“Rest”

Nana
We care
That’s why we’re here
Please don’t fear
We all love you
And won’t go anywhere

(Oh don’t you fret, my dear,
Remember, it’s your family;
They’ve come from far away
But see how now they’re here)

Rest
Down right here
In your chair
And won’t you share
A memory
From all of your years

(Oh lean back, rest, my dear,
Your heart is beating rapidly;
You need not rise
All your family draws near)

When I was a child
I’d raise my arms
And my mother would dress me
In gowns
Of crimson and violet flowers

Now
We are near
Don’t despair
I’ll brush your hair
Til sleep’s dim eyes
Do bear you away

When I was a child
I saw reflected
Through a glass
A face like mine
But dimly radiant
Divine
Now I see it
Nearly defined

---
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Rest

“Dreamland Sam”

Supermarket’s full
Food rots in the fridge
Diseases on the cure
Addicts on the binge
Internet world tour
Virtual celebrity bore
Freedom’s harried cheer
Who’s watching the kids?

Dreamland Sam
Carry the weight like a gun in your hand

Give and give to poor
Take and ask for more
Richer than a king
To the rich we cling

O say can’t you see
An American dream like a pell-mell spree

Freedom—Duty—Threesome—Booty
Living in a dream, don’t know what it means
Virtue—Family—Voodoo—Envy
Tethered by a string to all the little things

Police on every beat
Criminals walking free
Voice extends its reach
Vigilantes screech

Dreamland Sam

Information glut
Knowledge undercut
Computers in our hands
Homeless roam the land

All that we use
Doesn’t equal to what we stand to lose

Freedom—Duty—Eagle—Booby
Living in a dream, don’t know what it means
Virtue—Family—Kung-fu—Fantasy
Tethered by a string to all the little things

Dreamland Sam
O what does it mean?
What do we do in the land of the free?
Dream dream dream

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Dreamland Sam

“Lucy’s Song”

My darling
Father’s love
My darling
Little dove
Wobble, wobble til you toddle
Toddle into father’s arms
Open arms

My darling
Father’s bliss
My darling
Little miss
Growing, quicker than you’re showing
Quicker than my eye can see
Everything

O, when you laugh
I see all life dance before you

My darling
Father’s cheer
My darling
Little dear
Smiles, adorn your face
Shining joy of heaven’s grace

My darling
Father’s love
My darling
Little dove
Whisper, into my ear
Tell me what you fear—
And it’ll be gone
Father’s love is very strong

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Lucy's Song

“Cave Pop Ruckus”

A new age has risen
Myopic vision
Cavernous
Upon the cinder walls
Strange shadows crawl
Cadaverous
Light from a phantom hand
	Who bears the phantom hand?

Man and woman chained
Wide-eyed trained
Imaginous
Words come to mouth
Ideas to sprout
Garrulous
Words to a phantom pair
	Who put the words there?

Words are the tiny seeds that grow what your eyes see
Sight is the periscope that reveals what your mind probes
Mind is the machine that catalogues all meaning
The world is the extent of what you find as content

Marionettes and hand puppets
Dance to the latest pop ruckus

Narrative, so formatively normative
Is sung into our heads

I pull, you pull, pull away
From the chains that hold us prey

Crawling towards a light
That might lead us up, out, outside
(higher higher higher higher)

Outside the cave
Sunlight blaze
Wondrous
Things stand obscure
No longer sure
Ambiguous
Where is the truth here?
	Who tells the truth here?

He says this and she says that
It’s a competition of personality as well as of the facts
B-b-but

But first it’s a question of your epistemology
What’s certain to you may not be so to me
B-b-but

But then again we’re in the political domain
So matters philosophical have all gone down the drain
B-b-but

But first we must agree upon our terms
Without a common meaning
We’re just talking taking turns ... taking turns

Kion vi celas per tio

What do you mean by that?

---
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Cave Pop Ruckus

“Who Is My Neighbor?”

I have a neighbor
Who lives across the hall
I don’t know his name
Don’t know much about him at all

We pass with a nod in the hall
We ride the lift together
I wonder if he likes football
I think I’ll ask him later

But I know later is never
But I don’t know if it matters

Who are all these people around me
Who am I to them, who are they to me
Who are all these people who confound me
Are they so strange or is it me

I ride the subway
Lots of people there
Sometimes I see the same ones
Like that girl with auburn hair

I’d like to strike up a conversation
But I don’t wanna risk some complication

See all the many people
Sitting knee to knee
The one don’t know the next one
What he thinks, feels, or needs

You’re welcome to make a common guess
But, way things are, you’re liable to get in a mess

Who are all these people around me
Who am I to them, who are they to me
Who are all these people who confound me
Are they so strange or is it me

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Who Is My Neighbor?

