Ruby Cikada

Dead Man’s blues along a trench line, hear the bullets hiss and shrapnel whine 
How bout a chorus for the firing line? Put em to tombs just a matter o’time. 
Spinal rupture from a thunderclap, fallout burned a hole in the sack. 
Feel the love from your M16 – once she gets a purring she’s a mean machine. 

Maggot rhyme, death bell chime, crows are fine, over to dinner at the losing side. 

Brewing bloodbaths with the toxic rain, 
Pour it over till it bleach the stain. 
Hell incarnate and the court of heat, 
Be like a rock or be quick on your feet. 

Light the match, itch the scratch. Burn the wick, make it quick. 

Burp or choke now, won’t be for long. Bombs burn up now, blot out the sun. 

Sour Belching from the sea of fire licked the sky as the flames grew higher. 
Spectres out marching on parade, stole a tank for a motorcade. 
Lullabies for lulling slaughter, factory guns seduce the martyr. 
Chemical coated intermission saved my skull from inhibition. 

Maggot rhyme, death bell chime, crows are fine, over to dinner at the losing side. 

Dub me filthy, club me dumb, 
Nothings new under this sun. 
You play cat, I’ll play mouse, 
Only takes two to burn down the house. 

Fan the flame, never wane. Flick the switch, break the stitch. 

Cough or toke now, won’t be for long. Blood stream up now, smoke from a gun. 

Riders backing up the rear today – horsemen watch the battle sway. 
Fly no banner on the shooting ground, waiting on the final trumpet to sound. 

CHORUS END
credits
from Magicikada, released 13 October 2014 
Lennox Campbell-Berzins – Guitar and vocals 

Aniqa Qadir – Vocals 

James Atin-Godden – Bass and vocals 

Daniel Staples – Drums 


Produced and Mixed by Aaron Corbett 

Mastered by Daniel Staples

06- Maggot Rhyme

Lennox Campbell-Berzins – Guitar and Vocals. 
James Atin-Godden – Bass, Keyboards,  and Guitar.
Aniqa Qadir – Vocals
Daniel Staples – Drums 

Arranged and Produced by Ruby Cikada
Written by Lennox Campbell-Berzins.
Engineered by Mitch Girio at Slaughterhouse 754
Mixed by James Atin-Godden, Daniel Staples and Kieran Maraj
Mastered by Richard G Benoit


No Regrets, no upsets – looking at you was the best thing yet. 
We locked eyes, to my surprise, in a blink I think I was mesmerized.
I danced, you pranced, for a second I thought I had a chance well, 
You’d hide, I’d sigh, but I wouldn’t let ya say goodbye just yet. 
I’m 	set, 	you 	bet.
Coming at ya plain like a runaway train. 
Truth or dare but, be aware. 
You’re a fox when you shadowbox. 
You shake and quake, gives me an ache I don’t  wanna escape. 
Your thighs graze mine, one more sign and I think I’ll die. 
I like your type, step a little closer cause my fruit is ripe. 
Last call, I stall. I turn around and you’re out the hall (oh well).

Shadowbox

Lennox Campbell-Berzins – Guitar and Vocals. 
James Atin-Godden – Bass, Keyboards,  and Vocals.
Aniqa Qadir – Vocals
Daniel Staples – Drums and Vocals

Arranged and Produced by Ruby Cikada
Written by Lennox Campbell-Berzins.
Engineered by Mitch Girio at Slaughterhouse 754
Mixed by James Atin-Godden, Daniel Staples and Kieran Maraj
Mastered by Richard G Benoit

There goes my pretty puppy 
chasing squirrels round the maple trees.
Running wild all through the valley 
As I watch a picture perfect scene. 

Marigolds in bloom,		
Northern wind chiming a tune,
Dreams floating at high noon. 
Winter comes so soon, 
Like the restless moon. 

High in the park x2           Long Before dark        High in the park

Marry me to distant oceans,
Foggy notions of chivalry.
Climbing high through misty mountains
Hidden fountains of gold and green.

Wait on till dark… Hearing all the young dogs bark… summer came and left its mark
With the first monarch…  gliding through the park.

