Hand on the Rock Selection

Life Lessons from the Rock

ok so clown cloud limits playlists to 500 tracks! Human playlist 2 here. Shade Structure opens proceedings with a funny gem

Human Confirmed Part Deaux

Over Easy

I’m singing in my favorite key                                       
You know the one, the major G                                    
To keep things easy                                                       
Over easy                                                                           
I’m strumming fast like Johnny Ramone
Although my singing’s kinda monotone
Let’s keep things easy
Over easy

How do you like it                                                           
This life we have become
Some scrambled, some hard-boiled
Some rich omeletted ones.
My shell is cracking
I got a piece stuck on my tongue
Half-baked is so much better
Than completely overdone
Over Easy                                                                          

I once was a complicated boy
Put on a suit and threw away my toys
So much for easy
Over easy
Rebel rouser solely in my mind
That’s why I’m dazed and dizzy all the time
Feeling queasy
Over easy

Chorus

Bridge-  You got some egg upon your face                       
              Wipe it off and stay in place                                 
              There ain’t no time to break on through                    
              Step out of line, this ain’t no joke                         
              Fuck it up and poke your yolk                              
              If it can run, so can you                                        

I’m singing  in my favourite key
I’m singing in my favourite key
I'm singing in my favourite key…you know the one,
you know the one,  you know the one
Over easy …over easy…etc…..



Over Easy

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

life lesson by Sleepaway Camp 1983...Ricky rulez...Bill not so much....
Brought to you by the letter Ch as in cheesy

Why do we fight? All this eye for an eye                     
 Insults and put downs, saying things like “Eat shit and die”   
 We could have better manners                        
 Maybe just forget and forgive
 To paraphrase the Buddah, 
we's all got to eat shit and live….          

Now Bill and Ricky they could not get along              
Sleepaway campers 
Best part of this song
Teenage tigers going tit for tat                                    
Their words like weapons, how they spit and spat 

Juvenile expressions of excrement
Odorous impressions of discontent
Swallowing their anger using bathroom wit
We’re all gonna taste it one day

Bill said,“Eat shit and die Ricky!”                                 
Ricky said, “Eat shit and live Bill!”                               
Bill said, “Eat shit and die Ricky”
Ricky said, “Eat shit and live Bill”
We’re all gonna eat shit and live

Your hands are getting dirty, they will not come clean
After taking a dump in life’s Mensch-Maschine
No soap for your sins, for your body or face
Swallowing now, you won’t enjoy the taste

Billy and Ricky well they know the score
Baseball battles like love and war
Winners and losers, forget all the rules
And mangé la merde
Well that’s French, you tool

Bill said,“Eat shit and die Ricky!”
Ricky said, “Eat shit and live Bill!”
Bill said, “Eat shit and die Ricky”
Ricky said, “Eat shit and live Bill”
We’re all gonna eat shit and live

Perchance to dream                                                       
Perchance to wake                                                         
Lick the icing off your cake                                           
Happy Birthday boy                                                       
We’re glad that you dropped by                  
Now here’s some shit, it waits for you                         
Like Bill and Ricky you’ll be tasting it too                    
But will you live or will you die?                                   

Bill said,“Eat shit and die Ricky!”
Ricky said, “Eat shit and live Bill!”
Bill said, “Eat shit and die Ricky”
Ricky said, “Eat shit and live Bill”
We’re all gonna eat shit and live


words: Hand On The Rock/Jonathan Tiersten/Robert Hiltzik
music:  Hand On The Rock





          



Eat Shit and Live

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

Robert DeNiro  

Watching movies back in 76                                       
We all dug Taxi Driver                                                    
See the people how they’re passing him by
"Hey Sport How’s Iris?"
Pushups, pullups, alone in his room
No more pills for his body
He’s organized, his muscles are tight
Training to be somebody

Are you talkin’ to me?                                                     
Well, I'm the only one here
Are you talkin’ to me?

I wanna be like Robert DeNiro                                     
He was my Raging Bull, my anti-hero                        
Resonated with all of us weirdos
I wanna be like Robert DeNiro       

On those Mean Streets, shufflin’ his feet
He don’t trust anybody
Maybe not the best way to be
He wants to be somebody
You saw what happened to poor Johnny Boy
"We don’t pay Mooks" and that’s that
“Now's the Time”, then a shot through the void
Somebody’s paying him back

Are you talkin’ to me?
I think you're talking to me

I wanna be like Robert DeNiro
He was my Raging Bull, my anti-hero
Resonated with all of us zeros
I wanna be like Robert DeNiro   

You never got me down Ray   
Better to be king for a night     
Than a schmuck for a lifetime  
I always preferred Godfather 2 
I think it was because of you    
Hey Robert projecting to that little world of mine  

We both grew older over the years
Not so serious lately
Middle age and those Senior fears
We're getting grey and less shapely
You served me well then, back in my youth
Now it all seems so hazy
Let's travel back, take a New York trip
And hang out with Scorsese

Are you talkin’ to me?

I wanna be like Robert DeNiro
He was my Raging Bull, my anti-hero
Resonated, reverberated with all of us weirdos
I wanna be
Maybe you wanna be
Nobody can be like Robert DeNiro

Robert DeNiro



Feb 11 1963....Death of Sylvia Plath... 62 years ago... 
Florida Dawn reference found within the pages of  the Bell Jar her only novel
Sylvia Plath reading a portion of Lady Lazarus opens tune...

Florida Dawn

All that we touch                                       
Turns to dust                                            
The flesh gone frantic                              
The ink upon the page                         
The idea stays                                         
Reading pages of Plath                            
Such a sad aftermath                               
I picked up those letters                             
And sprinkled some bits on your grave       
See love where it lays                                 

That February spinning round                       
Breath is getting thin                                     
Sit and watch the ocean tide                         
Centuries crashing in                                     
In the Florida Dawn                                        
Another episode of cruel                                
The leader and the ones lead on                    
Who's playing tricks on who?                          

Rain begets rust                                           
Turns steel into dust                                     
The flesh gone static                                    
A chemical tease for the brain                    
Why did you read her again?                          
She did a Sylvia Plath                                 
Climbing into the bath                                    
I'll spare you the details,                               
the end result was the same                       
Minus the fame                                            

Now everything is spinning round                 
In this space I'm in                                       
I sit and watch the ocean tide                        
All those centuries crashing in                       
In the Florida Dawn                                       
Replay your episode of cruel                            
The leader and the one lead on                    
Who's playing tricks on who?                          

I walk these words and find myself              
Where you said you'd be 
I walk these words to where you ought to be                            
But there's only me                                       







Florida Dawn

some pessimistic rantings about the sorry state of the planet with help from some of the original Star Trek gang...all the clips taken from the episode City on the Edge of Forever...great episode about time travel..very well written, profound,funny and sad.....  DeForest Kelly as a delirious Dr McCoy delivers a masterclass in overacting...

You!! What Planet Is This?

Captain Kirk can't preserve our federation
You better beam him up Scotty
Politicos, polluters and corporate power players
All flash and fake and shoddy
Paranoia, planet-panic
My fear, it multiplies
Like McCoy trippin’ out on Cordrazine
A raging question plagues my mind

You! What Planet Is This?
Phasers set to stun
World come undone
One step from the abyss 
You! What Planet Is This?
From greed to gun
Real-life science fiction fun

Mr. Spock can't wave off, our project in illogic
Better beam him up Scotty
Frustrated with the intellect of all us human players 
As we destroy Earth’s mind and body
Patriotic ploys gone frantic
Terra firma fools collide
The air impure, thoughts incorrect 
Edith Keeler must die

You!  What planet is this?
Take a leap through time
Try to save mankind
From the march to the precipice
You! What Planet Is this?
Silly Star Trek song
Hope I got the ending wrong

Run Run DeForest
Run Run Doctor Run
Run through the cities 
With the maniacs and moneyed ones
Run Run Children
Run Run Children Run
You better Run
Run

You! What Planet is this?
Third from the sun
You know, the violent one
Exploding in our midst
You! What Planet is this?
Watch the lights go out
As we twist and shout








You!!!  What Planet is this?

This year is the 50th anniversary of the ABC Movie of the week Trilogy of Terror- It was 3 chilling adaptions of 3 short stories written by the great sci fi author Richard Matheson. The late Karen Black ( not only a wonderful actress,she was also a great singer and songwriter) starred in all 3 of the features playing 4 characters.  As 12 year old kids of course we were the most horrified and terrified by the final story Amelia - a  story about  a demonic warrior doll that comes to life and starts attacking poor Ms. Black
here is a youtube link to Amelia the third story in the Trilogy of Terror ( 24 minutes)-https://youtu.be/hjr0ziHwraw

 Starts out pretty chill but the last 10 mins of that film were very intense for us in 1975 ..we kids couldn't sleep well for a few nights .. I wrote the song as an homage to the story/movie/Ms. Black ( she didnt really like the movie) as well as using the story as  metaphor for the demons that live in us all
my electric guitar playing scared the dog as usual
hope my silly song does not scare you too much
3 short clips from Amelia are spliced in there


Karen Black And That Creepy Doll Attack

The hunter and the hunted
The virtue and the sin
Inside of every creature
Light and dark reside in them

Zuni Hunter Fetish Doll
The puppet seeks its prey
That TV movie freaking out
Us kids back in the day

Trilogy of Terror
The duality of man
Unrestrained we let our monsters roam
On which side will you stand

The camera films a gruesome tale
Shag carpet bloody scenes
Kitchen knives and voodoo jive
A f$%ked up figurine

Karen Black
And that creepy doll attack
Wish I coulda been there
To pull it off her back
Karen Black
She ain't coming back
He who kills, all screech and shrill
Has got her mind hijacked

Break

The moral meets the message
Let fight defeat the fear
Repressed regret you can't forget
Like finger pricked by spear

She can't smother, drown or stab it
Or burn it up you see
When she locked it in a suitcase
It escaped eventually 

Take the hate from your heart
And turn it on its head
Or like the Zuni wooden doll
It hunts you down instead

Stand up against the doubters
Don't doubt the space you find
Ignore those dirty demon dolls
Who scream inside your mind

Ms. Karen Black
Why does she smile like that
Her Zuni fate, she sits in wait
Her Mama will get whacked
Karen Black
Such a creepy doll attack 
Quadruple billed her acting thrilled
My half century flashback

Karen Black
Karen Black and that creepy doll attack 
Karen Black 
Karen Black and that creepy doll attack

Karen Black & that Creepy Doll Attack

another old recording that is  part cover part original
about my 90s fascination with Hope Sandoval and Mazzy Star...

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

Everyone’s a victim of some shit these days
Lost in their addiction or latest malaise
Or some new craze I’m amazed our days ain’t hazier than this
It seems to me our dreams are broken
Tragic scenes ain’t left unspoken
They’re cracked open in the hoping
other folk can find the bliss
How has it come to this 
But when that like lights on 
It doesn’t feel so wrong 
So I guess I’m gonna have to join the wrong song club
And spill my guts
But that’s the way we’re programmed 
Put the shit aside I’m guessing no man really can decide if it’s really wrong or right any time of day or any time of night

Join the club

Well  I’m confused about the modern world, am I hero or villain?
Will the things my daddy taught me leave me in a cell just chilling
Well I’m willing to accept the change as long as daddy gets the blame
Cos I don’t even like the name he gave me
Now I don’t deal with stress that well
It should be daddy in this cell
And if he really loved me then he’d save me
I think that’s the size of this modern life , it’s never at my door
And I feign surprise at all the new lies I swear he’s heard before
Daddy tell em , tell em quick , tell em where you heard that shit
Before they nail my nutsacks to the floor
And I’m only 44
Could you please tell em for me that it’s been your reflected glory that I’ve been far too busy basking in
And from your hearts repository maybe rewrite my history
Tell em how much mummy loved her gin
So come on daddy step up and take the blame 
Don’t it break your heart to see me crying again 

Music and lyrics by Shane

Dads fault

A song about using my defense mechanism of humor to avoid conflict and achieve romance. Dedicated to class clowns everywhere.
Sorry I've been off SC lately, I've been taking care of a few things.

Lyrics:
I was just having a drink
In a bar on the rough side of town
Yeah, minding my own business
And these tough guys come up to me
They say: "Hey, we're tough guys."
"we don't like you drinking sparkling Chablis,"

Well, I had a real good read on the situation
I've got the gift of gab (talk) from my Dad
I'm a samurai of summation
I buy my sarcasm firsthand

I said: Gentlemen, may  I suggest a truce?
Let me be the peacemaker and buy you a bottle of booze
Then I got loose
I left them with a bill
For a three hundred dollar
Bottle of Chartruse

Oh, I listened to what my Mama say
You're gonna have to fight those boys someday
But if you use your brain
Then you'll find another way
Fight back, hit em in the funny bone (3X)
Funny bone

I was a young undergrad
A full-time miscreant
A part-time handsome man
I needed to get the attention of the ladies
But I wasn't that good-looking
But I knew what I had

I had a good read on the situation
I have the gift of gab from my Dad
I'm a samurai of summation
I buy my sarcasm firsthand

I listened to what my Mama say
If those girls don't give you the time of day
You're gonna have to use your brain
Then you'll find another way 
Step back, appeal to her funny bone (3X)
Funny bone

Funny Bone

you can watch this jam here https://youtube.com/shorts/9d1VvIF2iUQ?si=VnRRu9WwyCEdthqf

random jam with Matt 02

Optimistic nihilism with sloppy guitar  banging and  strained vocals..scared the dog into the closet
vocal samples Tim Matheson and John Belushi from the movie  Animal House (1978) opens the song, and Mickey Rourke, doing his best Bukowski imitation from the movie Barfly (1987) ends it
...this point about pointless....that's all I got.....

Sometimes Futile and Stupid Is All That I Got

Sometimes futile and stupid, is all that I've got
This dabble in dead-end, a root in the rot
My point about pointless
Yeah, I'm taking a shot
Let's go, let's go, let's go 

You know futile and stupid, it's fearless and free
Original thinker meets the bastard in me
Stop banging your head
We can run with John B
Let's go, let's go, let's go

My Titanic tune is sinking
I'll keep playing all the while
You wonder what's that shit I'm drinking
Here's to all my friends 
As we go down in style

Sometimes futile and stupid is the best way to roll
If you cut me some slack, I'll dig you a hole
A whole lot of nothing
All poetic patrol
Let's go, let's go, let's go

Break

But I just keep on singing
With my doomed and dumbstruck smile
See the chaos choir clinging
To all my friends
As we shove off in style

All this futile and stupid, it ain't that bad
The effort is key, the failure so rad
Our rush and our roar 
Beats brilliant and sad
Let's go, let's go, let's go 

Sometimes futile and stupid, it's all that we got
To make it, you break it, put pointless in plot
Cause trying means flying
Yes half-baked is hot
Let's go, let's go, let's go
Let's go, let's go, let's go
Sometimes stupid and futile
Is all you need to know



Sometimes Futile and Stupid Is All That I Got

Magnetic Triangle (Beyond the Noise)

There’s a treasure down deep in this wonderland
To find it, plug your nose, feel the dirt on your hands
The word and rhyme, a message, in a song it stands
my rock n roll Rosetta Stone 