“Rant in D Minor”

Another song
Another lyric
Another generic hit
For others to mimic

Another film
Another director
With the hero’s vision
Of a tenured lector

Another painter
Another painting
Some colored canvas
For the cognoscenti

Another book
Another author
Who writes on life
With uninspired tender

But what’s it for?
What’s the purpose?
When modern art
Is modern circus

With truth so piddling,
Who’s even listening?

But the critics write
And the masses follow
And if you want more
Just wait for tomorrow

If art is dead
In pop’s holocaust
Then we’re only playing
So let’s give up the ghost

Another day
Another dollar
Another year
And you’ll feel even smaller

Another election
Another issue
Another politician
And this one lies, too

Another war
Another enemy
This one’s small
But, hey, there are many

Another purchase
Another thing
To add to the collection 
Of your other things

But what’s it toward?
And does it serve our purpose
When modern life
Just makes us nervous

Show me the living
The more-than-existing

But the papers print
And the money follows
And if you want change
Don’t dream of tomorrow

If truth is dead
Where’s your Pentecost?
Still we’re only playing
So let’s give up the ghost

They wake you in the morning
When you’ll live it all again
But what they never tell you
Is that history’s at its end
We’re no longer building up
We’re only filling out
The hearth has cracked
And we can’t heal it with clout
Lars pilfer from the temples
Celebrities preach from the stands
And everyone lives life like it’s normal
But I just can’t understand

What’s it for?
What’s the purpose?
When the modern dream’s
Expanded social services?

Are our dreams so middling
That now they’re crippling?

But the alarms they ring
And asleep we follow
And it you want the good life
Don’t wake up tomorrow

If life is vain
Then it has no cost
And we’re only playing
So let’s give up the ghost

But we’ll keep playing
At our hollowed customs
Like children playing
A game of twiddly-thumbs

Without even winning
Keep on spinning

And we’ll keep playing
So to feed the markets
Like desperate farmers
In barren gardens

But if truth is dead
And life’s a toss
Why’re we still playing
Let’s give up the ghost
give up the ghost
give up the ghost

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Rant in D Minor

“Sing, My Soul”

I did lift my soul
To a loftier mold

Then did my soul sing
Joyful in its ring

But then did modern vanity
Steal within my soul

In place of idols great and old
It left naught but a hole

Why sigh low, my soul
When joy you ought sing?

Or have you no higher goal
That might reign your king?

When once the firmament stood firm
Now it shattered lies

And in the rubble stands mankind
With no solace for its cries

Sing once more, my soul
Sleep not in deep sighs

Sing with joy to extol
The sublimity of life

---
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Sing, My Soul

“The Kids Are Alright?”

Get woke and check out our children
Seventy-five million wandering pilgrims
That we’ve set loose among us
With their snooty smugness
They’re right not to trust us
Oh no no

Your dead-named daughter’s a vegan trans king
He’s gone viral cancelling virtually everything
Poppin Lupron to change his body
Barely a teen but he’s got a mastectomy
Radical, dude

But the kids are alright
The kids are alright, right?
And the kids will guide
The kids will guide us
Like pubescent prophets
Lying sinister in supermarkets
And they’ll be alright
They’ll be alright
When the future comes to claim
The childhood we ourselves let maim

Look out her comes your self-righteous stepson
Demands a gun ban or he might get one
The budding-fascist hates parochial school
Girls are cool but bully boys will drool blood
Look out!

But the kids are alright
The kids are alright, right?
And the kids will guide
The kids will guide us
Like pubescent prophets
Lying sinister in supermarkets
And they’ll be alright
They’ll be alright
When the future comes to claim
The childhood we ourselves let maim


Childhood in the age of retribution
Family as a mental institution
How bad does it have to get
Before we wake ourselves up
And realize the kids are real upset

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

The Kids Are Alright?

“The Endurance of Love”

From low, down in a hole
Crawled up through a crevice, all the way to heaven
From bent, down on the knees
Stood up to the throne, went from mill to touchstone
From caught in an oppressive regime
Resisted violent power, a tale to empower
From down and out on the street
Overcame addiction to transcend submission

A dream—I’ve got a dream
A dream of you and me
And that there’ll be—another time
For us to meet—another world
For us to see—another life
For us to be—another way
For us to—

Celebrate and love each other
Each one himself and each one another
Come together and rediscover the endurance of love

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

The Endurance of Love

“Vengeance of the Rat King”

Tragedy when party’s over
All your friends are short long-goners
Memories of camaraderie have flip-flopped, turned and now are soured
Like the hope that once did dope you
Some half-baked, du jour worldview
That was your highbrow breakthrough
—With inside jokes and ego strokes and grandiose retorts

The party’s over
Nothing to see here
Just a stopover . . . to the future!

What’s that scurrying in the wainscoting?
Must be the Rat King!
Who’s that wheeling on a head of cheese?
That must be him!
The one to incite all the mice
The one to knight the pawns
The one whose bite has a devastating price
The one whose nails are always drawn
—And he has come for you, dear!

