Wise Blood

I want some wise blood   
 I want to choose not to choose  
The world above us  
No excuse for what we lose 

Gotta make a decision   
For that I don't need this PhD  
Won't be an act of precision
For this freedom I fight then flee  

The walls of the Church                 
They're building them higher   
Into the clouds in search of God  
The walls of this church               
The great multiplier             
Run through the city, claim the streets and yards 

Chorus

I need to make a decision 
Reject the promise of sanctity
Forget that sin abolition
All those around here, they've taken the knee

The fog of the future                                 
The mist of the past                                  
Borders are bleeding in search of  God   
Ancients to slaughter                               
The chain and the lash                            
Tryouts tomorrow for the Junior Death Squad          





Wise Blood

Lonesome Las Vegas

Time to roam now                                                                                                             
So far from home now                                                                                                     
Thought the bright lights and commotion                                                                       
would ignite the fire                                                                                                          
That burned out when I let you go                                                                                                        
Still a shy guy
Trying to be some kind of a wise guy
Got on this midnight flight for 50 bucks
To see Las Vegas
Where do all those people go

Maybe now my luck will change                                                                                     
But it feels like a place to fear                                                                                         
Walk the strip, where’s that pyramid?
I don’t need those souvenirs
Here’s the Luxor where I’m staying
Got a window near the Mandalay
Makes me sad when I think of all  those lives expired
The blood's now washed away

Oh Oh, Oh Oh, so lonesome Las Vegas                                              Oh Oh, Oh Oh, so lonesome Las Vegas     

Swim that cool pool
Ignore the rules, fool
Sitting in the sun, no fun 
I don’t know anyone
The same feeling that I had in school
Buffet meal deal
Overeat, I don’t feel
This night I’ll make it stop
By seeing old Carrot Top
It’s so easy when the shit ain’t real

Maybe now my luck will change
Only wish that you were near
Tired of traveling, now I’m getting out
I'm not sure I’m gonna come back here
Like a sailor sunk without his ship
Desert stranded, foolish magic trick
I’m so alone and lost 
In Las Vegas Nevada ( repeat last 2 lines)

Oh Oh, Oh, Oh, so lonesome Las Vegas 






Lonesome Las Vegas

Dysfunction In My Function                        

There’s dysfunction in my function
There’s a mess inside my mind
Got a crack in the foundation
Too much water in the wine
Gonna stake out, break out,  give up the ghost
Take no prisoners, leave my post
There’s dysfunction in my function
Please be kind


There’s dysfunction in my function
There’s a bug inside my brain
Wired for sight and sound, I hear
The beauty and the pain
As they shake it, break it, keep turning those screws
I'll hammer out this message
Excavate it for you
There’s dysfunction in their function
They're all the same


            So if you want to build it with me
            You’ll have to settle for my carpentry
            Trying to fix it using string and glue
            Embrace the madness, let it fall on you
            Forget those money back guarantees
            Construction stalling with apologies 
            Climb out of the rubble
            Try another point of view

There’s dysfunction in our function
There’s a war within our world
Forget conjunction junction
Too many lonely boys and girls
If you wait for perfection, you'll be stalling too long
Rolling your eyes at this bedroom song
There’s dysfunction in your function
There’s dysfunction in my function
There’s dysfunction in the function
 Of this world



            

             

             




Dysfunction In My Function

my futile attempt at transcendence despite the wise teachings of Ram Dass (aka Richard Alpert), whose insightful words bookend this song


Get Lost  

Gonna take a trip inside myself                                                
To find serenity
It’s not a place I know so well
But it’s where I’m taking me
I start this meditation
Close my eyes and count to ten
Lose myself and take a breath 
Repeat it once again

I get lost, get lost
Then I think too much and grok it up
My mantra just got tossed
Get lost, get lost
Conscious seething, breathing
Got my toes and fingers crossed

Drive the coast to Big Sur
A former hippie way
Timmy Leary, Dicky Alpert
What do those mushrooms say?
Well, Timmy went to prison
And Dicky changed his name
And me I go in circles
I can’t understand my brain

Get lost, get lost
Albert Hofmann’s in the kitchen
He can cook that secret sauce
Get lost, get lost
I wanna reach the 5th dimension
Go beyond my permafrost
                                                                                         
OOHH  the infinite beauty
OOHH the infinite me
OOHH the intoxication
Oh don't do don't do
 just be…. Let It Be

Ram Dass, the Dali Lama
Baba is my name
Yogacise don’t moralize
I play the Buddah game
Psilocybin take me higher
Mother Earth I feel her near
Holds me in her sunshine
I dissolve and disappear

Get lost, get lost
Then I think too much and grok it up
My mantra just got tossed
Get lost, get lost
I wanna reach the 5th dimension
Go beyond this permafrost



Get Lost


intro is a quote from the novel Cat's Cradle(1963) by Kurt Vonnegut Jr

My Compass is Broken

Plans are vague                                                             
Imprecise                                                                         
Indistinct                                                                          
Like men and mice                                                        
But it's better than having a stone cold point of  view   
Feeling lost 
Cast adrift
Gone off course 
Missing ship
No need to understand where I'm heading to

My compass is broken                                                  
The arrow is starting to spin                                         
This path unspoken                                                       
Not sure of the place I'm in                                           
Do I turn East?                                                                
West?                                                                               
Father does not know best                                           
My compass is broken                                                  
I don't know what to do       

                                           
Empty maps
Beckon me
Find the lost
City of Z
Take a long, strange trip inside my little head
Foreign fields
Hallowed ground
Misunderstood
Tightly wound
Instead of finding the treasure, I find myself instead

Oh, my compass is broken 
A newfound split past everyone 
From one pole to the other 
Like Peary, Scott and Amundsen 
Do I turn North?
South?
Living foot in mouth
My compass is broken 
What do I have to do?