My puppy waits for me now, 
Somewhere near yet somewhere far. 
I’ll follow our path through the valley.
 Lay him to rest under the stars.

Season cards were sent… signed away in merriment… winter came and took ferment.

High In The Park

Lennox Campbell-Berzins – Guitar and Vocals. 
James Atin-Godden – Bass, Guitar, and Vocals
Aniqa Qadir – Vocals
Daniel Staples – Drums and Vocals

Arranged and Produced by Ruby Cikada
Written by Lennox Campbell-Berzins.
Engineered by Mitch Girio at Slaughterhouse 754
Mixed by James Atin-Godden, Daniel Staples and Kieran Maraj
Mastered by Richard G Benoit

Mama told me long ago,	 bout the folks she used to know, 
And stories come and stories go, of ancestors high and low.
Like old Germaine who went insane or young Constance who sailed to France,
The toil, wars, and all the scores that lead a boy to find out more. 

Whenever I feel sick or insecure , I think of them and dance a sword dance. 

Theordore a prisoner of war -before the trenches made their gore - 
Opened up a grocery store despite the regal clothes he wore
While Islanders and Mariners wrestled waves and cut-throat gnaves,
The lore of old as good as gold, when evening shines on days of old. 

Young Nancy crossed the sea with five kids and a dowry
While uncle Don was running rum, got lost at sea and towns went numb. 
Or granddad who wore the cloth, went to war and took it off
			
His brother died at 17… buried by a lumber mill canteen…
Another time, another place it seems… Every family has its wounded tree…
Think of them and dance a sword dance!

Sword Dance

Lennox Campbell-Berzins – Guitar and Vocals. 
James Atin-Godden – Bass
Aniqa Qadir – Vocals
Daniel Staples – Drums

Arranged and Produced by Ruby Cikada
Written by Lennox Campbell-Berzins.
Engineered by Mitch Girio at Slaughterhouse 754
Mixed by James Atin-Godden, Daniel Staples and Kieran Maraj
Mastered by Richard G Benoit



All the eyes of the world have seen the glory of her face. 
No painter, no believer none can begin to trace.
How could I’ve known she’d come to me to right my wrongs. 
Could she have known I’d praise her here in mortal song. 

She has a way I could never say when she gives me loooove. 
When she’s away I don’t wanna see the day, when she gives me love. 

Command me.     
Subdue me.	
Navigate me.	
Correct me.

Where’d you get those cauldron eyes
Blurring out the lines between the iris and the white
Brewing thunder in their iron base
Leaving not a single trace of the sunken night
Fire flowing through your features as a hero’s might. 

I tend to think of her when the lights go out
All my charge and conscious guards fall into a helpless route
This funny recklessness, this absent mindedness
How long can it really last after weeks have passed.

She Has A Way

“Meanderin’ Blues” is dedicated to the memory of Lenny Breau and Ali Farka Toure.

Lennox Campbell-Berzins – Guitar and Vocals. 
James Atin-Godden – Bass and Keyboard
Aniqa Qadir – Vocals
Daniel Staples – Drums

Arranged and Produced by Ruby Cikada
Written by Lennox Campbell-Berzins.
Engineered by Mitch Girio at Slaughterhouse 754
Mixed by James Atin-Godden, Daniel Staples and Kieran Maraj
Mastered by Richard G Benoit

All night long I’m meanderin’, wear these cloaks like a Paladin. 
All night long I’m meanderin’, swoop and bound like a peregrin. 
All night long I’m meanderin’, pins and needles give me half a grin.
All night long I’m yammerin’, telling tales of the Saladin. 

Golden Tracks on my feet, laugh to scorn a city street.		 
Locomotion like I never knew, sends me down to Timbuktu. 

All night long I’m stammerin’, scaring birds from the looney bin.
All night long I’m ponderin’, how the hell I didn’t fall in. 
All night long I’m blabberin’, asking round for my fellow kin
All night long I’m mentorin’, teachin’ demons how to sin. 

All night long I’m chatterin’, melting minds like they’re made of tin
All night long I’m meanderin’, why don’t you all join?

