1. |
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WHEN SHE TOOK OFF HER SHIRT
A crowd around her, the spotlight found her
You could just tell that she loved to dance
She's no one special, that's why it's special
We're all at the mercy of circumstance
As you predicted, I am conflicted
It's never easy and it's rarely clear
So call me charmless, insist it's harmless
But when daylight comes things seem so severe
All the planets became aligned
And we glimpsed what the gods designed
She was just having a good time
When 10,000 screams combined
How much power did she exert?
When she smiled and took off her shirt?
We charged unblinking beyond all thinking
Perhaps there's no need to understand
But I still wonder if we blundered
Was it magic or some sleight of hand?
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2. |
All Boys Want
03:45
|
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ALL BOYS WANT
Her mother says, “That’s all boys want”
But the men she meets want more
They want to be taken care of
And they long to be adored
Her mother says
Her mother’s wrong
It’s not all boys want
But all boys want it
It’s not all boys need
But they always need it
She knows they need inspiration
From someone who knows they’re tired
Who sees how hard they’re working
And can make them feel admired
They just need someone to tell them
That everything’s going to be fine
And that’s the kind of person she is
She wants to give them everything
She wants to be divine
And every time she hears that song
She knows her mother’s wrong
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3. |
We Run the World
04:22
|
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WE RUN THE WORLD
We run the world
We shape the earth
You can’t even guess
How much we’re really worth
All of our crimes
Are plausibly denied
Our portfolios
Are so diversified
We’re selling short
The bubble won’t last long
We’re buying up your block
We even own this song
We run the world
We all grew up in Darien
But the plans we hatch
Are so Wagnerian
We run the world
Machines of war
Are now the cars we drive
The scarier things get
The more we seem to thrive
Miss Nipple Ring
Riding on the bus
Don’t kid yourself
Cause you’re one of us
When the bad men come
With their dirty bombs
Won’t distinguish you
From any soccer mom
We run the world
All the noise you make
Has been factored in
You’re plotted on our graphs
We’re very disciplined
We run the world
We put our name
On your stadiums
And no one finds
This troublesome
We’re leasing space
On poorer countries’ flags
We’ll rename your kid
Cause everything’s an ad
We run the world
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4. |
||||
THE KING OF BAD DECISIONS
So bad, so fast
It got so bad so fast
|
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5. |
Fear of Chicago
04:21
|
|||
FEAR OF CHICAGO
Old Jim is hanging in the kitchen
Gave up when nothing else was cooking
Looks like he’s gonna make the papers now
I guess Valerie didn’t love him
No one was ever thinking of him
That’s changed but he wouldn’t like quite how
You’re afraid of the city
But you paid to see the show
You’re afraid on the drive home
So you play the radio
Drove straight through from Tallahassee
Two days to play for fifty people
Mixing flexeril and old warm beer
Stopped cold, a blizzard on I-80
Stuck in the Motel Indiana
Waiting for the sun to reappear
Black ice on random city sidewalks
Dark waves on great lakes in a snowstorm
Drinking Jaeger free at the Cubby Bear
Lounge Ax on breaks swapping shop talk
Sweet kids lure your band mates to the girls’ dorm
Circling for hours around O’Hare
I’m afraid of the city
But you made me feel alright
So I stayed a little longer
And we played another night
I’m afraid of the city
You’re afraid of the hills
We betrayed one another
When they played it gave me chills
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6. |
Everybody Loves Jenny
03:52
|
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EVERYBODY LOVES JENNY (EXCEPT JENNY)
All the tenured profs love Jenny
And the teenaged Goths they love Jenny
Even New York cops love Jenny
But not Jenny
Well the cameraman he loves Jenny
20,000 fans they love Jenny
Drummer in the band loves Jenny
But not Jenny
Love is all you get
It better be enough
It isn’t always sweet
It’s sweaty and it’s rough
Everybody loves Jenny
Except Jenny
The academy loves Jenny
High society loves Jenny
Everyone agrees about Jenny
All the married men they love Jenny
And those congressmen they love Jenny
Even shy children love Jenny
Why not Jenny?
