181 : 10/8/98 : Near Side (Canto 3)

Above an iron door it reads
All you who enter give up hope
For here you reap the harvest of the seeds

You sowed along the slippery slope
You’ve done exactly what we predicted
You’d do given enough rope

Work will set you free it said
And better you than me
And hey don’t you wish you weren’t dead

Open it my guide said it’s time to see
How the other half gets by on the other side of death
Come and find out what goes on among humanity

When they draw their last breath
So I swung it open on heavy hinges
And was assaulted by a cacophony like 50 thousand meth

heads having heart attacks the sound still impinges
on my dreams at night
When I wake up and think of it my soul cringes

Back from the hideous sight
Millennia legions of vague shades
muttering and racing, endless collapse and flight

I said teacher what is this mob that fades
and flickers in this stagnant room
what is this babel murmur that pervades

this stinking living tomb?
He said you ain’t seen nothing yet
These are those of the apathetic doom

Who never knew enough anything to forget
Spent their lives searching for the remote control
They’re searching for it still with no TV set

They chase flickering lights they crash at the bell’s toll
They wallow in soggy sheets and think about tomorrow
Get up and start running interchangeable lost souls

But hold back your pity and save your sorrow
You’ve still got a long way ahead of you
This is just the shores of those who borrow

existence for a test drive or two
At the riverside our bus is waiting
To take us and a couple thousand damned through

To where the offspring of the foul mating
Of intellect with twisted virtue in charge
Still festers in the thirst that is without sating

Out of the fog I saw the monstrous garbage barge
of the damned loom up to shore
I said man that boat is pretty damn large

T.S. said there are far more
People who have slowly turned gray
Than you ever imagined before

Look at what happens when the light fades away
Mount the steps of this foul conveyance
And let us be about our diabolical holiday

I found myself in the middle of a writhing seance
of tormented spirits in constant retreat
from the light. I swore I’d only go this way once

A voice roared out I smell fresh meat
What’s a body doing on my boat
Get back to the near side friend until you’re in your winding sheet

But a look from my guide froze the words in his throat
the old boat master scowled and turned
And my teacher said better pick up your coat

As the lunatic mumble rose and the water churned
Across the river I saw a smoking rise
Where I knew the devil’s city burned

I squatted down in a corner and shut my eyes
And I listened to the endless drone of endless flies

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

180 : 10/7/98 : Second Thoughts (Canto 2)

I said I’m having second thoughts
to my new companion
Lately I’ve been rolling pretty shaky shots

Every time I come up on this canyon
I think of who has gone before
How they aimed their faces straight ahead and ran strong

As the west wind blows from the shore
How can I measure up
To those heroes who first passed the great door

He said son it’s time to open your treasure up
all the courage and virtue you locked up inside
It’s time to give these little pleasures up

This is about more than your sorry hide
A messenger above your station sent the word
And called me from my sleep to show you on this side

So listen and mark what you’ve heard
‘cause after this nothing will ever be the same
Deal with it now when you’re not so self-assured

Three graces are thinking of your name
And your journey is written above
I’ll get you back to where you came

from my nervous son, back in the light of love
Back in the fields of the Lord
I’m just here to give you a little shove

And I said unreel the knotted cord
Time to cross into the psychiatric ward

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

179 : 10/6/98 : Your Welcome to Hell (Canto 1)

837 ?


In the middle of a nothing life
gone stupid with the day to day to day
I found myself stranded in confusion and strife

I had wandered so far off my way
Distracted by the little here, the little there
Woke with a start and had not a word to say

Of all the dead ends I’d been in this was beyond compare
At last I feel I’ve blundered past return
I turn around, walk up and down and stare

But little as I am the stuff I’m made of’s pretty stern
I got back to my feet and looked about me
As long as I’m alive it seems I’ll make that wheel turn

I wondered how the world was getting by without me
As I pushed on through a gloomy fog
I daydreamed I was a child again and wished the seeker would shout “free!”

