Undercover

You Can Fly

Cover of Art Paul Schlosser's "The World Isn't Going To End Instantly" which features Monica Martin (Phox) on backing vocals and Andy Ewen (Honor Among Thieves / Kicksville) on electric guitar.

The World Isn't Gonna End Instantly

Madison, Wisconsin's "Honor Among Thieves" band live at the Crystal Corner in 1991. The Muddy Water's classic interpreted in our own way that night.

Andy Ewen: Vocals and Guitar
Doug Derosa: Bass
Pepo Parisi: Drums
Kliff Hopson: CongAs
Chris Wagoner: Violin

Hoochie Coochie Man (Crystal Corner With Chris Wagoner, September 16 1991)

The Blues classic "Smokestack Lightning" combined with Andy Ewen's "What You Gonna Hang Onto?" as performed by The Jim Schwall Band at the Witz End roadhouse in Stevens Point, Wisconsin  around the turn of the millennium.

JIm Schwall: Electrified Acoustic Guitar
Andy Ewen: Vocals and Electric Guitar
Joey B. Banks: Drums
Glen Raymond: Bass

Engineered by "Mercury" Dave Kruger

What you gonna hang onto
When your lovers fade from the sky
And the wires have been cut
From your head
And your hands
Are you just gonna
Curl up and die?
Are you and your kind gonna 
Form a long line
And march right into the sea?
What you gonna hang onto
When it's your turn
To be free...

What you gonna hang onto
When your doggie 
Wants his bone
And the priests and the rabbis all agree
That the Master ain't at home.
The Monkey wants his medicine
He's really up a tree
What you gonna hang onto
When it's your turn
To be free...

What you gonna hang onto
When your King gives up his crown
And the ropes have all been severed
And your feet don't touch the ground
You’re locked out of your house
You've thrown away the key
What you gonna hang onto
When it's your turn
To be free...

The Jim Schwall Band Live at Witz End (Smokestack Lightning)

NothinLeftToSay

I make music and visual art. Here's a raw recording of a song I wrote on the subject.

Pick and Pen                                                                   Andy Ewen 7-13-10             

Pick and Pen
Noodles and Doodles
Celestial Ocean
Sparks from the Ground
Wiry Farmhand just got a notion
To see what he Sees 
And to follow the Sound.

Chicken Leg kicked an Egg
Far off into the night
It bounced off the Moon
Then I wrote this tune
In the glow of ovarian light.

Pick and Pen
Noodles and Doodles
Celestial Ocean
Sparks from the Ground
Wiry Farmhand just got a notion
To see what he Sees 
And to follow the Sound.

Travelin’ through this valley of thought
I can’t sell nuthin’ 
So I can’t be bought
E-A-D and G-B-E
I hear what I hear 
And I 
See what I see.

Pick and Pen
Noodles and Doodles
Celestial Ocean
Sparks from the Ground
Wiry Farmhand just got a notion
To see what he Sees 
And to follow the Sound.

Pick and Pen

A live recording of Madison Wisconsin's Honor Among Thieves band performing at the legendary Crystal Corner Bar, Halloween, 1991.

Andy Ewen: Guitar, Vocals, Songwriter
Doug DeRosa: Bass
Randal Harrison: Violin:Kliff Hopson: Drums
Pepo Parisi: Percussion


The songs lyrics by Andy Ewen have also appeared in very different musical contexts:

1. A live in the studio solo acoustic version from Andy's "Andrando Solo" album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chis3CZDKLQ

2. A crazed speaking in tongues version by Kicksville:

https://kicksville.bandcamp.com/track/mondo-diddley

3. A Bo Diddley inspired rendition often performed by the Jim Schwall/Andy Ewen Band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7IMwLneHak

4. Covered by the D.C. area Cajun band, The Crawdaddies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-6V2OlEgL4&list=OLAK5uy_nran0rWLOJBlfERb_MygC97hMZcjdY3yU&index=2

Mondo Diddley (Live)

A cover of the song composed by Allen Toussaint and first released by Lee Dorsey in 1966. Madison, Wisconsin's Honor Among Thieves band had their own take on the song. Performed here at The Crystal Corner Bar in Madison on May 15th of 1993. A board recording digitized by Ryan Repenshek.

Andy Ewen: Lead Vocal, Guitar, Arrangement
Doug DeRosa: Bass
Randal Harrison: Violin
Pepo Parisi: Drums

Get Out of My Life, Woman

Only Human

I've been sighing all the time
The reason why
I couldn't tell you
You wouldn't want me to
The meaning is there in the act of the singing

and mine
reminds me of the time
You know the time
when Snowden spilled his messy secret
Way up high in the sky
Cold and humid

Aah

Well, the sleeping dogs they lied
They couldn't turn the tide
We knew it was all the moon but
we still don't know if it's blinding or blinging

Your reflections in your mind
are mirrors of the time we knew
not to face the music
It always reminds us that we're
only human

Aah

Mine
reminds me of the time
You know the time
when Snowden spilled his messy secret
Way up high in the sky
Cold and humid

And your reflections in your mind
are mirrors of the time we knew
not to face the music
It always reminds us that we're
only human

Now
it only goes to show
that all I know
I wouldn't tell you
You wouldn''t want me to
The meaning is there in the act of the singing

Stephanie Rearick - Only Human

Recorded on a boombox, November 17, 1984 at Madison, Wisconsin's O’Cayz Corral, this rarely performed Honor Among Thieves song was written just as Ronald Reagan was elected for a second term. Seems pretty quaint given today's political climate. 

Sergeant Fun

You better clean yourself
Before you seat yourself
At that welcome table 
And you treat yourself

Here in the Land of the Free
Under the Command of Sergeant Fun

You better eat your pie
Before the other guy
Does like you in this Big Sky Lie

Here in the Land of the Free
Under the Command of Sergeant Fun

There’s not much to do
But there’s a lot to buy
Don’t think too much
Hey…just close your eyes

Here in the Land of the Free
Under the Command of Sergeant Fun

Andy Ewen: Vocal, Guitar, Songwriter
Doug DeRosa: Bass
Pepo Parisi: Drums
Pasquale: Saxophone

Digitized by Ryan Repenshek
Photo credit: Keith Wessel