Swingin Utters

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SWINGIN’ UTTERS

 

A Juvenile Product of the Working Class




1. Windspitting Punk (Koski-Goddard-Bonnel-Huber)

Give me just a second
to grasp your two-bit theories
as that's more than enough time I need
to see through their innate queries
you're telling me to shape up or ship out
but I’d never shape myself to something so offending

as you
and your kind

One day you sweetly sigh and say to yourself
"Music's my religion and I'm Born again"
Next week your muse has got some corporate cash
and all of a sudden the tunes are crap
keep your politics to yourself,
kid to me you're just spitting wind
a Windspitting punk with high-brow views
a p.c. fool who's saying nothing new

again
and again

what about the kids, piss-poor people
and the broke or the sluts
with overflowing pockets?
or the cursed fucks, pointin' pistols at the pope.
are they just martyrs fallen from your graces.




2. No Time To Play (Koski)

They've laid to rest morality,
blessed themselves with immortality
gazed into the eyes of innocents
as the blade was pulled out merrily
I’d beg and plead if it made sense to me,
if I thought it'd make a difference
to quit is to lose, so I suppose
I’m conceding defeat from weariness

They say
"No time play, you cannot stay,
appreciate the mess I’ve made"
Then they turn their backs and walk away

I've seen young bystanders
get shown the view from their watchtowers
and with their stealth and stench
transform these tykes
into another great lot of admirers

I don't blame traders
ah, how ignorance is bliss
it's so fucking easy to be bought and sold
when you're a young and stupid kid




3. Nowhere Fast (Koski)

I have crossed this road before
for many years I’m sure
don't recognize the faces though
that pass me by
I’ve been off and on my way again
passed marsh road atherton
black mountain way and bored
stale houses on the yellowed plains

I'm going off again and
for no good reason
year by year I’ve achieved some type of feeling that
suggests I’ve traveled miles that lead to nowhere fast

I've seen the lot of them
from queens to journeyman
bigots and confidantes
I’ve spoken to and laughed with
destructive catalysts
professionals and loyalists
punk rock pop nihilists
have grown up amongst suburban architects

who can say that it was all deceiving
or that anybody was mislead?
I’m not the one to be judging
I may not even be who I think I am

The asphalt is my burning bed
has left me invalid
puts me to sleep at night
in the arms of some strange no mans land
I’ll be back northbound and west
I need the fucking rest
but in the meantime
these broken roads and homes will ring in my head




4. Keep Running (Koski)

"hello again," you say to the folks at the E.D.D.
you've been dire and disgusted and come in most everyday
to keep yourself alive you have insults and forever curse
the almighty fuckin talisman that lives in the dirty church

and you keep running
from yourself
from everyone
from each new day

you never felt true pleasure or felt ill from real pain
but you complain so consistently as if you've been betrayed
and nothing's ever met
the guidelines that you set for each new day
and there's always someone standing nonchalantly in your way

to all the optimistic players you heave a sigh
those loyalists keep counting on everything being worthwhile but you
don't catch the light of day
and you've been accused of carrying on this way
see, you don't believe in preaching or praise
you just want to barely make it through each time consuming day




5. Sustain (Koski)

I can't believe the thing you say to me are so boring
I can't believe anything you do to me is done sober
I can't obtain a sense of patience,
and I can't ordain you as my patient,
but you chew away at all my nerves like I’m your servant

I can't sustain it

I sit alone with the others and I blame you
talk of your mother and the senseless way she must have raised you
I can't let go of this insanity
can't blow you off like a dead leaf on a tree
you stick around, I hope you get yours soon, you deserve it

I can't sustain it




6. One in All (koski)

Mr. product man
strolling by with a kind of head-held-high hypocrisy
the envy of so many walks of life but not a type like me
periodically searching through the perfect library
a man I am of an unusual sort of aimlessness
but nevertheless bent on the glory of my lifelessness
in the pursuit of nothing short of one in all

he shines his light on me
fluorescent minds are quick to bite the bait but there is time for me
the null and void is a dazzled riddle of what may or may not be
day by day counting the lines in my abridged diary
a man I am, a wary sort of nihilist
hence bent on the glory of my lifelessness
in the pursuit of nothing short of one in all

some have been good to me
been by my side through with the thick and thin and have supported me
other have scolded me with the scorched bits of their apathy
but I’ve lived to tell this tale of my instinctual vengefulness
a man I am that won't bow down to humanists
or the naiveté therein that seems to persist
in the pursuit of nothing short of one in all