Lost in thoughts of escape I carried on my slog
through a world bereft of sense
I pushed on like always; a rolling bouncing little cog

To my surprise I came upon a barb wire fence
Beyond I saw sun and a rise and a tree I knew from long ago
Said I’ll go up there where the fog is not so dense

And maybe if I sit under that tree I’ll know
where I am and where to go from here
It seems farther than at first glance but even so

But as I Iooked for a break in the fence I reeled back with fear
And ugly cottonmouth was lying in my path
Behind a rabid weasel blocked my retreat with a crazy sneer

And high above a crow circled with eyes red as wrath
And called out a hoarse scream full of night
And I said to myself that’s torn it: to the math

So I turned to return to my gloomy plight
When a voice whispered do I date disturb a fellow poet in retreat
Softly, off to my right

And sullen I said who’s interrupting my defeat
And a ghostly man said I’m the one
Who’ll show you fear in the dust at your feet

And I said I know that song you sung
Is it really you my old friend
And he said well well well old son

T.S. can you show me how to get around this bend
That hill over there has got me under a spell
You know stuff, right, you’ve been past this bitter mortal end

And he said son I’m not allowed to tell
About the other side and yet I’ll be your guide in hell.

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

circling satan's icy drain

I've been procrastinating getting started putting my seriously deficient version of Dante's Inferno online. Basically because the transcription of it is so tedious, and the product is so terrible. You may think I'm being coyly modest but I'm not. The whole thing was an exercise in grinding futility. Well, not entirely. It was a good exercise for writing but an awful one for reading. I'll get over it and get down to brass tacks soon.

178 : 10/5/98 : Queen of Heaven (5th Glorious Mystery)

Who’s on the right hand who’s on the left hand
Looks like you missed the point again,
Queen of Heaven

Who shall be first, who shall be last
the time for all those games have passed,
Queen of Heaven

Who will be crowned with glory?
Who’s the key of this story?
There is no reason to be sorry
anymore
Queen of Heaven

Intercede on my behalf
Put a record on the phonograph
Stay with me for one last dance
Queen of Destiny and chance

Queen of Heaven

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

177 : 10/4/98 : Take Me Up (4th Glorious Mystery)

821 ?


Oh Lord are you coming
Are you coming to get me tonight
I guess I’m the only woman or man
You ever taken twice, ain’t that right

Well are you finally gonna take me up
in your arms tonight
carry me across your threshold
Take me into your house and make everything all right,

Dear Lord are you coming
to take me up body and soul
My flesh was good enough for you last time
Your son wasn’t too good to come outta my hole

I carried him in these arms
He sucked here at this breast
I raised your son for you
I knew myself above all women blessed

I’m changing aren’t I
I’m growing so very light
I feel your arms around me
take me up in them this moment this night

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

Deathly Hello's

810 ?


I'm not ashamed to admit it... Well, okay, I'm a little ashamed to admit it but I'm staying away from the internet for a few days to avoid the Harry Potter spoilers. Yeah, yeah, I know. Back in a few days, to wrap up the rosary and begin the long-promised descent into Hell. And (I hope) clear up that little backlog while I'm at it. I'll get this thing more daily eventually, I swear.

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

176 : 10/3/98 : My Head’s On Fire (3rd Glorious Mystery)

I can’t see nothin’ but glory
‘cause my head’s on fire
Can’t hear nothin’ but your story
‘cause my head’s on fire
Anything I say’s hunky dory
‘cause my head’s on fire

My head’s on fire
and I feel all right
My head’s on fire
I’m gonna make it through, tonight
My head’s on fire
And I’m winning the fight

Why can’t it be like this all the time
Why can’t every single word have a rhyme
Why do I do what I would not do
And fail to do that which I know to be true

Won’t you please set my head on fire again
I’m ready to blow just pull the pin
I’m hot for it I’m a live wire
Please Lord set my head on fire

My head’s on fire
and I feel all right
My head’s on fire
I’m gonna make it through, tonight
My head’s on fire
And I’m winning this fight

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

175 : 10/2/98 : Ascension (2nd Glorious Mystery)

795 ?


