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1. |
I don't fit in
02:50
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I don’t fit in it’s not a sin
I appear martian
I can’t blend anyone can tell
My opinions seem out of season
It’d be a lot better if we all got along
I wish sometimes I was more wrong
But I see what you do, hear what you say
Logic and reason move the other way
I won’t conform to a norm
Boiling a planet on a slow heater
I must confess
I’d rather think less
But I get so tripped up
On these little details
But I won’t quit
I’ll take a hit and keep on tickin’
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2. |
What a funny thing
03:29
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Went to the store filled my cart
Tomatoes on sale so was the cod
Frozen treats a new yogurt
Lady next door there with her dog
Got behind a man with cans of spam
At the register I opened my wallet
Funny thing happened; there was nothing in it
Embarrassed as the girl voided the purchase
What a funny thing to live in a dream
To spend your life spending everything
Little reminders come too late
Without a script and an audience there
Said I’d be right back I was mortified
Left the bags there with my pride
Said to myself “never again”
-But there are so many books and records to be had
Need to order that new box set
Guess I’ll have to float the rent again
Cancel that date open the tuna
That I’d been saving for times like now
What a funny thing the world produces
Flown in daily from all continents
Under lights on display
For us to consume without thinking about it
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3. |
Like Robert Johnson
02:12
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I start more stories than I finish
Love more women than I sleep with
Intentions misplaced plans mislaid
Savings destroyed faiths betrayed
Burning decades like paper
Cut-out lives saved for later
Don’t claim to understand it don’t matter
Holding on to ephemera
Spinning the world without pursuing it
Screams blur, sounds indifferent
Calling for me like Robert Johnson
Shadows on the equator
You come to me with the promise
We won’t need to hear tomorrow
Hesitating in front of yesterday
Ducking out into the rain
That distant dog’s barking again
Sounding like he’s ready to sing
Life happens and it happens again
Needles falling on our heads
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4. |
Evil
03:00
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I leave the evil at work
Where I’m protected by a suit
Sometimes I cut it into bits
And spread it on my food
I wish it on someone else
Someone I don’t know
On weekends
I take it home
Putting on a mask
Letting you beat it out of me
Flying it in the air
On the end of a string
Leaving it in the car
It can be recycled
Sending it into space
To the martians
Hopefully it’s not too late
Our children will face it
We could always find
Something to replace it
You can find me
Completely naked
Thinking about
How it works
I wake up wanting things
I wake up feeling empty
I dream my opinions
Count for something
Thoughts cloud my daytime
Agitating desires
How I measure my life
What I do with my time
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5. |
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Maybe you’re in the right place
Making that book turn a page
Things you thought were mistakes
Were lessons you’ll face again
There’s a line you can trace
From the child in your steps
Through where imagination winds
up those nine flights of stairs
Despite all rejects, boyfriends, upsets
Cowards, lawyers, bosses, politicians
You’re still standing, smiling, demanding
What are we all doing here
Without compass or map
By providence, luck, common sense
You survey and start to dig
Up to your chest in the shit
Maybe you’re in the right place
Giving what you’ve got to give
To a world crying for help
While others suffer in silence
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6. |
Alphabet city
02:53
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U and I thirteen letters apart
Trying to move stuck on a wall
Love from a distance framing desire
Good on paper; perfect in mind
Never far from my thoughts
Filling the room with impulses
Passing notes, spit wads
I remain unfocused
I dream about you writing in circles
Needing help with your cursive
Twenty-six letters in a row
Filling in blanks, making “O”’s
Desires conflicted against
The shape of your lips
You and I bored out of our minds
Stuck with groupwork we don’t like
Look at you shoot me a smile
Our secret lives have just arrived
Alphabet city’s raining paper and pens
The whole story gets crumpled again
Weather changes loneliness surges
My purple spaceship comes to save you
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7. |
Against
02:56
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Against the day
We place this limerence
Taking space
From indifference
Riding the sound
Of your voice
Into summer’s
Flames
Against obligations
We bend and stretch
Hearts teething
On logical sense
It’s not nothing feelings we have
Weighed against the working week
It’s something i’d never give back
Anything I could share with you
There are reasons too many reasons
Chopped like onions in the kitchen
Hesitate before a decision
Doubts flooding the apartment
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8. |
Roses
02:35
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In a world of shit
I plant things
Things grow in stink
Beetles
Come feasting
Bees come drink
In a world of noise
I’m quiet
Quiet enough to think
Stupidity’s deafening
Dodging
Trucks to read
When I pray
I pray for wisdom
Wisdom to come to me
I think roses,
I feel roses
Budding as I read
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Bob Gaulke
SInger/Songwriter/
Rootless cosmopolitan. I sometimes produce others.
Bob Gaulke recommends:
Emilia Cataldo is a great songwriter.
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Due South/Donna Summer/Call The Cops
by The Welfare State
Eric Gregory and company are the best.
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StillLife/RealLife
by Peri Mason
...because I co-wrote the songs!!!
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