Who’s that handing out the rotted cheese?
Of course it’s the Rat King!
Who’s that riling up the young mice-ees?
(That’s him, too!)
He’s got no scruples ‘bout beguiling young dupils 
He’s got a flexible spine
He’s got no thought but to choke you with his garrote
He’s got a steely twine
—And he has come for you, dear!

The carpet of mice ripples as they wriggle
Erecting with their bodies a pelt dais
Shocked, you scramble up upon your table
To hear the raised Rat King launch his dispraise
His topic is the failings of your being
His words hurt, but there shall be no appealing
For now the mice are on the dash for vengeance
As one the mischief rises like a god’s hand
And strikes with bites of wrath which is your sentence
As with your tongue are you gagged
And then they scurry sated back to their holes
Back to their holes

Tragedy when party’s over
All your friends are short long-goners
Memories of wrathful feasts that never ceased have now turned bitter
Like the joke that now has laughed you
From the clique-clack of the who’s who
To the oblivion of your fall-through
Shamed and shunned and smeared and jeered and devoured full alive

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Vengeance of the Rat King

“Father Burns (In His Cell)”

Sights to fill their eyes
Noise to fill their ears
All the show man can devise

Rod of gold for my mind
Four walls for my flesh
All to serve a higher life

Yet still I hold out
A hope for the past
And a hope for a new Passover
Free of the beast of Babylon

But I know it’s going to be a long time
Til I cast my eyes over
Over the land of paradise

Until then—I kneel
Down in silence
Until then—kneel
Down in darkness
Down in crooked crosses
Down in blasted wombs
Down in forked gossip
Down in cortex tombs

Nothing’s new under the sun
Variety beggars surprise
More and more makes man less than

Nothing’s old to the wise
Lost truths discovered anew
With empty hands man claims his prize

Yet still I hold out
A hope for the future
And a hope for a new higher culture
The renaissance of a pantheon

But I fear it’s going to be a long time
Til we lift our spirits higher
Higher to a new-world paragon

Until then—I kneel
Down in silence
Until then—kneel
Down in darkness
Down in heroes’ ashes
Down in wearied words
Down in exhausted passion
Down among the herds

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Father Burns (In His Cell)

“Sol-III”

Straight from the mind of Zeus
Here comes the latest news
They’re planning an intergalactic cruise

Celebrities and talk-show hosts all gathered in a room
Philosophers and scientists were invited, too
The best that our world leaders could choose

Together they conceived a plan that would amuse
Billions of people here that live their lives confused
They’d colonize a new planet or two

The ship was built, the crew was got, and no one could refuse
The new hope awoken in souls so long unused

And what will they find there in that world beyond our world?
What will they make there in that world that’s yet to be?
What wondrous things await in the future yet deferred?

Surely not the things that now fill our dusty books
Surely not those things from the past
Surely not the things we keep hiding in our nooks
Surely all past things will have passed

Waiting on spaceship Groon
We’ve yet to get the news
So lick your lips and whet your hope anew

Meanwhile the people here that live their lives confused
Continue searching for new things that will amuse
Anything to keep them on the move

And the best world leaders that we could ever choose
Continue fighting wars they neither win nor lose

What will they find there in that world beyond our world?
What will they make there in that world that’s yet to be?
What wondrous things await in the future yet deferred?

Surely not the things we find living on the earth
Surely all earth-things will not last
Surely not the things that now rob our lives of worth
Surely life will then be recast

Surely not the things that now fill our dusty books
Surely not those things from the past
Surely not the things we keep hiding in our nooks
Surely all past things will have passed

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Sol III

“The Patriarch’s Apology”

Birthed in the Age of Reason
I raised freedom from the page
And upon a hill I raised its house
For those of the future age

Yet now the house that hope did build
Resents its lofty place
And for the crime of rising up
They’d have me fall upon my face

To indulge in the privilege of a bitter taste
We diet on sweets and suck in our waists
But confronted with man’s endless hypocrisy
And it’s a bitter too much for our vanity

In my youth I drenched the soil
With the cultures I effaced
And through my adolescence
I dragged in chains an entire race

And if these sins should now abort 
The truths I first professed
Then the tyranny of history
Shall forever us molest

To indulge in the privilege of a bitter taste
We diet on sweets and suck in our waists
But confronted with man’s endless hypocrisy
And it’s a bitter too much for our vanity

A house made up of people
May find people for its blame
But to vilify a nation
Is to undermine its very frame

Blessed be your right
To bring to light foulest villainies
But spare the house of freedom
And from history find liberty

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

The Patriarch's Apology

“Pretty Darling (I’m of Two Minds)”

Falling down stairs
Are romantic affairs
Our two lips touch
Like two conjoined hands
The feel of the push
Is the flush of the glands
And what begins in a rush
Often ends in a crash
If it’s more than a crush
It outlasts a hot flash
And so it is patience
We ought follow as our guide
It reigns slow cadence
Yet renders safe our stride
So patience be prude
Lest we fall too soon, I say

