 Rock N Roll rooted references, reveries and revelations

Rock N Roll Rigor Mortis

Flat Vocals and Sloppy Guitar                                             
  
Input one part Dylan                                                      
Two parts Prine                                                              
And a piece of the "Walk On The Wild Side Man"   
Add a liberal sprinkling of LW3                                   
A dash of Woody from the dust bowl land.               
You get a voice, a style, some Tombstone wiles      
And a tune that's gonna shoot you down                  
Sometimes, a lack of finesse is the best offense       
In this one horse sing-song town
                            
Get ready for some flat vocals and sloppy guitar    
I'm the anti-Freddy M                                                   
I ain’t your John Mayer wunderbar                            
Flat vocals and sloppy guitar                                      
Get out of my way  
I got nothing on you                                                                                                                          
I was 70s raised
After disco had died
And the punks were the chosen ones
But I was too sweet for Rotten
I was too soft for Vicious 
Those Pistol-packin' sons of a gun
With guitar in hand I tried to make a stand
But the scene it soon slipped away
When it was Cobain's time
He grunged, I worked the grind
But I vowed to sing another day

With these
Flat vocals and sloppy guitar
There ain’t no lip syncing, autotuned
Milli Vanilli man 
In my pure pop music jar
Flat vocals and sloppy guitar
Get out of my way
I got nothing more to prove

I'll burn down the church of Johnny Cash                 From the fires of Hell like Richard, I wail and I gnash                                         
Oh, the power and glory of Mr. Johnny Ramone      I wanna break some strings and distort my tone                                                                        
I'm gonna think out loud
Gonna wow the crowd
With my barre chord powerplay
Speeding Spedding fast
Till I burn and crash
I'll bet you just won't look away
All that blood and bone
A muddied mess
But the song remains the same
Confound, confess
Myself undressed
I am the one that got away

With those
Flat vocals and sloppy guitar 
In my mind, my mind, my mind, my mind
I'm just a ding dong superstar
Flat vocals and sloppy guitar 
Get out of my way, I got nothing more to prove        
Get out of my way, so right, so wrong, so rude        
Get out of the way, my truth always detuned.                                         




Flat Vocals and Sloppy Guitar



.. in the bridge, John Lennon makes a guest appearance with a few sobering statements about drugs...give him a listen 

Five Hits of Acid

Pack my bags and walk the streets to see what I can find  
One step beyond outside myself, I try to free my mind  
Exercise, then meditate, I still can't find the door
I've got the answer on the tip of my tongue
I'll do what Huxley did before

Oh I swallow repeatedly  
My pride, my anger, my circumstance  
This life in overdrive   
And now, the sweet space of mystery
Gone wafer thin, this zone I'm in
I'm flying, I'm alive 

Five hits of acid         
That's what it takes    
Five hits of acid          
Save the last dance, do the EGO shake 

Walking to the edge of fear and the light that shines wìthin
Burning man embrace the flame, collapse and rise again
Window leap in dark disguise, fall upon the sword 
Torn apart by the wolves of your mind, a fate to face and ford

And oh, I swallow repeatedly 
My guilt, my envy, my past regrets
This life in overdrive
And now, the space walk of synergy
The air is thin, I'm floating in, I must acclimatise

Chorus

…..into the void, the ocean sky 
      time eclipsed, the worries swim on by 
      take a break, the air is clear  
      just for a moment, the truth, the end is    
      near  

First time down, you will taste fear
Second time the mother's tear
The third time, you're a maniac
Fourth time, you can't live like that
But the fifth time, there you go
You be breaking down  minutes,seconds are slowed
And you be walking on the water, walking on the water
You're a slave to the slaughter now

Five hits of acid, that's just what it takes 
Five hits of acid,  that's what it takes
Five hits of acid
Five hits of acid, do me good
Five hits of acid
Like I knew you would





Five Hits Of Acid

Go All The Way

The future's uncertain, the end is unclear
There'll be songs unsung, new foes to fear
I don't know if we got another 40 years
Or 40 days to rock n roll.