7. Derailer (bonnel wickersham)

I’m flying off the handle again
I tried to keep in touch but my grip has loosened
the saints need a second look
I’m at the boreal banquet keeping warm boozin’'
derailed- I need help
god save the queen I fucked up the ant trail
derailed- I’ve been nailed
keep falling off the cross the crucifixion failed
I’m stepping all over my friends
I tried to dodge the bullet, but I’m a needy person
I need to get back on track
the pub's stoop pillpusher gave me pills to stop pushin'
derailed- I need ale
to numb the pain and relax in hell
derailed- I wanna kill
at the embarcadero on the third rail
derailer died for our sins, or was it just another drinking binge
I’m in a different kind of tension
not to be discussed by professional theory
it's been going on for quite some time
derailer gets by there's no need to worry



8. The Next in Line (huber)

born on the southside, you live alone
four walls and a roof but's always cold
look out the window and there is nothing to see
but, a riot torn city and the death of your country
and your chilled to the bone
with no possessions to call your own
yet you control your rage and you resist the crime
because your the next in line

out the back door and to corner store all
you want is a drink and nothing more
sit on the stoop and let the liquor soothe your pcide before you go inside
you in cut in front
and now your the next in line
you never thought you'd lead a life of crime

freedom's the only thing you need
but the truth is something few understand and an unwelcome reality
now it's dark and black and sad and gone
you express and repress the thing gone wrong
and you want to be the man who ran away
and you wish you could back to yesterday
now he's in her room and he's about to lie
so you pull the gun and squeeze the trigger and let the bullets fly...



9. Sign It Away (koski)

the day grows old and gray with rain skies
and the troubles keeping you are likewise
go to bed after television
as outside the moon is turning crimson

all alone like a Sunday
"tomorrow's no different" as you say
sleep with a drink in your hand
stick your head in the sand
and sign it all away

the tomb where the deadmen sleep reminds you
that your time's too short to grow remorseful
you prick up your ears and find it disconcerting
to hear the din of the boys in the chapel praying

you've got a burden that's sandbagging you but you can't quite let it out
it's like a poison like a sickness that's got you cryin' out



10. Time Tells Time (koski, huber)

look through these empty eyes and past the desolation
in them is realized the drama of frustration
taken paths worn down with life,
sanctified with tension
oh, the glory of a working day is glory only to the bossman

time will tell if time
is standing by my side
and life will blink its eyes
as I work myself blind

we hide ourselves in a blur of lust, liquor and nostalgia
tramp down the gravel on our streets
like passive strikers
take a pint of sins to wash away what you should be guilty conscience
but guilt is somewhere far and away to shrug the system is how we like it



11. Almost Brave (koski)

good intentions shattered by conventions
traditionalized and bland with boredom searched over and feared of
hatred is the cursed habit of the hardest working man
I’ll take a drink to this and a drink to that
and a good smoke to clear my head

I’m not a criminal
I’m at times quite honest
I’m not some scrawny knave
I’d say I’m almost brave

punching in is punching out of courage
doing what you're told and holding back your dreams for an awful, dead-end burden

denial is the loyal vice of the hardest working man
I’ll fight 'em down to bits and fuck their dirty tricks and I’ll always finish last



12. Fifteenth & T (huber)

drinkin' beers in the pouring rain
dupont circle summer again
jack in' wheels just for fun I was only 13
watch your step, but it's always the same
your always down and always going a away
learned a lot about the things you love to this day

I never want to walk alone
and I never want to see the sun come up
and it's all because of you
I never want to feel the pain
I’m never gonna feel the same again
and it's all for the memory of you

black suit yeah the music is life
wait! before you been out the rest of the night
Max revenge was the name we laughed out in the school yard
shot eyes yeah my moms always cryin'
she says "your friend is dyin"
what about the plans, we made for the next day

I know you may be right
I know it's not my life
I know it's not the right thing to do
I didn't take the call
I want and let my best friend fall
and I hope it was the right thing to do



