Produced by Jon Ireson 

This song has been around for a few years in my world and it has that nice worn leather kind of feel. 

Rubber and Glue shows my heritage. We were kids in the late 1960s, playing baseball on Toledo’s tough streets at the height of Motown’s pull, and songs like Rubber and Glue were everywhere on the radio – take a known expression and make it into a song. From I Heard It On the Grapewine to Cloud Nine, I played my best baseball to those endless R&B songs on a transistor radio tuned to CKLW (Detroit). 

Jon Ireson, Producer says: A wonderfully simple, catchy tune. It makes you think of the days when all you needed was a little ditty about a girl and a melody that you could hum for days. The song has that laid back feel of a CCR track to me so I added some call and response guitar lines with that John Fogerty spirit in mind. The girls add the sugar to the recipe. Some syrupy sweet backups. 

lyrics
Rubber and Glue, by Patrick Ames 
© 2014 All Rights Reserved. 

I like to move around /But lately I have found 
You got the kind of face / makes me stay in one place 
I'm rubber, you're glue / And I'm stuck on you 

I drift around and I sing / You sit down to chat 
I'm busy until I fall asleep / maybe you can help me with that 
I'm rubber, you're glue / And I'm stuck on you 

It's funny how things attract / Like magnets do when they smack 
We're kinda different you know / But we still kiss toe to toe 
I'm rubber, you're glue / And I'm stuck on you 
I'm stuck on you 
We're rubber and glue 

Like a fly caught on flypaper / Life begs sooner than later 
There's not a whole lot to do / But hang out in your dressing room 
I'm rubber, you're glue / And I'm stuck on you 
I'm stuck on you 
We're rubber and glue.

credits
from The Virtualistics, track released June 16, 2021 
Patrick Ames: rhythm guitars, vocalS 
Jon Ireson: Producer, bass, lead guitars, keyboards, Mix and Master 
Chana Matthews: vocals 
Mikaela Matthews: vocals

The Virtualistics

Rubber & Glue

Support the Artist

Rubber and Glue

Jon Ireson, Producer says: "This is my favourite track on the record and it’s the one with the most sparse production. Patrick brought it to me fairly late in the process and was a little unsure of how to frame it. I said: just get out of its way! Let the song speak for itself. He came up with these great contemplative lyrics from this unconventional perspective. I thought it was brilliant. So I left a lot of space for the words to hang. I added some countermelody in the guitar to give it a tag line and backed it with acoustic bass but I was committed to let the theme do the heavy lifting. I think it turned out really well."  

GBM is really a drinking song. You can tell by the simplicity of the arrangement, the lamentful but thirsty tone of voice, and the fact that something is saying goodbye to a whole group of somebody elses. Picture a German beer garden as you swaying a large stein of beer, ya, ya, ya, what a great bunch of molecules we are. Within the lyrics there are references to “that hangover when we were 35” and “my dear, dear liver, you worked so hard”. And as you get a little happier from all the toasts, the twist in the story reveals that it is you who is departing from yourself— I mean how many opportunities do you get to write a song about you departing from yourself? 

lyrics
Great Bunch of Molecules 
© 2021 by Patrick Ames. All Rights Reserved. 

1. 
You replace yourself every seven years 
Millions of molecules, toes to ears 
Lipoproteins, long-chains of fats 
What holds us all together, have you think about that? 
What a great bunch of molecules we have been 
We've stuck together all along, whether fat or thin 

2. 
We've been so sick we couldn't cry 
We've felt so bad we wanted to die 
We talked mitochondria out of suicide 
Remember that hangover when we were 35? \ 
What a great group of molecules we have been 
We've stuck together all along, shared the oxygen 

3. 
We've seen a lot together, my biochemical pathways 
Following the plans of twining DNA 
It's gonna be strange when we drift apart 
And my dear dear liver, you worked so hard 
What a great group of molecules we have been 
It won't be the same, when we replace us again

credits
from The Virtualistics, track released June 16, 2021 
Patrick Ames: rhythm guitars, vocals 
Jon Ireson: Producer, bass, lead guitars, keyboards, Mix and Master 
Chana Matthews: vocals 
Mikaela Matthews: vocals
license

Great Bunch of Molecules

Great Bunch Of Molecules

Produced by Jon Ireson 

Second Wave is a serious song and we worked to release it as a single because it was so timely. I wrote it fast and recorded it fast and sent those three tracks to Jon. He was done in a week and we scheduled distro for two weeks. Chana and Mikaela were not available so I made a decision to release it as a single without them. Anyway, the single has no chorus, but the LP version does. I managed to get together for a quick session with Chana and Mikaela while busy recording Help People Up. We had gone over our time limit but I begged them for one more pass of Second Wave on the mics. Chana and Mikaela add another dimension to the entire Virtualistics playlist, and they have for years, because the three of us can form chords (a chord is a minimum of three notes). We can use our voices as individual notes or create chords and listen to them as they split apart. In Second Wave Chana and Mikaela’s voices are subdued on purpose to match the song’s intent. 