You could die like Janis or live like Keith
Pay penance for the excess with survivor's grief
Embrace your madness and their disbelief
You can rock, you can roll

Chorus

You can go all the way
Go all the way
No turning back
Move ahead, attack
As you go all the way

But I'm still stranded in the jungle of my common sense
I keep the tiger at bay by living future tense
"Never get out of the boat", Fredrick Forrest says
As the cameras start to roll

Yeah you can die like Jimi or live like Keith
Keep sailing till you land on a safer beach
But our  fate and the future's always out of reach
Will you rock or will you roll?

Chorus

Like the Rolling Stones 
you could last a hundred years
But don't forget poor Brian Jones 
Swallowed deep those poolside fears
It could go either way
Life, death and bad swordplay
A single lunge and thrust could steal your time.

The future's uncertain, the end is unclear 
The trophies and the troubles bound to disappear
Turn around to find the same old worries here
Not much rock and too much roll

You  could die like Janis or die like Keith
alone or soft surrounded by survivor's grief
A tale to tell tomorrow, taste their disbelief
As you rock, as you roll, as you…

Go all the way
Go all the way
No turning back
Move ahead, attack
As you go all the way





Go All The Way

Sunshine Of Your Life

(riff)

We players have to pay to hear that old familiar riff 
You wanna bash me on the pavement, trying to be like Biff 
The sunshine it be stinging, swelling up my lip 
I'm in a nuclear state of mind 

Eric plays with Ginger, Ginger's running wild
There's a Sackler in the hallway giving treats to every child
The Key to the Highway, a map to Neverland 
Some Cream from my subconscious 
All Hail the New Salesman
What don't you understand
All Hail the New Salesman

They told me it was simple, we tried to take it slow
I took them at their word, but there was something dark below 
Light no longer shining, the pain, the pills, the plan
Sunshine now on fire, death of a haunted man
All hail the new salesman
What don't you understand
Death of a haunted man

The sweat, the shake, the stagefright, the mother of emotion 
You can never return from the ash and the burn this time  
Getting near dawn, lights closing their eyes  
Lie and deceive, it's a dull surprise 
Sunshine surrender, I'm still waiting for my man 
All hail
The new…..the improved….The Purdue…....Salesman 
All hail the new Salesman   
Don't trust the new Salesman

It's the Sunshine of your Life baby     
Why so sad, why so jaded               
It's the Sunshine of your Life, baby
Death of a Salesman, death's overrated 

Anyone can do it  
Face the fear, bite the hand 
Anyone can do it 
Stop the breath, thank the man 
In the sunshine
in the sunshine  
In the sunshine
In the sunshine


Hand On The Rock/Pete Brown/Eric Clapton/Jack Bruce



Sunshine of Your Life

Burt Bacharach

Playing Burt Bacharach
Requires skills I seem to lack
A confusing fret attack
I want to give my head a wack
Four fingers torn and twisting
Feel them stretching and resisting
Hear the horror of the misplayed chord
C # min7/5, Db augmented major9
Amin6 and G sus4
As I try to play
Do You Know the Way to San Jose

Singing Burt Bacharach
It’s like an asthma attack
I’m such a vocal sad sack
Time to move to the back of  the class
By the bridge I end up wheezing
My airway it be seizing
Hal David’s words have lost their shine
Though my first and his last name, they seem to be the same
I feel like I’ve been left behind
All the children cry
As I try and try…. 
to sing Walk On By

Raindrops keep falling on my head 
Just like they did for Mr. BJT
What’s It All About these confusing chords and keys
Burt, you're losing me

Burt Bacharach
I want to learn him front to back
And leave my Pentatonic trap
Some say I’ll never sound like that
I got no jazzy tone or swagger
I’m like Devo doing Jagger
Just a No Wave in that melody sea
Going down with the ship
It's such a humbling trip
Please Say A Little Prayer For Me
Burt Bacharach 
Burt Bacharach…..#$$%^^/$!!!!!





