Paul Nordquist's 2021 album is WRONG ANSWERS ONLY. On 11/12/2021 it will be released and available through most online music stores and streaming services.

The cover illustration is by Ria Sopala (https://pixabay.com/users/pixundfertig-683277/) from Pixabay.

Wrong Answers Only (2021 album)

From the 2021 album WRONG ANSWERS ONLY.

Just had a talk with the honey bee
"Oh that woman, she keeps bopping me!
Why she do that thing 
Where she strike my wing?
Tried to explain I am not gonna sting.” 
  
I say, come on now, bee bopping woman,
Leave the bees alone.
Come on, come on, bee bopping woman,
Your heart is made of stone.
Don't be cruel, bee bopping woman.
Nature should be free.
I say, come on, come on now, bee bopping woman,
Can't you let them be?
Let them be.

If I get out of bed at this early hour
To argue with a potted plant,
Who are you to judge?
Who made you the judger?
And after you adjudicate,
You gotta help me move this statue of Madonna.
She is large and made of granite.
She is hard to budge.
I can't even budge her.
You have to help me move this weight.
Wait, wait!

Just got a text from a honey bee.
They say you are causing more misery.
Your bop hasn't stopped, 
But now on top
You're starting to hit them with squee-bee-doo-wop.

I say, come on now, bee bopping woman,
Leave the bees alone.
Come on, come on, bee bopping woman,
Your heart is made of stone.
Don't be cruel, bee bopping woman.
Nature should be free.
I say come on, come on now, bee bopping woman,
Can't you let them be?

Come on now, bee bopping woman,
Leave the bees alone.
Come on, come on, bee bopping woman,
Your heart is made of stone.
Don't be cruel, bee bopping woman.
Nature should be free.
I say come on, come on now, bee bopping woman,
Can't you let them be?
Let them be.

Bee Bopping Woman (album version)

From the 2021 album WRONG ANSWERS ONLY.

The henchmen and honchos
Are wearing black ponchos.
If I’m right about the omens,
It’s gonna be a bad day.

The misfits and mystics
Are trading statistics.
It’s gonna be a bad day,
Gonna be a bad day.

It’s a great day for anyone who likes a bad day.
This is your day if you were looking for another sad day.
What a lovely gift for the bad day people!

The shaman from Bremen
Just held up a lemon.
If I’m right about the omens,
Gonna be a bad day.

The Storm Queen from Washington Heights
Is honking and flashing her lights.
It’s gonna be a bad day,
Gonna be a bad day.

It’s a great day for anyone who likes a bad day.
This is your day if you were thinking we could use a sad day.
What a lovely gift for the bad day people!

It’s a great day for anyone who likes a bad day.
This is your day if you were looking for another sad day.
What a lovely gift for the bad day people!

Bad Day People (album version)

From the 2021 album WRONG ANSWERS ONLY.

Can you be the fool?
Could you take that role?
Be the fool you wish would come save you
From this clever hole?
Wise men have had their chance
And they screwed it up so bad.

Help me find the fool
Who doesn’t have a clue,
Someone who knows none of the answers —
I think it might be you.
Great leaders read the maps
And they led us straight to hell.

All your messing around,
School days you missed,
Daydreaming in the clouds
Prepared you for this.

You must be the fool
That the world demands,
Someone who knows none of the answers
And does not pretend.
Wise men threw up their hands
’Cause they screwed this up so bad.

Be the Fool (album version)

From the 2021 album WRONG ANSWERS ONLY.

I woke up with a gasp in a state of confusion.
Everything was looking glass, and truth was illusion.
Then I learned I was still in a dream, 
I was still in a dream,	I was held in a prison. 
Oh oh oh oh oh
Because prison is the inner wall you place between 
What is and what isn’t, oh!

I stepped over that line,
Then I hopped right back.
I leapt over that line,
I took one step back,
Then I straddled that line,
Then I stepped on a crack,
Then I grabbed that Book of Fact
And I broke its spine.

