Bio Written in 2004...

"Adam is currently a student of business at California State University at Sacramento's prestigious college of business and marketing. Adam will graduate with a Bachelors degree in 2005. This CD is Adam's first, and his emotional honesty bespeaks this fact. These eight stylistically seamless yet varied tracks lend a new and refreshing look into the world of the modern "attuned" artist's heart and life. For the many who have dreamed of obtaining the right words at the right time, this album defines the essence of pure emotion and how when applied to real life it can create startlingly beautiful effects. As an artist whose very life is concerned with achieving the sublime and the beautiful through the aesthetic application of words to amorphous feelings, I encourage  you to get a copy of Mr. Baughman's CD while you still can. It's musical style is an entirely new mixture of folk and emotive rock, the soothing sounds of the acoustic guitar is often punctuated by the unmistakable sounds of more modern rock instruments. Again I urge you to pick this album. - David Creager"

03 Window Sill

A searing portrait of how economic power games disguise themselves as fair play while ordinary people bear the brunt. From “stacked shelves” whispering of a market that “feeds” only itself to towering walls of dollar signs floating in the air, the verses sketch a carnival of greed where tariffs are presented as protection but taste bitter to those who actually pay. The chorus—“Eat the tariffs, chew the lies, coated sweet in their disguise”—drives home the idea that political rhetoric sugar-coats policies designed to enrich a few at the expense of the many. In the bridge, flashing cameras and bleeding headlines remind us that media spectacle often obscures truth, planting seeds of confusion so we swallow chaos unawares. Ultimately, “Eat the Tariffs” is a rallying cry against the manufactured consent that turns human lives into collateral for profit, urging listeners to spit out the cost and count the real losses.

LYRICS
[Verse]
Stacked the shelves with what they need
Whispers loud
The market feeds
Prices grow
The people plead
Spin the wheel
It's built on greed

[Verse 2]
Raise the walls and call it fair
Dollar signs float through the air
Tie the strings
No need to care
Watch the circus
We're the stare

[Chorus]
Eat the tariffs
Chew the lies
Coated sweet in their disguise
Bite the chaos
Spit the cost
Trade for souls and count the loss

[Verse 3]
Flags are waving
Masks of pride
Shiny fronts
The truth they hide
Build the towers
Raise them high
Profit's king
Let morals die

[Bridge]
Cameras flash
The stories bleed
On the screen
They plant the seed
Manufactured
Meet the need
Lines so blurred
Calls to mislead

[Chorus]
Eat the tariffs
Chew the lies
Coated sweet in their disguise
Bite the chaos
Spit the cost
Trade for souls and count the loss

Eat the Tariffs.mp3

In “Leaders Behaving Badly,” the leaders’ raised hands—held aloft like monarchs on a stage—serve as a chilling metaphor for Nazi propaganda salutes, signaling blind allegiance even as they wear sweet smiles over seething rage. By staging ribbon-cutting ceremonies with sinister grins and whispering shadowy doctrines, they peddle fear and false promises under the guise of tradition. The recurring image of “puppets on strings” underscores how these figures manipulate history—winking at the very pages where the brave fought to rewrite tyranny—and turn progress into tales of fright. And as the bridge warns, “Truth’s on vacation and nobody cares,” reminding us that an enthralled crowd can become complicit in elevating empty spectacle over genuine wisdom. Ultimately, the song is a clarion call to resist leadership reduced to fascist pageantry, saluting a past that should remain buried rather than celebrated.

LYRICS 
[Verse]
They raise their hands high like they’re kings of the stage
Wearing their smiles like a mask of their rage
They think they’re heroes but they're stuck in the past
Writing epics of chaos no wisdom to last

[Verse 2]
They cut the red ribbon with a sinister grin
Whispering doctrines where the shadows begin
Preaching plays that the history books warn
Feigning honor while the future gets torn

[Chorus]
Oh they wave up high like the sun won’t set
Casting shadows that the world won’t forget
Oh the puppets on strings in their vanity show
Saluting the past where no one should go

[Verse 3]
They choreograph speeches with a sleight of hand twist
Selling their visions like a snake oil list
Winking at pages the brave bled to rewrite
Turning progress into tales of fright

[Bridge]
And the crowd starts to cheer but the echoes feel rare
Truth’s on vacation and nobody cares
Memorizing gestures like it’s history’s play
But those rehearsed moves won’t brighten the day