Peculiar travel suggestions                                           
Are dancing lessons from God                                    
So move your feet to this rhythm                                 
And do the Mashed Potato                                          
Or the Kurt Vonnegut                                                          

Grow a pair
Get a grip
Find a job
F#$* that shit
Destination unknown
Take a chance, enjoy the view

My compass is broken
It's a world of bobble and spin
I'm awake but unwoken 
It's the best place I've ever been
Switching it on....off....
From the equator to the permafrost
My compass is broken
Don't call the rescue crew                                           
My compass is broken                                                  
I'm far away from you                                         
My compass is broken
Do what I have to do


Lyrics Hand on the Rock/ K Vonnegut Jr
Music Hand on the Rock

My Compass Is Broken

Tired of the guns, the shootings, the wars, the deaths....if only I had a.....

 superpower

If I had a superpower                                                    
Our friends, their final hours
I would want to slow
I’d even have a name 
Call me Mr. Freeze Frame
I'd probably have a cape you know

I will move amongst the crowds
I’ll grab those bullets now
Pick them out of the air 
I 'll slide across the ground
I will not make a sound
No one will ever know I’m there

If I had a superpower                                                  
If I had a superpower

If I had a superpower
The laws of physics 
I would break them all
Mr. Isaac Newton 
I would disprove him
To stop this murderball

I would keep them close and safe
Protected by my cape
No harm would come to them
I would stop the fires
I would douse the flames
And I would save all of them

If I had a superpower
If I had a superpower

I close my eyes                                                               
Always the same old refrain                                                                                                                                                  Peace in our time,
will it ever come again                 
Wake up this morning                                                   
Count too many names                                                 
So many sad goodbyes                                                                        
If I had a superpower
Perhaps just like a flower
I would want to be
My face against the sun
In a world that’s come undone
From this springtime tragedy 

I would not need to cry
Love or hate or say goodbye
Flowers only feel the rain
They die and bloom again
For them, it doesn’t end 
They can't feel this human pain

But I don’t have a superpower 
no, no
I don’t have a superpower  
no












superpower

simple song about a simple time way back when
#lofi   #first love  #losing yer VitaminC

Tangerine
                                                                                     
Well I was thinking of how we used to play                                        
Oh so many years ago
Made up some silly names
No one knew what we meant
Where did that time with you go

I recall you had a passion for those fruits
Called me your Red Raspberry Toy
You were my mashed Banana Girl
Well that really cracked you up
And I was your Cherry Baby Boy

Then our time was over when you said                                                                        
Your Daddy’s gonna move the family west
On that final day, you pleaded, “Hold me Sugar Plum,
and whisper the name I like the best”

Tangerine, Let me be  the Apple of your eye
My Tangerine, I’m sticky and sweet, your guy
Oh Tangerine, my first love
Now say goodbye

You sent me letters saying you’d always wait for me
Using veggie names to cheer me up
I became your Broccoli 
and I christened you Sweet Pea
It was all I had but it was enough

Saying when can I see you my Cauliflower Queen
I would call you up but we couldn't talk for long
Paying by the minute, those long distance charges added up 
There was only time for me to sing your favorite song

Tangerine, I wanna  be the Apple of your eye
My Tangerine I’ll always be sticky and sweet, your guy
Tangerine, you were my first love 
Now say goodbye
Goodbye





Tangerine





song of pure dog love  written by Ceviche for my son... ...I translated it then sang it for the humans...goes something like this....

Good Boy

I will walk you home
I won't say much
Sniff the ground
Mark the dust
I want to please, to share your point of view
This unknown path
It's ours to steer
Inside my head I keep you near
Always true,
Always there for you

Black as night
My fur, it sheds
It's on the floor 
And under the bed
Always there is work for us to do
Fill my bowl
With that Roll and Kibble
Pick up my droppings
And my dribble
It's true, 
How I need you

It's sometimes hard to tell ourselves 
To be soft instead of strong
We bark before we've thought it out
No words to sing our song
But the road you travel every day
I want to tag along
Let me be your good boy
I'll always be your good boy

Behind these eyes there's all this love for you
When you're alone, feel my heart so true
I'll keep you warm on this cold dark afternoon 

We will race them streets
From dawn to dusk
Portage to Millway
With that bike of rust
Always love to run next to you
I wanna be your good boy
Let me be your good boy
I'll always be your good boy





Good Boy

emotional hygiene 

I'm a cynical, old man, neuroatypical lost cause     
A broken alabaster box                                               
They say, "Brother, better change your socks."
I've got this tendency to sing about me
Describe my gentle flaws
Receding gum line, enamel loss
Fighting the urge to use that dental floss.

They say I need a lesson in emotional hygiene                   
As they try to cleanse my brain, I like to bathe it in this pain  
Towel off the mental image that defines me
Wear some brand new clothes, it's time to start again.

