6. Livin on the Fringe
Livin on the fringe. Livin on the fringe. Not payin much attention to the hype. Unusual body type. Watch me work it . Uh huh uh huh waaw yeah. Watch me work it. Watch me live. Mmmmm livin on the fringe.
Listenin to music from times bygone. Not knowin what road I’m on. Cool seems dorky when you try too hard. Individuality’s its own reward.
Livin on and listenin. Listenin and livin on. Livin on and livin on and listenin.
Shyin away from where the people gather. Why am I shyin away from where the people’d rather gather? This isn't livin.
7. All I Want to Say to Sting
8. Room for Doubt
9. Tollbooth
Category: Music
This track is a very brief spoken word piece which listeners might find mildly amusing and/or distressingly annoying. It is placed here to announce the shift in mood of the album, from good natured but pockmarked with idiosyncratic quirks to full-throttle neurotic. The later shift back into a wiser more cautious good-naturedness is not benchmarked with a spoken word piece, it is arrived at gradually. See, some of us travel this road of life, paying our tolls along the way, no undue trauma incurred. But then there are those of us, who, our closest companions will eventually learn...
Did you get strip-searched at the tollbooth?
Did you get strip-searched at the tollbooth???
Did you get strip-searched at the tollbooth?????
1:59 PM
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Tuesday, December 16, 2008
10. Annihilation
Category: Music
When I asked Moses for songs to contribute to the album, he said "An album called Fear of People should definitely have 'Annihilation' on it." So it was decided, and we recorded our 5th version of the song, and we got Kit to do vocals on it that day he came in, one reason being my hospitalization era was not far behind me. and I could not get my scream on.
verse 1
Picture this on a page so thin
you could see right through my headcloud rising
with question marks, ampersands, number signs,
square jaw, pursed lips,
staring down at the phone at the desk
dashes make it clear that
now I don't know what to do with my fingertips
now I have lost all my staples and my paperclips
and there's no device in her house which talks back, I know and
she and her dog catalogged bit by bit oh shit
chorus
she said i was lookin in the face
of my piece of annihilation repeat
annihilation 3x more
verse 2
I saw it straight I got it right
they gave her a full page panel
from fingernails to calloused hands
tried 7 times this 7 part poking
these heroes paid to be in here
it's thicker than their normal household
now i don't know what to do with my fingertips
now i just stare at my bottles of sinking ships
oh what i'd do to her with a a common kitchen whisk and
put the footage on a 650 meg data disk
chorus
repeat verse 1
chorus
1:21 PM
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Sunday, October 19, 2008
11. Tell Me Now
Category: Music
This song is by Moses, and he played all the parts -- and he insisted that it should remain bare of background vocals, synth sweetening or anything like that. I respect his decision, and I think it totally works, couched in among a bunch of songs where we did a bit of layering and overdubbing. Also, Moses's compositional trick of going to the happy major chord at the loudest point in the song where the narrator man, the troubled lover, makes his most startling accusation at his woman… that's good twisty music craft straight out of Peter Buck's songbook and other definitive atlt-rockers who could pack a mixed emotion cluster punch at just the right point in a song.
Tell me now
All the secrets of your heart
Tell me now
Or you'll surely fall apart
Tell me now
Tell me all about today
Tell me now
Silence won't keep me at bay
Tell me now
Tell me how I make you feel
Tell me now
Tell me that our love is real
Tell me now
Tell me do you feel alone
Tell me now
Why you won't pick up the phone?
Tell me now
Tell me and I'll let you leave
Tell me now
Why you feel need to deceive.
3:01 PM
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Saturday, September 13, 2008
12 Fear of People (Featuring Joe DeRosa)
Now those those those
Now those all sift sift
Now those all sift and those who sit
And those who hide while they're watchin it...
But these twist words and those words twist
The words that you would spit to try to hide from this:
"Hello I love you, won't you tell me your game?"
"Did you just say that?" "You're imagining things."
"But you said - " "Stop, you're leading me on
What'd I ever do to you besides make you wrong?"
What a lovely affair we seem to have here
It's a self perpetual social sphere
But you can't stand clear while you think you're here
Who knew that interference could have so much fear?
"Come inside. You're late, you're late."
" " "Well no one wanted you here in the first place."
"I seem to remember" "That endeavor's passed.
Just lie back while I dismember that."
I got a fear of people.
I got a fear of people
I know this excuse sounds feeble
But I got a fear of people
"We're so happy you stayed, but we need you to leave
We can't have you pulling all our tricks out our sleeves
"Well I can't believe that our time was so short
I'm trying to leave but I can't find the door"
Pile on, pile in Let the filing begin
The riling will spin in the sins of your sins
No secret of NIMH, the deepest are dim
And their eyes will illuminate their teeth on your skin.
but those those those
.
But these twist words and those words twist
The words that you would spit to try to hide from this:
I got a fear of people.
I got a fear of people
I know this excuse sounds feeble
But I got a fear of people
----------------
I had the music and chorus written in 2006 or maybe even earlier. I did not like my verse ideas. Then I was back in touch with former bandmate/comedian Joe DeRosa, because he was nice enough to call my dad several times during my shmmer 2006 hospitalization. I asked him to write and sing/rap verses in the style of a certain religi-ocious rap demo he had done way back in the day. This transcription is pretty accurate, as I hear it. Obviously about two words are missing from those empty quotation marks.
What exactly do his surreal visions mean? You would have to ask him. In my mind, they conjure up sufficiently spooky images of people doing scary things, that I will gladly sing them live if hordes of Headflap devotees demand it.
3:46 PM
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Saturday, September 13, 2008
13. Road to Nowhere
Category: Music
This is a fully licensed cover version of the Talking Heads song. However, we did not get permission to reprint the lyrics. You'll have to look those up on any of those many sites that reprint lyrics without artist/publisher permission.
3:31 PM
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Saturday, September 13, 2008
14 Sincere
Category: Music
When you're sincere,
You probably just get laughed at around here
You probably just get laughed at around here
When you're direct,
It just hurts all the more to be rejected
So you might as well use poetry to protect yourself
When you're up front,
You're not giving the people what they want
Instead you end up as the brunt of everybody's jeers
When you're sincere,
You probably just get laughed at around here
Yeah, you probably just get laughed at around here
No one wants to hear you fear the world has passed you by.
When you lack pretense,
You leave yourself without any defense
You leave yourself without any defense
When you're matter-of-fact,
You leave yourself open to an attack
You give up something that you can't get back.
When you're free of guile,
And you're not hiding anything under your smile,
The world will think you must still be a child.
When you're sincere,
You probably just get laughed at around here
You probably just get laughed at around here
No one wants to hear you fear the world has passed you by.
2:45 PM
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Friday, June 27, 2008
15. Neddy, Echo, Shot and Me (Annihilation 2)
Moses wrote the music and played it all except for Kermit's searing leads. Moses and I co-wrote the lyrics. Moses's decision to use an unusual song structure, and my decision to put backmasking and low-mixed talking in the beginning have caused this song to fare poorly on online peer review sites. But I'm gonna re-classify it as experimental rock and see if more adventurous listeners dig it like we do.
v1
We're on a pilgrimmage
Here in my new ride
We'll hit the tooth museum
Out in the daylight
That night we met and I
Just gave Tina the boot
I got to thinkin I'd
Already seen you?
chorus
uh huh
that's right
she said i was
uh huh
that's right
she said i was
v2
I saw with my own eyes
My port was empty
The screamin trees flew by
as you all left me
Those cops and crashers
On the attack
I knew you didn't think
That I'd be back
repeat chorus
outro
she said i was
she said i was
all right all right all right
all right all right all right all right
12:13 PM
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008
16. Sum it Up in Song
Category: Music
As a kid I kept a notebook
A kind of journal of my dreams
I figured that when I was grown up
I'd want to see where I had been
I kept it in my desk in homeroom
In a sticker-covered paper bag
Every day I'd write an entry
And the other kids all called me fag
Chorus
When life begins becoming complicated
And I in turn start to get frustrated
I take hold of my life when I sum it up in song
Hold of my life when I sum it up in song
When life begins becoming complicated
I thank the lord that my mind's creative
I take hold of my life when I sum it up in song
Hold of my life when I sum it up in song
They said that only girls kept diaries
I said one day I'll prove you wrong
One day this notebook will inspire me
To write a top 200 song
Chorus
I'd bring my notebook home on Fridays
Dig a hole, hide it underground
One time I left it in my desk, though
That weekend arsonists burnt school down
How I cried and cried that night
I thought my dreams went up in flames
Through the years there's been a lot of notebooks
Filled with an awful lot of dreams
Maybe this one will be that top 200 song
The real inspiration's always been me.
Repeat chorus
Na na na
Did you get strip-searched at the toll booth?? (shiver)
4:58 AM
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008
17. I Wonder What Heaven’s Like
Category: Music
As I mention on the profile, 2004 was smack in the middle of my 4 year stint on dialysis, and it is when I really started feeling rundown in mind, body and spirit. I cannot remember if I really thought my time on earth was running out, but for whatever reason, this song emerged as one of the few from 2004 thru 2006.
I do remember this: I have admired the Joan Osbourne version of Eric Bazilian's "What if God was One of Us?" The composition itself is simple and simply wonderful, and it is really cool a Philadelphian received national honors. And it sure got a lot of attention from our npr aaa station WXPN. I keep trying to create something their local artists show will play. So, this song is my attempt at a universal question which is both religious and secular in a way, at the same time. Also during that time, I was listening to a lot of Neil Young, and since I can do that vocal range, I embraced my inner Shakey.
Here are the words:
I wonder what heaven's like
I wonder what comes afterlife
I wonder what heaven's like
I wonder what comes afterlife
Well I hope it's not all horns and harps
cause that's just not my style
I'm much more into guitars and drums
They always make me smile
Will I be reunited with
Loved ones dead and gone?
Will I meet historic people
I've seen documentaries on?
I wonder what heaven's like
I wonder what comes afterlife
I wonder what heaven's like
I wonder what comes afterlife
Will my soul be able to
Explore the universe?
And sometimes can I check back to see
What's goin on on earth?
Will I find my friends and family among the
Bjllions of souls?
What if I take a wrong turn up there
and have to spend eternity alone?
I wonder what heaven's like
I wonder what comes afterlife
I wonder what heaven's like
I wonder what comes afterlife
will I even get in? I heard there are
An awful lotta picky rules
And I hope they're not too strict up there
Like bein back in school
Will I have a body like the one
I had at age 25?
Will I remember all the things
I did when I was alHey here's an idea that might be fun or challenging. Try coming up with alternate verses of your own. Think up things about life that you love and wonder whether you'll be able to continue in the afterlife. Remember to phrase it like a question -- like I did above. And the really tricky part is fitting the meter. I can't give away any prizes at this time. It's just for fun.
11:51 AM
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Saturday, April 12, 2008
18. Tio Male
Category: Music
I think Jim "Moses" Crowder's uncompromisingly sparse approach to arrangements is extremely brave especially as they stand juxtaposed with my layered overdubathons that I call songs. Here is a guitar line and a vocal track, neither of which are multi-tracked or bolstered by more than a reasonable shmear of reverb.. What's more, there is less here than normal. No bass or any other accompaniment. He played this on a classical guitar. This is the second version he attempted months after recording a longer, flawed version. This version took no more than 3 takes to get right. He requested a thin sound to the vocal track, rather than a flatteringly full , warm treatment. This song is key to further winding down the somber tone of the album as it reaches its ultimate conclusion.
The lyrics are a straightforward retelling of the William S Burroughs story after which the song is named:
Follow the vulture's flight over the desert
The boy sits across from you there in the sand
Patiently waiting for the long feather
That he knows soon will float into his hand
As the sound breaks, it falls
As the sound breaks, it falls
You will not kowtow to mayors' policemen
You will not serve for the powers that be
Unlike the simpering sycophant waiter
Who gives information to turn a good deed
As the sound breaks, it falls
As the sound breaks, it falls
The fat man who's crossing the street to avoid you
Knew not to let himself into your sites
You are the man who can set things in motion
A twitch of your finger will make things right
As the sound breaks, it falls
As the sound breaks, it falls