13. London Drunk (koski)

I’m burning in this pit I dug myself an hour ago
and up around the corner lies that bastard pub's front door
and in my many changin moods and on similar days
I’ve cursed and spat up mercilessly at the foot of her fuckin' grace
chaos comes inevitably like a monarch dressed in rags
grinning like a maniac and splashing cider in my face

I’m going back to San Francisco to be finally at ease
as I’ve reached the heralded last rung
and become a part-time London drunk

the Bristol boys are lunatics but madness has its virtue
they all smash their pints and feign legless fights
because it's what they're fucking used to
one autumn night in Birmingham after the band had played
we fled into that filthy van and got out of that fucking place
by half a mile or half a minute I was a sunken, bloated slag
I puked up on the floorboards, my fucking jacket and pant leg




14. The Black Pint (bonnel)

I’ve been dishelved by this drink, by the pint's sight and stink
never enough times to stop and make me think
I’ve wrapped around some fingers, riddles rich in ringworm
I’m swollen still, poisoned by the sting

the black pint is my drink
you see my link
I steal and you sink
you spill and I drink

she's broken saintly vows,
she's viable and loud
auspiciously, she kicks me when I’m down
I’ll never leave her side, because of my pissiness or pride
oh, how I’m shady, in the shadow of my bride

the black pint is my dream
from orange, white and green
with nightmares of poteen.
spittin’ up in the sink

shove it up your ass
in your ear my dear
it's the best thing that's happened to me
in 28 fucking years

so I’ll thank my lucky starts
that there's a bad moon to rise
it's the best god has to offer,
to hang in our skies
and when your snubbed then loved
and it's like you're fondling the dove
you better suck on something scared, because you'll never see above

the black pint is my drink
you see my link
I steal and you sink
you spill and I drink




15. Bigot's Barrel (bonnel, wickersham)

he was spoken to just to be put down
and he was 22 when helped off the ground
beaten black and blue when his color was brown
and shining shoes in a dirty town

(chorus)
the bigots barely outnumber my regrets
as I float around like shit in the bay
the bigot's barrel just another white melee
it's just another fucking windy day

he's free to choose but his choices are few
the rope is loose but it's tied in a noose
he prays to god in the back of the church pews
they won't pass the plate to the blacks or the Jews

(chorus)

she's feeling free until "he" gets a free feel
a reeling plea in machismo battlefield
"I’m up to my neck in the rawest of raw deals
while I’m choking on the B.C. pill"

"I know the rules
to know that they're confused and wrong.
I'd read my rights it wouldn't take too long.
I'll take an inch, no more is offered
to a pawn. I wasn't asked, I will respond!"



16. A Step To Go (Koski)

This place is empty except for the stationary
bottles of whiskey and barstools still standing
concussion headache from blissful evening
of confusion muttered speech from too much drinking
the cars are idling
near out of gas and lifeless
like the people standing persuaded by the temptress
cut up and cunning
the brute keeps going nobody caring for the chaos he's arousing

always a step to go a step to go a step to go too far
seems like the only steps taken are in the wrong direction
but we keep stepping on each other breaking each rung on the ladder
always a step to go a step to go a step to go much further

persistent rhythms clutter dispersal then come together
to discuss the times they hung up on the clothesline in bad weather
the television whines and tells us different sides
of things that we don't care about, taking up our time
the road ends short with malice
no road maps to direct us
so we come up one step short of satisfaction
always a step to go, a step to go...





 




















Swingin Utters – Five Lessons Learned
 

 

Five Lessons Learned
 

Five lovely lessons learned today

Coating my throat with the dust of a new day

As the saints pray their lonely way

And their deadweight lays the passion to waste

 

Maybe if I sew my heart on my sleeve

They'll drop the bomb on me and I'll wake up

I can only fix so much in my sleep

I can only drink so much from this empty cup

 

I know I must not think bad thoughts

I'm always beaten to the punch

I'm holding aces high and low

And in between I'm trying to break my fall

 

Give me a piece of what you've got

I'll make it new with much less thought

it's symbolic and full of trash

Lofty endearments whispered under your breath

 

Five lessons remembered from yesterday

Easing my mind and seizing each new day

Beyond and back I’m still the same

Kicked over some old trash but I still waste

 

