1. |
I Been Working
05:01
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I’ve been working
Like a dog
Pushing this stone
Up the world’s steepest hill
Working like
I ain’t got no choice
Just keep on pushing
By force of will
---
I’ve been working
On my monument to you
No Brooklyn Bridge
No golden road to Timbuktu
I’ve been working
Just to make ends meet each week
Sisyphus and John Henry
Ain’t got nothing on me
---
Big boss man
Keeps his hands so clean
Big boss lady
Ain’t nothing but cruel
And a whole lot of mean
We’ve Done so much
With so little
For so long
We qualifiy to do anything
With nothing at all
---
I’ve been working
On my monument to you
No Brooklyn Bridge
No golden road to Timbuktu
I’ve been working
Just to make ends meet each week
John Henry and Sisyphus
Ain’t got nothing on me
Notes:
Lyrical references include "John Henry" (traditional), "Big Boss Man" by Jimmy Reed (written by Luther Dixon and Al Smith), and "Keep On Pushin (Curtis Mayfield). The title of this song is deliberately misspelled to avoid having the same title as the excellent 4th track off of Van Morrison's "His Band and the Street Choir". The Timbuktu reference is in regards to rumors of the lavish wealth of Mansa Musa in 15th century Mali.
This composition in general pays homage to traditional folk music "work songs".
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2. |
No More Later
02:14
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Hold on don't slip
No more words, no more speaking
Jump up get down
Ain't no magic incantation
Next time
Is this time
Ain't no more later
No start again
Don't you jump in
The Danube River
The Danube River never
Let you go
Hold on don't slip
No more words, no more speaking
Jump up get down
Ain't no magic incantation
Next time
Is this time
Ain't no more later
No start again
Don't you jump in
The Danube River
The Danube River never
Let you go
Had to start a fire
He was locked out in the cold
Wind begin to howl
And everybody knows
You cannot get lost in the woods all alone
When the wind begins to howl
and you're locked out in the cold
Next time
Is this time
Ain't no more later
No start again
Don't you jump in
The Danube River
The Danube River never
Let you go
Notes:
The Danube River reference comes from experiences visiting my mother when she lived in Budapest and locals telling us there was an unfortunate tradition of citizens committing suicide by leaping into that river and never swimming back out. Dark, I know, so don't you jump in.
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3. |
Letters Left To Write
07:24
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Did you ever hear the sound
Of an old freight train
Rolling through the night
Putting you to bed?
Things haven’t been the same
Since Percy went away
Guess I always knew
But things don’t go the way
You think they’re gonna be
Things don’t all come together
It’s just an unsolved mystery
Like some ghost upon the wind
(Guess it’s just like it’s always been)
Now I look forward to the sun
And the days still yet to come
Am I so foolish to believe
That the brightest days are done?
What would that make me
But some tired lump of stone
I’ve got my living legacy
I can still feel my blood flowing
Mistakes left yet to make
Letters left to write
Promises to break
Ain’t no ghost across the breeze
Notes:
Lyrical and musical influences include "The Sun" by The Flaming Lips, and "'Cross the Breeze" by Sonic Youth.
The "Percy" mentioned in the song is a reference to my grandfather's pen name, Percy Wentworth, which he used for wrtiting and publishing a one act play entitled "Love in a Dentist Chair".
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4. |
Delaware (live)
02:58
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Drop in the ocean
Star in the sky
Old rubber tire
Lifeboats in the tops of the trees
Walking Massachusetts and Virginia
Saying your goodbyes in the street
Promises and lies, just a laundry list
Similarly charged ion particles
We might never meet again
We might end up just as friends
Here is your aeroplane
Write sometimes
Anyway
Old TV dinner
On a Saturday night
Interstate out in the desert
Wish I could rewrite the last draft
Of this song
Walking Massachusetts and Virginia
Saying your goodbyes in the street
Promises and lies, just a laundry list
Similarly charged ion particles
We might never meet again
We might end up just as friends
Here is your aeroplane
Write sometimes
Anyway
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5. |
Treatment Bound (cover)
02:56
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6. |
Last Days Of Summer
05:28
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Should I sing a song about
The last days of summer?