Pretty darling
Hush is the word
And by hush we ought abide
Only fools gush their love
Let’s not lose our minds
Pretty darling
Patience is wise
Where the heart doth preside
The way of love is narrowly set
But heartbreak opens wide

Crawling down stairs
Are retarded affairs
Our two feet tied 
By an inept plan
Patience as a guide 
Is a foiling con man
It proceeds at a dawdle
And deceives in the fast
Darling, immortal
Love shall always last
But we time beggars
We’ll never get the chance
So let us embrace lovers
And join in the dance
And if a fall ensues
At least I’ll fall with you

All for your love
Can’t wait no longer
All for your love
Love is pushing harder
All for your love
I see no danger
All for your love
Both got the hunger

Pretty darling
I’m of two minds
But my will is set on one
In the contest of feeling and reason
I feel my heart’s as good as won
Pretty darling
Patience is wise
But it’s love that doth preside
The way of love is narrowly set
We shall walk it side by side

All for your love
Can’t wait no longer
All for your love
Love is pushing harder
All for your love
I see no danger
All for your love
Both got the hunger
What confounding labor
All for your love

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Pretty Darling (I'm of Two Minds)

“Game of Denial”

I’m doing fantastic
	(I’m feeling space)
Thanks for asking
	(Why do you say?)
In the game of denial
	(This game I play)
I’ve got a winning smile
	(I lie with my face)

They’re always asking, Aren’t you worried?
	(They see through space)
I’m always asking, Do I seem worried?
	(Looks hide the face)
They always answer, No, not really
	(Why don’t you say?)
Then why’d you bother asking, silly?
	(Along, we play)

Tell me the truth
Or push back on my lies
Whatever you say
I will deny

My life is a mess—that I deny
But I’m doing my best
And feelin’ alright

I’m doing califragic
	(I feel afraid)
Talkin’ pax monastic
	(I hide away)
In the game of healing
	(My life I play)
I’ve got that encompassing feeling
	(Embracing space)

They’re always asking, Are you hurting?
	(They see my play)
And I ask, Why would I be hurting?
	(Lost and afraid)
The universe has healed me fully
	(Hide me away)
I am now a vessel of healing
	(Empty as space)

Tell me the truth
Or push back on my lies
Whatever you say
I will deny

Is it delusion or peace that I’ve found
It’s my solution
I’m on the rebound
. . .
A man convinced against his will
Is of his own opinion still
For none can sway and none can quell
Some fire he’s lit beyond his skill

And wisdom spoke with kindly tongue
Unto the gasp of patience’s lungs
Cannot prevail against dried dung
When in his ears it’s fastly bunged 

And family, friends, and erstwhile guides
Cannot contend with tailored pride
When he esteems so smart his mind
He twirls it smugly at his side

And nature neither can withstand 
The fancies of an arcane hand
When on her image he embrands
His secret knowledge and demands

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Game of Denial

“The Trial of Mary Wick”

Gathered here our coven,
I raise the matter grave:
Among us there are cowans
Who don’t believe the same

They praise the Demon Goddess
Or so their words proclaim
But behind their utterance
They don’t believe the same

They stare at computers
They use feigned names
They text other users
Who don’t believe the same

They must be exposed
And to the public shamed
We must punish those
Who don’t believe the same

Mary Wick, Mary Wick
The computers lie
Mary Wick, Mary Wick
Believe the same or die
(Agh! She’s not a witch!)

Before us: Mary Wick
The Wick of recent fame
Her texting makes me sick
As one who does believe the same

My very daughter saw her
Perusing cowan teachings
She then informed my daughter
Which really hurt her feelings

My son who is no liar
He watched her post a meme
He read it was a cipher
That mocked us as extreme


All her tears and please
Let them fall in vain
But keep her on her knees
With those who don’t believe the same

Mary Wick, Mary Wick
The computers lie
Mary Wick, Mary Wick
Believe the same or die
(Agh! She’s not a witch!)

Oh she’s a deplorable cowan—tut-tut-tut
Oh she’s an ideological slut
Oh she’s a technological nut-nut-nut
Oh she’s an epistemological mutt

Oh she’s in league with radicals—tut-tut-tut
Oh she’s a demagogical flirt
Oh she’s a computer-texting nut-nut-nut
Oh wish someone’d make her hurt

Humbly I ask, listen please
Humbly I ask, not for me
I see them now, hateful eyes
Though innocent, I’m to die
Resigned am I, to my fate
Yet after me, others wait
I speak for them, their welfare
I beg you please, please beware

An evil spirit, I know not what
Threatens our bonds to cut
With wiles and subtleties
To spread this suspicious disease
The conscience shrinks in fright
Though conscious, black as night
The future I pray brings peace
But here, I die as one fully free