 

 

Tell Me Lies
 

My life's a mystery

I just cant figure it out

It's strange to me

That the visions I see

Seduce me but for now

I try to focus

But I can only do a little

at one time

 

Everyone keeps telling me

Everything's going to be all right

Just sit right down

And we'll tell you lies

 

I'm at a junction

But I just don't know which path

I'm proud of all the work I’ve done

But it never seems to last

It's not for money it's for love

And it just might break my back

 

Sometimes it seems as though

Something might go my way

I'll never give it up

Too many things I’ve yet to say

I've done it by myself

And I can do it all again

 

 

 

A Promise To Distinction
 

One I was younger than

The youngest of fragile minds

I ate the day with bad manners

Then spit out the rind

 

And mother told me

As I looked to the sky

Yes my mother told me "My dear son,

You're not the one"

 

I flew from home when I was just twenty-one

Young enough to be the feather of someone

I've got a conch pissed with conch republic rum

My father by my side, teary-eyed, he said:

"Son, by god what I could have done,

And you're just like me,

You can really put 'em down

oh if I was in your place I'd stay, have fun

But I’m not the one"

 

Now I'm sitting here

Haggling over sums

Of money made by someone else

To me it don't belong

I toss a smile to the mighty boss

He's my God

But I'm a bit backwards

And I know he's just a fucking dog.

 

 

 

The Stooge
 

I've kept it in my heart

for over twenty fucking years

And all that time washing away

With the stench of my spilt tears

I've lingered on the amorous

Transformed into something hideous

With the love of life felt to new extents

And reaching new heights of ugliness

 

The Stooge

Stool pigeon of idiots

King of jesters, pawn of comediennes

A pillar that supports my own demise

Believing all that’s seen

Throughout my vacant eyes

 

I'm rewriting paragraphs

In my life that don't read well

Once opposed to editing my regrets

I've grown sick of this denial

Tempted every hour

By the benefits of being a liar

Turning my back at what's at hand

And writing stupid verse to make it all seem grand

 

Some say there's something to strife

That serves those grieving spineless artists

Transforms shit into a masterpiece

And makes their vain attempt at pain

So fucking romantic

 

And I'm certain that someday my time will come

I'll crash and burn like everyone

 

 

 

The Pictures Perfect
 

I write alone now that you're gone

And it's nothing

I studied all you've said and done

and it's nothing

The pictures perfect

There's no time

It's nothing

Resolutions made

What's yours is mine and it's nothing

 

Through all the years

There's been a feeling

Of forsaken

That's lost my mind and now I know

I've been a fool

And you showed up

But it's the last time

That this place will know

Its self or the people that we once knew

 

I walk the streets now

Dusk till dawn and it's nothing

I never cared to see you

Gone and that's nothing

These years have lasted far too

Long and I'm stuck here

with this song

And all the problems I've

Endured are nothing

 

The picture's perfect

And it's nothing

 

 

 

This Bastard's Life
 

Why can't I beat the bankers

Deal then find a home to rob

Why can't I lie and cheat and steal

Who wants an honest job

And if I curse you night and day

My integrities been tried

While I waste a life away

Why don't you try and hide

 

The end has just begun

The end has just begun

Your life's been run

My bastard son

 

Why can't I turn off the light

And see I'm all alone

Why can't I change my liars

Life and find myself a home

And if I did where would I be

Lost in my due misery

So if there's truth you'd

Better keep it away from me

It away from me

 

So why can't I shut the

Window tight and keep the

Wind outside

And with no friends in sight

To help me fight the tides

My own rests in a hotel room

And on a switchblades knife

Why must I find the truth so

Soon and end this bastards life

 

The end has just begun

The end has just begun

Your life's been run

My bastard son

 

 

 

As You Start Leaving
 

A train sounds off with whistle blowing

Lighthouse horn sounds early warning

Clean cool air with stars out shining

Overcoat and whiskey drinking

Hands locked tight and close together

These nights are bliss in drunken leisure

Spitting air in gusts as it gets cooler

Spase clouds try to come together

 

You can feel the chill and bid farewell

As you start leaving

Sounds like an evening

 