Time has come
for rising
to the heaven
that I dreamed of
The kingdom that
I spoke about the
mansions of
my Father’s love
Now you must
be satisfied
a while
to linger on
this spinning place
Through your troubles
look to heaven
look up watch
for my face
I’ll be back
real soon now
I leave you with the
overflowing cup
My ascension is
at hand
I’ll see you soon friend
Going Up

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

174 : 10/1/98 : Guess Who (1st Glorious Mystery)

793 ?


In the most dismal hour
of the most dismal day
when you’re finding just how hard
it can be made for you
I will appear to you
Guess Who

On this road as you talk
of the way it all seems
To be falling apart
And collapsing
You may find me walking beside you
Guess Who

I’m always with you
Every minute every day
I said the world would give you trouble
But I’ve arranged to
be your double
when they’re trying to
pin you down
I’ll come out swinging for you
Guess Who

The ground
does not hold us down
the ground
does not hold us
forever
I’m here I’m waiting
for you:
Guess Who

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

173 : 9/30/98 : Crux (5th Sorrowful Mystery)

Here I am here it ends at the crux if it;
that’s very funny
I’m very thirsty it’s very hot here
somewhere they’re counting Judas’ money

That’s very sad it makes me unhappy
To think of him hanging there
Betrayed by Jesus denied by Peter
I see my followers out there

Well they don’t know my sheep don’t know
They never get a single thing
So I am beat and broken
And they’ve lost their king

They don’t know what they’ve gained
I don’t know what I’ve given up
I’ve never been a man before
I’ve never drunk the bitter cup

It’s all over now I’m done
I’ve gone where it’s taken me
This is your great plan Lord
why have you forsaken me?

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

172 : 9/29/98 : Carrying the Cross (4th Sorrowful Mystery)

788 ?


This road goes on forever
This road goes to nowhere
heading to oblivion
Carrying the cross
My path is winding down now
Take one last look at my old town, how
strangely everything has gone
First is last and gain is loss
One foot and then the next one
Pretty soon they’ll nail them both down
It isn’t anything surprising
I knew about it from the start
I knew I’d carry this cross up this hill
I knew it would come to an act of will
the falling and the rising
the beating of my heart
I couldn’t be more weary
confused and beaten, bleary-
eyed and feverish
I see a multitude carrying their crosses
In times to come well shouldn’t it end here
Why does everything seem far that should be near?
Shouldn’t they all just get their wish
Can death end this never ending process?

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

171 : 9/28/98 : Crown of Thorns (3rd Sorrowful Mystery)

One like me in every crowd
I can’t stand the games they play
Still I look on and not a word I say
I’m a coward and I keep my peace

Another troublemaker blew his lease
And that’s where we come in I guess
Basic hooligans to intimidate the rest
and beat the few misfortunate who come into our grasp

I had to look away but still I heard him gasp
They hate the crazy ones the most
It’s pathetic really how they love to boast
it’s pathetic how I don’t resist

And he just took it never cursed or made a fist
They put a crown of thorns on his head
Poor crazy Jew will be lucky when he’s dead
A crown of thorns, that’s something new

I’ve grown accustomed to the evil that men do
but this one got to me somehow
I see that crown of thorns the blood upon his brow
I wake up in a sweat thinking my sheet’s become my shroud

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

170 : 9/27/98 : Scourging (2nd Sorrowful Mystery)

A scourging a message
a lesson to be taught
maybe this will clear the situation up
I’m just doing what I ought

Why am I constantly confronted
with these peoples’ internecine strife
beat the shit out of another revolutionary
see if they keep howling for his life

I thought that it would be an easy post
They told me they were cattle been defeated so long
but every time I kill another one of their messiahs
another and another comes along

I wish that I were somewhere else
I wish that I were back in Rome
Away from all this provincial politics
relaxing, easy in my home

Let’s see how the subject’s holding up
Christ, J. amazing he still stands
These people seem to have it out for you
seems a shame but still I wash my hands

When I asked him what truth was
he didn’t say a single thing
but he caught be with a look that shook me
I almost believed this madman was a king

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

169 : 9/26/98 : It’s Not Right (1st Sorrowful Mystery)

778 ?


It’s not right that they’re all sleeping
It’s not right it is not kind
It’s not right I can’t refuse this cup
This cup that is not mine

It’s not right I can’t be comforted
I shouldn’t be sweating blood
It’s not right I’m kneeling here alone
and praying to you in the mud

Lord if I’m ever running things
the way your scriptures seem to say
I can’t believe I’d run things like this
there must be a better way

Well not my will but your will
Nothing changes in that deal
It’s You that calls the shots down here
It’s You who turns the great wheel

I want this cup taken away
I wonder if that’s wrong
That what you’ve set seems wrong to me
That this what I waited for so long

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

168 : 9/25/98 : In Jerusalem (5th Joyful Mystery)

In Jerusalem they found me
talking to the old men
I was asking them
about some things that had occurred to me lately

They acted vexed and surprised
it just seemed natural to me
important and necessary
that I valued what they claimed they prized

And the old men shook their heads
they didn’t seem to know
the answers to these things that seem to grow
inside me every day every night while I lie in my bed

I looked back while we rode away
I thought something’s going to happen
Something will happen in Jerusalem
I’m going back there someday

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

167 : 9/24/98 : Depart In Peace (4th Joyful Mystery)

Now let your servant depart, in peace
I’ve seen all I need to
I know how the rest goes
He showed me

Now let your servant depart, in peace
I know how this story ends
You’re facing a hard road little friend
But you’ll make it

Why are some chosen to know
things no man should know
I’ll never know
but never mind
I know where I’m about to go

Now let your servant depart, in peace
I just had to see it come to pass
I know your face will be the last
the first thing I see

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

166 : 9/25/98 : Falling to Earth (3rd Joyful Mystery)

Well that angel never mentioned this
The dark the cold the screaming and the blood
Nobody talks about that part
How the pain shakes you rolls over like a flood
And the screaming my God the screaming
Till I wondered can that really be my voice
Crying out my God crying out my God
Clutching Joseph’s hand and grasping at the straw
Well I guess the Scripture told me it would be this way
It’s my destiny it’s the Law
And I feel like I am falling
falling falling into a deep well
couldn’t remember what that angel looked or sounded like
couldn’t remember anything about it while I fell
And something rising up in me
And the pain the pain too much to bear
Crazy thoughts, where’s his father
Did we bring anything for him to wear
Joseph was saying something I couldn’t hear
Something crossed in me something overtook me
Something old as time something old as womankind
Held me pushed me rocked me shook me
And as I fell to fell to earth
A serenity it seemed nothing could ever destroy
Joseph murmured something kindly softly
And showed me my perfect baby boy

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

165 : 9/22/98 : Brother John (2nd Joyful Mystery)

772 ?


In the womb brother John Baptist knew
While he was knit together one and one and two
I’m gonna leave it all because of you
Go out to the desert because of you
Gonna preach to the people because of you
I’m gonna lose my head for you
He knew...
Leap up!
I know that my Redeemer lives
Leap up!
What solace does that sentence give?
Leap up!
I know that my Redeemer lives
He knew
Gonna lose my head for you
So I leap up leap up
When she visit us
She don’t know
They’re gonna serve it up on a platter
I know, I know it doesn’t really matter
I know I’m gonna baptize you
Leap up!
I saw the spirit come down

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

Summer Vacation

Off on a family trip next week, and as I've got lots to do to get ready I'm going to take a couple weeks off from posting songs. We'll continue praying the Rosary around June 10.

164 : 9/21/98 : Annunciation (1st Joyful Mystery)

748 ?


You might be you might be
You might be nobody, like me
When the angel comes
to tell you you’re the one
Annunciation
You might find You might find
The strange visitation preys on your mind
How will He come
Like a dove like a wind like a golden rain
like a man like a swan
Annunciation
Well you might ponder
but cannot disobey
that was not part of the deal
a nobody girl like me has no say
You might feel fear you might feel fear
at the impossibility you hear
And if they tell you not to be afraid
Well that’s easy for them to say
They’re used to him
A nobody girl like me has no say
And could not say no
And would not anyway
resist
such a visitation
Annunciation

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

behold, the jewel in the lotus!

