1. |
Pismo Beach
04:28
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PISMO BEACH (PHOTOGRAPHS OF MISSING PERSONS)
Spent a long time saying goodby
While you were still here
No, it didn't help prepare me
Not at all
For later on when you really left
I guess you can't mean goodbye
Just some kind of version of
"We'll meet again"
Photographs of missing persons
Lost to me
I don't know where on earth or in heaven
You can be
Sitting round, people taking turns
To say something about you
Small illuminations
In a darkening sky
Like mental pictures
Or triggered memories
Till time empties out, bit by bit
All trace of our old century
Photographs of missing persons
Lost to me
I don't know where
Earth or in heaven
But I'm driving home
Up Highway 1
Pismo Beach was soaked in the rain
I bought myself a tee shirt
A coffee
Salt water taffy
I must have said goodbye a thousand times
But I could never mean it
Just some kind of version of
'We'll meet again"
Don't know when
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2. |
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3. |
Park Ranger
04:42
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PARK RANGER
Juvenile delinquent
First thing
You get yourself expelled
From fifth grade
Junior arsonist
Wants to see the world
Up in flames
Where's the park ranger
To patiently explain?
Where's the park ranger
To slowly build a trail to you?
River of drugs
Pours down your throat
And in your veins
Seems like such a good idea
But it really is
A shame
Crawl out of the river
Pull away the weeds
When you crawl out of the river
Tell me, can you feel
There's someone watching you?
Someone feels for you
There's someone trying to build a trail
To you
Once upon a time
I was responsible
For all the world
So I built a hermit's hut
And felt guilty
And grandiose by turns
Martyred megalomania
Not up to the task
But now, if it's something little
You only need to ask
Just ask
Where's the park ranger
To patiently explain?
Where's the park ranger
To slowly build a trail
Between us?
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4. |
Mirror Lake
04:28
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MIRROR LAKE
Love's funny, first completely
You find yourself enchanted
Each kiss is better than the last
So taste them and savor
This phantom of Forever
The sand is sipping through the glass
The kiss is through, the words are spoken
The spell that binds these two is broken
In city and in country
And by the ocean side
And sometimes in your twin size bed
We did the best we could
Not always great, it doesn't matter
I guess what matters is we tried
The chisel knows just what it's doing
A block of stone is stricken human
One mild day in November
We hiked up to a lakeside
A lake as quiet as a mirror
I watched a falling leaf
Touch the surface and start a ripple
That moved the mountains and the sky
The beauty of the world reflected
But you were not in the perspective
Love's funny, first completely
You find yourself enchanted
But one day your love might turn a corner
Who even knew there was a corner?
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5. |
New Year's Eve
05:54
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NEW YEAR"S EVE
New Year's Eve has come
Well I know we're going to have some fun
New Year's Eve is here
After a long and difficulty year
But this time
I'm going to keep my heart wide open
This time,
I'm going to learn from all of my mistakes
This time, I'm going to act on my beliefs
But I"ll change them if need be
New Year's Eve has come
Well I know we're going to have some fun
New Year's Eve is here
After a long and difficulty year
And as we mark the time
So the time marks us
The hours beguile
While the decades pile
And all those resolutions
In a journal that I kept
For just awhile
They make me smile
This time
I'm going to learn from all of my mistakes
This time, I"m going to act on my beliefs
But I'll change them if need be
Now that
Any day has come
Something is finished
And something begun, so
Be of good cheer
Any day is here
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6. |
Planets Can Move
04:22
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PLANETS CAN MOVE
Excuse my distance
It's just the way I walk in the wintertime
All caved in for warmth
Excuse my closeness
I'm just unbending
To see if you might take my arm
Planets can move close to the earth
But I've seem 'em scoot
Back where they came
And there is only one true star
You
I'm feeling blue
Because I"ll never get up the nerve I need
To make a move on you
If I were drinking
But I'd need to drink so much
I'd probably just fall down
What if I just lie down
Would you fall on me?
Into my arms
Here on earth
While it's spinning around
Underneath the one true star
Behind the clouds
Pushed by the wind
Isn't it a lonely feeling?
You're kind of shy
And I"m fairly paralyzed
Not really knowing
How you're seeing
This
Through your sad blue eyes
But I"ve seen you laughing
I know that I can make you smile
It's like that star
There's really a million of them
Shining down on everyone
And absolutely free
Planets can move close to the earth
But I've seen 'em scoot
Back where they came
I"d rather hear about
I"d rather hear about
All those stars
All those stars
Somehow they make you
Part of me, and part of...
Look up at all those stars
All those stars
Somehow they make me
Part of you and part of
The universe
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7. |
Ask Real Nice
04:50
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ASK REAL NICE
I knew a girl, a beautiful girl
And she knew things
You can't learn most places
A beautiful girl
She didn't think so, but I saw better
The night is what you make it
And you can make it so good
Dreams give what you ask them sometimes
Ask real nice
I knew a boy, a very shy boy
And he was so sweet
When you got to know him
To drive in the car over the hills
Well, who could ask for more?