Meanderin' Blues

I Know You Pray To God

I heard you speak when you thought I was asleep.
Giving your thanks like as if you said,
I’ve got my friends, but they’re no one you know,
and family, but none that know me well.

tell me again whom you are a child to
name me a friend someone you can’t lose
show me the right stranger on the street
and when you speak know that I’ve got mine

I know you pray to God
But I know a better father
I know you pray to God
But I know a better mother
I know you pray to God
But I know a better sister
I know you pray to God
But I know a better brother

She cut your hair when you were a child
The way you like a little off the side
Drove you to school and tucked you in at night
Kept on the light to make sure you were fine

Bare feet and loose clothes that she would clean
And wiped your tears when the other kids were mean
and we will walk like young men and women
Someone might die but it won’t be me

I know you pray to God
But I know a better father
I know you pray to God
But I know a better mother
I know you pray to God
But I know a better sister
I know you pray to God
But I know a better brother

Into the night that’s always there for me
the dirt and loose earth slips off my feet
I fell asleep somewhere
but don’t look for me, you will not find me there

I know you pray to God
But I know a better father
I know you pray to God
But I know a better mother
I know you pray to God
But I know a better sister
I know you pray to God
But I know a better brother

04 When I Was Younger

03 The Vanishing Act

Helping Put Your Dress On

Helping put your dress on 
Helping put your dress on 
Helping put your dress on 
Helping put your dress on 

Windows shake from passing cars 
CDs skip, repeating parts. 
We’re hummingbirds, we’re small talk, 
never know the words, hollow thoughts. 

Pulling in your hips, kissing your mouth 
Nothing to be figured out 
My fluttered little heart 
Flecks feathers slowly apart 

Helping put your dress on 
Helping put your dress on 
Helping put your dress on 
Helping put your dress on 

Parting your hair around your face 
Slipping the hairpins into place 
Are these the days that I would replay? 
Moments I remember when we fade away 

Heavy heart, another ticker-taught part 
Our flirting feelings, let’s stay in the dark. 
But I’m pretty sure I’ve always heard 
Someone calling my name when I stood 

Helping put your dress on 
Helping put your dress on 
Helping put your dress on 
Helping put your dress on

02 Helping Put Your Dress On

01 I Know You Pray To God

Blue

Mourning About You

The ************* of Donald Trump

Tuff Turf

Week 4

No Future For you

Lyrical abstract, a modern day musical rebel 
Chime in the bass and treble when the beat kicks in
Don't forget the mids when we're in the middle of the 
thick of it, time is always fixing it, the impervious smooth bit 
of a man who understands his own mortality, grounded in reality

We need a world that is open to the notion that ideas arise 
and fight conventional intention that our fears divide
and suppress our motion to the enjoy the ride,
yet we're never on the same side.  

authoritarianism and various isms to prison systems
make the tradition of good intuition the superstition 
to the point of abolition, turn on the ignition and you got
my disposition, then you listen to the mission. 

They take our place, smash our base and erase any voice or opinion, 
unique artistic vision with precision. 
When it's finally time to step up and take due, 
it's simply put, 
No Future For You

---
 
Greatness awaits when you confiscate the irate nature humans face, human hate,
incubate their idle traits
don't be a player, they fake their way up a chain, and stick to over blown 
synthetic vapor, that drives them insane, and stained

A plain brain filled with nothing but the need to complain
poor terrain, weak environment to maintain in vain
So stop it, dial the clock back, unchain, crop it, 
Now it's the time for mentality to swap prior
vitality, replacing knowledge banality in rhyme, pop it

Balance and discipline is the key to life,
path of goals you will lead, to eliminate the strife, 
and fight to educate and demonstrate the purpose of words
serve the message of truth that is normally unheard,  

the imperial bacterial will witness a miracle of voodoo rituals, 
and the residual officials be in awe of the empirical through and through,
We brang it raw to stereo two for two
When it's finally time to step up and take due, 
We simply tell them  
No Future For You

No Future For You

Step Into The Fire

My musical endeavors - bands, compositions, and collaborations. 

Please enjoy the sounds of DS & Co.

Dan Staples - B.E.S., B.Ed.
Musician & Producer
digital.drs90@gmail.com

Alternative/Experimental Rock band based out of Toronto, ON, Canada.

06- Maggot Rhyme

Ruby Cikada

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