---
title: "What Makes You You"

meaning: "Quit music for Midwest duplex fantasy: boot camp, Roth IRA, delete Pro Tools; do you stay yourself when you lose what you do?"

year: 2022
release: "KŌAN"
releaseType: "album"

artist: "Scoobert Doobert"
artistId: "#scoobert"

credits: "Written, performed, and mixed by Luke Francis Walton. Mastered by Riley Knapp. Artwork by Grizzard Graphics."

spotify: "https://open.spotify.com/track/7FBNWiTOtsNfaG4LlIzwuA"
apple: "https://music.apple.com/us/song/what-makes-you-you/1618192114"
youtube: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H33I3pAdmNs"

themes: ["KŌAN", "identity", "music", "adulthood", "midwest"]

isrc: QZES92291016
isrcSource: soundexchange
lyrics: |
  Thought about quitting music
  Moving to the midwest
  Buy a duplex
  Rent the other side

  Live a sensible life
  In a quiet suburb

  Maybe I could get a dog
  I'd probably have a backyard
  Plastic picket fence
  And a patchy lawn

  Maybe I could find an online
  Tech job
  Add to cart
  A six-month boot camp

  Do you stay yourself
  When you lose what you
  Do
  That which makes you you

  Thought about quitting music
  Selling all my guitars
  Buy a tv
  That could fill a wall

  Dedicate my time
  To fantasy football

  Maybe I could fund a
  A Roth IRA
  With all the cash I save
  Deleting Pro Tools

  Do you stay yourself
  When you lose what you
  Do
  That which makes you you
  You

draft: false

---

Track eighteen on [*KŌAN*](/albums/koan/), **KŌAN C** (June 2022), after [無門関](/songs/mumonkan/). Luke solo; [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H33I3pAdmNs) video.

A sensible-life daydream, twice. Quit music, move to the Midwest (Ohio roots, [*I Live in California*](/songs/i-live-in-california/) in reverse), buy a duplex, get a dog, *add to cart a six-month boot camp* for an online tech job. Verse two swaps the catalog: sell the guitars, buy a wall-sized TV, fund a Roth IRA *with all the cash I save deleting Pro Tools*. None of it is mocked. The fantasy is detailed because that's how the thought actually runs.

The hook breaks across lines so *do* lands alone: *when you lose what you / do / that which makes you you*. That pun is the song. Maybe what makes you you is the doing, not a fixed self underneath.

Written while recovering from Guillain-Barré, when guitar wasn't an option and the question had time to sit. Same recovery season as [無門関](/songs/mumonkan/), with the personal arc in [The Bent Stick](/writing/the-bent-stick/) (*essai #1*). Pairs with [*Who Am I Really Fooling Anyway*](/songs/who-am-i-really-fooling-anyway/) and [*a song to quit your job to*](/songs/a-song-to-quit-your-job-to/), actually quitting.

I also like Yu Yu Hakusho a lot.

---