Oh her words are dangerous, shut her up
Oh what cloying trite muck
Oh the things she says, burn us up
Oh someone quick and gag her talk

Hang her up, hang her up, hang her high to die

Oh curse her prideful kneeling, pull her up
Oh drag her onto the gallows deck
Oh we’ve spoken last, hang her up
Oh pull the noose tight around her neck

Hang her up, hang her up, hang her high to die

Mary Wick, Mary Wick
Hanged dead for no crime
Mary Wick, Mary Wick
Hanged dead as a sign (/for all time)

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

The Trial of Mary Wick

“Castle Mind”

Run
Through the gardens
Of your mind
A castle guarded
Yet undefined
Your dearest fancies
Your secret friend

Here
Take your sword
It’s just a stick
But vastly more
With a little magic
All your own
You’re on your own
But not alone, never

Life will always be like this
Timeless, charming, childish bliss
Open-hearted mind-soul kiss

Search
The many worlds
That you contain
Imagination whirls
Over it you reign
A fearless knight
A noble, dashing swain

Dash
Shadowed figments
In your mind
The castle’s breached
But unresigned
You’re nearly grown
All up on your own
But not alone, never

Boredom befalls the idle mind
Fruitful soil out of time
Where I myself my self do find

Hold
To your vision
Beyond your walls
Nothing’s what it seems
No not at all
World growing real
Here comes the fall

Grasp
Fading images
From your sleep
Life’s laid you low
Now sleep’s your keep
All on your own
You’re on your own
And so alone, you never...

Imagined life would be like this
A bleak and unforgiving blitz
That cannot be dreamed over

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Castle Mind

“don’t believe in story”

wanna cry
can’t empathize
don’t believe in story

so many lies
can’t recognize
weary of the wary

words that try
can’t characterize
don’t relieve the empty

pathetic sigh
sardonic wry
what it is without story

still and all anyway okay

how trust anyone else
when don’t believe in life itself

haven’t cried
haven’t empathized
lost faith in story

was a man
lived and died
then rose in glory

opened eyes
changed life
sacred ceremony

going where to and from can’t say
no yesterday tomorrow only today
spinning whirling twirling twisting monkey
still and all anyway okay

how trust anyone else
when don’t believe in life itself

bone dry
post-modernized
don’t believe in story

artificial dye
tongue-tied awry
masquerading folly

live and die
no through-line
so it goes without glory

no you no i
hello goodbye
what it is without story

still and all anyway

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

don't believe in story

“Jonah!”

Th’Lord called down from heaven
Said the wicked need a preach
But I saw through his lazy plan
And I fled out of reach

Now the wicked whip up the ocean
And the demons’re after me
Oh, when the Lord calls down for a favor, yeah, his voice ain’t so sweet

Take my will ‘cause you say gimme all
Take my mind ‘cause I always get it wrong
And take my life in the bargain ‘cause you give me no peace

I jumped into the sea
And the Lord sicced his fish on me
It swallowed me soul and body
And now I’m finally free

Don’t you even dare save me
I don’t care for your saving
All you wanna do is use me
Go find an angel for your plaything

Go tend to your forsaken
The wicked you got your heart on
O I know you’re gonna forgive them
You’re only hard on the first born

I believe you’re a gracious God
But I think you’re an angry fraud / getting soft

From the forgotten
To the known
I bless all who are my own
And I am
Who I am
Whether I forgive or if I damn
I am God

From out the fish’s belly
Spit onto the beach
I went down to Ninevah
And I gave a preach
And sure as hell, they repented, and the Lord gave reprieve

Take my ears ‘cause I can’t hear no more
Take my eyes ‘cause I’ve sure seen it all
And take my life in the bargain ‘cause you give me no peace

The Lord, he sprouted some shade
So underneath it I laid
But then he smote it for fun
And I burned up in the sun

Don’t you dare say you love me
You’re just a burden with your loving
Oh go ahead and you get angry
Even the wicked know you’re bluffing

Don’t you dare say you love me
You’re just a burden with your loving
You only burden those you love
Yeah, you only burden those you love

(Jonah’s Prayer)

In my distress I called on the Lord
Took three days but he answered me
From deep in the realm of the dead
He heard my plaintive plea

He hurled me into the depths
Into the very heart of the sea
The raging currents all swirled around
And his waves swept over me

I cried ‘O I been banished
O, from the Lord’s fond sight
Yet I pray I’ll see him again
When the Lord says the time is right

The engulfing waters threatened
The deep surrounded me
Seaweed wrapped around my head
I was as low as low can be

When my life was ebbing away
O Lord, I remembered you
I shouted out my prayer
Even the dead they heard it, too

O learn, you wicked hearts
What comes when you spite the Lord
He’ll give you three long days
Best set your heart in accord

- - -
Music by Corey Call
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Jonah!

From off of our first album, Elementary Ego.