Next dream starts in a plane on a flight of corruption.
Official is personal gain, with no interruption.
Then I woke up a mess. I woke up. What a mess!
I was Valentine's Monster! 
Oh oh oh oh oh
I tried three times to confess. I tried to confess.
They said "You're an imposter." Oh!

I stepped over that line,
Then I hopped right back.
I leapt over that line,
I took one step back,
Then I straddled that line,
Then I stepped on a crack,
Then I grabbed that Book of Fact
And I broke its spine.
The librarian saw my act and she said “fine!” 
She said “fine!"

Then I woke up a mess. I woke up. What a mess!
I was Valentine's Monster! 
Oh oh oh oh oh
I tried three times to confess. I tried to confess.
They said "You're an imposter." Oh!

I stepped over that line,
Then I hopped right back.
I leapt over that line,
I took one step back,
Then I straddled that line,
Then I stepped on a crack,
Then I grabbed that Book of Fact
And I broke its spine.
The librarian saw my act and she said “fine!” 
She said “fine!"

’Cause I stepped over that line,
Then I hopped right back.
I leapt over that line,
I took one step back,
Then I straddled that line,
Then I stepped on a crack,
Then I grabbed that Book of Fact
And I broke its spine.
The librarian saw my act and she said “fine!” 
She said “fine!"

Valentine's Monster (album version)

From the 2021 album WRONG ANSWERS ONLY.

I spell checked it, autocorrected.
Grammar bot says no, no errors detected.

I’m not wrong, wrong wrong wrong.
I’m not wrong, can’t be wrong.

The fire is smoking. The flame is shrinking.
The liar is joking. The joker is winking.

I’m not wrong, wrong wrong wrong.
I’m not wrong, can’t be wrong.

I watched a robot smash through the door locks.
I’m not a robot. I clicked the check box.
The ice is cracking, the ground is shaking,
The trends keep tracking, the dam is breaking.

I spell checked it, autocorrected.
Fact checker says no, no falsehoods detected.

I’m not wrong, wrong wrong wrong.
I’m not wrong, can’t be wrong.
I’m not wrong, wrong wrong wrong.
I’m not wrong, can’t be wrong.
I’m not wrong, wrong wrong wrong.
I’m not wrong, can’t be wrong.

Wrong (album version)

From the 2021 album WRONG ANSWERS ONLY. Lyrics and music by Nathan-Andrew Leaflight and Paul Nordquist.

Old Gnarlytoes refills her watering can,
Content with what the rusty spigot manages to burp and spew. 
It has advantages:
It’s cold, it’s clear, 
It’s the wet behind your ear,

But good to douse the Roots of Knowledge once again, 
And yet again, and yet again.
They never seem to grow; 
She wonders when her toes will spread and sprout, 
Which leaves no doubt:

Epistemology begins and ends 
In unexpected places, unexpected places.
You jump the gap, you jump the gap, 
And find the spaces fall, find the spaces fall
Between old Dunning-Kruger and a ton of krugerrands. 
Dunning-Kruger doesn’t know where to go with tons of krugerrands.

The mud has gotten deep, she has to find
Some other means of search, until her toes are dry.
She lets the terra firma-fy.
Old Gnarlytoes has a plan to beat the pros.

“Everybody starts with ‘A,’
Riding aardvarks to the bay.
Best one wins the spelling bee,
Takes a cab to Doctor Dee.
Starting at the start you’ll only get so far.
All that ground’s been covered many times before.

What if I start from ‘zyzzyva?’
Take the cab to ‘yutz’ and ‘ya?’
Know the end and what it means?
Cover of the magazines!”
 Epistemology begins and ends 
In unexpected places, unexpected places.
You jump the gap, you jump the gap, 
And find the spaces fall, find the spaces fall
Between old Dunning-Kruger and a ton of krugerrands. 
Dunning-Kruger doesn’t know where to go with tons of krugerrands.

Perhaps because the bracken tells her so,
And bark, and mice, and moonlight on an owl’s wing,
She thinks that she has found the thing.
I’d advise you not to tell her otherwise.
 Epistemology begins and ends 
In unexpected places, unexpected places.
You jump the gap, you jump the gap, 
And find the spaces fall, find the spaces fall
Between old Dunning-Kruger and a ton of krugerrands. 
Dunning-Kruger doesn’t know where to go with tons of krugerrands.