Was never really young
But I used to be a little younger
People don’t get bored no more
There’s too much work to do
I don’t have time to write this song
Or verify the news
Killer drones are tracking
Our cellular phones and I
Wish I’d know things would
Be turning out this way
I’d have built a home
Out of skull and bones so I’d
Have a place to go
Just so that I could get away
Should I sing a song about
The last days of summer?
Was never really young
But I used to be a little younger
People don’t get bored no more
There’s too much work to do
I don’t have time to write this song
Or verify the news
--------
Had to sell my car
So my kids could eat
But then you know
I couldn’t get to work the next week
Saw your favorite professor last night
Sniffing glue
Gave me a message
And told me to give it to you
You can always find a room
Down by the old Turk’s Head
But you better sleep with one eye open
Or you’re liable to wake up dead again
Got a new way to make you high
Said the spider to the fly
We don’t need to grow poppy,
Just call it a pharmacy
Searching for the perfect world
Wore out all the soles of my shoes
Back to where I’d started from,
Everything looked all brand new again…
Notes:
Lyrical references and inspiration include "Who Do You Love?" by Bo Diddley, "I've Gotta New Car" by Troyce Henry Keys and J.J. Malone (similar to The Kinks' "A Gallon of Gas"), and a lot of musical inspiration from The Stooges and Nick Cave.
The Turk's Head is a reference to the inn located in West Chester, Pennsylvania; the town was originally called Turks Head until it was renamed in the late 1700's.
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7. |
Narco (live)
04:43
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You're living like a narco
You never see the sun, no
You never had a vegetable
No no no
You buy your groceries at the pharmacy
You've only ever read the dictionary
You've got an allergy to history
Think everybody is an enemy
You're living like a narco (x4)
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8. |
||||
9. |
||||
Everybody else has all gone home
Up above us you can hear the breeze
I’ll tell the kids my car wouldn’t start again
They don’t really ask me where I’ve been
When they’re at home with Maryanne
She lets them watch the most awful shows on television
And then they sleep late in the morning
If there’s any justice in it
The moon looks bored and unimpressed
But the stars seem to be excited about nothing in particular
How can you write a song about something?
How can you write a song about anything?
Thoughts of yesterday and the future
And the things I can’t explain, which is mostly everything
Now there’s static on the radio
I guess the d.j. went home
Now it’s just night and sky and which way am I supposed to go?
I lost my diary and all I’ve got is
This telephone this microphone
This left here is my road
Some one’s still up
The lights are on
Thank you for listening
Please tell Jeannine I said
“hello”
Notes:
Lyrics make rerence to The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now", vocal performance a slight reference to John Giorno.
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10. |
Spirit Of Dublin
03:19
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3 a.m. on a Thursday in May
Walking across the River Liffey
Shaking off the smoke
From the Firehouse Skank Club
Plane home leaves at 7:50
Cobblestone walk on the way to our room
The Spirit of Dublin fell upon me
With scabby-face sycophants hanging on each arm
I realized they’d come here to hurt me
She stole my flowers and took my hat
And kicked me in the balls
But you can’t beat the shit out of no memories
Can’t drive them through no brick walls
Who said that “living well
Is the sweetest revenge”?
She stole my flowers and took my hat
And kicked me in the balls
Rode my way home on the back of a bus
Smelled like an old leak in a bathroom
Two kids joking, “don’t call me Imam, you chocha!”
Time seemed to pass in some kind of a vacuum
Later that night eating left over take out
Action News channel man says
“Late breaking news, I regret to report to you
Rock and roll has been pronounced dead,
No further details as of yet are available,
No one’s releasing any statements
Of course, there were a few open warrants
And pending investigations
More details as news breaks,
Now back to you, Gus”
It was cold and raining when I got out of work
So I rode home in the back of a bus
Notes:
The Firehouse Skank was a DJ night in Dublin, which continues to function under the name Firehouse Skank Sound System.
Lyrics make references to Johnny Thunders' "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory", and "The Bus" by Buffalo Tom.
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The Deadeyes Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Deadeyes rose from the ashes of Philadelphia’s indie soul punk band Grubstake. This violin driven 3-piece effortlessly traverses the musical genres of punk and roots-rock with tinges of soul, drawing comparisons to bands such as Yo La Tengo, The Velvet Underground, and Replacements. ... more
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