Jon Ireson, Producer says:Second Wave is pretty tight and straight forward. The goal was to keep the focus on the insidious nature of this creeping disease following us and sneaking up to attack when we have our guard down. Ames put together some great...  more
lyrics
Second Wave 
© Copyright 2020 by Patrick Ames. All rights reserved. 
Finished Oct 03, 2020... 209,000 have died in US. 

1. 
There’s a rumor out there 
That the virus don't kill 
There’s a rumor out there 
That Masks make you ill 
There's a rumor out there 
Fake flus disappear 
All these rumors out there 
By Angry people don't care 
Lies and rumors 
Spread the virus 
Lies and rumors 
Second Wave 

2. 
There's a virus out there 
So many empty chairs 
There's a virus out there 
Hear it move in the cocktail air 
There's a virus out there 
Streets are empty and home now a jail 
There's a virus out there 
There's a touch of madness everywhere 
Lies and rumors 
Spread the virus 
lies and rumors 
Second Wave 

3. 
Angry people out there 
Rumors all they share 
Angry people out there 
Mad the virus interferred 
So much anger out there 
Lives don't matter nobody cares 
So much anger out there 
The virus will never disappear 
Lies and rumors 
Spread the virus 
Lies and rumors 
Second Wave 

There's a rumor out there. 
About the virus out there.
credits
from The Virtualistics, track released June 16, 2021 
Jon Ireson: Producer; bass, lead guitars, keyboards, percussionPatrick Ames: rhythm guitars, vocalsChana Matthews: vocalsMikaela Matthews: vocals

Second Wave

There's a narrative here, a progression from Essential Workers becoming the Nightly Protesters who give rise to the Essential Angels who tell us what has just happened: We can't be the same society anymore. We may be essential but that doesn't mean our lives are free. Essential Workers, the song, says treat people as equal, not just essential in times of need. 

I gave this great big clump of stuff and emotion and smokey vocals to Producer Jon Ireson while California was literally burning in mid-August. The first drafts were shockingly rough, as I had all these bridges and choruses, twice as many as in the final cut. I gave Jon a much trimmer second draft and then went after Chana and Mikaela, my singers, and we did a Zoom recording session, as I watched them record in their home while I directed remotely. And then we sent another clump of vocals, 10-12 tracks of different stuff back to Jon, half of it out of tune because our voices and throats were so hoarse from the California fires and smoke storms taking place. 

"Patrick approached me with the idea to honour and celebrate the heroes of this year 2020 in the form of a tribute to the essential worker. Health care and essential business workers but also protesters who have to continue to hold lawmakers...  more
lyrics
Essential Worker by Patrick Ames © 2020 All rights reserved. 

1. 

I am an essential worker / I make deliveries 
Virus waves have wiped this place / I travel empty streets 
We know we are disposible / but essential people must eat 
Everyone has gone inside / to wait for their deliveries 

2.	
I am a health worker / I work within the quarantines 
My face has sores from masks I've worn / my body needs sanitizing 
Bankers, tailors, liars, and thieves / they're all the same to me 
Once inside they stabilize, another day, another week 

[bridge 1 ] 
I'm an essential worker / I'm essential but I'm not free 
I'm an virus worker / I'm essential to this society 

3. 
We are the nightly protesters/ we shout against the po-po-lice 
We try to push the hate inside / that jacks this democracy 
We are the essential angels / who sing "The world has changed. 
Tear gas kings and virus queens, it's never going to be the same." 

[bridge 2 ] 

We deliver this protest to you, hark the angels' truth 
We deliver this protest to you, hark the angels' news 

[outro] 

We are essential workers (we're essential, too) 
We are the nightly protesters (we're essential, too) 
We are essential workers but are lives ain't free.

credits
from The Virtualistics, track released June 16, 2021 
Patrick Ames: rhythm guitars, vocals 
Jon Ireson: Producer, bass, lead guitars, keyboards, Mix and Master 
Chana Matthews: vocals 
Mikaela Matthews: vocals
license

Essential Worker

"I wrote "Reawakened" in January 2017 during Trump's Inaguration Day ceremonies in Wash.D.C. I couldn't watch the proceedings so I went into the music studio and locked myself in. Wrote the song, wrote the lyrics, and recorded about a third of the tracks. It appeared on my EP "Four Faces", released March 2017. Listen to the EP here: soundcloud.com/patrickames/sets/four-faces. 