My radar's receiving, crossed signals achieving this bold chagrin
Another lesson from the look within
Beyond the static where the sound begins
Taste the tendency another secrecy 
This gap of time and space 
They feel the need to lather up my face
Wash off the meaning, it will not erase

Always selling me these lessons on emotional hygiene 
Repeat and then reframe: The lamb, the limb, the lame 
Cast off and cure the madness that defines me 
Recalibrate, they say, Please start again
 
Deodorize and sanitize me                        
Popularize and categorize me 
Verbalize, decentralize me
Something smells rotten in there               

I'm a stereotypical, old man, apolitical lost cause
A broken alabaster box
A walking talking  Mr. Paradox
Taste the tendency another secrecy 
This gap of time and space 
I feel the need to lather up my face
Wash off the meaning, it will not erase

Feeling dirty, all this talk of emotional hygiene 
This grime to grease my brain
Seems I need this psychic pain
Embrace the vicious memory that defines me 
So I can investigate that purpose once again 












emotional hygiene

B side to Good Boy

Bad Bad Boy

Doggie, doggie, ain’t I cute, your little fellow
I’ve got this urge, it happens when I’m bored
You’ve gone out clubbing, this apartment sure is lonely
Solo standing, tail wagging by that open closet door

And there they sit, lined up ready for attention
I slide my tongue up those designer heels
Oh, the fragrance of Italian patent leather
I'm a canine in the candy store with 100 scrumptious meals

Just chew and salivate
Your stilettos taste supreme
All those juicy platform wedges 
I got Guggi in my dreams
Who cares about the colour
Red or blue or black or green
I’ve been a bad, bad boy

Yummy, yummy, your pumps, they sure beat rawhide
Forbidden fruit,  it's like a caviar bone
Your smell it lingers, my snout's inside the toe box
My jaw is thrusting as I grunt and I moan

Then you walk in, home early, unexpected
Pieces of Prada lying everywhere
I hear you screaming, OMG just "F-ing drop it!”
Goodbye, my shoe, my love, I’m running under the chair

Just chew and salivate
I’ve been shaken from this scheme
If I only had more time
I’m in trouble again it seems
I’ll just flash my sad, dark eyes
Turn on my charm machine
I’ve been a bad, bad boy
Bow wow
Bow wow







 







Bad Bad Boy (demo)

A litte song about Flannery O'Connor, American novelist and short story writer who died in 1964
age 39 from Lupus, with the last 10 years of her life becoming increasingly incapacitated by her illness  
.. despite her suffering she continued her craft at the highest level..
There was a movie recently released called Wildcat about her and Ms O'Connor was portrayed by Maya Hawke
I have not seen the film but I took the sound clips in the song from the trailer....don't tell.....

Hey Flannery

Hey Flannery, gone undercover 
Biding your time, country livin’ with your mother 
In that little room, there's a place for the lame and the blind  
Takes a life to discover a good man is hard to find      

Hey Flannery, limping to salvation           
Body betrayed, you write your revelation 
In that little world, you've found a place for the damned and the divine                           
Takes a lifetime to discover a good man is hard to find   

Create him                                       
Erase him                                             
Lover or Liar, he wanders the land     
Embrace him                                            
Forsake him                             
Up on the cross, they don't understand   
The path to grace, a gunshot through the pines  
It's killing time                                   

Hey Flannery, this world is turning   
Books they be banning and forests they be burning 
Your typewriter sings the musings of your mind      
Takes a lifetime to discover a good man is hard to find   

Preach or plead                                      
We've lost our way                                   
Gone off the road                                  
This sunny day                                        
There's a meanness in the world             
Where dark meets light                             
Although we try to run from it                    
It's two steps faster when we slip          
Our fall from grace, the bodies left behind

                        
Hey Flannery, your sisters and your brothers  
Marching up to heaven after hurting one another 
The road to redemption around your little heart it winds  
Takes a lifetime to discover a good man is hard to find 
Takes a life to discover a good man is hard to find
Takes a life to discover that a good man is hard to find








A Good Man Is Hard To Find (Hey Flannery)

My Dear,
Find what you love and let it kill you
Let it drain from you your all.
Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness.
Let it kill you, and let it devour your remains.
For all things will kill you
both slowly and fastly.
but it’s much better to be killed by a lover
falsely yours, 

Henry Charles Bukowski

Years back,I saw the above stanza on the internet...  According to Bukowski "experts" he actually  did not write this...so idk ....the author origin is a mystery....
so for this piece,
I lifted the first line but made a more positive song as I wanted the "kill" to really to be  more of a metamorphosis...a change..a salvation..a call to pursue your passion  without delay as our time left on this mortal coil  is unknown.... So keep on creating  keep on playing ...find what you love...

                            
       Find What You Love, Let It Kill You

Find what you love, let it kill you                                                            
Let it devour your senses                                                                      
Engulf and embrace your resolve    
                                                     
Find what you love, let it save you
Your sweet resurrection 
Reframe and regroup then dissolve 

Fade away but don’t fade to black                                                         
Fly to the orange, the red                                                                     
Like Icarus into the sun
Take a breath, there's no turning back 
Each moment a memory, minute
Lean on the learned ones.

Find what you love, let it kill you
Be born from the ashes
In purpose and pain comes the light 

Find what you love and let it change you
Don't be afraid of the mockers or mourners 
Who pass in the night 

Run away, but don’t run too far
Your hand on the rock
Like Sisyphus, now the moment's begun
Take a breath, it's all that you are 
You feel it growing, yearning
Live like the ancient ones.

