Mood Swing {Luscious Jackson}

Only Everything's Alright (Disparate Medley)

Coming 2 Get U Barbara (Mental Instrumental)

mercury
[ duke ]

hang up and drive it down right through the monster's ribcage 
sticks in the ground where the partisan lines have been laid 
cockpit or not it's a swell of a beautiful stage

an eye on the polls while the barber takes care of his chin 
they seem to be rising but really just sit there and spin 
hogwash or not it's a hell of beautiful grin

a world without edges 
horizon unseen 
spread out on the surface 
your mercury dream

the look that she gave made it difficult for him to stand 
not so much seductive as badly in need of a man 
now we all know her face like her face knows the back of his hand

a world without urges 
inhaling obscene 
spread out on the surface 
your mercury dream

the euphemisms are the proof that he's saving the day 
distinguished and silver replacing decrepit and gray 
as he rolled up the limousine window was rumored to say

nice try delilah

hang up and drive


lyrics reproduced by permission
© 2000, 2013 by Billy Z Duke / Quagmire (Sparky) Productions Inc


Mercury

sunspots
[ duke ]

i'm not your friend and we're not even 
and i'd appreciate it if you didn't call me again 
she said i don't know much about being invisible 
as she lay down in a pool of sound so clear 
and disappeared

keep afloat like a bottled note 
too busy drafting and scrapping to notice the boat 
now i understand why Picasso demanded 
that both her eyes be on the same side of her face 
fixing her in place

and if i'm lucky i'll catch 
another glimpse 
before the apocalypse 
devours the moon 
and flattens the mountains 
alive in the heat 
sunspots and inkblots 
and groceries still in the car 
parked outside the bar

read your stars and count your cards 
and lick up the salt from the tears that you kept in a jar 
she said i'm never sure what they mean by inflammable 
as she got wired 
and her arm caught fire in the den 
counting back from ten

and if i'm lucky i'll catch 
another glimpse 
of her apocalypse 
devour the moon 
and flatten the mountains 
alive in the heat of the 
sunspots and inkblots 
and groceries still in the car 
parked outside the bar

(she said I'm never sure)


lyrics reproduced by permission
© 2000, 2013 by Billy Z Duke / Quagmire (Sparky) Productions Inc

Sunspots

ophidiophage
[ duke ]

“adam and eve refused the snake” 
in petrified writing on the cake 
chewing the ruse a thousand times 
to keep it down 
butterfly wings in marmalade 
stickiest bed i ever made

both hour and glass are made of sand 
but you prefer to stay my hand 
please bring me a dream that won't dissolve 
between the scour 
of ball against lid for seven hours 
meteor please survive the shower

what can you make 
(from such a dry clay) 
but a mistake 
my face is not cloth 
nor is it soft as down 
my face is cost

mercury (slight return)
[ duke ]

and when you were under 
you wanted to be 
you wanted to be her 
you wanted to be 
you wanted to be 
you wanted to


lyrics reproduced by permission
© 2000, 2013 by Billy Z Duke / Quagmire (Sparky) Productions Inc

Ophidiophage / Mercury (Slight Return)

room temperature blues (lamentations #1&2)
[ duke ]

#1

you didn't cut me but you gave me the knife 
you didn't cut me but you gave me the knife 
you didn't touch me but you made it inside 
you didn't cut me but you gave me the knife

#2

i dared the wind to take away my home 
i've been trying for years 
to clear away the stones

the earth is turning 
to keep the sun out of its face 
the moon steals the covers 
the clouds stay fixed in place 
or so my teacher said

did we have to come all this way 
to find we came the wrong way?

perhaps i should call upon x 
and tickle her defense 
with double blind charades 
and phallic monuments 
surrounded by razor wire fence

did we have to come all this way 
to find we came the wrong way?

did we have to come all this way 
to find we came the wrong way? 
find we came the wrong way?

o chromosome! o chromosome! 
o chromosome! o chromosome! 
please tell me why! why, chromosome? 
o chromosome! o chromosome!

(yeah)


lyrics reproduced by permission
© 2000, 2013 by Billy Z Duke / Quagmire (Sparky) Productions Inc


Room Temperature Blues (Lamentations #1&2)

flabbergas station
[ duke / ossman / proctor / bergman / austin / bunnell / forsey / schiff ]

when you hear them church bells ringin' 
you better wake up singin'

well i like to hear a woman sing like she don't care 
what kind of shapes she makes out of the air 
talkin' to a person that she knows ain't there 
and ain't never been in any way described as fair

you had a dream 
you stuck a flag in someone's head 
you owned him like a personal eclipse you said 
but you wouldn't want to prematurely interpret 
the product of the consciousness that you sublet 
and now that you happen to mention 
it hurts me to pay close attention

the experiments have proven we can still waste time 
'til we have to make some more to waste and that's just fine 
i don't intend on lingering way past my prime 
get the guillotine and call the boys at channel 9

