cast:
Rich Mattson:
vocals and lead guitar
Jim Kennedy: lead guitar and vocals
Greg McAllon: Bass
Rob Gilboe: Drums
additionally:
John Chruscielski:
guitar solo on "San Fran Stymie"
Stuart Martz: violin on "I'll Get To It"
Ross Steinberg: background vocal on "Bye Bye Birdie"
Recorded and
Mixed at Flowerpot Studios, Minneaoplis, MN
Engineered by Rich Mattson, Ross Steinberg, Jay Perlman, and Rob Gilboe
Mastered by Doug Wild at Wild Audio, Minneaoplis, MN
Mixed by Rich Mattson
Photos by Big Daddy; Cover photo by Reggie Pype
Layout and Design by Matt Lee
All songs ©
1996 by Rich Mattson; Esper Publishing Company (ASCAP)
A big decision can be made
In four or five days
It's taken me a year now
It's time to get something straight:
I'm gonna do what I want
I'll try to stay within the laws
That we set for each other
There's something I need to discover
The truth hurts--ain't it scary?
That's right, my man, I've made up my mind
Everyone tells me how it's about time--the truth hurts, yeah, yeah
You're needed somewhere that I'm not
Go put to use the things you're taught
You can keep all the things we bought
And use them in your good time
You can't do any wrong to me
You're chemically altered, don't you see?
Your opinions are shaky at best
You can't survive on much less
The truth hurts--ah, believe it!!
The blame that I'm blaming won't set my mind free
The chains that I'm breaking were torturing me--the truth hurts
Good health, they say is the key to good living
I don't think I could've been more forgiving
If I can make it through
All the days of the weed and the booze
I know I'll never be comin' home to you
All the promises, good intentions-You know I
never lie
I'm a good sport-I'm like baseball-
You caught me on the fly
Can I be half a man here? Can I have some peace?
Another highball-another screwball-
Well, that ain't no fuckin' release
I'm not helping noone by wishing
There's no way I could have been more forgiving
It's like stepping out into thin air-
I'm falling and nobody's there
I can't count on you, and for that I haven't prepared
Compromises, big surprises-
It's all in that big ball of wax
Disappointments, big pretenses,
Seeking refuge in meaningless sex
My gramma and grampa been married for 75 rotten years-
Still a lifetime ain't a lifetime
If you ain't shed a thousand tears
God damn, I swear, and I still go on living
I don't think I could have been more forgiving
I can beat the hell out of myself-
Well, it's better than somebody else (I guess)
Well, I know I'll never be comin' home to you
My house was overtaken by a bunch of deathwish
freaks,
And I'm waiting for my buddy to show up with the weed
It's different when you got morals- like you're trying to live so bad
But unless you've been around it, you can't really understand
He stole a car
She sniffs the cocaine
They were all soldiers on the astral plane
They carry large amounts of cash, so you know
that anybody can make it
And there's a hundred dollars missing somewhere, but he swears he didn't take
it
Bye, bye, bye
You bunch of idiots
you've been shot down
I don't regret it
So my house was overtaken by a bunch of deathwish
freaks
And I really don't wanna be here, but it's too early to go to sleep
The first thing I got this morning was your hand
saying "no, babe"
The next thing I got was some sour lemonade
Overcooked franks and complaints and no time to get with it
Nothing can go right nothing really tastes right today
At war with getting bored and I been taken prisoner
again
Scared of bein' alone, no tellin' what it can do when it gets to you
Guilty pleasures give me the creeps in the morning
But I just gotta love 'em when it's late at night
You wake me up in the morning without any warning you show up
In the most beautiful plaid spring dress
Tonight I must be alone, you don't seem to have
a problem with that
But you don't answer to anyone-does it make you glad?
Well, do you wanna sit there and try to make
me cry
Or do you want me to punch you in the face?
Anything that I do for myself has nothing to do with the rat race
You need to have your head examined,
You think I'm making a big mistake
But you can't do anything to stop me
And I feel that way about you too
Back in school I busted your lip-you thought
that you were gonna die
I don't know what the hell you get out of this
But I bet you I shoulda done it twice
Maybe you should shut your mouth for now
We'll step outside and duke it out
I know I'd kick your fuckin' ass
'Cause you're drunker than a skunk, and since you asked
Adrenaline-such a healthy feeling
Look at you-your bullshit tales a reeling
Well now, everyone has a point at which they
break
And thank you for helping me reach mine
Such a long time coming for this-but now we'll have to say goodbye
We'll catch you on the fly
Bring more pot next time
You're really out of your mind--hey, at least nobody had to cry
You're such a runaround, fuck around, sleep around
dude
I get a big ol' kick out of anything you do
You make your mind up after whatever you decide on
And I'll never know how you covered your tracks
It's the facts we never let on
Stymie--Stymie-
Why'd you leave and go to San Francisco?
Stymie--Stymie-
Why'd you leave and go to San Francisco
San Francisco? San Francisco? San Francisco?
I don't remember the time that we ever first
met
It was a party party-here's a party rock and roll set
What are you doing by the water in the city right now?