Find what you love...Find what you love…

This could be our last stand                                                                     
American Bandstand 
The Alamo of your life
A Soundcloud crucifix                                                                             
No need to surrender                                                                        
Are you a player
Or just a pretender 
Another suspect device                                                                           
Feel the clock inside you tick 
                                                               
Find what you love, let it kill you 
Death the divider
The boatman is seeking his toll
Find what you love, let it take you
Gone solo, gone swimming
Swift currents, lose control

Walk along the edge of the knife 
Always counting, comparing your silver
There is so much more to be won
You're only floating on the surface of life
Try to dive deeper, dream away
Let the day go undone.

Find what you love...Find what you love..

Find What You Love, Let It Kill You


This song is for Marcin Kulik who loves all things Trailer Park  and asked me to write a song about the show...so there... wrote it for you, man

I tried to keep the spirit of the show but wanted some vulnerability there amongst the vulgar..know what I'm sayin'?

Trailer Park 

There's a place in Nova Scotia
Sunnyvale, I'm hanging there
Lounging in a folding chair 
With those prodigal sons

See ole Ricky paroled and broke
Julian sipping his rum and coke
Such crass and simple folk
Well, I'm another one 

You better step off, Randy
You no shirt, lawn-mowing, cheese burger-eating twit
J-Roc, he got my back hard, know what I’m sayin’?
Like him, I'm rapping and talking shit

There's a trailer park 
In my mind
At that trailer park
I like to waste some time
Forget about the future 
Laugh about the past
Slow down a bit, cause life it moves too fast 
You know what I’m sayin’
Old-school, pimped up tight
In that trailer park, we be fine
We be fine tonight 

Bubbles with his bottle glasses 
Magnifies the Scotian underclasses
Cory and Trevor such dumbasses
I’m another one

Ricky’s weed, it ain't growing
Julian's got a thing that's going
J-Roc and the Roc-pile showing
How the east was won

Mr. Lahey’s week-long bender
It’s a whiskey wash to drown his sins
Lonesome lover to that fat Randy
The law don't work for him

In that trailer park
Of my mind
At that trailer park
I like to waste some time
Forget about the future 
Laugh about the past
Slow down a bit, cause life it moves so fast 
You know what I’m sayin’
Old-school, pimped up tight
In that trailer park we be fine
We be fine tonight 

Break

You know what I'm saying
Reverse the black and white
Punk ass bitches
Old-school pimped up tight
Sometimes shit don't matter
Throw yer hands up dawg alright
In that trailer park
We be fine
In that trailer park 
We be fine
In that trailer park inside my mind
I’ll be fine tonight

Trailer Park

song about Allen Ginsberg

soundclips from AG reading parts of  his poem Howl

Drunken Dumbshow  

Holy, holy, we're holy
This land of prayer and restraint 
Weapon born from society 
An insect stuck in the paint 
Hospital laugh with appended smile
True lust to fake the faint
A faint hope that's close to nothing at all
But it's something for the people who ain't 

Beat down, strung out, colorful, crazy
The weight of the world is love
In the end, it is enough
In the end, it has to be enough 
Broken mother, father 
Like the rest of us fallen ones
On the streets we Howl and run

Kaddish, death convention 
Now he's the King of May
The long hair of Adam
His cosmic beard at play
To ease the pain of living
The work will set you free
That was the message he breathed 
The politics of ecstasy 

Beat down, strung out, colorful, crazy
The weight of the world is love
In the end, it is enough
In the end, it has to be enough 
Broken mother, father 
Like the rest of us fallen ones
On the streets we Howl and run

Poet, pilgrim, sacrilege 
Buddhist, lover, anarchist 
5 to 1, he is on their list 
Acid-dropping dreamer, God's pharmacist 
All else is
Drunken dumbshow







Drunken Dumbshow

This little song is one part memorial tribute to Stiv Bators,front man for Dead Boys and Lords of the New Church and later solo artist ( check out his great album Disconnected )
who  tragically died in Paris June 199O from a head injury sustained in a car accident ..through the music Stiv remains forever young,  loud and snotty...
The other theme of the song pertains to  pessimistic musing about aging and mortality ...  find the easter eggs ....i incorporated 10 Dead Boys song titles in the lyrics  ....
opening sound clip... Dead Boys song  High Tension Wire 
end clip ....is a portion of Iggy Pop's message to Stiv's parents at his memorial

**** The first half of bridge are lyrics  lifted from the Rocket From the Tombs /Dead Boys classic, Sonic Reducer *****

Dead Boy Down


Ain’t It Fun when you’re feeling old                            
I hear young Stiv on the radio                                     
Happens fast, never happens slow                            
Down In Flames, there be nothing at all                      
New Church…. I see                                                      
I need to Open My Eyes to what’s in front of me      
Wrong place….wrong time                                              
Now it’s so long Steven so long                                  
Another dead boy down                                               
Another dead boy down                                                                                                                                         
Gonna take a walk on that High Tension Wire
Something gotta give when your brain’s on fire
CBGB New York City, There Ain’t Nothin’ To Do
Blitz, Zero, Chrome and Magnum, they be Calling On You
Don’t know what I want or just who I am
Lonely son of a son, here comes the Son of Sam
Right place…. Wrong time
So long, so long, so long
Another dead boy down
Another dead boy down

(6 lines below from Sonic Reducer)
You’ll be a pharaoh soon                                              
Rule from some golden tomb                                      
Things will be different then                                        
Your light will shine on them                                         
Feeling like you're ten feet tall                                      
Before we were nothing at all  
                                    
Leave the body bruised and broken                          
Leave your body bruised and broken                        
Oh…Oh….                                                                        
Be a Rocket From The Tombs                                       
A Rocket From The Tombs                                                                     

Ain’t It Fun when you’re getting old
I’m older now than Bators and my old man, you know
I used to dance but not anymore
Watch me pacing over kitchen floors
Like some Catholic Boy in a parochial school
I be Dead and Alive, All This and More little fool
At the right place, at the right time
They will put me on display ….I’ll be a dead boy down….