Burt Bacharach

Free Bird Flies Again

They gonna cancel my culture     
Wanna cage and engulf her        
Take the free bird and lock her away 
Don't like my borrow and bramble  
Or my Simple Man ramble  
I be judged and jeered today 
Campus under threat
They say I'm incorrect 
I'm called their trigger man
I be slammed and shunned
A most unwoken one
Won't even put me on the witness stand

 Oh  Oh  play some Free Bird    

If I have to leave here tomorrow   
Cause there's no safe space in the virtual world for me 
That's Ok I'd rather just play me some Lynyrd Skynyrd
Bless ole Ronnie VanZant he was born the same day as me
And if I wanna speak my truth Sir
So many fingers gonna be pointing at me
Don't need your slogans, movements or awakenings
Cause I'm a Rock N Roll relic, stuck in the seventies 

From Jacksonville
FLA
To sweet home Alabam
I can be serious sometimes like Mr. Young
But I can also dig the Southern Man
Now if I say these things, I'll be misconstrued
Everybody's mighty touchy these days
They wanna yell instead
Don't hear a thing I said 
How I long for the Skynyrd ways

  Oh      Oh    let's play some Free Bird 

If I have to leave here tomorrow 
I'll be playing the same old tune up there you see
I know they don't dig the flag of my forefathers
Or that freedom of speech baby
For Ronnie VanZant and me
Like the Free Bird flying high now
I want nothing on my back to weigh me down
No left or right wing rantings where I'm flying
Straight through the middle, for me is the sweetest sound
Gary .... Allen...I need you
Free Bird!!!!


Hand On The Rock/Collins/Van Zant

Free Bird  (Flies Again)

Death By Toto


For Julius C, stabbed lustily, it was death by the traitors’ cuts                                                             
For David R, strumming his guitar, a single song punch to the gut 
A sonic mind destroyer, burning his circuits up
They call it Death by Toto

Karen loved that snappy tune called Africa 
By those Grammy-grabbin', multi-plat, music sophisticas
It made Davey double over, whine and wince, 
Now he can't stand up
Sufferin’ a slow demise  this Death by Toto

As they sang  "It's gonna take a lot to drag us away from you   
There's nothing that a hundred men or more couldn't do"  

The Porcaro bros,  Paich and Lukather played better than he did
They had the the fame, the coke, the groupies, the Columbia records shtick 
But 6 months to write those lyrics man,
'Bout some Olympus Serengeti shit ??
He never saw it coming… that Death by Toto

They sang,It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
I'll get you my Pretties...and your little dog too

I bless the rains down in Africa                                                                
Like a hoodoo guru
I bless the rains down in Africa 
Them boys are coming for you
I bless the rains down in Africa
Scooby Dooby Doo

Like the Wizard of Oz and Dr Livingstone, I am a trope for you to find
Escape the soft rock savannah, run from Roseanna to the jungle of my mind
Reputation cheesed, hear my Kimball wheeze, still shower singing Hold The Line
Don't you feel it coming ... Death by  Death By Toto

I bless the rains down in Africa….. Hey I'm talking to you
I bless the rains down in Africa….. I've never been there it's true 
I bless the rains down in Africa…. It's Death by Toto for you
For me, for him, for her
It's Death by Toto for you
For me, for him, for them
It's Death by Toto for you.


lyrics Hand on the Rock/ D . Paich 
music Hand on the Rock





Death By Toto

A tribute to the great Ian Hunter and a nod and a wink to any geriatric rockers still going strong. Rock on Elders
8 Mott The Hoople Song titles in the lyrics
Dig it if y'all dare...

Rock N Roll Rigor Mortis

Roll Away The Stone                                        
God is calling, he's on the phone
He's got a glambam plan, one last stand       
Before they take you home                              

Spotlight shines in your face
Hey you better put on a pair of Ian Hunter's shades
I Wish I Was Your Mother, wish I was your father
Never could put you in your place

Hey old man
What don't you understand?
Know your rights
Plead that Habeas Corpus
Hey old man 
The music makes demands
Shake off your rock n roll rigor mortis

Move your hips to the beat
Take a deep breath, unstick yourself from that seat
Shine a light through your pupil, of pure Mott the Hoople
To energise those ancient feet

Time to rise again
Like Lazarus, a comeback, this ain’t the end
You're one wild stiff, rockin all my riffs
Be careful how your body bends 

Hey old man
What don't you understand?
Know your rights
Plead that Habeas Corpus
Hey old man 
The music makes demands
Shake off your rock n roll rigor  mortis