"Rockhouse gospel is part of my music memory (which goes way back). Jon has given the track even more of a that big rock band sound. Something Joe Cocker should have sung. My vocalists, Chana Matthews and Mikaela Matthews (mother and daughter), had a lot of fun with it once we got the various melodies going and brought them into the studio for vocals. There's a YouTube video about this: youtu.be/LPULxySnTDo. 

Jon Ireson: Producer, says: "Reawakened 2020 
This was the first thing we worked on for this record. At the beginning of May 2020, Patrick approached me to rework this track he had originally written and recorded around the time of the changing of the guard in 2017. Inspired by all the positive change occurring as a reaction to the former president, he wrote an anthem to hail and support the small acts of good that woven together...  more
lyrics
Reawakened 2020 
© 2020 by Patrick Ames. All rights reserved. 

The force of good it has been reawakened 
The Force of good it has been it’s been reawakened 
The hour has come for the power of belief 
That the good in us all /is about to be released 
The force of good has been reawakened 

Don’t be fooled by the lies in the tweets 
Don’t be cajoled by politicians on TV 
Don’t be silent about dividing families 
Because the good in us all / is about to be released 

Reawakended, reawakened, reawakened 
The force of good it has been reawakened 

Don’t be shy about your equality 
Don’t be quiet when they fence in the free 
Don’t be violent when they interrupt the peace 
Because the good in us all / is about to be released 

Reawakended, reawakened, reawakened 
The force of good it has been reawakened 

The hour has come for the power of belief 
That the good in us all / is about to be released 
The hour has come for the power of belief 
That the good in us all / is about to be released 

The force of good it has been reawakened 
The Force of good it has been reawakened

credits
from The Virtualistics, released June 16, 2021 
Patrick Ames: rhythm guitars, vocalS 
Jon Ireson: Producer, bass, lead guitars, keyboards, Mix and Master 
Chana Matthews: vocals 
Mikaela Matthews: vocals
license

Reawakened 2020

Produced by Jon Ireson. 

After a year writing serious songs and protest songs about our country and the politics, and experimenting around on the edge of folk and other genres, I just want to dance. And in the middle of the Pandemic, after months of quarantines and isolation, I just want to dance. I usually write songs beginning with one guitar riff and one vocal riff, and then place them together. YMMS was the vocal riff and it pretty much starts and stops there. With only 9 words in the entire dance song: "You make me xxx, so tenderly", I'm more proud that I didn't use "Baby" anywhere. ; ) 

I've decided that dropping singles is much easier than doing EPs, or LPs, given the Virus, so I've decided to write and release every few months, and then at the end I can bundle up the singles together. YMMS is the first one with this new approach and one of the real issues was that everyone was/is sheltering. So I supplied my singers, Chana and Mikaela, with their own microphone, and Chana built a voice box to eliminate noise in their apartment (they are sheltering too). We had Zoom sound engineering 101 and a lot of unusable files in the dropbox. 

Jon Ireson, Producer, came in half way, as fixer. I...  more
lyrics
You Make Me Scream 
by Patrick Ames ©2020 All Rights Reserved. 

1. 
You make me Scream 
You make me Scream 
You Make me scream 
So Tenderly 

You make me cry 
Throw my arms up and hollar why 
you make me cry 
So Tenderly 

You make me moan 
So slow, real progress groans 
You make me moan 
So Tenderly 

You make me howl 
Money makes it foul 
You make me howl 
So Tenderly 

You make me Scream 
So far away from the dream 
You Make me scream 
So Tenderly 

You make me howl 
Money makes it foul 
You make me howl 
So Tenderly

credits
from The Virtualistics, track released June 16, 2021 
Patrick Ames: rhythm guitars, vocalS 
Jon Ireson: Producer, bass, lead guitars, keyboards, Mix and Master 
Chana Matthews: vocals 
Mikaela Matthews: vocals

You Make Me Scream

What to sing when you can't write anything new to sing.

Songwriter's Block 
©2021 by Patrick Ames. All Rights Reserved. 

1. <Can't Write> 

a, e, i , o 
a, e, i , o and u 
a, e, i , o 
a, e, i , o and u 
You can't write / never will again 
no more music / you're near exhaustion 

2. <Advice Is Given> 
a, e, i , o 
a, e, i , o and u 
a, e, i , o 
a, e, i , o and u 
Don't you know that / vowels are free 
Fatten with vowels and / lines come easy 

All these vowels / are spoken sounds 
Falling like raindrops 
Use more vowels / and your thoughts will speak. 