[Chorus]
Oh they wave up high like the sun won’t set
Casting shadows that the world won’t forget
Oh the puppets on strings in their vanity show
Saluting the past where no one should go

Leaders Behaving Badly.mp3

In early 2025, the Trump administration implemented a sweeping pause on federal grant funds without prior notice—an action later ruled unlawful under the Impoundment Control Act—despite being informed of its illegality and the severe consequences for essential programs, freezing billions and prompting immediate legal challenges, including a federal judge’s block and multi-state lawsuits by attorneys general. This real-world “freeze the funds” mirrors the song’s critique of leaders who treat public budgets as political pawns, their “frozen grins” masking the moral cracks that inevitably thaw. Though the White House ultimately rescinded the freeze on January 29, 2025, after widespread public outcry and judicial intervention, the chaos and confusion inflicted on programs serving vulnerable communities underscore how “Freeze Frame Politics” skewers governance reduced to cynical spectacle—leaders in “suits like paper crowns” wielding power for performance rather than people.

LYRICS 
[Verse]
They wear their suits like paper crowns
A throne of rules they toss around
Freezing funds like it's a game
Oh look at them
They're all the same

[Chorus]
Freeze frame politics
Breaking their own law
A frozen grin hides the flaws that thaw
They rule the room but ignore the book
Leaders or jesters
Take a closer look

[Verse 2]
They hold the budget like it's theirs to steal
Breaking their own laws just to feel real
"Oh
We forgot
" they laugh and grin
But the nation wonders
Where to begin

[Bridge]
It's satire spun into a ball of fire
Their ignorance a tightrope wire
Freeze the funds
Ignore the plea
While they sip champagne by the sea

[Chorus]
Freeze frame politics
Breaking their own law
A frozen grin hides the flaws that thaw
They rule the room but ignore the book
Leaders or jesters
Take a closer look

[Verse 3]
Handshakes snap like brittle ice
Promises sold for half the price
They play the part
Forget the lines
Freeze the funds
And call it "fine"

Freeze Frame Politics.mp3

The song’s jubilant toasts—“Cheers to power…Pour it live”—serve as a biting metaphor for an administration that treated the consolidation of authority like a victory lap, uncaring of any public blowback. While there is no record of officials literally clinking glasses to celebrate centralization, the refrain mirrors critics’ warnings that Project 2025 was effectively a blueprint for erasing guardrails and placing key agencies under direct. Architects like Russ Vought, central to drafting Project 2025, openly advocated replacing merit-based civil servants with loyalists and expanding executive oversight—policies interpreted as a symbolic “toast” to power grabs. In “Press Pour Parade,” the celebratory imagery thus becomes a satirical indictment: these leaders aren’t just staging a show—they’re pouring the foundation for an imperiled democracy, all while insisting there’s “nothing to hide.”

LYRICS 

[Verse]
They step up to the mic with a bottle in hand
Ice cubes clinking like a rock 'n' roll band
Nation’s eyes wide but they don’t even blink
Raise a toast to the headlines
Take another drink

[Chorus]
Cheers to power
Cheers to fame
Toast the scandals
Play the game
Cognac courage
Whiskey pride
Pour it live
There’s nothing to hide

[Verse 2]
A suit and a tie
But the tie’s undone
Claiming the spotlight like the sun’s their son
Sip by sip
They rewrite the rules
Daring the world to call them fools

[Chorus]
Cheers to power
Cheers to fame
Toast the scandals
Play the game
Cognac courage
Whiskey pride
Pour it live
There’s nothing to hide

[Bridge]
The cameras roll
The nation groans
But they’re too far gone to throw the stones
A splash of soda for the primetime show
Here’s to the leaders
Bottoms up
Let’s go

[Verse 3]
No apologies
No shame nearby
They laugh at the crowd with a tipsy sly eye
“If you want my secrets
They'll drown in the gin”
Another round
Let the circus begin

Press Pour Parade.mp3

In “Email Recall Blues,” the abrupt click of a “send” button on a late Sunday night captures the cold efficiency of mass firings by email—“Big bold letters said you’re outta sight”—mirroring how the Trump administration laid off over 275,000 federal workers in early 2025, often via impersonal electronic notices. The song’s later plea—“Now they’re draggin’ us back through the wire”—echoes the real-world scramble to reinstate essential personnel when vital functions ground to a halt, as the administration reversed layoffs for hundreds of health and safety workers at agencies like NIOSH just ahead of congressional hearings. By framing this cycle of dismissal and recall as a messy “big ol’ mess they couldn’t foresee,” the lyrics indict leaders who treated public service roles as disposable, only to realize too late that their “house of cards” depended on the very employees they’d cast aside.