Dead Boy Down

The Count of Monte Cristo

I’m a newfound man                                                      
I burn and I bake                                                           
I’m your Japan in a Dishpan                                        
I’m the flesh and the fake                                                   

Like the Count of Monte Cristo                                                  
Watch me tear the bag and swim
After 14 years of smothering 
I will breathe and start again


You only see the beauty
Watch it bind and blind the eye
The titles and the treasures
This life I live in style

Like the Count of Monte Cristo
It’s who I choose to be
But sleeping in that gunny sack
There’s a corpse disguised as me


At night, I sink and swim                                               
Leave that dungeon damp and dim                            
To an island cave, a place inside my mind                
These lands, I am estranged                                       
Invent, outlast, arrange                                                  
Til I'm  left standing with the ones my hate does find  

              
I’m a newfound man                                                      
I’m your Japan in a Dishpan                                         
Like the Count of Monte Cristo                                     
The Count of Monte Cristo                                                     

I’m a newfound man                                                      
Your Japan in a Dishpan                                         
Like the Count of Monte Cristo                                   
The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo

The song is both a nostalgic tribute to this 1981 movie that gave me nightmares, and a nod to the iconic Bruce Campbell for his work in this franchise

but it then turns metaphorical as I equate the Evil Dead to the AI that is now all around us...  my call to arms..my call to channel Bruce Campbell and fight these Deadites......AI wants to swallow yer soul.......listen ..you will see....


The Evil Dead

When I was a kid
I saw some scary shit
Scary shit that scared the shit out of me
Kandarian demons
Growling and screaming
Couldn't sleep for a week
Thought they were coming for me

I need to channel 
Bruce Campbell
Fight the fear that's growing in my head
Channel Bruce Campbell
Chainsaw my angst
Fight off the Evil Dead
Check underneath my bed

Yeah I was that kid
So freaked by that shit
That card scene with Cheryl scared the shit outta me
8 of spades, 2 of spades
Jack o’ diamonds and clubs
When she twisted and threatened 
I blathered and blubbed

I need to channel 
Bruce Campbell 
Dismember my fear
Decapitate the devil in my head
Channel Bruce Campbell 
Gouge out my angst
Fight off the Evil Dead
Maybe read a book instead


KANDA 
ESTRATA 
EARGRETS
AMANTO NOS FERATES


Now I am old
I hear some scary shit
Scary shit, it scares the shit out of me
Jack-booting goose steps
Skynet sing a longs
The bots and their soul-sucking sweet melodies

We need to channel 
Bruce Campbell 
Necronomicon 
These lies we’re fed
Channel Bruce Campbell 
Feeling lost in the forest 
Here comes the Evil Dead
Maybe try and write some actual human songs instead







You!!!  What Planet is this?

more existential dread about the state of the world 
I need to turn off the news
I used  this fantastic sci movie from 1957 to explain things metaphorically....
wrote it this morning very quickly..it just came together

The Incredible Shrinking Man 

I once was big as them                            
Living life on a whim                                 
Then a strange thing happened              
It could happen to you                             
Take a look at the shape I’m in                 

You placed me in a doll house
Put a lock upon the door
Your miniature man 
Now on parade
Have you ever seen my kind before?

I'm down here                                       
But they don't see me                          
Guess I'll have to take a stand                   
Getting smaller                                     
As the days they run away from me      
Your incredible shrinking man               
My body, no longer at my command         

Now there's danger everywhere 
I'm prey to everything
The cat, the spider, your prejudice 
Wish I could grow some wings

Too small for the circus now
Can't trust the human show
Gonna crawl right through the window screen
Say goodbye to all I know

I'm down here
Where they can't touch me
You'll never understand
What it's like 
To live this life of fear and fright
A little guy, in a strangers’ land
The incredible shrinking man 

Break

I'm down here
Where they can't hear me
It’s not like I had this planned
Gonna take my  tiny life
Gotta try to make it right
Build a little toy town with these tiny hands
Please remember me
Your Incredible Shrinking Man 




The Incredible Shrinking Man

a little song about heartache written over 40 years ago

Hard To Tell

A bottle full of memories 
And a battle with the booze
I wish I could remember 
All those things we had but had to lose

I wish you would remember 
But perhaps you just won't tell
It hurts to see you as a stranger
But I guess it's just as well

You burned all my letters
All those words, you had to lose
We were so young to be lovers
Never thought your lips could bring bad news

I couldn't find the reasons 
And you wouldn't find the time
We were both alone together
Although I guess that we did try

And as I write this down, I see you turn away
Colder than an open door on a winter's day
Like an angel enshrined 
You could take me anytime
Oh baby was it so hard to tell?
Baby was it so hard to tell?
Baby was it so hard to tell that I loved you?




