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1. |
Strange Names
03:06
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Strange Names (blues in b) (B9/F#min6/E9/Bmin6/F#9/C#min6)
strange names fascinate me
reach into my dreams
a smile that take me somewhere
the mysteries run free
a dance to stumble over
a language to learn
a garden to idyll in
a recipe not to burn
textures I've found
smooth to the touch
never become so familiar
as to wear themselves out
strange names fascinate me
destinations I can't reach
flags with ornate symbols
waving at me
my tongue rolls your syllables
my brain's roulette wheel
tries every combination
of what you could mean to me
the dimensions of love
fit a present I can't afford
the edges of its box
stick out pockets like swords
places we are
shift with no effort
the world revolves around
alphabets so obscure
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2. |
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Scratch
every generation
every man and woman
lays a new foundation
on top of ruins
ideas old and warn
are discarded bones
love is recreated
out of the unknown
we scratch the start
we take love apart
ignoring instructions
and rude interruptions
we scratch the start
adding our parts
making mistakes
careful with hearts
lying on your bed
you've gone to work again
I put on your dress;
it's not the same
I drink from your cup
it lacks a certain punch
kiss your shoes;
they don't taste like you
I'm a slow child
stubborn fool
too proud to ask
what to do
I scratch the start
adding my parts
making mistakes
careful with hearts
I scratch the start
when you come around
sometimes it's curiosity
that keeps us going on
there's no occasion
no photographic album
that captures this feeling
when we get it working
outside the window
it's chaos below
in here it takes
two for civilization
every generation every man and woman
scratches the start of something
ideas old and worn are discarded bones
love is recreated out of the unknown
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3. |
Spring
03:26
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Spring
Emi7 (no5), A7(no5)
she couldn't wait for spring says,
'you don't know how to live'
Dma7/F
took a plane south
Emi7(no5), A7(no5)
sent her credit to hell
had enough logic
had enough fear
no more midnight calls
I get one postcard card a year
F#dim/A, A#min (maj7)
she couldn't wait for spring
Gmin, F
she let her hair go long
F#dmin/A, A#min (maj7)
burnt all her suits
Gmin, F
bought a dozen thongs
her place is empty A#maj7,
here in the dark F
there are plenty new bodies A#maj7
all without her spark F
Dmaj7
where are my people?
C
where is my place?
Dmaj7
that's what she sang
C
in her cube at the bank.
she's in the arms
of some latin man
making a dollar a day
binding books by hand
sold off her car
sold off her house
lives with twenty tango shoes
and a see-through blouse
she couldn't wait for spring
burned all her books
cd's went next
we got concerned
she never answers email,
she's never at home
somebody told me
she's been disowned
where are my people?
where is my place?
that's what she sang
in her cube at the bank
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4. |
Quarks
03:21
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Quarks
in the space between moments
outside the visible spectrum
desire moves undetected
through everything possessed
everywhere we look for it
everywhere it's hidden
fools survive crises
but everyday demands something else
no backwards, no slow motion
it's right to feel lost
in between moments
in free fall
in a park under the sun
time on the ground
shining with significance
energy in our flesh
everywhere it's here
everywhere it's found
something binds us together
-quarks of love
(repeat chorus)
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5. |
Writing Yourself Free
03:21
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Writing Yourself Free (G mostly)
desire only takes you so far there's another hundred blocks to walk
ten stories tall in the sun
heat islands around your heart
lines on the street run on loose leaf meet at points blotted with ink pages fill with your scrawl
marking the city as you are
the line you draw connects paper cups crossing our bodies walking our talk
I'm drawn to you
you write by me
I situate myself in your life you rewrite the scene
static from scraping feet generates electricity
stories light up the night
coloring books with a million lines
writing yourself free
where you can believe possibilities
inside the deadness you feel
writing yourself free
far from what you fear where your life can't be overtaken by surroundings
take yourself down paper and pen
there you are you see what you meant
polished harder determined
to make yourself over again and again
(repeat bridge and chorus)
verse: G Bm Dm G
bridge: CM7 GM9 E7 D7
chorus: D C Am7 B7 chrorus2: B7 A7 A7 G7
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6. |
Blue Houses
02:39
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Blue Houses
blue houses move around the world
losing room picking up words
pearl-shaped, rich, like a book
licked and sucked by the earth
I want you to stay in my room
the furniture matches my moods
we could sleep all day
until we need food
beautiful things surround you
infinity moves around you
dreams violent and soft
pass over like clouds
the promise of a new world
where you never looked
made in our hands
with glue, paper, and pen
vibrating circles in the dark
between our eyes under our touch
glowing and throbbing with pleasure
knocking ourselves together
the distance expands and folds
you're as beautiful as you're lost
yellow garden images
scratched in time with our initials
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7. |
English
02:01
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English
AM7
you're too beautiful to speak english
(mystery chord 1; notes are: E,A,D# G#) F7/#9
don't waste your time;
(mystery chord 2; notes are: Bb, Ab, D, G) D#sus4/A#
the book's on the table, it's badly written
(mystery chord 3; notes are: Bb, Ab, D, Gb) Abmaj7sus2/Bb
ignore dick and jane's stupid lives
C#min/E
you're too beautiful to speak english
G#7 or Ab add9/Bb
there will be problems with tenses
C5/G
could you pronounce the following
sentences?
