Will Wood - Tomcat Disposables (Official Video)

Engineered, built, and animated by Ivan Fisher-Owen of Beyond the Bark
Written, directed, and edited by Will Wood & Ivan Fisher-Owen
Post FX & digital animation by Will Wood
Original illustrations by Spectoron

Composed & produced by Will Wood
recorded & engineered by Simon Ficken at Backroom Studios, NJ
Mixed & mastered by Kevin Antreassian at Backroom Studios, NJ
Saxophone & flute by Matt Berger
Bass by Vater Boris
Guitar by Mike Bottiglieri
Drums & percussion by Mario Conte
Strings by Yoed Nir
Baritone Ukulele, keys, & vox by Will Wood

Special thanks to:
Ivan Fisher-Owen & his family, say-10 records, adam Gecking, Symphonic Distro, Mike Bottiglieri, Mario Conte, matt Berger, Vater Boris, all tapeworms past and present, Jon Maisto, Kevin & Simon, yoed nir, Sarah Chu, matt Keiper, Juno Loaiza, Suzanne Torrison, Mike Abiuso, Chris Dunne, meeps, the mouse, the patreon folks past present and future especially VIPs, my friends family and other people I've connected with who didn't get involved directly but I still want to thank. if I missed anyone, blame my terrible brain and worse personality, you are not forgettable. maybe we left things off weird and I'm not sure if you'd be comfortable with me mentioning you idk.

Special thanks for the following Indiegogo Contributors:
Soph Kamm, Magnus Selin, Connor Treutle, Dimitar Dimitrov, David Haltom, Jason Ayers Raphael Kräker, Michael Linnert, Ezra Leonard, Diz Foster , Kellie Grimes, Niki Brown, Max Peia, Vesper Nichols, Temple Jenkins, Julie Taron, Aidan Truskowski, Sam Nee, Julie Taron, River Morgan, Nate Olson, Ev Usher, Dashiell Schaldenbrand-Igarashi, Flint Cole, Vance Barnhill, Wim Filemon, Peter Short, Vincent Cramer, Sebastian Wright, Daniel A. Hughes, Duncan Moore, Alexander Russon, Auguste Szołucha, Cameron Taranis, Max Barbosa, Evan Asche, Jason Storey, Andy Routhier, Lynn Stock, Selena Ahmed, Georgiana “Gio” Marone, Liru Færs, Something Graphic, Kali Forrest, Leah
Wonderen, Robert Del Presto, Andrew Snodgrass, Kristin Peers, Alexis Williams, Georgia Byrd, Amy Arin, Lex Mug, money33432. Emerson Lopes, Basil Polichar, Titus LaFrombois, hanhanheavn, Corey C, regalmortis, Mac Weaver, Jonathan Wienecke, Ana Ramona August, hdbroadwell, Dan Castillo, allison van cleve, kate watanabe, Skyler Boswell, Bryce Ungerbuehler, Len Korovessis, apanagakos01, Landers Markwick, Emily Murray.

[duetsinatimeloop]

This feels like a campfire made from the door frame you once used to measure your height on growing up

[nicolecann]

It's the innocence of the mouse that makes this song so devastating to me; "They must want to be friends!" and "What's the moon made of? Meet me there after I'm gone." are the bits that hit the hardest.

[shepdon]

i just now realized the shadow in the final contraption is not a fish but a dead rat on its back, welp now the video makes more sense to me

[addisonm.]

this really reminds me of the poem we talked about in school. it’s about a mouse who works so hard to build a nest and when it finally finishes it gets ran over by a plow and the symbolism of how even if you work hard and stick to the plan something can completely ruin it for you

[okapi_q]

I’ve had the “nature I guess” part from the little teaser stuck in my head all week, I’m so ready to hear the full thing (and cry a bunch)

[anonhikkastiy]

another thing that breaks me is that "is there cheese in the great beyond?" becomes less and less of a rhetorical question as time goes on. at first it's a sweet dream, full of hope for a greater future, it's an "if", an expectation of a warm embrace after all this uncertainty and struggle

then it gets darker and more fragile, and now it's a different kind of hope — the one you're clinging tight to for the sake of getting through, a light you follow to not give in to the darkness

and in the very end the mouse is already on the threshold of the great beyond, and it's a fearful question to the void and to the world it's just abandoned due to a cruel fate it didn't deserve. it's denial and a "didn't i deserve it? is there really nothing more?".

i hope there is cheese after all, little one.

[eye_in_a_bottle]

Lyrics:

I have mapped the cupboards and drawers
Tracked the least-walked spots on the floor
Happy to be home, safe and warm
As shadows by their feet, the odd vanishing treat
Quietly eating while they sleep

So here’s where I’ll be raising my kids
If I can find someone to start a family with
Till then I dream of the day my odds and ends fit
I’ll wake up, there’ll be food on the stove forever
And never want for more

Is there cheese in the great beyond?
Rinds of parmesan, wine to water, night from dawn
Life gets shorter, teeth grow long
Mind me not and I’ll mind my own, and my mind’s
Not one bite smaller or lesser than yours
Do I belong in “right and wrong?”
Nature, I guess.