Hard To Tell

more melancholic piano ballads ... can't do a Cry tune like Roy O..but I give it a go with this tune of mine from a ways back


It’s Ok If You Cry

I heard a sad song                                                          
Floating in the sky from over there                             
The notes they echo in my mind                                 
Up on the rooftop  
In that cold December air   
I saw you play that tune, the hurtin’ kind                                         
And you thought no one was listening                      There’s no one around to hear                                    Feeling so alone, yet you still try                                 Standing tall, in the autumn of your life                     Singing how it’s ok if you cry                                                  

You sing the story
How you let it slip away
The years and all the ghosts you left behind
Fingers numb not bending well
Breath fogging when you sing
The words how they sear into my mind

So I stumble to the music
And fall down into the snow
Feeling so alone, lost in my lie
Trying to stand up, in the autumn of my life
Singing how it’s ok if you cry

It’s ok if you cry
Do it anytime
Don’t matter the season of your years
I need a little space tonight
I’m gonna climb up there with you
Where it’s safe to breathe and shed our tears

I grabbed a ladder 
And I climbed up for the view
Looked around to find you and your song
I was met by other voices,
Souls, whispers in the night
On their own rooftops, trying to sing along

They think there’s no one there to listen
There’s no one around to hear
Feeling so alone, but still, they try
Standing tall, in the autumn of this life
It’s ok if you cry

It’s ok if you cry
Do it anytime
Don’t matter the season of your years
I need a little space tonight
I’m gonna climb up there with you
Where it’s safe to breathe and shed some tears 




OK If You Cry

you dirty sod...you dirty bastard...you dirty f#$kr...what a f#$ng rotter...Dec 1976...The Sex Pistols brief live TV interview with  presenter Bill Grundy resulted in 30 seconds of Profanity as a very drunk Steve Jones, goaded on by a drunk and lecherous Grundy, let him have it... the encounter was headline news the next day and controversy followed .... 
here is a  link to the 90 second interview that cost Mr. Grundy his job.
https://youtu.be/boQGEyAcZwo?si=AkWVhxeDK7PJeRJ0

Now, as my angst turns to anger with the politics of today,  I borrow Mr. Jones' knack for the profane to punctuate my verse..thx Steve.
...like him I'm just an ole punk rocker in decay...

What Steve Jones Once Said

To all you two-faced
Doublespeak
Money grabbing politicians 
Noise polluting nonsense
I'll say what Steve Jones once said
#&*!@$!!!!
His voice inside my head

To all this short-stick
Tariff shit
Fascist reboot coalition
Nimby ploys and Brownshirt boys
I'll say what Steve Jones once said
&%$#@!!!
His words I have retread

This sonic stone I throw
To Pistol poke the bear
I like to speak some drunk Steve Jones
To the greed
And gob out there

To all you warmonger 
Border breakers
Bomb us to submission 
Wading through your wickedness 
I’ll say what Steve Jones once said
#$%^&!!!
All the lies I have been fed

To all you MAGA rights
And you ultra lefts
Stoking this division
Shut yer traps I'm sick of you
I'll give you some Steve Jones instead
@#%$&!!!
Now our words are wed

His curses from the past
A crude footnote in history 
I have recycled and rehashed
Bill Grundy’s moment
Of infamy

Lyrics HotR/Jones
Music HotR

What Steve Jones Once Said

Between the dramatic endings and the exciting  beginnings, there is that comfortable middle.... Sometimes, the best place to be....

.....apologies to Jim Morrison for his help with the intro and the last verse....
unfortunately, I had trouble ending the track and it just fizzles out ...maybe apropos given the title...

The End… The Beginning … and the Stuck in the Middle

This is the end of the beginning                                   
This is the end of the “so-called” line                       
I remember the end of the century                              
When it used to be one-nine-nine-nine (1999)      
It’s the end of the road                                                  
The short end of the stick                                                    
The shit                                                                             
Or the rainbow end of it                                                   
I need to pull it together                                                
Or be stuck in the middle with you     

                            
This is the end of an era
This is the end of a perfect day
This is the end of the end itself
This is the one that got away
It’s the end of the story
The end of the frame
I’m at my wits end
Loose end crying game
Time to pull it together 
And be stuck in the middle with you

In the beginning there was nothing at all                  
A void, no form, no circumstance                               
In the beginning just a wilderness call                        
The wave, the wind, the lonesome glance                 
In the beginning                                                              
We took a chance and burned it down to the ground                 
In the beginning                                                              
I need a long cold shower                                            
See me stuck in the middle with you                          
Stuck in the middle with you                                        
Stuck in the middle with you    
                                                        
This is the end of our elaborate plans                 
So limitless and free
The end of laughter and soft lies
And my Jim Morrison plagiary
The end of my thinking, the end of this song
My friend, the end
He wants to tag along
I guess it’s better together
Being stuck in the middle with you
Like the Raff man said I’m stuck in the middle with you

The End  The Beginning And The Stuck In The Middle

another song idea from the past about 7Os rock stars....
a cautionary tale to watch the wine and the whites and the chicken cacciatore ....


Roll Daddy Roll

He's willin’ and wild 
A music smorgasbord 
Kind of like a 1972 Lowell George
Smoking gun
Flame for hire
7 years to glow
Giddy up and get down 
Roll Daddy Roll

Daydream  running
Always riffin’ at the ready
Kind of like a 1978 Tom Petty
Guitar shake
Build that pyre
39 years to glow
Giddy up and get down 
Roll Daddy Roll

Roll, roll break your mama's heart 
Boat be sailing, how to finish what we start
Roll, roll till it falls apart tonight, tonight

Once Cleveland rocked
Now the sound has gotten softer
Lester wrote a eulogy for Mr. Peter Laughner
Ain’t It Fun
To die young
In 5 more years Bangs' bell would toll
Giddy up and get down
Roll Daddy Roll

Roll, roll break your mama's heart 
Boat be sailing, how to finish what we start
Roll, roll till it falls apart tonight, tonight

May your days be filled 
With power chords and glory
Watch the wine and the whites
And the chicken cacciatore
And don't be fooled by innocence 
She will take your head you know
Giddy up and get down
Roll Daddy Roll
Don't be fooled by innocence 
She will take your head you know 
Giddy up and get down roll Daddy roll











Roll Daddy Roll (acoustic)

Dedicated to Johnny Ramone who once showed me how to bang an electric...got my hands on one again..could be yer worst dreams come true..

opening sound clip is Lou Reed talking to Danny Fields after hearing the Ramones for the first time...