it's all gone past 
it's still going past 
so make yourself a baby 
put your pity in a cask 
throw the pigskin at each other 
but make sure it's stuffed with dollars 
or you might not be inclined to make the catch 
the whole world is cutting and pasting 
and billions of turkeys are basting

no matter what i do it doesn't feel like sin 
and the turkey's so much colder than it's ever been 
the gravy has a skin so thick it's growing hair 
and several lies and alibis are grazing there

i'm the whitest other white meat in the melting pot 
habitually wanting only what is not 
before you make a sandwich let me ask my lunch 
just how the hell you learn to stop it all at once 
my last meal is being reheated 
my last words are being repeated

the governor awoke me at the crack of dawn 
in his hand an open jar of grey poupon 
(i said) feed your propaganda to someone who cares 
i know that mars is cold and venus all hot air 
and earth is somewhere in between 
debating the meaning of green...

wake up singing every day 
dem bones ain't never dry 
or are they 
or are they

well i hear they built a future on the other side 
hop up on my back this is your last free ride 
just a silver token at the next turnstile 
but if i'm not mistaken spurs are out of style

i don't like the sound of hallowed ground 
so fill it up 
but don't drink what's in the bottom of the cup 
the acids may deprive us of our natural teeth 
but rest assured that soon the farms will breed their meat 
without a heart or a brain 
then what i eat and i will be the same...

wake up singing every day 
dem bones ain't never dry 
or are they 
or are they

my last words are being repeated 
my last words are being repeated 
my last words are being repeated 
my last words are being repeated


lyrics reproduced by permission
© 2000, 2013 by Billy Z Duke / Quagmire (Sparky) Productions Inc


Flabbergas Station

cupidity (about an arrow)
[ duke ]

stop reading the letters and just eat your soup 
there's a fuck of a lot of believing to do 
and i can't recall how to do it

not a twitch of the lid or an arch of the back 
it was only a moan as a matter of fact 
an unbroken bone till you threw it

and the arrow sticks straight out 
through the heart of me 
and to think i feel it now 
as a part of me

there's no reason to do it and no reason not to 
except for the fact that i really don't want to 
but when has that stopped me before

don't have any more time for these you's and these i's 
i'm making a world where no pronoun applies 
and engraving our names in the ice

and the arrow sticks straight out 
through the heart of me 
and to think i feel it now 
as a part of me 
will i pay for all this time 
or is the payment made in kind

i could still feel the weight of your eyes on my back 
it was only the moment right after the fact


lyrics reproduced by permission
© 2000, 2013 by Billy Z Duke / Quagmire (Sparky) Productions Inc

Cupidity (About An Arrow)

allowance
[ duke ]

don't be embarrassed by the sight of my scars 
you see they wash off in the shower 
just let me know how much you want it my son 
and i can save you from the torment to come

but it's important to remember 
to imagine that your chromosomes 
are consciously in charge of you 
and they don't give a fuck 
about the plans you made 
while daydreaming in second grade 
they've put you on the stage and now

they won't allow you 
they won't allow you down

you can't get over being cryptic my son 
and i can't work without specifics 
on this one 
flames of history or ice cream and infamy 
just give me something to go down in 
or on

it's important to remember to imagine 
that your mother is at home 
and waiting up for you 
when this is over 
how will you explain 
the size and color of the stain you made 
while managing to not look proud

she won't allow you 
she won't allow you down

it's important to remember to imagine 
that your lover is asleep 
and half on top of you 
under the covers 
now you take a respite 
from the building of your pedestal 
and put me up to test it out

you won't allow me 
you won't allow me down

stare your money in the face 
this whole world is wasting for you my son 
for you my son


lyrics reproduced by permission
© 2000, 2013 by Billy Z Duke / Quagmire (Sparky) Productions Inc

Allowance

b4 they come 4 me
[ duke ]

lashed him to the limbs of trees 
no more tangles no more tears 
suck it in and fit the mold 
or behead your goose of gold

he broke down inside a jail 
and on his knees began to wail 
the secrets jumped from him like fleas 
how long before they come for me?

just another ton of steel 
let your hands fall off the wheel 
dissolving slowly in the mouth 
coast is clear then spit it out

scent if strong becomes a trail 
a siren surfaced like a whale 
dragged for miles on his knees 
how long before they come for me?

a likeness stapled to the board 
my flesh is but the dogs' reward

ophelia attica zine schism mazeltov 
grimacing body electrical eaten 
kiplinger pass the lasagna dentata 
ephemeral duck in a brown bearnaise sauce 
celibate in ski lift hans christian andersen 
meh pita phony baloney morose


lyrics reproduced by permission
© 2000, 2013 by Billy Z Duke / Quagmire (Sparky) Productions Inc


B4 They Come 4 Me

BilBoBurke > Barefoot Claire & Billy Z Duke > The Return of The Tongue > NAKED > Your Mother > Most Peculiar Mama > The Çhicàgø Máñüal ôf ST¥LE > The Wrong Windows -- NJ > UK > NJ > NYC > LA > SF > NJ > LA

Billy Z Duke

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