The cars thin out on empty streets

no traffic jams to make you weak

Shopkeepers leave, at home they speak

Of good patrons and of cash and thieves

The wind is gaining ground on you

The air turns damp with seaside dew

But it don't lie, it tells the truth

And all is well and all is new

 

Your west side is a teenage waiting

Los Angeles a childhood haze

Like steps to nowhere you sit there gazing

At friends you've lost through years of forgetting

time sells you short of all you're wanting

Though you don't know just what you're seeking

Except winter nights and cigarettes

And boozing with the best of them

 

 

 

I Need Feedback
 

10 AM yeah I just woke up

I can't clear my head

Drank too much last night again

I might as well be dead

Well I'm just fuckin' lazy

My whole life's makin' me crazy

But I wouldn't give any of it

Up even if you paid me

We all get in my car turn up

The stereo

Gotta goto the Trocadero see

Another fuckin' show

 

Well I'm just fuckin' lazy

My whole life's making me crazy

But I wouldn't give any of it

Up even if you paid me

 

'Cause all I want is feedback

Yeah all I need is feedback

All my time is poorly spent

But it's all I can do

To make it through

 

I guess it's all right

Staying at home

Being with my friends

But the only time I feel all right

Is when I’m on stage again

 

'Cause I'm so fucking lazy

And everybody's makin' me crazy

And I should've givin it all up

'Cause they're never gonna pay me

 

So all I want is feedback

Yeah all I need is feedback

All my time is so well spent

And it's all I can do

Yeah it's all I ever do

To make it through

 

 

 

Good People
 

Did you ask that man

On the corner for the time of day

Did he shrug and glance at his wrist and say

"Dunno, here you go"

And hand you a fool's gold watch

I should tell you some sacred stories

Secret and confound

But by God you tell me

That's the point

Go on and get your fortune told

Give away your fortune

You're fortunate enough to have one

You're morally disconnected

You seem to be a mistress or some forgotten wallflower

The cliché of an old man's dreams

The storybook disease

In a rush to get out and leave

Mister good for nothing

Miss disease

In need of heartache

Beg now and then

For a sin to appease

Beg now and then for a sin to appease

 

 

 

As Sure As I'm Down
 

Well we're all gone good-bye see you so long

And you're so young and glad to see us move on

When the day's long and the moon just stares you down

notice your shoes are dirty when your heart's on the ground

 

As sure as I'm down

With my knees to the ground

As sure as forgotten and never been found

 

Never been so bored

Brickwalled on a bank holiday

And not looking forward

Tomorrow's dour as a petty wage

Line up those whiskeys while rotting on remand

It's like me to drown my sorrows

Sitting here I'm taking a stand

 

As sure as I'm down

With my knees to the ground

And sure as forgotten and never been found

I'm down

 

 

 

Untitled 21
 

I guess it's all right

That we never know

Just what it all means

And if there are ways

Of making a change

Please show them to me

 

So if I could stop time

Then I would stay 21

Cause everyday since that time

I wished I was young

 

I'm so paranoid

Of failing in life

I can't even think

And I'm so tired of worrying

That I can't even sleep

 

I'm so lost in my mind

That I can't touch the ground

And I've drank so much cheap wine

That I feel I might drown

 

Life's been so low

That I got so high

I can't even stand

I'm down on my knees

I'm begging you please

Lend me a hand

 

 

 

Unpopular Again
 

It's been a prosperous four years

Many have come and staked their claim

But now it's over and the halls are cleared

And you're unpopular again

 

It takes so little time at all

To see who can really play the game

And before the winters fall

We won't be seeing you the same

And when I'm lost in all my thoughts

While I'm driving 'round the Bay

As the foundation slowly rots

Won't we ever find our way

 

Of all the ones who've come and gone

It never matters all the same

And as the day's so very long

It's all right to miss the train

 

 

 

New Day Rising
 

"I was only laughing out loud" I say

"When anybody else would've done the same"

I could always shut my mouth again

But it'd still come out that way again

and again

 

Well I'm going to the hills now baby

Goin' out to the city building

Gonna sleep in the dirty alleys

Where the air is fresh

With the new day rising

 

You keep knocking on the door

But they don't answer anymore

Oh you know it aint your fault my dear

it's just that bad luck time of year

 

There's no use talking about the weather

And since that's all that's on my mind

Well then whatever

I don't have the time to waste my energy on lying

So babe I’ll see you later

 

"I'd die with one less cocktail babe

It keeps me from feeling naked and ashamed

Oh I'd love to tell you stories old and new

True and false but I’d best be on my way"

 

 

 

Two Jacks Shitty
 

This journey started slow and free

And ended wrapped around a tree

Just like my self pity tangled in

the willow weeds

As high as right up to my knees

While scratching at the fleas

 

She is handsome she is pretty

She's the queen and I'm two jacks shitty

 

With our way the less traveled roads

And filthy ferry boats and filthy overcoat

Counted on the fields to be far away

from home and close to me

And the castles and sea

You can bet the city wind is going

to sting your eyes

When you forget to use the telephone

And the sleet the snow the rain and

cliché long good-byes

When you got to leave her all alone

I'm not sure how well I am

I know exactly where I stand with you

hand in hand

Place your head on the pillow please

There's one of our two hearts diseased

That one belongs to me

 

She is handsome she is pretty

She's the queen and I'm two jacks shitty

 

 

 

Fruitless Fortunes
 

The fascists and their many guises

Anarchists and their fantasizing

It seems sometimes they're sailing the same boat

Politicians mesmerizing throngs of automated souls

As some similar psycho's screwing on the scope

 

I'm leaving town

To join sophisticates in my head

We'll have our fun playing the hypocrite critic

And when all the creatures in their palaces are crushed

I can safely say "I'm coming home"

 

Fairy tales and fruitless fortunes

Acquired from some sad story teller

Can sometimes be enough to keep me mum in my keep

Organ grinders orating overtures of madness

As the heinous hipster's spending his unearned currency

 

There may be many ways of reaching the same plateau

I'll take the road less traveled

If it looks like it ain't been sold

The chains around my neck won't break

But at least they're made of solid



 



















Swingin Utters - The Streets of San Francisco
 

 

1. Storybook Disease (Koski)

 

I have broken many dreams, but like broken hearts they seem to mend with ease I’ve traversed the open sea with a grain of guts and a gallon of need but I’m tired and I’m easily fixed a hair trigger in this one's breed I’m upset with upsetting things and always sad to see the good things leave (Chorus) so what’s wrong you? so what's wrong with you? so what's wrong with you? she says oh, what's wrong with you is what's wrong with me long lost negotiations make in hell to break my nerves toiled and fought my way to the top, I haven't done but have tried at least to deserve shiny things on golden jeweled plates aren't just handed out for those in need oh I’ve learned and I’m learning still that staying idle is the worst disease I blame myself for breaking promises I made to myself in so called "dire need" but I won't apologize for the cursed words I’ve laid upon those that I blamed it's no use to toil over this isn't life to be a simple thing? it's a flux, a want for worth that I need to dispel those need

 

2. Jackie Jab (Bonnel/Koski/Wickersham)

 

Jakie Jab is looking fab. He's got treble and a bass and a big tab. He's got oil in his hair from Arab and when he falls down, he dalls smack dab. (Chorus) hey fellas, get him a cab, what’s his name - Jackie jab!

Three square means everyday, but nothings square about the American way. his friends get off on Doris Day and he hasn't a clue what to say. (Chorus) hey fellas, get his a car, what’s his name - Jackie jab! (Repeat 1st verse)

 

3. Tied Down, Spit On (Koski)

 

You better go, or you'll be stepped on with your sharpened bayonette boots you'll be long gone you gotta go, You gotta get on with all the glory of good riches you've been brainwashed

(Chorus) and as for all the days and what you'll do with them, just spend some quiet time you need some rest to mend. you're getting slow, you're getting old now, you gotta run, just like you used to, you're tied down, boy, you've been tied down and spit on.