All The Way From Memphis               
The Golden Age Of Rock N Roll     
Elvis and the Whizz Kids                
Ain’t no peace in the valley for the last patrol 
Drivin’ Sister, Jerkin’ Crocus
Help me When My Mind Is Gone
Do the shimmy shake, bring it into focus
Sing it loud this victory song

Hey old man
What don't you understand?
Know your rights
Plead that Habeas Corpus
Hey old man 
The music makes demands
Shake off your rock n roll rigor mortis

It's alive 
It's alive
It's alive 





Talking Head 

Big brain burn out, borrowed threads                                  Big suit burn down, stay in bed                                  Loquacious lies to live instead                                    
Leave me alone                                                                                   
House on fire, speak in tongues
King’s Lead Hat, I shall wear one
Like a Woolf in the water when the writing’s done
Got me a pocket full of stones

And now you talk, talk, talk, talk, talk                         
I listen and I dread                                                         
So much talk, talk, talk, talk, talk                                  
You’re such a talking head                                           
I should have stayed in school you know                   
But I didn’t like the things they said                            
All that talk, talk, talk, talk, talk  
blah, blah, blah                                                                                                                          
Louis 16 and his Habsburg Queen
Had a date with the guillotine
They could not stop the great machine
A friend they could not phone

Fight fire with fire, sell off your sons
There’s a psycho killer inside every one
Hey David Blue, I think I’m jealous of you
Let me feel your flesh and bone

And they talk, talk, talk, talk, talk
The living and the dead
I swallow every sound I hear
I need new clothes cause I’m overfed
Let’s sell our souls to the radio
Who needs poets, we can dance instead
Too much talk, talk, talk, talk, talk                                          
Blah, blah, blah



Bridge– Woa…. take me to your leader                                                    
              Squeeze my mind with your fascist rhyme                                          
              I’ll keep my spastic space and metre                                               
              Drop me in the water                                                                
              Sinking to the bottom of the bowl 
    
              Heads are gonna roll                                                                     

And I talk, talk, talk, talk, talk
Still sleeping when I leave my bed
All this talk, talk, talk, talk, talk
I guess I’m just another talking head
From the profound to the profane, the inane, the insane
Pray at the altar where these words are bled
All this talk, talk, talk, talk, talk
Blah, blah,blah





Talking Head

inspired by the MC5 Kick out the Jams intro by JC Crawford.....we are all lost children

Lost Child

I study writers and poets and self-made men      
A land of hesitations, turnarounds, and pretends   
Writers and poets, the ones who break not bend
Yes they keep me company

Outside, inside, the burn and the blame
Feeding on embers of the moth to the flame
Taking up time, the rebuild and obtain
Just to keep their company

Lost child                                                 
5 seconds to make your decision          
Lost child                                                  
Give it up, give it up today                     
Lost child                                                  
What is your purpose on the planet?     
Getting so high
With the ways and the whys                          

I studied rules and religion and science in school 
My head under water, Lake Superior fool
Now it’s September, they be draining the pool
And I've lost your company 

My fairweather fortunes, my fairweather friends 
The seasons are changing like our lives in the end
Those writers and poets and self-made men
Still keep me company

Chorus

BRIDGE:  I'm just a Ramblin' Rose... x 2

Repeat V1 and chorus

I'm just a Ramblin' Rose

(Spoken)...Brothers and sisters...you must choose….are you  gonna be the problem?….or are you gonna be the solution?…..
JC Crawford... 
the MC5…
October ...1968….
The turtles are not in the window….anymore….




Lost Child

notes :

Green on Green ...is a military term for friendly fire...  using it to describe Newport /UK Dylan incidents,  extending this to one's teenage years, family expectations, etc...
...   furthermore, the song could be  about search for identity   conformity vs. rebellion and being true to yourself through it all, blah blah blah
Somehow, I worked  Susan Dey from the Partridge Family and Patty Hearst in there-the yin and yang of my adolescent fantasies

Dylan wrote half the bridge for me ..thx man I owe you

opening soundclip is Dylan being heckled in England as they are warming up to play Like A Rolling Stone and just before he tells the band to play it f#$g loud

Green on Green         

I was born that summer night Dylan electrified
July 25th, 1965
The hands that say they love us try to crucify
Their baby boy soft machines

Being raised on the edge of a precipice
Morphed to a teenage premonition of the great abyss
When I said I never want to be a part of this
Scattered pigment in your landscape scene

They're going Green on Green
Green on Green
It’s all a matter of opinion
And I am stuck in the in-between

All the 74 Boys crushed on Susan Dey
But me I dug Patty from the SLA
With her nom de guerre our Tania
She had found another way
That was something I was meaning to do

But the dream didn’t last, and in 75
Patricia got arrested by the FBI
Both of us surrounded, we were waiting to die
Bob's in the Rolling Thunder Revue.