Total strangers love Jenny
Texas Rangers love Jenny
Money changers love Jenny
Poor Jenny
Well the anchorman loves Jenny
Mullahs in Iran love Jenny
Duran Duran loves Jenny
Why not Jenny?
So you got crazy
So you made mistakes
So what if your reasons
Remain a bit opaque?
|
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7. |
You First
04:02
|
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YOU FIRST
I gave my wife the finger
The first day that we met
I might not be Romeo
But she’s my fucking Juliet
The day she said, “I love you”
I had the worst reply
I should have said it back
But all I said was, “Why?”
We are scared but we are willing
Unprepared and unrehearsed
Could be lame or could be thrilling
You go first
Step off the cliff you might start flying
Tell me if you think it’s worse
To be selfish or self-denying
You go first
We’re just like these penguins
That I saw on TV
They crowd at the ice’s edge
Till one falls in the sea
|
||||
8. |
||||
THE CASE AGAINST TATTOOS
There’s another man’s name on the small of her back
Every now and then they have a fight about that
First time was the worst at the beach when she forgot
He started freaking out when she took off her top
Like a band with one hit that they always have to play
Every argument since then must make mention of that day
He says, “If you really cared, there are ways to take it off.”
She says, “That’s how I got here, by trying to prove my love.”
You can’t force yourself not to change
They had 7 perfect years, then 3 more almost as great
In the 2 since then the passion’s started to abate
Even when they argue the stakes don’t seem as high
This is just a law of time that no one can defy
He wouldn’t say he’s happy but he’s glad he’s not alone
After work they put on records, he starts getting stoned
She looks for perfect moments inside her favorite song
Lives inside of those till the next one comes along
You can’t force yourself not to change
|
||||
9. |
||||
THIS SONG IS A COMMERCIAL
It's vaguely defined in order to appeal
to the maximum number of fans
Has parts designed to make you feel
That someone finally understands
Your rage and your fear and your sadness and your dreams
Your dependence on certain lotions and creams
Your most beautiful hopes and most terrible pain
The urge you have to jump at oncoming trains
Your reluctance to sing along now
And the reasons you’ll do it anyhow
Gimme a kiss, gimme something new now
Gimme something real no one can see through now
Look at the lady who’s removing her clothes
In front of twenty-some thousand fans
Is she being used by the CEOs?
Or does she simply understand
All the times that you’ve lied without knowing why
The desire we both share to be purified
There is no god but it’s fun to pretend
We’ll meet in paradise when the chorus ends
You’re reluctant to sing along now
Need a reason to do it anyhow
Yes it’s true they need to tranquilize you
But gimme a chance maybe I’ll surprise you
Blumenfield/Quirk
copyright 2009 People Still Suck Music (ASCAP)
|
||||
10. |
Fuck Yeah!
05:46
|
|||
FUCK YEAH!
If I’m lucky, if I do it right
No one can watch
No one should see
That would just debase it
And make me realize where I am
I don’t know or care who or where I am
No pretty hooker will fall in love with me
But I like my friends
Most of my family
I need to horrify them
To end this misery
This isn’t old time rock and roll
This goes back so much farther than that
Any music will do
So long as I don’t think twice about you
If I’m lucky, if I do it right
No one can watch
No one should see
That would just debase it
And make me realize where I am
I don’t know or care who or where I am
I want them to want me
To be just who I am
But that’s the thing about your loved ones
They are not supposed to understand
This is about this very second
This is about how I feel right now
This is about not thinking about it
This is about “Fuck yeah!” and “Wow!”
