooked line could be so damn gorgeous?

The eyes of the beloved, that’s you.
Met a little girl the other day she asked where I wanna be,
What I wanna be in a year?
I said, “Alive.”

I was born in Detroit on a very very very very very very very cold day.
And most of my life since has been about trying to warm up
The big tour bus, money, more sluts, blood gore guts.
I moved to L.A. seven years ago
In an honest attempt to do and get more stuff.
Misson accomplished.
Now what?
What now?
All I got is this money and this skepticism of love now.
When you’re up this high everyone just wants you to come down.
Icarus problems, but at least the sun’s out, right?
At least the sun’s out.

A day loses to nightfall.
I am right on the edge.
I might fall.
That’s why it’s fun for you to watch me.
Because like all pretty things, I will end with no warning, apology los siento, no merch, no momento.
When God slows the tempo, there will be no crescendo.
This is real life it’s not a game, no Nintendo.

Sacrifices made for an art that you can’t touch.
People think you’re weird when you practice this much.
That’s how these 6 loners, became us.
That’s how these 10 thousand people became us.
That’s how these 10 thousand people became us.

I’m movin’ away, I’m selling my house.
L.A., this is my farewell poem.
When I come back here, here will not be home.

I’m goin’ to chase something, and I think I’m getting close.
I thought it was in this city but it’s not.
It’s somewhere out on those roads.
And at this very moment, the city’s lights dim some.
And my face is making the same face that everyone makes in L.A.
This one.

It’s the last night of the tour.
I told the boys at the beginning to look at each other.
The men on your left and right will soon become your brothers
And I don’t mean to brag but I was right.
Tomorrow our lives go back to normal.
Post-tour depression.
We celebrate tonight.

Here’s to 66 shows
In three continents
In three months.
Here’s to playing your hearts out in each one of them, we never half-assed it once.
Here’s to the roadies and the riggers.
Build the stage and the lights every day.
And when me, Nick, and Demi are done being cool tonight in about two hours.
They’re gonna pack all this shit up and take it away.

Here’s to Kane and Batrell.
Here’s to Andre and Zac
For making us look and sound good on the stage and also in our packs.
Here’s to Rob Dougan, he never turns off.
Here’s to Super Matt, his last tour, his farewell tour.
I think in Massachusetts he’ll find what he’s looking for.
Here’s to the songs.
Where do they come from?
Nobody knows.
Here’s to the groupies, making us feel less alone after the shows.
Here’s to the audiences.
When you add ’em up, this summer we played for 512,000 people, that’s over half a million fans.
And most of all here’s to the immaculate, the impalpable, The Legendary Mike Posner Band.
Heres’s to Jimmy, here’s to Nate, here’s to Kev, here’s to Ben on the keys,
And of course, Cali’s own, hahahaha, the amazing Jacob Scesney.

I’m Babe Ruth, I’m calling my shot.
These boys right here, we goin’ straight to the top.
I will not stop!
I will not stop!
I will not stop!
I will not stop!
I will not stop!
I will not stop!
I will not stop!
I will not stop!
I will not stop!
I will not stop!
I will not stop until I’m looking down from the top!

Of course, things could go wrong.
My next album might not hit.
Maybe I start drinking too much and it all falls to shit.
But I don’t think so.
In fact, next year I think I’ll be right here.
Here’s to the future, now!
Here’s to us, cheers!