 

4. Teenage Genocide (Koski/Wickersham)

 

well, you don't really know what you wanna do except to spend some time just being you but the game's unfair and the stakes are high what with the threat of being embalmed in formaldehyde

I don't wanna go before my time

I don't wanna go before my time

well you've got good time to put down a few so you take carrier castanyer down to the club its the only fuckin place that'll serve you a tiny hideaway from parents, work and school

it's just like teenage genocide

it's just like teenage genocide

now that you can cast your coat and elect a joke but you'd better not fuck, dream, drink or smoke and watch your back when the man offers you a ride because it's just like teenage genocide

 

5. Catastrophe (Koski)

 

you can't believe your children you can't believe your wife, you can't take the credit fucking up your life. some people don't believe me when I tell them "I’m alive" they see me walking so slowly they think I’m too uptight (Chorus) it's a catastrophe such a strange way to live well let me try a new strategy I’ll and make it work I’ll take myself away and get out of the dirt (Chorus)

 

6. Mr. Believer (Koski)

 

pick up the lines between your eyes grow up and get yourself to feeling younger longer for the sunshine waiting for an early rise won't it just shame you? shall I stop and blame you? no one's gonna call you an ambitious teacher or a "get things done" move on to the next one achiever (Chorus) you will always be nearly a dreamer you got by the misleading name of Mr. Believer caustic remarks throw you aside distraught with disbelief buried alive oh and I have seen the likes of you grow weaker each passing, men like me digging your grave deeper rapped up and blindfolded barely breathing broke nowhere to go but eyes still shining you crass cowardly clown there's no "Shangri-La" and it don't get any better than right where you are

 

7. Well Wisher (Koski)

 

slow motion cigarettes hang from your sweaty lips five bottles of stale, pissy ale stumble to your pale wrists thin man with unkept hair clean shave, but a glassy stare you've lost it all boy, and so young (Chorus) I'll remember times like these with a bit of satisfaction I remember somber days and with more to come, surely won't forget them. Stick figure twig of a boy toothy grin, a slim bit of poise he says "I'll take you down with one blow" and though we laugh, he does quite well. (Chorus) These are times where we all look onward not what's now, but what's to come a lot of pride and a shade of hope, am I the only one who gets the fucking joke?

 

8. No Place In The Sun (Bonnel/Koski)

 

she came over, but I was spent no money involved 'cause it came and went I’m so tired, she thinks that's bent it fills up my pockets and it pays my rent I won't hold my breath for that time to come I exhale an exasperating sum she said "you're washed up", I’m not close to being done there's plenty of room in the shadows, but not in the sun no place in the son, my sun

I’m not even close to being done that guy there, he's a big boy's hobnob he's got no integrity, he's a lazy slob compared to me he's quite famous, but I’ve got a job loose lips take sips from the goblet gob there's no time for me, but just you wait and see if I’m counting on me, I’ll need to calculate now she's tired of standing there, hey that takes the cake 'cause the sun comes over, and she's always in the way (in the way... get the fuck out 'my way)

 

9. A Petty Wage (Koski)

 

I've said and once too often, some things I’d never say again. in streams of thoughts unbroken I fish for a few good men (chorus) Sundays and holidays and twelve hours straight no pay for bloody hands and believe me they pay a petty wage my poor self pity speaks with sobbing, mumbled words strewn with the awful taste of bad, cowardly prose (Chorus) I’d take some time to get my posture set straight if I had the chance I’d break and subdue the scheming hands of fate. wrap up your limp red mass of knuckles and fingertips it's fighting time and time to battle with your wits, time to spit back when you're spit upon, when you're left for head. time to hit the road when the road you're on had run out of tricks (Chorus) I don't want your Sundays & holidays of twelve hours straight no pay for bloody hands, no I don't want your fucking petty wage

 

10. Come On (Dison)

 

come on!

 

11. No Eager Men (Koski)

 

"he's just a shadow of what he used to be ever since I put him in his place" she's just a memory that's scarred him horribly and looks like lipstick on his face

this side of paradise is slow

no eager men go to the show.

except for me

she wore a bright red dress always looked half undressed and he stuck by her side like glue she'd give him perfect eyes smiled at him every time and when she spoke it was the truth now it's been twenty days sleepless and stupid days wasting good time on feeling bad she's taken everything greenbacks and anything that she could steal behind his back

 

12. Beached Sailor (Koski)

 

Off all the blessed intervals that defined ourselves as one I may remember only the last, as it's the interval you won I’ve thought about it and I just don't know (don't know quite where to go) I’ve been trying to relax, but can't remember how (a bit of rest is what I need now)

(Chorus) I’ve been a sailor, but a sailor who has never left his land who's trued to occupy an unstable mind with ridiculous daydreams now come the testing times where I dip my small toe in though the deepest waters freeze, if I jump in I’ll be free I’m all along, and that's just as well (Without you facts do tell) fond whispers of unfound secrets, I still cant hear them so pray tell (Chorus) I can't accept it, (I’m a beached sailor) cause I don't understand it (I’m a beached sailor) I’m lying stranded, (I’m a beached sailor) like a beached sailor

 

13. (Take Me To The) Riverbank (Koski)

 

times have changed and the change of time's slow going my ramble tamble's still in tact and I’ve got plenty guts still showing all along the levy where we just sat and sometimes drank one the weeds are growing over all of our summer days long gone

(Chorus)

just take me to the riverbank with no clouds in the sky and if you do, I won't give my thanks but I’ll stay there, till I die

I’ve grown and shedded some I’ve shed the ones I used to care for it seems they're all long dead and gone but they're still up to the same chores along the endless streets that are now breeds of walking feet that I just don't have the time for (Chorus)

now I start to save my time pack my things and say good-bye unsatisfied and anxious now I want to blow away from here just take me to the riverbank just take me to the riverbank where waters run like some mistake and I can make my history...

 

14. Just Like Them (Koski/Bonnel)

 

well, I’ve fallen from the grace of a dog whatcha gonna do? I’ll scribble it down in my log I don't believe you! it wouldn't hurt to believe me well maybe just a little sting, clouds outside are rolling in right through my bolted door cold sweats are dampening me with their mediocre lore time spent in a welded life sealed tight shut like a lovers war I trusted you and took you in, but in the end you were like the rest you were just like them you were just like them "Them" Meaning the rotten end you were just like them now I’m in this purgatory of self-inflicted shame I trust no one Don't talk no more "hello, have a good day" my big frowns were smiles once but now I’ve changed my ways this human race is spotted with a cruel, colored disgrace, and you're just like then, yes, you're just like them no more apologies spent cause you're just like them

 

15. Stars and Starlets (Bishop/Koski)

 

when the ballroom splendor and the glitzy glamour boys fall flat like cheap champagne, when the swirl of excitement and the sparkling smiles have fled into the folds of the night, when the haunts you most admired and the simple things you adored seem like a fraud of petty trinkets, when the fay has broken and the smooth words spoken and your finest moments spent, when the ache of wanting beauty and the lire of glossy perfection leaves you alone and weeping, when you hit the big time, when you hit the big time stars and starlets

 

16. Soldier Boy (Koski)

 

good solid build, this ripe young kid has sharpened up for killing men. polished new shoes and uniform not a bad sort "just came here on a whim" (Chorus) and now our soldier boy is missing home and now our little boy is dead as a stone. big toothy grin, peach fuzz on cheeks, snow-white combed hair, lanky physique. Mobile, but awkwardly made-up like some wannabe debutante. (Chorus) and now our soldier boy is leaving his own and this old rag-tag neighborhood has folded and gone

 

17. Last Chance (Koski)

 

the last of the daydreams have walked out the open door avoiding any problems they might've had with the social law well, I remember Tuesday and every last day of my life and I’ll never forget anything that stays with me at night it's the last chance for pretenders to go and get things done it's the last chance for daydreamers to live what they dream of this child is walking slowly his head bent to the ground watching each step taken and his shoes, a dirty brown and he don't want a companion, has got things to say, but don't wanna talk and I remember myself like him oh, I hope he don't also fall

go and get your army boots, my son go and get your music box, come on got and get your building clocks my son it's time to set your sails, my boy, and run

 

18. All Laced Up (But Pitfallen) (Boennel/Dison/Koski)

 

you've got to follow your traces because I’ve seen so many familiar faces unfinished races stolen bases fallen graces all laced up, but pitfallen the community heals while my eyes are still swollen my friends have picked up their paces while I’m still tying my laces they're acting gracious with my patience my fallen graces

 

19. Expletive Deleted (Koski)

 

Look at my face turn it around I’m the invisible man I’m the expletive deleted give me my suit hand me my tie flash me a smile I’m the expletive deleted take off my facial expression give me lines to say without reason I’m an incredible sight an average obsession a beautiful dream with perfect discretion