Going Green on Green
Green on Green
Best ignore their faux opinion
I think you know what I mean

Calling me Judas
I don't believe you, you're a liar 
All this walking on water
Now we  crawl through the fire
Leave a  knife in their back
Dripping blood on the tracks 
Well that’s how those mothers roll

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

Bobby's still in the kitchen, Tricia's lost her rage
And me I keep crossing out the words on my page
Martyr, sinner, joker, tired rocker or sage
I'm gonna sing

Till I go Green on Green
I’m going Green on Green
I'm the only one left standing
In the final scene….

Green On Green

....an old tune.... campfire version....
......too many Lou Reed records..... 

Lou Reed

You know the sin of the mother and the fist of the father 
Fuel the fires of love and hate  
Syracuse surrender, they've come to pick you up
Electric smile and medicate
I feel the body broken
They try to kill their sons
Or lock us up, this ain’t no Lady Day
Our life, their lie undone

Lou Reed, Lou Reed
In dreams begin responsibilities 
Lou Reed, Lou Reed
I'm feeling it how ‘bout you

Reject and inject, feel the New York streets
Forget about that Summer of Love 
Working for the Factory, Andy took you in
But that Velvet life was not enough
Dexys, ludes and heroin
Me, I just went back to school
Some close calls till we got off that shit
By then I had conformed to their rules

Lou Reed, Lou Reed
The glory of love is what us sinners need
Lou Reed, Lou Reed               
I’m feeling it how ‘bout  you

In my darkness                                                             
Berlin plays for me                                                      
Spinning round in circles                                              
Alaska we be free                                                          
And it was alright                                                            
It was alright    
                                                                                  
Poet, pilgrim, we’re the same my friend
Though your journey left me far behind
Street hassle meets the soft surrender
Twilight reeling inside your mind
Buddha smile and meditate
The fears are still outside the door
I kick it open and I’m getting out
Now I can see like I saw before

Lou Reed, Lou Reed
Play some football for the coach, Coney Island Baby
Lou Reed, Lou Reed
I’m feeling it how ‘bout you

Lou Reed, Lou Reed
Like a fist through the window 
the bite and the bleed
Lou Reed, Lou Reed
He's feeling it how ‘bout you

Lou Reed

them players gotta play....
but the rest of us  ....well, we struggle 
a little song about embracing limitations ..very rough and loose as expected... My aim is almost true...

Struggle with the Soloing

I got the rhythm                                                               
I got the rhyme                                                                
I got the freedom                                                           
I got the time                                                                   
I got the motive
Same for the motivation
No more excuses
Stop the wanting and the waiting
Whoa, oh, oh                                                                   
Play me some guitar hocus pocus                                     
Such a thrill, hear that Roxy Phil                               
I will lock, I will load                                                        
But I struggle                                                
Struggle 
Struggle with the soloing                                                            
Gotta perfect my Public Image, channel  Keith Levene 
Be like a Dr. Feelgood with that Wilko riff machine
I'll never be a Motorhead, I'm just a song surveyor
Following a fretboard to the land of the lead player
And Whoa oh oh oh
To me it’s all such hocus pocus
Feeling wary about Mr Berry
I am locked, I am  loaded
But I struggle
I struggle with the soloing

 Focus on the tone            
 The phrasing, stay in zone
 The hammer and the bend
 The learning never ends
 Gone solo on the wire            
 The map from fault to fire
 The effort’s everything 
 Focus, focus,                                            

The path to Kath, I’m just not finding it
Nor can I  Thunders pose my Rock n Roll or Hendrix those licks
BB, Al and Freddy, I gotta bow to those Kings
Their blue notes coloured coding inside everything
And whoa, oh no, all those sounds are just a hocus pocus
My fingers caged, how do I Beck or Page?            
The time is right 
But I struggle
I struggle 
Struggle with the soloing 