Music by Corey Ball

Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Alan Douches of West West Side Studio

Copyright 2018

This Is The Time (Hither & Thither)

From our second album, Interesting Times.

“How the West was Lost”

Giddy-up, giddy-up,
Cowboy, grab your gun

Giddy-up, giddy-up,
Call your horse and run

The city men ride across your plains
To shame your mores and crooked your ways

Giddy-up, giddy-up,
Neighbors, bolt your doors

Giddy-up, giddy-up,
Owners, guard your stores

Highfalutin men with low ideals
Threaten your lives in designer heels

Gary Cooper and John Wayne’s
Ghosts track across the plain;
But John Chance and Will Kane
Never will draw breath again!

Giddy-up, giddy-up
The time has come

Giddy-up, giddy-up
Do ya hear that thrum?

They come by trains, they come by jets,
They’re shootin’ through your TV sets

Giddy-up, heigh-ho,
Noon’s veiled shadow

Giddy-up, heigh-ho,
The day is woe

A man’s true word and a man’s fair name
Have been tarnished, bled and laid... in the grave.

Music by Corey Ball

Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Alan Douches of West West Side Studio

Copyright 2019

How the West Was Lost

From our second album, Interesting Times.

The American Circus

Silicon-breasted, botoxed cougars
The bronzed, cock-sure men who schmooze them
The bum who bleeds a dime from both
And the junkie who mugs them all for coke

And the banker revving up his Jag
To mock the newly-bankrupt hag
Who corrals in bags her thirteen cats—
Another meme for the Internets!

And don’t forget their forgotten youths
The hipsters who make cool uncouth
Starving artists with change for drugs
All activists so woke and smug

The viral trolls so woke and smug
All activists so woke and smug
The cyber stars with trending plugs
The cyber stars so rich and smug

Woo-hoo!

Here at the American Circus
Admission’s always free
Thanks in part to taxpayer funds
And grants from the Treasury
We’ll keep open borders all year long—
We’ll never discriminate—
Until the time the freaks grow old
Or grow up and move away!

Pedophiles and cultish preachers
Fight to death rabid feministas
While cowed and bent and dressed in rags
The Shame Parade gets scorned and wagged (/scragged; /gagged)

And politicians with practiced smiles
Sway gawking crowds with open guile
As snowflakes whine (/fall) and huff and puff—
Freedom is never free enough!


In the main tent, center ring
Lady Liberty prepares to sing
A remix of the Stars and Stripes
With lyrics of pop-studded tripe!

Yahoo!

Here at the American Circus
Deviants are the norm
We pass no judgments on their talents—
It’s their politics we deplore!
So if you’re in or out of town
Just shake your fist and come right down
To the place where everything happening is—
Bring your enemies!
Bring your friends!
Bring the (/your) kids!

And don’t forget your stones and bricks (/sticks)!
And don’t forget your selfie-sticks!
And don’t forget your politics!

Music by Corey Ball

Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Alan Douches of West West Side Studio

Copyright 2019

The American Circus

From our second album, Interesting Times.

Dream Big

My mother said to me
Darling, you will be
Something great to see
Dad and I agree
You are the bee’s knees
Someone so unique
Just maybe practice more so you can sing on-key

Boy, did I believe
All she poured in me
I was just a pea
Now grown to a tree
Filled with buoyant glee
Moved to the Valley
Got an Art degree from a big university

But, wait a minute now
But wait a minute now
Why can’t I get a job in the industry now

What in the hell is this
What in the hell is this
I didn’t spend four years to deal with this bullshit
One-hundred grand in debt, the hell with art, I quit

My mother consoles me
A secretary’s
Not so bad to be
Just you wait and see
Patience is the key
Someday you’ll marry
Your spouse will see you have special qualities

Mother, shut the hell up, for the love of God, please!


Music by Corey Ball

Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Alan Douches of West West Side Studio

Copyright 2019

Dream Big

From our second album, Interesting Times.

“Sid”

Listen, let me tell you
All about my friend named Sid
He hasn’t got a clue about life
But the boy is a real sweet kid
And he’s looking for love

He’s got a decent-paying job
But he’s not too happy with it
He wants to be a famous star
Like his idol Michael Jackson
He’s got no talent
But lots of a passion

He lives alone in the city
And feels lonely at night
He’s got a wide, bright smile
And caring, brown eyes
He works the machines at the gym
He says it’s all for the ladies
That he builds his six-pack of confidence

Vulnerable to a fault, he’s really sincere
He’ll tell you everything about himself, all you can bear
He wears his heart on his sleeve
He has an arsenal of dad jokes that’re really—
Not funny, yet charming

He used to binge at clubs and bars
But then he grew sick of the scene
So now he sits in coffee shops
Hoping to meet someone
Hoping he’ll be seen

I tell him he’s a real great catch
And he ought to feel confident
He tells me thanks with a grin
Obviously doubting it
“Think it’ll happen,” he asks, “happen for me?” 


Music by Corey Ball

Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Alan Douches of West West Side Studio

Copyright 2019

From our second album, Interesting Times.

"Viral Love"

I’m so lucky
You’re so pretty
I mean it, really — what
A lovely smile

Send me pictures
I’ll send you pictures
Please don’t put them up on-line

Do you like me?
Think I’m handsome?
Is this awkward?
I’m so shy

Call me “honey”
I’ll call you “baby” — and
We’ll stare in each other’s eyes

I think I love you
Is it too soon?
Probably too soon
I don’t mind

What you up to?
I’m thinking of you
Can I take you out to...

I’m so happy that we two e-met
Thanks to coding and the internet
Love is catching in a cyber dragnet
Easy-peasy

I sing the magic of the right-thumb swipe
A thousand swipes, I finally got it right
I found love in a kilobyte
Simplicity
Ubiquity
Technology
Serendipity



Why so silent?
You’re too quiet
I’m in my head
Was I misread?

You seem different
Almost indifferent
An honest question:
Is it your period?

I’m not an A-word
Don’t be a B-word
I’m not a creeper
Maybe a dreamer

How’m I clingy?
Please don’t block me
I’m no weirdo
I’m just a poor Pierrot!

Music by Corey Ball

Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Alan Douches of West West Side Studio

Copyright 2019

Viral Love

From our second album, Interesting Times.

“Consumer Glee (Caveat Emptor)”

Step right up and see
The brand-spankin’ new technology
Guaranteed to put your life at ease

Saves you time
Improves your life
And it only costs
Five-thousand dimes!

This ain’t no case of greed
But it’s also a boon to society
But if you don’t believe me

Listen to him
He’s totally right
Buy this new thing
It saved my life!

Listen to that consumer glee,
Don’t they sound happy?
Listen to the masses stampede,
Sounds like money!
Ain’t this new gadget shiny?
It costs a pretty penny... of yours

Ha ha ha

What’s this question about need?
Do you eat? Do you breathe?
Or answer me this: Do you like to be free?

We like it a lot
Most every day
Let me show you home much
By how much I will pay!

That’s the right spirit, buddy!
You’re a quick study
Buy two and get an ironic advert-tee
If you buy three, you’ll get a fourth free
Don’t you like saving money?
Of course...

Ha ha ha

In other words, this’s something that you need
And already it’s nearly obsolete
So cash in that paycheck with all due speed—
And spend that money!

Music by Corey Ball

Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Alan Douches of West West Side Studio

Copyright 2019

Consumer Glee (Caveat Emptor)

"Fox Without A Home"

Take a look at this young man
Just another sad, lonely heart
Romantic hero, but living a bit part

‘d like to meet a young dear
Hold her real close and treat her right
Too bad he ain’t simple like the simple types 
	Christian heart
	Restless soul
	Lustful mind

Joined her out on the dance floor
Saw the bed warm in her eyes
Too bad he won’t dance like the other guys
	Lustful heart
	Restless soul
	Christian mind

Man, where do you stand
And why you so hung up?
Just do like they all do!
Man, are you a goat or a ram?
	Can’t you just make your mind up?
‘Cause at the end of the day
Alone’s how you wind up

Lonely for the holy?
Tried his heart in the house of God
His knees were down but his mind was abroad

Met her in the chapel
Saw devotion held in her curls
Too bad he can’t live in her simple world
	Christian heart
	Lustful soul
	Restless mind

Man, is there any hope, is there a one for you,
With your—restless heart—tortured soul—and confused mind, too?
O the foxes, they have their dens...
But what home have you?

What’s Christian virtue, 
without a God to pray to, 
and someone else to love you?
What’s wrong with the bedroom, 
when you’re free in the world’s doom, 
ain’t it time for you to deplume?
O you lonely heart,
	Fazed evader of love’s dart,
	You dance to your own blues
O you lonely heart,
	Tangled fool in love’s court,
	I hope you meet your dear soon

- - -
From our third album, Party of Life.

Music by Corey Ball

Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Fox Without A Home

“Favorite New Band”

They’ve got that brand-new sound
They’ve got that sound that’s in demand
They’ve got that sound that’s goin’ round
And they’re your favorite new band

There’s so much music out there today
So many bands sound the same,
Sometimes it’s hard to keep ‘em straight
But this band is so much different than those other bands
They’re really different
And different in a different way

They’ve got that brand-new sound
They’ve got that sound that’s in demand
They’ve got that sound that’s goin’ round
And they’re your favorite new band

Every hour of every day, their same two hits get played and played,
From New York City to west L.A.
All the girls, they wanna see ‘em
All the boys, they wanna be ‘em
Their sound is hip and oh-so dashing
And so damn catchy...
Their sound goes round and round your head til you feel your brain start cracking—

They’ve got that brand-new sound
They’ve got that sound that’s in demand
They’ve got that sound that’s goin’ round
And they’re your favorite new band

They got that sound
That sound!
	Sound!
		Sound!