|
||||
11. |
Janie Jones
03:53
|
|||
12. |
||||
THE CEO CONSIDERS HIS HOLDINGS
At the top of a building far downtown
In a world where you and I do not exist
Sits a man at a desk in fine attire
Slowly checking items off a list
Tho he looks out the window now and then
No sound rises from the street below
While he studies what he owns
He’s receiving quite expert fellatio
Some rise by sin
And some by virtue fall
We’re not getting anywhere at all
Send our regards
To those who work so hard
We lack discipline but we have a ball
On a sidewalk in that city
On the day after the show
Jenny found that special feeling didn’t persist
As she stepped over the trash that
Only ever seemed to grow
And graffiti by half-hearted anarchists
41 per cent
of the company he founded
(that pioneered removing toxic waste)
Two hockey teams
and the arenas they play in
One satellite that’s orbiting in space
950 pages listing varied stocks and bonds
5 houses, 7 buildings and two farms
He forgot about the planes
and that helicopter
There’s no paper trail for the small arms
Lots of broken glass
The standard fast food wrappers
A used rubber and a used tampon
side by side
Half a dead pigeon
One red, lace-less tennis shoe
A kneeling man who was oddly dignified
A pile of crap far too big
to have come from any dog
A mattress and a piece of some machine
A wet and battered book
titled Your Brain is God
And a broken silver plastic submarine
|
||||
13. |
A Different Kind of Love
02:38
|
|||
A DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE
Just because you're happy don't make your life complete
Just because we're naked don't mean we're indiscreet
Don't mean to be stubborn, I don't want to offend
But look at all those couples can't you tell it's just pretend?
I guess that all I'm dreaming of
is a different kind of love
Just because I'm leaving don't mean I shouldn't have come
Just cause I wasn't tempted don't mean I won't succumb
Just because they're clapping don't mean you're any good
You can make perfect sense and still be misunderstood
|
||||
14. |
Your Majesty
04:40
|
|||
YOUR MAJESTY
High above a crashing sea
The waves are whispering to me
I get down on bended knee
Humbled by your majesty
Countless crabs upon the rocks
Click off seconds just like clocks
Everything interlocks
In honor of your majesty
Your majesty
I went back to my hometown
But my house had been torn down
There was nobody around
To hear about your majesty
Spoke no words for thirty days
Searching for the perfect phrase
Listening to Isaac Hayes
Thinking bout your majesty
Your majesty
Sitting on this balcony
Singing bout your majesty
Now I'm sipping Zinfandel
In a once grand old hotel
With the kind of clientele
Who do not know your majesty
And each evening I'm beset
By another damn sunset
Trying so hard to forget
Your fucking majesty
Your majesty
Just another casualty
Of your supreme majesty
Every morning millions kneel
Before something that's so unreal
But that don't change the way they feel
|
||||
15. |
The Possibilities
03:20
|
|||
THE POSSIBILITIES
Johnny on Johnny in 1964
Couple years after the Hayride
But several years before
All the Johnnies started spending
And pretending they knew more
Than the Johnnies who weren’t famous
And the Johnnies who were poor
The possibilities…
Luther fights the camera
The camera always wins
He tries rolling his eyes
And he tries a goofy grin
Marshall’s jumping on his bass
But no one looks at him
Johnny’s singing bout the Lord
But you can see he’s full of sin
The picture blurred
He fell to his knees
Something occurred
But it was hard to see
She spoke no words
Made no guarantees
But everyone heard
The possibilities…
And he’s totally amped up
But nobody can tell
Cause they have no frame of reference
For the things that make him yell
And he’s singing bout the old days
And he’s bidding them farewell
And he looks so goddamn handsome
When he looks like fucking hell
|
||||
16. |
Devil Horns
04:15
|
|||
DEVIL HORNS
The original singer has retired to his farm
The drummer drove drunk now he only has one arm
But they’re still making records
They still sell out shows
And when they come to your town
You really oughta go
The service charge will kill you
and a T-Shirt’s fifty bucks
But there’s something bout a crowd
going absolutely nuts
You will shout your throat raw
Become someone else
Let me be more precise
You'll meet your true self
You will shout your throat raw
You will raise your right hand
You will make the devil horns
You will finally understand
That we all have inner demons
They’re impossible to kill
And keeping them from winning
takes magic, love and skill
When anything can happen
And nothing awful does
Be thankful for the blessing
And grateful for the buzz
You won’t remember this tomorrow
Won’t know how close we came
You will talk about the lasers
But you’ll come back again
|
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