Struggle With The Soloing

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

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

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)

opening clips Kurt Cobain /Courtney Love and Courtney Barnett /  Kurt Vile..... both doing duet covers...
Leadbelly's In the Pines..Jen Cloher's Fear is Like a Forest...  .....somehow it's all supposed to relate to a song that is about, what was, what wasn't and what was wished for....
for all those who are afraid to truly fly

kurt and courtney 


I remember kurt and courtney      Dsus2  D/E

But you prefer young courtney and kurt      D/B  Asus4 A

We both danced around the devil's head    D2  D/E

Then tried to bury it deep in the dirt           D/B Asus4 A

 You played me their cover, Fear Is Like A Forest D D/E

As we sat smoking down there by the sea  D/B Asus4 A

And dreamed of time travel in a rental car D Em

So we could find that Buenos Aires beach G A


And all that was, now it is         GA

The past and future one            DG

And all you prophet sons           G A

Bite your tongue                         D


I've never been to Australia

I'm stuck in memory 

So easily aggravated 

I smell that smoke in the breeze

Plane crash down by the harbour

Bodies floating the sea

I'd rather take a road trip, so I won't think of it

In case like Buddy I fall and I freeze


And all that is, now it was

The past and future one

And all you prophet sons…..bite your tongues 


Bridge    On defence, my travel sense          Em A

               What will happen                           F#m

                What comes next                          Bm

                Like when we were young            G

                When we were young                   A


Secretly us Canadians

Nod our heads and shrug 

Winter winds won't carry those sins 

We'll never win the war on drugs 

Back then I turned you on to Nirvana 

While we were smoking down there by the sea 

As we vowed to shake our sheltered life 

Dreaming of that Bondi beach


And all that was, now it is          GA

The past and future won            DG

And all you prophet sons x3      GA

Bite your tongue                         D


(Slow)


I spun you round some kurt and courtney 

You stream me out  some courtney and kurt

And in that forest deep

Where our fears still sleep

Did I sell you on this trip of hurt?




kurt and courtney

not quite a cover...not quite an original...3 VU songs mashed into one...a sort of Holy Trinity
another homage to my mentor Lou Reed
a song for the forgotten and the misunderstood 
the ones who feel they don't belong
some things never change 

Candy Says

https://youtu.be/O4rbTBKRedE?si=-6WGLMd6NKSeOR2b

Lisa Says

https://youtu.be/RZ2877VuEwQ?si=sDyQl2L87w_tY6S4

Stephanie Says

https://youtu.be/P4tS67TDo6Y?si=eNW7LywYczM38mV9

From that world as bleak a New York street   
On a shuttered Sunday morning                     
Comes the wistful voice of a tired sister's song 
The past reveals its chosen few
To speak for the forgotten 
A reminder for the ones who don't belong 

She hates the quiet place
She hates the big decisions
Wants to watch the bluebird fly and walk away
Oh every time she makes it straight
It breaks her little heart
Break it baby, I'm only singing what you say

Candy says, I've come to hate my body   
Lisa says, She'll do it with just about anybody 
And Stephanie well,                                    
She's given half her life                              
To people she hates now                            

Forget the huddled masses
It don't matter what they think
Can you hear that sound, it's a shape shift melody
A pain that's pure and multiplying, alive in the hereafter 
Their voices blend, Lou's holy Trinity 

She lives to party
Wants to score some action 
Not afraid of dying, it's the living that scares her straight
They call them queers, queens and addicts
Try to break their little hearts
Break it baby, we're still living it today  

Chorus


BRIDGE  It's so cold in Alaska                  
                We're so far from home             
                Now she's walking                      
                away from herself                       
                Look at her go    
                        
Chorus

Lyrics  HotR/Reed
Music  HotR




Candy, Lisa and Stephanie Says...

another old recording that is  part cover part original
about my 90s fascination with Hope Sandoval and Mazzy Star...just sweet and simple music  beautifully performed in a soft understated fashion..Very soothing band to contrast with the grunge of the times that I also liked. Fade Into You although a big hit overshadowed the rest of their catalog.

For this tune, some of the words are lifted from Fade Into You.. but most are mine
I was never infatuated with her like the song suggests...I just liked the band and music ..Watching YouTube videos 30 years later I was struck by the comments of many  who were  captivated by her beauty and singing style..
So I added the fan craze element to the song, but it is more from  my observations of her persona on others, and it is not my personal experience 
Her reticent, diffident singing style apparently was  linked to her awkwardness with fame and the crowds and the cameras.....
I believe she found the attention and the stress of performing very difficult and this I totally relate to
..social anxiety can be a heavy weight to bear.....
This is what I am trying to write about if you read the lyrics carefully 
For me, the song is  really about one shy singer connecting with another. 
Hope was very brave to do what she did, feeling how she did. Much respect


When I was a boy I struggled with sin    
Faith, Hope and lust, where do I begin   
A monster awakened, electricity            
MTV Mazzy Star, my Mary Shelley 
         
Look at her singing, this angel, my crush  
Head tilting, eye shifting, my brain turns to mush 
Raven haired beauty, so soft, shy and stiff 
Haunting my head, sweet sound from her lips 
 
She sang Fade Into You          
Strange that you never knew   
Fade Into You                             
Me she never knew                   

When I was a boy I struggled to play 
To find the right words, thoughts got in the way 
I was building momentum, just biding my time 
Found hope and erupted, I'm sure it's a sign

Look at her dreaming, I can't see her hands
White dress and black boots, they don't understand 
That what she is holding, It's a message from me 
I've sent it to her, right through the TV

Fade Into You                             
Strange that you never knew  
Fade Into You                             
Me she never knew                  

Dr. Frankenstein I presume
 Sad creature from the Black Lagoon 
Like Lon Chaney howling at the moon
No one understands

Little waif  her mystery
Spins a spell to transform me
Kinda awkward no apologies
The stranger takes a stand

So write up that novel, Hold the Hand inside me
Creature, Creator, our narrative freed
This life lived in shadow, come apart and go black
Can you put it together? Why you singing like that?

Fade Into You                             
Strange that you never knew   
Fade Into You                             
Me You never knew                    
Yeah me she never knew 
Me she never knew

Lyrics HotR/Sandoval/Roback 
Music HotR



Fade Into You ...or...The Magical Tale of How Hope Sandoval Turned The Rock Into A Piece of Putty

Foreigner's Double Vision .. 2nd Album..What was I thinking?.... Got me banned for life from Towers Department Store in St. Catharines way back in 1978.
Luckily I mended my ways but I carry this burden around and generally avoid listening to Classic Rock Radio as I am triggered by this song and that other one ... Hot-blooded ...check it n see...
Apologies to Mick Jones and Lou Gramm for stealing their music and rewriting their song to sing my truth....
opening clips from The Myth of Shoplifting film 1964
end clip from the movie High Fidelity

Shoplifting (The Double Vision  Foreigner Cassette Tape)

Feeling down and dirty, no financial means
So I shoved that cassette tape down my crisp blue jeans
Slinking down the aisle, bulge between my thighs
The abandoned eighth commandment
I was such a foolish child

Yes I stole from Towers
Foreigner's Double Vision
No surprise
They threatened me with prison
Ooooh, the floor walker grabbed a hold of me
Hot-blooded, tone-deaf to apology
My one-way ticket to delinquency 

Just a grubby little juvie back in ‘78
Big brother disappointed in my musical taste 
He said, “ You could have stolen Zevon, maybe Marley or some PiL
Now you're banned for life from Towers for that boring AM swill 

I kleptified, for that Double Vision
My Mom mortified at my bad decision 
Oooh, the police want to take a drive with me
Backseat of shame, the neighbors’ eyes on me
That Double Vision shopping lesson got the best of me
They arrested me 

Oooh Double Vision
A Foreigner filch
That brought me such derision 
Oooh Double Vision
Grounded and hounded
Parental supervision 
Oooh full frontal implant
The struggle to smuggle
Cassette tape covertly in pants
Oooh that cardinal sin
Shoplifting and grifting
My Fruit of the Loom I slipped it in

Shoplifting (The Foreigner Double Vision  Cassette Tape)

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