All these vowels / smart as owls 
High up on rooftops 
use more vowels / and your songs will sing 

3. < I'm Writing Again!> 
a, e, i , o 
a, e, i , o and u 
a, e, i , o 
a, e, i , o and u 

a, e 
a, e 
a, e, i , o and u 

a, e, i , o, u, I love you.

credits
from The Virtualistics, track released June 16, 2021 
Patrick Ames: rhythm guitars, vocalS 
Jon Ireson: Producer, bass, lead guitars, keyboards, Mix and Master 
Chana Matthews: vocals 
Mikaela Matthews: vocals

Songwriter's Block

Produced by Jon Ireson 
(Read the complete liner notes to the entire LP at: patrickcb5.substack.com. 

The lead song in The Virtualistics was the last one written of the virtual octet during the pandemic lockdowns (May 2020 - May 2021). I wrote HPU for @JoeBiden and @VP Kamala Harris in late January right after they were inaugurated. I wanted something joyous, something to fit the mood of the country and the good news after a year of virus and years of political strife. And I wanted it funky right from the first note, from the shoutout “We the People” (an homage to Biden), to the overlapping funky bridges and cascading vocals in the outros. There are only a few words in the song: Help people up, give people hope, feed people love, everyday. It’s meant to be simple. It’s meant to be sung along with. I want you to sing the lyrics because they are the message that should be tattoo’d inside our brains. 

And the track is smokin’. To my ears it sounds like the Neville Brothers especially with Jon’s amazing bass work, but there are elements of Sly and the Family Stone (especially the group-chanting of lyrics), Dr. John’s funky cannon, the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, and many more. Chana sings down in my register so we can...  more
lyrics
Help People Up 
© 2021 by Patrick Ames. All Rights Reserved. 

We the people. 
(My feet know this song). 

Help People Up, Help People Up, Every Day 

Give People Hope, Give People Hope, Every Day 

Feed People Love, Feed People Love, Every Day 

Help People Up 
Give People Hope 
Feed People Love 
Everyday 

Do it now now 
Do it now now 
All Good Now Now 
All Good Now Now 

We believe in the people 
Everyday.

credits from The Virtualistics, track released June 16, 2021 
Jon Ireson: Producer; bass, lead guitars, keyboards, percussionPatrick Ames: rhythm guitars, vocalsChana Matthews: vocalsMikaela Matthews: vocals
license

Help People Up

I First Got Suspicious
© 2020 by Patrick Ames. All Rights Reserved. 

I First Got Suspicious
When My eyes followed you
And I became a witness
Of How you move
I've never been one for Wishlists
And If I did, it would just be you
Then there was that first kiss
Suspicions can come true

Suspicions can come true

Just Before I Do

Suspicions

Guns, violence, protests, BLM, shooters, & politics. It's all here, in a tribute to Gil-Scott Heron, recorded and released during the Pandemic.

Bang Bang Bang by Patrick Ames  ©2019 All Rights Reserved.

1.
Evolution is now influenced by shooters 
Darwin gets shot at an NRA debate
Hate is now endorsed by politicians 
If they can tax it they can make America great
*Have you practiced "There's a shooter on the street?"
Practiced with your kids, your family?
Guns kill more than whomever they could ever teach
Schools aren’t suppose to make students bleed
There's something wrong here
And that's what you Tweet
Bang Bang Bang they just shot your meme

2.
Do Homeless people have homeless dreams
That can't be woken by this society?
So who better to strafe by rifle ricochet
Than the homeless who clutter the streets?
*Shoot migrants in the legs" our president says
His hate loaded like ammo magazines  
Bang Bang Bang he foams from the mouth 
And Bang Bang Bang becomes me, me, me
Now this dude is really wrong here
So You do declare
Bang Bang Bang they just shot your meme

3.
If you’re invisible can democracy be indivisible
If you don't vote then what exactly is your role
If you're silent about how this country is now
Bang bang bang wins at the polls
Disgust doesn’t get rid of the shooters
Hope by itself can’t change society
But the right to life overrides the right to rifle
Brother, there's blood in the streets

Bang Bang Bang, they just shot your meme
Bang bang bang, there's blood in the streets

Redemption & Salvation

Bang Bang Bang

New spin on an Ames classic from the album "Standard Candles".

Want to Believe
© 2016 by Patrick Ames, All Rights Reserved
1.
Everywhere you look / there's extreme poverty 
Take that man in the new Mercedes / driving down the street
He work in Silicon Valley/  he own nice cars and clothes
But every night he lie awake / Am I just a  drone?
He wants to believe 
In something other than technology 

Assembly get harder / the older she get
Herr boss shout louder / when her quota ain’t met
Human machines in China  /  they can’t break down
Make those shiny gadgets you can’t put down  
She wants to believe 
In something other than technology 
 
Everybod wants to believe? 
In something other than technology

Want to Believe

The 60-ish year old singer/songwriter, rhythm guitarist is writing and performing his best music of his lifetime. Tune in and enjoy the lyrics from the former editor/book publisher.

A&R welcome for all music.

PatrickAmes

Popular tracks