I Just Threw Up in My Mouth

I just threw up in my mouth 
The blood and the booze I taste them both
My future's heading south 
Straight to the bottom, straight to hell 
I'm going down, down, down
I'm going down 

That bitter taste  in my mouth
Of Big Banks, Big Biz, they hoard all the wealth
It ain't good for my health 
Take you straight to the bottom, straight to hell
The dream going down, down, down
I'm going down 

Salivation
Incorporation
Ingest and Digest
Lease termination 
Regurgitation 
Fuck Obligation 
This Land and my Gut’s got
Acute Ulceration

Refluxing acid in mouth
The burn and those Billionaires building their moats
Shove this tube down my throat
From my gullet to my bottom
Slide it down 
I’m going down down down 
Shit’s going down 

Doctor help me, feel me, heal me
Help me get ready to fly
Such a funny guy

on Vacation 
from these Libations
Abstain Avoid
my Inclinations
try Dedication 
not Medication
I Sort my Stomach
but I can not Save our Nation

I'm holding it in
All this bilious liquid
I won't swallow their sin
They say be grateful and grin
Push up from the bottom, Get Out
Turn it around, round, round
Spread those profits around, round, round
Get those boots off the ground, ground, ground
Grow some love in this town


I just threw up in my mouth  
I just threw up in my mouth  
I just threw up in my mouth 




I Just Threw Up In My Mouth or  Reflections on a Dyspeptic World While Receiving Endoscopy


as a child of the 60s and 70s Friday nights meant watching the Brady Bunch and Partridge Family
Had lots in common with Jan as the song eludes to. ( though no black wig for me..so far...)
Of course Jan and her Marcia Marcia Marcia rant became a pop culture phrase in the 90s and a meme in the 2k years.. .. funny for sure...but she deserves more our Jan
I wanted to write her a tender song from my adolescent perspective.
Marcia had Davey Jones.. now Jan gets a little  homemade Hand on the Rock... 

Middle Sister Jan

I watched her on the screen
In the 1970s
My favorite Brady, middle sister Jan
For me, Marcia was too perfect
Cindy just a baby
So Jan, I gave my heart to her, in our fantasy TV land

Like her I was bespectacled
Fair haired and full of freckles
The insecure and awkward school yard show
I did not make the football team
Or hang with Greg and Peter
Like Jan, a little slow to say hello

Hey Jan
I think I understand
What it's like to feel unappreciated 
But girl it's time to change our attitude
We've got so much more to offer
Forget those Marcia, Marcia, Marcias 
Hey Jan
I got faith in you
You are just like me you see
I hope you feel it too

Friday nights on ABC
With that clean cut family 
Jan was the voice that I could comprehend 
Anxious about the future
Jealous in the present
Lying about George Glass, her made up new boyfriend 

We were both introspective 
Confused with the objective 
Reflecting on our reflection in that mirror on the wall
Plagued with indecision 
Disadvantaged pole positions
How we looked, how we talked
How far we’d fall

Hey Jan
I understand 
You being stuck in middle land
But there's lots of ways to find some gratitude 
You don't need that black wig wonder
Let's forget our social blunders
Hey Jan
I got faith in you
Sweet Jan I see on my TV
I am just like you

Jan Brady, see, she’s a lot like me
Maybe she's a bit like you








Middle Sister Jan

my 70s nostalgia train continues.
As kids we loved Bruce Lee and his movies and his death was very upsetting..I remember it well
When I got older I appreciated his teachings on how to live a life as an  athlete,  an artist and as a person.
Bruce cowrote the first 2 verses  as i used some sayings of his
you can hear 3 soundclips of him..first is from the movie Enter the Dragon, the others from an interview.
song is simple..the feeling behind it complex

A Little Bruce Lee Goes A Long Way

Empty the mind
Be formless, shapeless
Like water flowing
Don't waste time cause time is life
If you think it so
It will be what you become 
That one kick practiced 10,000 times

Hand on the rock
Open it up
Don't be a fist of fury
Be happy but never satisfied 
Obey the principles 
But don’t be bound by them
Be water my friend 
Don't pray for an easy life

Them old soul ways and teachings
I didn't learn them when I was a kid
I was more mesmerized by his fighting thighs
Those crazy Kung Fu moves he did

Now I wanna put some Bruce Lee in my life
My quarrelsome mind
Leave it behind
Defeat my worry and calm that strife
Be open to the message
Find peace, Find the light
A little Bruce  goes a long way in this life

Mirror, Mirror on every wall
What is real 
What is reflection 
They must shatter, let them fall
Destroy the false, the fake
Find your truth behind them all
Be water my friend

July ‘73
I remember that day
When I heard he was taken
His end a mystery 
For my friends and I
Those summer nights 
We posed, we practiced, we entered the dragon
Not ready to face the world outside