E
part your lips on the "f's":
F
I could fall for miles into your life
Bb
you should be wary of white guys
G7
we will live together in your parents' house
C7
feeding fish and washing cars
(Song repeats structure with different lyrics)
you're too beautiful to speak english;
let the world come to you
don't use the past tense, it's not relevant
concentrate on your future;
you will need someone in your life
who will be doing stupid things
who knows about fun and happiness;
the difference and what's beneath
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8. |
The Work
00:49
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The Work
G C A7
the work's in the other room
G C A7
waiting to be fed
G C A7
it's eaten half the couch
G C A7
now it's working on the bed
G7 C7
leave it in the dark
G7 C7
with one eye peeled on it
G7 C7
it looks pretty sharp
G7 C7
with you on its edge
G7 C7
I prefer to be outside
G7 C7
where l'm seen by friends
G7 C7
who wouldn’t guess
D7 C7 G
I'm a means to its end
D Dsus4
women seduced by it
Em Em7
men taken with its stare
D Dsus4
it's oblivious
Em Em7
to my needs and fears
G7 C7
moving at its own pace
G7 C7
climbing up walls
G C A7
I give it everything it wants
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9. |
Floating World
03:11
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Floating World (B)
Navigating streets no wider than umbrellas
deaf to native tongues, blind to prying windows
still in the night you show me what still's for
killing the day, wrapping it in a rug
my bed's concrete lit with a single bulb
so's my poetry; it warms just as much
make yourself at home with that cartoon pillow
everything else I own was sold just to know you
I wake up sweating while you're asleep
doubting myself and this body next to me
holding onto the night with both hands
asking questions answered by silence
you say my eyes take on a distant look
but I know where they go and what they do
I take your fingers in my hands
we drift back to the river bed
time sinks moments float over bodies like dreams
this love's an opium consumed by the working week
I promised myself I'd taste it just once it doesn't come cheap
the price's a haunted life worn under your feelings
verses: C#min7/B, Dmaj9(no5), F#min7/E, D9, C#9
bridges: Bm7, Dm7, F#m7, Em7, Dm7, A
ch: F#m7, Dmaj7, Bm, A
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10. |
Fresh Meat
00:59
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Fresh Meat
they used to be middle class
crawling now on broken glass
cardboard houses
broken into
selling the butler
for a pound of butter
trading pearls
and furs for food
no more questions asked
secrets torn in half
brute survival's
the only truth
selling beds
daughters' wealth
trading for protection
fresh meat's gotta do
I was more a neighbor
than a bystander
when they were pulled
out of the pool
gave them help
at some expense to myself
carrying spoils
trailing perfumes
the crowd went the other way
took them to my place
her dad barely
catching his breath
appetites gave away
before the getaway
now it's our turn
served on the rack
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Bob Gaulke
SInger/Songwriter/
Rootless cosmopolitan. I sometimes produce others.
Bob Gaulke recommends:
Emilia Cataldo is a great songwriter.
go to album
Due South/Donna Summer/Call The Cops
by The Welfare State
Eric Gregory and company are the best.
go to album
StillLife/RealLife
by Peri Mason
...because I co-wrote the songs!!!
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