Know where to go with tons of krugerrands.
Know where to go with tons of krugerrands.
Know where to go with tons of krugerrands.
Know where to go with tons of krugerrands.

Know where to go with tons of krugerrands.
Know where to go with tons of krugerrands.
Know where to go with tons of krugerrands.
Know where to go with tons of krugerrands.

Epistemology (album version)

From the 2021 album WRONG ANSWERS ONLY.

Wake up from the dead.
The smell of baking bread!
Take a big square and get your jam on.

Sure has been a long time!
Sunday in the sunshine,
Beautiful way to get your jam on.

Ooh, here we come with a bass and a drum, now,
Ooh, jam on. 

Ooh, my hand’s going numb from banging this drum, now, 
Ooh, jam on. 

Who’s the new rhinocerous?
Wants to stay anonymous,
Long as it can help to get the jam on. 

Ooh, here we come with a bass and a drum, now,
Ooh, jam on. 

Ooh, there you are with a tiny guitar, now,
Ooh, jam on.

Ooh, my hand’s gone numb from banging this drum, now,
Ooh, jam on. 

Ooh, can’t go wrong when you’re playing this song, now,
Ooh, jam on.

Jam On (album version)

From the 2021 album WRONG ANSWERS ONLY.

I just learned the secret,
End of my innocence.
When I tell you the secret,
You’ll say, “My God, it all makes sense!”

The universe is a taco.
The universe is a taco, yeah.
The universe is a taco.
No heaven or hell. It’s all in one shell.

Taco!

All of life got started
On the side of a bean.
With cheese and evolution,
It turned into you and me. 

The universe is a taco.
The universe is a taco, yeah.
The universe is a taco.
If you’d seen this vision too, you’d know it’s true.

You can go to the university, talk to all the sages.
They sure spin a story. It goes on for days!
But the simple truth has been around since the Middle Ages.
Shakespeare even spells it out in a couple of his plays.

Philosophers admit that all the pieces fit. 

A paradox to ponder:
This one thing is everything.
Let’s meet for lunch, so grateful
They made us one with everything. 

The universe is a taco.
The universe is a taco, yeah.
The universe is a taco.
No heaven or hell. It’s all in one shell.

The universe is a taco.
The universe is a taco, yeah.
The universe is a taco.
If you’d seen this vision too, you’d know it’s true.

Taco!

Taco (album version)

From the 2021 album WRONG ANSWERS ONLY.

Saint Paul Paintball Person of the Year,
Wrapping up the gospels with the elephant of fear.
You drop me like a hint, you paint me like a wall.
You got to point your telescope at anything at all.

Now who's feeling strepitous?
Who's sounding ominous?
Who's feeling ravenous?
Who dropped a bomb on us?
Are you feeling what I'm feeling? 
Strepitous!
Are you feeling what I'm feeling?
Strepitous!

Teardrop cheered up optimistic ants.
They woke up half the schoolyard with their heavy metal dance.
They opened up the book. They broke in half the spine.
If you're a friend of P, then, baby, you're a friend of mine.

Now who's feeling strepitous?
Who's here to laugh at us?
Who threw the map at us?
Who knew the half of us?
Are you feeling what I'm feeling?
Strepitous!
Are you feeling what I'm feeling?
Strepitous!

Blue whale, blue wave, Barber of Seville,
Give Sisyphus a haircut while I push him up this hill.
Ambassador G’Kar is not at happy camp.
They brought him his guitar, but now they won't plug in the amp

Now who’s feeling strepitous?
Who built the edifice?
Who’s climbing Everest?
Who married Oedipus?
Are you feeling what I'm feeling?
Strepitous!
Are you feeling what I'm feeling?
Strepitous!

Pink eye, stink eye, tangle of desire
Nodding off the playground with the principle of fire.
You wrap me with a torch, you wrench me with a spork.
My catalytic mambo stole the bottle from the cork.