- - -
Music by Corey Ball

Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Favorite New Band

“Dear Tom”

How’s the retirement, Tom?
Why now so quiet, dear Tom?
You’ve a cozy, small place here
Where a man could disappear
	Is that what you’re doing, Tom?

Do you get visitors,
Or only the odd, lost bird?
Friends are a blessing,
But even friendship’s passing.
	Do you have friends, dear Tom?

Where’re your pictures?
Don’t you have children?
Well, didn’t you marry?
Man, you’re just like a pilgrim!
Searching your life
Through the flowers and barbs,
Searchin’ alone under your very own star!

Did you get lonely?
What did you do then?
Did you have family?
Well, why didn’t you call them?
I’m sure they’d have loved
To hear from their uncle—
A family together
Lends old age a pleasure!

Listen’t’me blather, Tom,
I don’t mean to nag ya’, dear Tom.
The truth’s I admire you
And all that you’ve lived through.
	You’ve lived quite a life, dear old Tom

How did you do it, Tom?
What were you trying to prove?
Seventy years
And six careers
	I can understand why you’re so tired...


From a cop to an actor,
From a ref to a coach,
Have you ever considered
All the lives that you’ve touched?
Don’t be so modest
I speak from experience
An honest man like you makes a difference!

I should be going
It’s nearly past sundown
But I’ll visit again
Next time I am in town
Never you doubt it
I will return soon
As sure as I draw breath
And you lie in this tomb...

I won’t forget you...won’t forget you...won’t forget...

- - -
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy
Mastered by Spencer Martin

Dear Tom

“Visions of a Solitary Walker”

On a dark night, with the clouds falling down
Onto the city an impenetrable shroud,
I drifted through the mist, across a burial ground,
Bound for the lake, at the pier my life to drown...

When from behind the trees, old souls stepped out to greet me
Pioneers whose dreams had founded the city;
Blood, sweat, tears, over years, had built up from nothing
A home that their children would know,
But now who remembers them?

I drifted on, with the lingered vision bringing fear
So many forgotten to the cataract of years;
I shook the vision from out my restless soul,
Met my frontier, when out the lake a woman rose...

“Halt there!” she hailed me, a wan ghost hovering above the pier,
“I drowned of love,” she said, “but you wish to die only out of a fear;
“Your soul of burden, your sorrows, are too light to sink down here;
“You’ll find life where you find love...”

Lightning ripped the sky
White mist rippled by
The waves curled up
And unfurled down
Carried me up on my back
So high up, felt the thunder crack
The waves they fell
I soared higher still
And higher still...

The city lights
Bright filled my eyes
The sorrowscape
The blighted lives

Right then in that moment, I lost myself, drowned with sympathy
I saw a world bereft of love, seething in misery;
Shrieks of resentment scratched the night in a pealing cacophony
And in a fleeting glimpse I saw the inner harmony
Of all our suffering...

On a dark night, I was saved from myself...

---
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

Visions of a Solitary Walker

"The Old Familiar”

Cool night
Street lights
Bundled up to the neck
An old man steps down old familiar roads
Where anxious cab lights glow
To take their strapping passengers to see the latest shows

Sore back
Flashback
Memories in every sign
The old man falls into forlorn reminiscence
Of how the city was better once
And of all the simple pleasures that the present sorely misses out on

Here there used to be a butcher’s shop
Now a mega-market squats the block
But tell me of the butcher-man, what became of him and his butcher-kin?

Here there used to be a square-block park
Now in its place they’ve built a parking garage
But tell me where do the children play,
Where do they meet their friends,
And play their children’s games,
And catch their sunny rays?

Such is what draws near us passing
Such is what draws near us passing
Such is what draws near us...

As our lives fade in hue
Will we come to a similar view,
That all that once was dear to us, will in its absence anguish us?

Who is it that bears preserving
Who is it that bears preserving
Who is it that bears...

As time passes to change the scene
Life’s flowing garment conceals its seam
And we become the bearers of how we lived and what had been

---
Music by Corey Ball
Lyrics by August Lysy

Mastered by Spencer Martin

The Old Familiar

Check out our new music on our 2nd page ---> @english-minor-2

Thank you for giving us a listen, especially those who have continued to listen and encourage us over the years. You make Soundcloud a friendly, welcoming "place"; we're glad to share your company.

A songwriting duo who, after many attempts, has been unable to formulate a bio of just the right amount of sincerity and irony so as to succinctly capture the essence of their musical sensibilities.

See tracks below from our previously released albums:
Songs From Inside a Whale (2022)
Party of Life (2020)
Interesting Times (2019)
Elementary Ego (2018)

**Songs From Inside a Whale | Party of Life --> available on streaming services**

English Minor

Popular tracks