Let us put some Bruce Lee in our lives 
Speak to change 
And rearrange 
See beyond the black and white 
Just a speck of him
Is all we need 
To season up our spice
A little Bruce goes a long way in this life



Lyrics  Bruce Lee/ Hand on the Rock
Music  HotR




A Little Bruce Lee Goes A Long Way

this song is a tribute to Mercedes McCambridge, a mighty fine actress ( 1949 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress All The King's Men) who in 1973 played the voice of the Demon in William Friedkin's The Exorcist...
She prepared for her vocal performances by chainsmoking, drinking whiskey and eating raw eggs. She had herself strapped to a chair while speaking her lines...
Talk about suffering for your art
Back in the day the movie caused hysteria with many audience members fainting and running out of the theatre. ..1973 was a different time for sure.....
i present the usual mishmash with a couple clips from the movie and an interview with a scared movie goer at the break
Thanks for the nightmares, Ms. McCambridge 

Mercedes McCambridge

Mercedes McCambridge, she’s talking to me  
The devil incarnate, filthy vocabulary               
I learned some new words 
When I was a kid 
Back in 73     

Mercedes McCambridge, she was needing  the work
From Academy winner to world's biggest sinner,
made the crowd go berserk
They dubbed out Miss Blair, put her in there,
In that bedroom, she lurks

The power of Christ compels you             
It compels me to sing                                   
About demons, about another time            
When the Exorcist was a thing                  
Strapped to a chair, living on cigarettes    
Raw eggs and malt whiskey                     
Mercedes moaned her message             
Scared the bejesus out of me                   

Mercedes McCambridge, all dressed in black
She’s still in my closet, under the table
She’s hiding out back
When I go to sleep, she shadow speaks
Her salacious  soundtrack

The power of Christ compels you
It compels me to be
Writing songs about her vicious voice
It's melded to my memory
Her fearsome groans from another time
Words we don't want Mom to know
Mercedes was committed 
No minors were permitted
We trembled, shook and shitted
At her foul-mouthed movie show

Mercedes McCambridge

                   

the song is metaphorical...not biographical 

Princess Margaret                                                                                    
The pageant begins, now court is in session
I bow to your Grace, that look on your face,
the serpent uncoils.
                                                                       
Its venom released, the cameras don’t see it.
No word out of place, alone in this space, how could we be royals?

Just as Princess Margaret tried 
to find a place to ride.                                                               Put out on parade, she could not be saved
Her dog days are through
She danced in the night
Then gave in to the fight  
So when you play the Queen
I'll be the Princess Margaret for you 

The royal blue, this tainted luxury. 
Just like the fear, I keep inside of me. 
We’ll keep our distance, just like the monarchy.                                                                      
When you play the Queen, I'll be the Princess Margaret for you

Here comes the Prince, you know the one ‘cross the ocean.
Changing his name, he found future and fame, then something to do.

And like the soon to be King, he’s been waiting forever.
It’s really too much, this brief human touch, he gives me and you.


Princess Margaret tried,
To find a place to hide.
The royal parade, she could not be saved,
Her dog days are through.
She danced in the night.
Then gave in to the fight.
So when you play the Queen, 
I'll be the Princess Margaret for you.

That jewel you crave, our crown of destiny.
These games we play, you’ve got to ride with me.
Wave to the crowds, cause they can't really see,
How you play the Queen and I play the Princess Margaret for you.
You play the Queen and I'll be the Princess Margaret for you. 




Princess Margaret

Disciple of Pain

I wake up to the silence
To that memory of you
Entombed by bad decisions 
Crucified by your truths
I can not hear your footsteps
This change is like a chain
You were my religion
And me, I'm the disciple of pain

Now I pray for resurrection
As I choke upon my sin
The gospel of another
Has renewed your faith again
The blood, the body of our love
For you a fading stain
You were my religion
And me, I've become your disciple of pain

This sermon that I'm sharing
I'll be preaching it again and again
The hurt, the hope, the healing
The raw, the rage revealing 
Let's stand up and face it again

So if you feel a sadness
Engulf and empty you
Get off your knees and get to work
Let the hurt empower you
When you can not feel your future
It's still there but it's just changed
The end can mean beginnings
We all are disciples of pain
One time or another
We all are the disciple of pain




Disciple of Pain






a naive plea for world peace  using the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High as the vehicle. 
not sure it's effective but I do like the movie


No Shirt No Shoes No Dice

No shirt no shoes no dice 
Learn it Know it Live it
The mantra is precise
Dress code ignorance brings
Fast food sacrifice
No shirt no shoes no dice

No weapons no wantings no war
Learn it know it live it
It's all I'm hoping for
Why can't we love one another
It's a simple thing for sure
No weapons no wantings no war

Cause your time is my time
It's our time let us be
These burdens and these battles 
Become high school history 
All we need are some tasty waves and a cool buzz and we'll be fine
Just like holy Jeff Spicoli and Mr. Hand
Find some peace in these Fast Times

Break

No Shirt no shoes no dice
Learn it know it live it
My mama said it's nice to be nice to the nice
"Totally awesome!" ..."Alright Hamilton!"
Disarm those dolts with a beverage device
No shirt no shoes no dice
No shirt no shoes no dice




No Shirt  No Shoes No Dice

There’s a treasure down deep in this garbage can
To find it, plug your nose, feel the dirt on your hands
Just remember that they never really understand 
Your personal Rosetta Stone



Hand on the Rock

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks