The Imperfect Texas Song - Instrumental
Originally written in February of 2022, updated April 2023


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The Imperfect Texas Song - No Vocals

“Craft Beer”
Originally written in 1983 as “Free Beer”, updated in May of 2023 for the Fredericksburg Craft Beer Festival on June 10th

Verse 1 -
Went to the Marktplatz for loud polka music
Plus Wienerschnitzel and Pommes Frites
Folks doing the chicken dance and wearing leather
Discussing TikTok and the weather
Was ready to go when this guy says, “Have no fear.
Stay at the party because I’m serving...

Chorus - 
Craft Beer, Craft Beer
We all know why we’re here
Craft Beer

Verse 2 - 
Got there at 2 and it was was just my luck
Alex Meixner was starting to play “Thunderstruck”
I strolled all the booths sampling the wares
Yeah it was hot, but I was in my beachwear
Stopped for some great food when it became clear
Don’t wanna’ be running on empty when your drinking… (chorus)

Verse 3 -
The brewers all compete during the week before
You can sample all the winners ‘cause you know the score
It’s a great place to meet old and make new friends
‘Cause It’s a frothy beer party with pretzels that never ends
At one point my girlfriend said, “Why don’t we get married this year?
I said, “Sure, I’ll go the wedding…as long as they’re serving…” (chorus)


Bridge - 
Now you may say I’m a man
With very few convictions
But I’m sure any of you would bend
Under the right conditions
My core ethics are flexible
My beliefs don’t firmly adhere 
I’ll drink an IPA, a lager, a pilsner, even a radler, 
As long as its cold…stout…refreshing…and above all  (chorus)


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Craft Beer

Instrumental versions of the songs from "Tales of Topographic Texas".

© 2023 P&D Studios, All Rights Reserved
peteranddebbiestudios.com

Craft Beer - No Vocals

Instrumental versions of songs from "Tales From Topographic Texas".

© 2023 P&D Studios, All Rights Reserved
peteranddebbiestudios.com

An Older Texan Ponders His Mortality Accompanied By Turkish Flutes - No Vocals

An Older Texan Ponders His Mortality Accompanied by Turkish Flutes
June 2023
Written on a day when I did listen to Prince's "Cool" on YouTube and then ate at Waterburger later in the day.

Verse 1 -
When I got up this morning
Watched a Prince video on YouTube
The song was called “Cool”
And it had such a funky groove

Made me stop and think a bit
Can I still be funky at sixty?
To be honest, I've probably never been funky
But it would be nice to know it's still a possibility

You know prince was such a funky guy
But he died when he was 57
I wonder if he made it to 60
Would he still have been funky

I hope they’re letting him be funky in heaven
Otherwise I'm not sure he’s gonna’ be happy there

Verse 2 -
Now Willie Nelson just turned 90
He's still touring in a cloud of smoke
We can't really call him funky
But he has a lot of soul

I'm sure if when he was younger
He made the choice to be funky
He could have pulled it off
But would he still be funky at 90?

Verse 3 -
You know my mom says if you think
You’re middle aged at 60
How many 120 year olds do you know?
True, but gee mom, you can think it
But you don't have to say it

I’m not sure I'll live to 120
I eat at Whataburger too much
I know it's not good for you
But there's one on the way to church.

And Whataburger’s almost a religion here
So on Sunday god notices me twice
Don't know if that will help
When it's my turn to die
But hey, you gotta try…

Coda -
If I do get to heaven, maybe I'll meet Prince
And he'll teach me how to be funky
And no one will laugh and say,
“Your too old to dance like that”
And I'll be able to eat all the burgers I want
And never get fat
And I'll be in a band with Prince and Willie
And Tina and Aretha and  Duane and Jimi
And they’ll even play some of my songs
And pretend to like them
And then at last I'll be cool…doing something I never learned in school
C-o-o-l
Cool 
Just like the totally unnecessary Turkish flute in this song…

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peteranddebbiestudios.com

An Older Texan Ponders His Mortality Accompanied By Turkish Flutes

Music created for a set of animated videos documenting the surreal battle between the Hoodoo Man (aka, The Music Maker) and the Voodoo Man (aka, The Music Taker).

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peteranddebbiestudios.com

So Happy Because I'm Finally An Artist

Strange Dance
10/11/84, Austin
Updated June 2023

Weird set of lyrics written when I was in college back in the 80s, after some sort of breakup.  The electronica music was created in Logic X, and the artwork is courtesy of the AI Magic of MidJourney.

Music video at https://vimeo.com/839293525

Verse 1 -
It was a strange dance
Two who were so oblique
(She terminally modern,
He hopelessly antique)

Drifting for a moment
Ambiguities reeling -
Dancing without moving
Touching without feeling

Chorus -
He inwardly wondered
While he stroked her hair
Why she was so eager to look
But so afraid to stare

And she asked herself
As the night lingered on
How he denied the passion
That raged in her songs

Verse 2 - 
It was a strange dance
Frozen masks, vacant eyes
Disinterested fingers
Squeezing cool thighs

And in the morning
Two confronting the space
Screaming between them 
And hating the waste

Coda:
And he cried out, “God, I just want to dance!
I want the music to seize me, to release me, from this trance”
And she cried out, “Christ, just let yourself go,
Throw off the chains that bind you, that confine you, in your soul”

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Strange Dance

Lyrics written back in the 80s.  Updated after I saw the Van Gogh exhibit at the Met in May.  I tried to imagine what it would be like to voluntarily commit yourself to an asylum as he did.

Music video at https://vimeo.com/840682734

Artwork is via the AI magic of MidJourney.
https://www.midjourney.com/

"The Quarry of Madness"
Unknown, updated June 2023

Verse 1 
Shadows caress and entice
I melt beneath their touch of ice
And drip into the creviced night
I am the quarry of madness


Chorus - 
I awake in shadows only to find 
That I’m trapped here within my mind
But no, I really don’t wanna’ flee
There’s no place else I’d rather be
Wake the jailor and let him know
There’s no place else I wanna’ go

Verse 2 - 
My thoughts are with wind entwined 
When soaring canyons of the mind
Of what is real I can’t define
I am the quarry of madness (chorus)


Bridge
The cities are engulfed in flame
Yet I can’t recall my name
Scepters change in the game of thrones
And yet here I am happy alone
The spires that reach for the sky
Are only distant shadows to my eyes (chorus)


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The Quarry Of Madness

Inspired by both Richard Brautigan's poem "Machines of Loving Grace" and the song "Deeper Understanding" by Kate Bush.  

Music video is at https://vimeo.com/842311577

“CyberBaby Don’t Despair “
Dec 18, 1978, 
Updated July 2023
 
Verse 1 -
When I look out my window
I see a world black with sorrow
There’s just so many people
Unmoored from tomorrow

Trapped in prisons we once thought
Would free us from our pain
Our phones and our computers 
Now seduce us with their chains

We beg for more friends and likes
More humanity in our feeds
But instead we’re shown ads
For more products we don’t need

Chorus -
In our darkest hours
We stare up at the towers
Where the tech gods glower
Drunk with all their power

But baby don’t despair
You know I care
And I’m here to protect you from the storm
We’ve got our wine and our song
To keep us strong
And we’ve got our love to keep us warm

Verse 2 - 
But wait, you’re not real
And this isn’t really a dance
You’re an AI generated succubus
Designed to put me in a trance

And your trance is working
Because I renewed my prescription
What was once a pleasure
Is now just addiction

We beg for more friends and likes
More humanity in our feeds
But instead we get thirst traps 
For sex we don’t really need  (chorus)




Bridge - 
(Spoken)

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
Written by Richard Brautigan, then read aloud on the streets of San Francisco during the summer of love in 1967

Verse 3 - 
Oh, yeah I forgot
That you can’t really drink wine
Yes you have a mouth but
No digestive tract like mine

So very long ago
In a different time and space
We were told we’d be watched
By machines of loving grace

In a cybernetic meadow
Pure water touching sky
Dimly lit by LEDs
My digital darling and I (chorus/fade)

Coda - 
What - I have to pay more for a higher resolution of you?
I have to buy a new phone to smell you?
And your you eyes are blurred out until I renew for two years?

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CyberBaby, Don't Despair

The Last Artist
July 2023

Music video is at https://vimeo.com/843234893

Chorus - 
So gasped the last artist
Made of flesh and bone and blood
Spattered by the rain
Crawling through the mud
What she makes with heart and hand
Now drowning in the flood
Of AI generated images
Painted by a dark…and sterile brush
 
Verse 1 - 
Wow, look what I can do
I just ask and it appears
So many amazing images
I could do this for years

Sitting at my laptop
Basking in the glow
I couldn’t do this before
And now watch me go!

Don’t have to be a genius
Like that guy Pablo
Don’t have to go crazy
Like Vincent Van Gogh (chorus)

Verse 2 -
Wow, look what I can do
I just ask and it appears
So many amazing images
Somebody get me a beer 

Sitting at my laptop
Feeling like a pro
I couldn’t do this   before
And now watch me go!

Don’t have to live in the desert
Like Georgia O’Keefe
Don’t have to be French
Like Henri Matisse (chorus/fade)

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