One night one flung light through this place
So I run for cover, over under, left the rind out on the plate
Little heart racing and praying “something keep me safe,
I think it saw my face, okay, One hungry day is nothing, come what may.”

But then winter came inside for three nights
Left me grinding my teeth between my walls and gripping my dreams tight
Curled up kept my head up and put up the fight
I’ll make it through again. I have before.
Come on now, what’s one more?

Is there cheese in the great beyond?
Rinds of parmesan, wine to water, night from dawn
Life gets shorter, teeth grow long
Mind me not and I’ll mind my own, and my mind’s
Not one bite smaller or lesser than yours
Do I belong in “right and wrong?”
Nature, I guess.

Spring bloomed in the kitchen again
So I crawled out of the wall and squinting
Saw hope on the stovetop just like I’d always imagined it
More than I could eat, my dreams were finally reality
My struggles had a happy ending, they must want to be friends!
My stomach starts to turn, with thirst, why does it hurt?
My just desert is served, dig in.

And so I stumble back to bed
Something’s not quite right.
Guess I’ll just go rest my head
Now as I lay me down to sleep
I expect no dreams, and no sweet goodbye to me
Flatline in the morning light. I held on so tight for so long It’s just not
Right, let a sigh out as I close my eyes.
Was that all there was to this?
What’s for the best?

Is there cheese in the great beyond?
What’s the moon made of?
Meet me there after I’m gone
Life gets shorter, teeth grow long
Mind me not and I’ll mind my own and my mind
Held the same light as the one in your eyes.

Do I belong in “right and wrong?”
One dies alone?
And why? Don’t know.
Goodbye. So long.
To mice in homes.

Nature, I guess. Nature, I guess. Nature, I guess.

[alik]

music is crazy. it can make you cry at the normally funny phrase "is there cheese in the great beyond?"

[mint]

"Is there cheese in the great beyond? What's the moon made of? Meet me there after I'm gone" Chills

[whydowehavehandlesnow]

Nothing can make me cry quite as hard as this song does. Mice just want to survive. They fight so hard. They didn't ask to be mice, but they're hated just for existing, even though they're adorable little things. They do their best to stay out of the way and not bother anyone. They're incredibly intelligent. How we dispose of their lives and efforts without a second thought is heartbreaking to think about :(

[tessaminick]

The line "Do I belong in right and wrong?" hits really hard for me. Before I heard this song I was in a dark place, thinking about how in nature, everything has a place, and yet I can't seem to find one. But this song, this line, given the context to the meaning of things don't have a place. Sometimes a situation isn't moral or immoral. Sometimes life just is. And a lot of the time there is no higher purpose to anything, and a lot of the time the way things in nature and life fit into each other is far less romanticized, more mundane, and sometimes even tragic. Sometimes you don't get to figure out what your place is. It's humbling. Nature, I guess.

[JustAFuckingPancake]

Will wood us the only person that can make people cry for a wooden mouse 😭😭

[t.m.gacutan]

absolutely in love with this new sound, it's so much more orchestral and floaty and the lyrics are so much more pared back. it feels so deceptively simple, and also so intentionally put together, especially in the instrumentation. super excited for the rest of this album, gonna be looping this

[Not_A_Big_Fan]

I can't believe Will managed to make me emotional over a song about a silly little mouse who ate poison

[ZweiForgot]

not sure if I've heard anything better than this in a long while..
i'm enjoying the shift in genre, Will
great work.

[allquestionsnoanswers]

i had a serious, days long, emotional ethical and moral debate about setting mousetraps after listening to this.
my week is ruined, i will never find a more beautiful song, this is the greatest thing ive ever listened to, and ive gotten rid of all the rattraps in my house and barn

[prestonhusk]

I orginally thought this song was about a struggling artist, who manages to make it through everything, the unyeilding strength of the human spirit persevering. But then I actually listened closely to the lyrics and finally realized that its really a gut wrenching tale of the life and suffering of a poor innocent mouse. This song never fails to make me cry.

This is a song of true tragedy and sadness.

[dominiquecampos]

whenever i have a bad day, or my family starts arguing, i just put on this song. Even though i know the meaning i still put it on, its oddly comforting. Will Wood has got me through a lot, my dad going to prison, my uncle dying, pretty much everything.

Thank you, Will Wood.

[SM-csmy]

i'll never ever get tired of this one i think

i caught a livestream back in like august where chat asked for "the cheese song" and i was curious so i stuck around to hear him play it, but didn't catch the actual name of it so it's haunted me for months. i was just about to believe i'd never hear it again so i almost screamed when i realized which song this was. i can't listen to any other song currently

[piercingsren]

I like how the puzzle pieces kinda symbolize it getting closer to death with the first being moving into the house, the second getting caught which would eventually lead the home owner to place poison out, the third starving for days, the forth eating the poison, the fifth going to sleep, and the sixth being when the mouse dies completing the puzzle.

I’m sure everyone already noticed this but I just find it neat.