A reaaaallllllly cheesy cover of my dad's favorite song. (Happy Father's Day!) 

(Special thanks to K for lending some sweet low notes)

Under The Boardwalk (Drifters cover)

Love Love Love (Mountain Goats ukulele cover)

A quick cover recorded during a rainstorm...!  Lyrics & rough translation below.

---------------

Original:

Nuo mano lango lig tavo durų
tūkstantis varstų.
Per visą naktį po visą miestą
šešėlių žingsniai.
Švaistūnas klevas žvangantį auksą
pavėjui žarsto.
Iš lapų saujos rudenio saulės nebesurinks.

Nuo mano delno lig tavo skruosto
prieblandos vėsios,
Šešėlių žingsniai, užburtas rūmas,
vaiduoklių aidas.
Per visą naktį lyg šiltą paukštį nešu ištiesęs
Tokį vienintelį, vienišą tokį
savo švelnumą.


Translation:

From my window to your door
there’s a thousand miles
Through all the night, throughout all the town, 
Shadowy footsteps
The prodigal maple tree scatters its gold downwind.
From a handful of leaves the autumn sun will never be gathered again.

Between my palm and your cheek
There are cool twilights,
Shadowy footsteps, a spellbound mansion, a haunted echo.
Throughout the night, like a warm bird, I offer
This singular, this lonely affection

Nuo Mano Lango (Vytautas Kernagis cover)

There’s a murder of crows sittin with their wings set on the rusty swing set 
With a spiteful pride
I don’t look them in the eyes
They’ve made this graveyard a home, they dig up shiny things like coins and golden rings 
Pulled off the scattered bones
They’ve nothing to atone

There’s something about those birds
That lets them fly straight on through the end of the world

And meanwhile it’s been 
10 long years
Since I left all my scattered things behind
And I spent all those years
Wondering why I had to keep my mind
(when there's nothing left to find)

There’s a slow procession of greying women hungry children 
And a couple of desperate men
I know enough to hide from them
Their lips are cracked like the earth, they carry death as a birth but they keep putting 
One foot after the next
Humanity’s a dry shipwreck

There’s something about this road
That keeps us walking straight while we are all alone

And meanwhile it’s been
10 long years
Since they burned all this bullshit to ash
It took me all those years
To wonder why I never thought to ask
(But why dredge up the past)


Forgive me I am dry as this hollow river bed
Forgive me I still have some mattress outlet jingle in my head
Forgive me that I live while all around me leaves are falling dead
At least it’s all so burnt there’s nothing left at all for me to dread
Except the ghost of all the things I should have said


There’s a wind rolling through, it spits and crackles like a death rattle caught 
In the back of my throat
I breathe in through my coat
In this hazy dusk the dust swirls like a halo but it’s more like 
A shadow of forgotten light
Glimpsed through eyes shut tight

There’s something about this cloud
That lets it sink above me like my own funeral shroud

And I have counted
10 long years
Since I felt the rain like tears on my cheek
I wasted all our years
I wonder why I had to be so weak
(Now I’m afraid to sleep)

Forgive me I am old as this torn photo in my hand
Forgive me I lay down when you told me that we should take a stand
Forgive me that I live while you are slowly turning into sand
At least it was so dark that I could never see what they had planned
Instead I clung to shiny things that I didn’t understand

And now this is all I am

(When you just can’t seem to get a good night’s sleep
Come get a good deal down at Mattress Pete’s)

Shiny Things (original song)

Johnny had a Bonnie
Ripe and juicy as a peach
She didn’t have any money
And she kinda had crooked teeth
But Johnny didn’t care
How she wore her hair
There’s just one thing he was looking for

He wants a girl with
Braaaaaiiiiiiiiins
Braaaaaiiiiiiiins
Braiiiins
Braiiins
Oh Johnny Zombie you’re the one for me


And when he’s through with Bonnie
I hope he’ll turn his head towards me
I’ve never been very funny
And I know I’m not much to see
But Johnny doesn’t care
About the clothes I wear
There’s just one thing he is looking for

He wants a girl with
Braaaaaiiiiiiiiins
Braaaaaiiiiiiiins
Braiiiins
Braiiins
Oh Johnny Zombie you're the one for me

Now he’s walking towards me nice and slow
He’s finally got designs on me I know
He's got a hearty hunger in his eyes
But he’s the one who’s gonna be surprised

As I stab him in the
Braaaaaiiiiiiiin
Braiaaaaiiiiiin
Braaaaain
Braiiiiiiin
Oh Johnny Zombie you were the one for me
Oh Johnny Zombie that was so fun for me

Johnny Zombie (original song)

Hardly ever snows here
The ground is brown and red
White’s too pure a color for the thoughts that fill my head
And now you’ll never hear the words I never said
Merry Christmas, you’re dead

There’s a wilting wreath on every front door
Shredded ribbons  spill like guts on the living room floor
Nuclear siren tests blare like it’s 1964 
Merry Christmas, it’s war

But wait remember all that’s bright
How our candles flickered in the night
How for a minute there we were joined in song
Merry Christmas, I was wrong


That inflatable Santa Claus, how he condescends
Wintergreen and gasoline form a pungent scent
And you have gone and went in ways I’ll never comprehend
Merry Christmas, the End

Merry Christmas, You're Dead (original song)

I tried to sing for you a tune so sweet
But it got caught in the back of my throat 
Like broken teeth

I tried to write to you with words of sense
But the paper tore up my fingertips 
Like a barbed-wire fence

And winter strikes without a spark
Oh it’s hard to find our way in the dark


I caught a fox for you with fur like snow
But he cried out with such rage in the night 
I let him go