Do you ride your bike to the cliffs and look down?
Is it really where you wanna be?
Stymie--Stymie-
Why'd you leave and go to San Francisco?
Stymie--Stymie-
Why'd you leave and go to San Francisco
Or old Chicago? Houston, Texas? Minneapolis?
Afar you hurt and here I die
A cross that brings a soul to mind
Your body filled with perched hate
Why does this happen every twelve days?
I wish I could see you across the land
Across the hedon streets you ran
Imagined things not vivid enough as
The real thing- the real stuff
As I sing there's things going on
There's all these people carrying on
There's waves in oceans,and traffic in streets
Screams and laughs and you and me
Well we just can't agree-in the same moment
And there's a million people like us
Learning to adjust
If you should see something I can't tell
Tell me baby where did it swell?
If you don't know what I'm talking about
Don't go turn your back and pout
I just want you to understand
Baby I ain't got no plan
And if you don't agree-well just wait and see
There's so many people like us
Learning to adjust
Everybody in the night was gathered
To hear the songbird sing
She walked right by me in all of her splendor
And didn't say a goddamned thing
I can take your love,
But I don't have to take your shit
You're the perfect something for someone
But I'm no longer part of it
I've respected all of your problems,
I know you need to deal with them
Just cross me off of that list
Of the people who can get you pissed
And the songbird sings
About deep, dark, mysterious things
Yeah, she was my girl
Yeah, but she's just a girl
Drop me off at Daryl's there's a party goin'
on
They're listening to the Sournotes' 35 Greatest Songs
Kieth is getting married in a couple of days
And they got a woppatouey, and this is the stag
Drop me off at Daryl's-everybody's blackin' out
And if you don't like it, brother, you don't know what it's about
They got Bobby in the bathroom shooting up dope
He's savin' some for later--I detect a little hope
Oh, man you guys nail me, man you guys kill me
Mundane useless who gives a shit?
Drop me off at Daryl's-he's the greatest guy
I know
Who else can drink a case of beer and play a show?
He works shit jobs and drinks harder than anyone in a band
But still his karmic hourglass is top-heavy with sand
Drop me off at Daryl's for some anthropology
Sometimes it gets pretty heavy-some of this of which I see
Well, noone likes a party pooper here on the scene
But my brother and my sister-they get drunk and they get mean
I have lost my faith in telepathy again-
You don't answer the call or even act like a friend
Is it all that I can do--just getting through to you?
Can it do? I dare you--I will too
Just quit being such a fool
I've always been good at sending telegraphs
To my friends on the other end
But when that honky-ass shit won't work
She can't hear nothing-no, she can't hear nothing at all
I have asked you many questions-
Where you been, what you seen?
But it always seems so innocent and safe
If you only knew all the hell I go through
Every time I hear your name
I know you'd get on the horn and play me blue-
'Cause you're a loser, too
It sure doesn't seem like a lot to ask-
A lot of times it just depends
That's rock and roll, baby, what's wrong with you?
She can't hear nothing, no, she can't hear nothing at all
Up in the land of beauty
Nobody notices sounds
Of the silence that surrounds you
And the leaves all rustlin' 'round you
If you've been there all your life, it's nothing new
When the weather's all that's been
And at night the stars you've seen
And you drive through the night by the moonbeam
You don't care about much more
No one hears how loud you snore
Simple life can be a bore, and there's so much to ignore
It's a sad and disgusting day, when the bulldozer
comes this way
But everybody says "okay" 'cause they're givin' out free money
When I drive to the land of beauty
I gotta find a different roadway
'Cause the main one has been maylayed with billboards
And I can't even see the trees now
'Cause the brand new grand casino
And the skylights and the sparkles are all they came for
And they come in by the thousands
To gamble away their wives and houses
I'm pitching a tent, and paddle canoe
Across the sky blue waters-
Made for your sons and your daughters
Who watch T.V. while the seasons change behind their eyes
Another new year - a total mindfuck
You think that you can change, well go ahead and get it over with
I just don't waste any time
Thinkin' what I'm doing - is it wrong or is it right?
I resign my head of this headache
There's a little poison in any medication you take
Varied medicine from autumn days to evening grass
Troubleshoot your living in everything you write
I listened to yuh - I listened for yuh
I couldn't make out the point you were trying to get across
Say it's nothing to yuh - say I can't identify
After all this time that I spent trying
Forget the point - the point you were trying
to get across
Forget the days that you thought you were the fucking boss
You got the king - the master of the universe
You got the king - the master of the universe
YOU GOT THE KING - THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE
YOU GOT THE KING - THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE
It takes a little bit at a time
In the end, you know that everything works out just fine
I'll get to it
I'll get to it
I'll get through it with my own little piece of the sky
Don't you know, yeah?
It takes a little bit of your mind
And you gotta put the world upon your spine sometimes
And if you find that you don't like the choices you've made
You can always go to somewhere where you'll be a slave
But you'll get sick of it
There's always so much more
I'm gonna get to it
Sittin' down in your old basement
Or out on your front porch
You ever wonder what the hell you're doin that for?