LYRICS 

[Verse]
Boss man clicked send on a Monday night
Big bold letters said you're outta sight
Packed our desk up in a cardboard square
Tipped our hats and got out of there

[Verse 2]
We were sipping coffee watching the news
Who knew chaos was the job they'd choose
Servers crashed and lines went wild
Ran the country like a reckless child

[Chorus]
Now they're draggin' us back through the wire
Emailing like we’re the fuel for their fire
A big ol' mess they couldn’t foresee
Turns out they can’t run it without folks like me

[Verse 3]
They thought the wheels would spin on their own
Now they’re lost without their worker drone
Paid consultants couldn’t call the shots
All the brains left the parking lot

[Bridge]
Oh the irony tastes like sweet champagne
When power trips flow straight down the drain
Guess sometimes you need the ones you scoffed
To stop your house of cards from falling off

[Chorus]
Now they’re begging us back through the wire
Lighting inboxes like a frantic pyre
Turns out they need our sweaty sleeves
To fix the system they don’t believe

Email Recall Blues.mp3

In “The Deportation Tango,” the jagged choreography of “no trial, no reason” vividly dramatizes how, in early 2025, the administration’s expansion of expedited removal turned deportation into a perfunctory dance—sweeping people across the border without the safeguard of standard court hearings. By framing injustice as a grim waltz—“spin you ’round their courtroom with no proof in hand”—the lyrics echo real‐world reports of wrongful expulsions, most shockingly the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a lawful U.S. resident mistakenly deported to El Salvador despite having no criminal record. The song’s condemnation lies in exposing how due process was frozen out, ensnaring not only undocumented migrants but even citizens and legal residents, turning the solemn promise of justice into a grotesque spectacle.

LYRICS 

[Verse]
They point a finger say you're the one
Fake smiles flash like a loaded gun
Patchwork papers still torn in two
Their spotlight's aim is aimed at you

[Chorus]
Dance the deportation tango tonight
No trial no reason but oh what a sight
Spin you 'round their courtroom with no proof in hand
Lost in their waltz you can't understand

[Verse 2]
Accusations fly like paper planes
Glue sticks of facts washed out in the rain
Blinds slam down as families cry
Truth packs its bags while leaders lie

[Chorus]
Dance the deportation tango tonight
No trial no reason but oh what a sight
Spin you 'round their courtroom with no proof in hand
Lost in their waltz you can't understand

[Bridge]
A gavel's echo a hollow song
Homes shatter but they move along
False alarms blaring louder than truth
Who pays the cost when lives are the proof

[Chorus]
Dance the deportation tango tonight
No trial no reason but oh what a sight
Spin you 'round their courtroom with no proof in hand
Lost in their waltz you can't understand

The Deportation Tango.mp3

In “The Power Parade,” the taunt “Lied through their teeth now grin with might…Project 2025 the play’s in full swing” skewers leaders who publicly disavowed any link to the Heritage Foundation–backed Project 2025—President Trump even insisted he’d never read it—while a POLITICO analysis found dozens of early executive actions that track its conservative blueprint for a unitary executive and expanded presidential control. The verse “DEI burned ‘coz it lit up too bold” echoes the administration’s very first-day order terminating all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across federal agencies, a direct implementation of Project 2025’s call to end DEI initiatives despite prior denials of affiliation. And by framing this power consolidation as a grotesque “masquerade,” the song highlights how dismantling checks and balances and erasing safeguards for marginalized communities became cause for celebration in the halls of power, leaving equality’s ghost “put in its grave.”