Now who’s feeling strepitous?
What’s our hypothesis?
Who’s got the evidence?
Who’s attracting opposites?
Are you feeling what I'm feeling?
Strepitous!
Are you feeling what I'm feeling?
Strepitous!


Take out, fake out Punxatawny Phil.
January medicine is grist for every mill.
You take me to the fair. We leave the mall behind
With sixty miles of ribbon that we're eager to unwind.

Now who’s feeling strepitous?
Who’s got an abacus?
Who’s acting ponderous?
Who’s coming back to us?
Are you feeling what I'm feeling?
Strepitous!

Board walk, board game, microphone of grace,
Maximum combustion is the rocket ride to space
With synergistic squeals and shamanistic squeaks.
We haven't seen our 30-year for fifteen hundred weeks.

Now who’s feeling strepitous?
Who’s acting chivalrous?
Who’s full of avarice? 
Who’s here to cover us?
Are you feeling what I'm feeling?
Strepitous!
Are you feeling what I'm feeling?
Strepitous!

Now who’s feeling strepitous?
Whose hall is cavernous?
Who’s taking care of us?
Who’s getting on the bus?
Are you feeling what I'm feeling?
Strepitous!
Are you feeling what I'm feeling?
Strepitous!

Strepitous (album version)

From the 2021 album WRONG ANSWERS ONLY.

I love your horrible hat,
That big strange thing on your head.
I just needed to tell you that
I love your horrible hat.

I know some people might wince,
And remind you that you are not Prince,
And say that it makes you look fat,
And say “Take off, take off that,
Take off that horrible hat!”

But I love your horrible hat!
You gotta keep your horrible hat.
It’s okay that it looks like a rat
In a fight to the death with a zombie cat.

Your mother says it is grotesque.
“You should hide in shame under your desk.”
But her argument falls down flat
In the face of your, the face of your,
Face of your horrible hat.

We love your horrible hat!
We love your horrible hat!
Got together to tell you that
We love your horrible hat!

Don’t listen to the fashion shamers!
They will never be hall-of-famers.
Truth is they’re just jealous that
You win the day with your baroque beret,
With your nightmare headwear,
Unspeakably, uniqueably, 
Sign-of-the-apocalypse, freak-o-zoid, horrible hat!

I Love Your Horrible Hat (album version)

From the 2021 album WRONG ANSWERS ONLY.

Angelbird, fly down,
Come into my town,
Starstruck.

Fluff your feather
And get it together,
Starstruck.

Germanium Sister
And a metal shop mister,
Starstruck.

Kisses like lightning,
But is it the right thing?
Starstruck.

Can your flame shine brightly?
Are you letting it?
Did I clutch too tightly, armageddon it?
The signs and arrows,
The backstreet tarots,
Starstuck.

The piper from heaven
Brought the copperhead venom,
Starstruck.

The thunderbolt harper
Made the sky grow darker,
Starstruck.

And inbetween us, the Beltane Walkway,
The clouds of Venus, the shark bait shockwave,
A lapse of grammar,
A blacksmith's hammer,
Starstruck.

Cinnamon Baker
And a known heartbreaker,
Starstruck.

The Witches of East Wind
Will ask, where have we been?
Starstruck.

We kept our silence and our sanity
On the shoulders of giants in a canopy.
Who put the what down?
Automatic shutdown,
Starstruck.

Starstruck
Starstruck
Starstruck
Starstruck

Starstruck (album version)

From the 2021 album WRONG ANSWERS ONLY.

When did this code-freeze canary 
choreograph your restless, racing heart?

Who are these vampire inventors
marching through the dusty central square?

Where, exactly, did the disembodied screams cross 
the pre-Atlantean Oasis of the Rose?

Why is every bell-bottom frycook
putting on the face masks of the kings?

Why are the sheet metal steam-rats
climbing up your stovepipe one by one?

Why did these free-range romeos
make an AM radio edit of your most FM desires?

Wrong answers only.

Theremin Starlight (Wrong Answers Only)

Songwriter, producer, keyboards, vocals, and sometimes guitar and bass. Member of Bah & the Humbugs. Songwriting teacher/coach. Composer of theme songs, musicals, film soundtracks, meditation music.