The night is what you make it
And you can make it so good
Dreams give you what you ask them sometimes
Ask real nice
Sometimes I wonder
What lights the eyes of a child
And then I wonder
How I could ever, ever
Make you smile
Standing still at the top of the pyramid
Looking round with no way to step down
The story of my life
Betwixt the sphinx and the river
The river flowing out into the night
(A night of dreams)
Dreams give what you ask them sometimes
But you gotta ask
Ask real nice
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8. |
Thank You, Tony Kushner
04:54
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THANK YOU, TONY KUSHNER
February takes its name
From strips of goat that oiled-up boys
Used to whip the Roman ladies
At Lupercalia
And old Saint Valentine, turns out
He might have been apocryphal
Still I'm sure his martyrdom
Was something awful
See, it's raining again
Month of downpour, month of buckets
Month of nothing in the bank
But some loose change in our pockets
Imagine that you're leaving work
The city's wet and sparkles pretty
You're on your way to meet the one
Who makes you happy
(And worried)
Perhaps you're off to see a play
For which you went and charged the tickets
The story of a bleach cup and the sky
Strung with coins for stars
See, it's raining again
Month of dogs and also cats
Month of squalls and squabbles
Month of making up from all of that
And all the while our lives unfold
Like former bits of origami
A stuffy swan that stretches out, now
It could be anything
The water drips, the paper stirs
The goat strips whip and arrows zing
February takes its name
From things that cry, they make me want to
See it's raining again
Month of minutes, month of hours
Pouring like the love we share
In generous and scattered showers
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9. |
Half Moon Bay
03:58
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HALF MOON BAY
Happy birthday, baby
I"ll take you out to dinner
Let's go to Firefly
That's up in Noe Valley
But the name has some associations for me
Somehow it make me want to take a drive
Lets go on down the coast
Oh look! We made it all the way to
Half Moon Bay
And moon is hanging down
Half way to somewhere
I guess it's time to turn around
Unless
You want to keep on driving through the night
We could go all the way to Santa Cruz
That's where I lost my youth years ago
Under a flood of bad drugs
But say
We could pick up my old broken heart
I think I left it underneath a redwood
Gather it up and take it for a ride
On the Giant Dipper
And then all we'll need
Is a cheap motel room
A place to sleep
But not right away, my darling
Not even real soon, my darling
This song is unfinished on purpose
An ink black road
Rolls up a hill
And disappears
In a night sky full of stars
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10. |
Acid Orange
08:36
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ACID ORANGE
One of these days
You might find yourself
Young and powerful
It happened to me
Me and a friend
High on a hill
Behind a school
Over a bright blue bay
We ate an acid orange
And went running through poison ivy
Nothing could touch us
We were so charmed
Riding on the back
Of a speeding motorcycle
Don't forget
Hold on
Some of these days
Flash by in a second
And then there are days
That seem to go on and on, and
Of course the best of them
Do both
Like you're high on a hill
Over a bright blue bay
Like you ate an acid orange
And went running through poison ivy
Nothing can touch you
When you're so charmed
Going snorkeling
In a pool where others just swim laps
Sure there's nothing to see
But look at it all
Look at it all
All of this happened years ago
I only thought of it
Because just the other day
I went for a walk
Me and a friend
High on a hill
High up on Russian Hill then
Down to Aquatic Park and
In and around the docks and
Over to North Beach where we
Had an Italian meal, then
Back on up the hill at the
Tail end of a festival
Winding through Chinatown
While the sun went down
Eat an acid orange
And go running through poison ivy
Nothing can touch yoiu
When you're so charmed
And the sun comes down
I almost forgot
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11. |
The Sky Is on Fire
01:15
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12. |
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Pocket Shelley San Francisco, California
Pocket Shelley is the desultory project of songwriter and keyboard player Michael Mullen, who is also the co-writer of the Size Queens and has collaborated with a number of (at the time) San Francisco-based musicians on their own projects.
Pocket Shelley recommends:
Consumption Work: Tammy, Cybertariat, At The Aral Sea
by The Size Queens
Okay, I co-wrote all the songs and played a bunch of instruments on all Size Queens releases. But lyricist Adam Klein is a genius! Opinions differ as to the best record, but I do love our Tammy.
go to album
The Incorrigible Danny Pearson sings the hermit's remonstrances
by Clodhopper / Danny Pearson
Danny was the bass player in American Music Club, and is a great songwriter in his own right. I played keyboards on a couple of tracks on this, but why not listen to Brothers, which I didn't play on?
go to album
The Graceless Age
by John Murry
John is a unique talent. Little Colored Balloons and Southern Sky deservedly got a lot of press, and it was my privilege to have played piano on both. #10 in Mojo Magazine's Top 50 albums of 2013.
go to albumIf you like Pocket Shelley, you may also like:
A fascinating, appealing record no less “weird” than the rest of her oeuvre, but certainly the most weirdly versatile.
go to album
Folk for camera
by Louis DeCicco
An album of eight hushed songs from Louis DeCicco that emphasize the gloriously ghostly sound of slide guitar.
go to album
How Does It Feel EP
by Lizzie Weber
Missouri singer/songwriter Lizzie Weber delivers a trio of songs lightly informed by country music, and fleshed out with strings.
go to album