LYRICS 

[Verse]
Lied through their teeth now grin with might
Said it was nothing just smoke in the night
Now their plans unfold like a devil’s play
Shouting freedom while locking it away

[Chorus]
Dance puppet dance in the Power Parade
String-pullers laughing as the truth decays
Equality’s ghost they put in its grave
All hail the kings of this masquerade

[Verse 2]
Fairness erased like chalk in the rain
Came with suits but left stains on the plain
DEI burned coz it lit up too bold
Now it’s all gray just a story retold

[Chorus]
Dance puppet dance in the Power Parade
String-pullers laughing as the truth decays
Equality’s ghost they put in its grave
All hail the kings of this masquerade

[Bridge]
Power grips tighter while they sing the tune
A choir of distortions drowning the moon
Broken promises but their pockets swell
Welcome to heaven or is this hell

[Verse 3]
Kept saying trust us but look at the mess
Freedom a concept they use to oppress
Project 2025 the play’s in full swing
We’re the joke they're laughing kings

The Power Parade.mp3

In “Cut the Future Short,” the metaphor of “suits in their towers” and “chopping down the roots” captures how, in early 2025, budget proposals slashed Head Start funding and triggered grant‐processing delays that forced programs to close and staff to be laid off—disrupting essential early education for nearly 800,000 low-income children and their families. The image of “playgrounds sit vanished behind crumbling walls” echoes real-world reports of preschools shuttering in April when federal payments failed to arrive, leaving more than 400 children without care and over 70 educators unemployed until funds finally trickled in. By lamenting the trade of “kids’ voices for cash upon cash,” the song condemns leaders who hollow out tomorrow’s promise through today’s cuts, turning children’s dreams into ash.

LYRICS 

[Verse]
The suits in their towers play their little games
Chopping down the roots but they’re shouting our names
Promises so empty they echo through halls
While the playgrounds sit vanished behind crumbling walls

[Chorus]
Cut the future short turn dreams into ash
Trade the kids’ voices for cash upon cash
They laugh in their chambers we cry in the street
Their cuts are a song we’d rather not repeat

[Verse 2]
Pencils snapped in two and books left unread
Staff without a paycheck classrooms left for dead
The children sit silent while dreams drift away
The budget’s gone missing but they're doing okay

[Chorus]
Cut the future short turn dreams into ash
Trade the kids’ voices for cash upon cash
They laugh in their chambers we cry in the street
Their cuts are a song we’d rather not repeat

[Bridge]
Class bells don’t ring echoes fade in the air
Who’s the fool pretending to care over there
While the paintings peel and the chairs sit in dust
We wagered the kids and betrayed every trust

[Chorus]
Cut the future short turn dreams into ash
Trade the kids’ voices for cash upon cash
They laugh in their chambers we cry in the street
Their cuts are a song we’d rather not repeat

Cut the Future Short.mp3

AI generated.

[Verse]
Build a wall they said so tall it scrapes the sky
Keep out the ones who don’t look like you or I
Books burning bright they light up the night
Erase the truth cuz it don’t fit their fight

[Chorus]
Make America great again they scream and shout
With blindfolds on they drown reason out
Fix it all with hate and pretend it’s love
Their answers fall like a broken glove

[Verse 2]
Guns for all the kids let freedom ring
Arm the teachers let the bullets sing
Ban the words they fear ban the faces they hate
Rewrite the rules to suit their state

[Chorus]
Make America great again they scream and shout
With blindfolds on they drown reason out
Fix it all with hate and pretend it’s love
Their answers fall like a broken glove

[Bridge]
They sell their lies in a shiny red hat
While the poor stay poor and they laugh at that
Preach their gospel in a hollow tone
Their kingdom’s a house of cards built on bone

[Chorus]
Make America great again they scream and shout
With blindfolds on they drown reason out
Fix it all with hate and pretend it’s love
Their answers fall like a broken glove

Make America Great Again (1).mp3

AI generated.

[Chorus] They want to make America great again They want to make America great again They want to make America great again They want to make America great again [Verse] More gas for the carbon when they cuttin' back on emissions More oil More oil when they takin' all of your land More coal for the people when the solar can't keep you warm at night More coke More coke More coke More coke [Verse 2] More guns for the schools when the bullies get out of hand More drugs for the kids when the kids don't understand More walls for the borders when the immigrants are takin' all your jobs More war More war More war More war [Chorus] They want to make America great again They want to make America great again They want to make America great again They want to make America great again [Verse 3] More change for the homeless when the homeless got no home More food for the poor when the poor don't eat no more More cash for the rich when the rich keep on gettin' rich More loans More loans More loans More loans [Verse 4] Less tax for the rich when the government's got no money Less tax for the rich when the government's got no money Less tax for the rich when the government's got no money More tax More tax More tax More tax

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