Next day he killed a rabbit or two; so it goes
I’d gather their hearts for you 
But they already froze

Oh winter strikes without a spark
And it’s hard to find our way in the dark

I named a star for you, one so far away
It burned out years ago but we still see its face

And who would even try to stop the death of a star
Let’s gather what light we have left and  be what we are

And when winter strikes without a spark
We’ll find what way we can in the dark

The Fox (original song)

I was seventeen with roots so green
When the wind came tearing through
How it shook the trees in search for me
How there was little I could do

And when it finally found me
I was lying on my side
When the rocks cracked all around me
It was the first time that I died

Ohhhhh 
Now I hear that wail again
Ohhhhh
This mountain is my end

I was twenty-five with darker eyes
When I saw that struggling little bird
How she sang a cry with sharp surprise 
As the thunder shook her in a blur

And when it finally found her
I stepped away and turned aside
When it stole the wind inside her,
Was it her or me who died?

Ohhhh
I feel that trembling again 
Ohhhh
This mountain is my end


Now I hear it call for me, it calls for you, 
With a cold and strangled roar
Soon will it come for me, it comes for you, 
Through that breaking door

And when it finally finds us
Will we be standing side by side?
When we see the wreck behind us
It’ll be the last time that we cry

The Wind (original song)

Ahhhh it's been forever since I recorded anything. This is so rough but, hey, it's something new!

--------------------------

Two kids wandering down an overgrown road
Both with sweaters on to ward off the evening cold
Oh the cold, do you feel it grow?
I don’t know, I don’t know, there’s not far to go

Ooooh what will we find down in the pines
Or will we say never mind

Tiny mushrooms springing from the rotting earth
Little whisperings as the leaves shake off the birds
Oh the birds, what have they heard?
I don’t know, I don’t know, but time will soon show

Ooooohhh what we will find down in the pines
Or will we say never mind

A clearing, some pines up ahead
Or should we turn back instead?
A sharp glint of silver in your hand
Wait oh wait I don’t understand 

----

At the bottom of the hill, a thick patch of mud
Are these pine needles enough to cover the blood?

Oh the blood, why must it flood
I don’t know, I don’t know, where else can it go?

Ohhhhh don’t leave me behind down in the pines
Or will we say nevermind

Ohhhhh don't leave me behind down in the pines
I should have said nevermind

The Pines (original song) (demo)

A ridiculous song for ridiculous times, in honor of my friend Kim! 

-------

Can't try to make me what I'm not
Don't tell me I can't smell the rot
But nothing here's going to waste
Cuz I'm cooking up some real fresh shit without delay

(All I need's my)
Food processor love
Grind it hard and fast with just one touch
Holy fuck, we're killing the planet
Our president's a fuckwit bandit
But at least I've got my food processor love

Even if at first it might resist
Nevertheless we will persist!
Chop all the bullshit down to bits
Puree that false purity til it's smoother than your tits

(All I need's my)
Food processor love
Grind it hard and fast with just one touch
Holy fuck, there's a global pandemic
Idiocy remains systemic
But at least I've got my food processor love

Dear Mother Russia
Please abort your shitbag son
Not tryin' to rush ya
But it's high time this shit was done
Cuz I've fucking had enough
So I'm calling all your bluffs
And I'm ready to move onnnnnnnnn

(All I need's my)
Food processor love
Grind it hard and fast with just one touch
Holy fuck, the rich get richer
There's a glitch in the bigger picture
But at least I've got my food processor love

Food processor love
(Gazpacho!)
Food processor love
(Hummus n shit!)
Food processor love
(Ratatouille!)
At least I've got my food processor love
(Revolution!)

Food Processor Love (original song)

Brambles are blossoming somewhere 
Watch out, you’ll get blood in your hair 
A lock and a chain 
The scent of old rain 
This much is plain

Meet me where the green rivers join
This life is like an old rusty coin 
Not sure what it’s worth
But it’s worth somethin
It's worth somethin
A little more than nothin

Sparrows are hovering somewhere 
Careful, they travel in pairs
A hole in the road
It hurt and it showed 
That’s all we’re owed 

Meet me on the hill by the rocks 
I’ll sell you sorrows like a senator’s stocks
Don’t know what they’re worth
But they’re worth somethin 
They're worth somethin
Not much more than nothin

Good, I only have one eye, 
The grass below, and the crooked sky

And old man is whistling somewhere 
Nothing about this is fair 
Lines on a rock 
A heart like a clock 
That’s when we’ll talk

Meet me by the towering stair 
Cause I’m feeling like an atheist’s prayer 
Not sure what I’m worth
But I'm worth somethin
I'm worth somethin
A little more than nothin

Good, I only have one eye, the grass below, and the crooked sky

The Point (original song)

Cities rise and fall a thousand times
Their alleys twist and turn in endless zigzag lines
Bronze copper and tin
The fading scent of your skin
Every way out is just another way in

Oh I gotta get out of this maze
Been lost here for days and months and days and months and days


This story’s been told and told a thousand ways
Different threads entwine but then unravel all the same
Oil wool and wine
You should have been mine
Why is every history so labyrinthine?

Ohh I gotta get out of this maze
Been lost here for days and months and days and months and days...

Bronze copper and tin
(Oil wool and wine)
Fading scent of your skin
(You should have been mine)
Every way out is still so labyrinthine

Ohh I gotta get out of this maze
Been lost here for days
Oh I gotta get out of this maze
Oh I gotta get out of this maze

Archaeology (original song)

Learning to play ukulele and write songs... One clunky chord at a time, baby.   Feedback welcome.

ukulelephant

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