So, did you figure out what makes it the "Fibonacci" series? When I wrote it I thought the "trick" was fairly obvious, but I repeatedly observed people looking at it and not perceiving the pattern.

I'll give you a hint: there is a pattern in the lyrics, the specifics of which change from song to song, which is repeated a certain number of times. The number of times it is repeated is the number of the song in the series: so the first song the pattern repeats one time, the second song the pattern repeats twice, and so on. I'll note that while the specifics change, they represent a consistent type of information, and it is in the specifics that the "Fibonacci" part comes in.

I'll make it totally obvious now by connecting the actual numbers of the Fibonacci series to their complement songs:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13

My final note on the pattern is that it presented some interesting challenges, primarily in creating verse structures with odd (in both the mathematical and figurative sense) numbers of lines. In the final song, Her Majesty's Fools, I finally broke with the convention of having the structure of the verse defined by the pattern. Ironically, having allowed this simplification (really, I can't remember if any of this was patterns I imposed at the time or simply how I organically dealt with the patterns), I chose a complicated rhyme and verse structure anyway, one that first provided a foretaste of the whole "torment of triple rhymes" experience I was about to go through with the Inferno Series, and second that the verse structure I chose ended up not dividing evenly into the number of verses, requiring the interjection of an additional rhyming line (adding a third rhyme where formerly there would have been only a second), specifically:

Thus these simple addenda
Hear me friend if you might lend a

in the penultimate verse. If I do say so myself it is a nice bit of business. There is a lot more I could say about that song, but I'll spare you. The only other thing I'll note about the series is that it ended up being short because I felt overwhelmed by the requirements imposed by the patterns, particularly of overall length. At the time I hadn't really sussed out the Inferno project. Considering the hell I ended up going through with Dante (hah hah) my lack of perseverence with respect to the good Leonardo of Pisa's work (which predates Dante's, which seems strange to me somehow) seems kind of funny to me now.

The next series is called "The Rosary." It is a relatively straightforward presentation based on the mysteries of the Catholic Rosary.

163 : 9/20/98 : Her Majesty’s Fools (Fibonacci 8/8)

Testify that they that die

Hear a voice or voices cry

In the bright vibrating void 

Rid your mind of thoughts unkind 

The evil treasures lie behind 

Evils only the wise avoid 

Elementary: thoughts uncomplimentary

Not for the manor meant are we

Thieves lurking at the gate

Hearts on sleeves climbing the eaves

Inherit only autumn leaves

Receive orders or simply wait

This I know that they that go

Even they must hear the wind blow

Exceptions cannot make a rule

Nevertheless we only guess

Those very things that could impress

Her Majesty’s fool

Inasmuch as I feel the touch

Resist as such

To satisfy or be a tool

Except to say all things pass away

Expressing the need for each new day

No matter the reason

Taking tea and soft protesting we

Heap up irony

Investing in treason

Restless visions endless revisions

Talk to our televisions

Encounter a dark sides

Excommunicate those who dare to date

Nonsense we once chose to hate

Tell us we’ve been taken for a ride

Hard upon its truth we stifle outbursts too uncouth

Intone instead verily, forsooth

Regal in our finery

Tall full of grace we’ve set ourselves in place

Examples for the lower race

Excuse ourselves to the winery

Near enough to dark we hear a voice hark

Telling us we missed our mark

Heeding only our desires

Interactive porn or fashions better burnt than worn

Regardless comes the morn

To see too clear the ashes of our fires

Erring in our passions passing over truth for fashions

Even our friends storm the bastions

Nerves shot watching the telephone

That refuses to ring our analyst won’t say a thing

He can no longer bring

Illusions that we are alone

Rushed packing you cannot buy what’s lacking

Tired of our peasants flacking

Enemies’ agendas

Easy enough, no doubt we were over rough

No way left to bluff

Thus these simple addenda

Hear me friend if you might lend a

Innocence we lost our sense

Revealed in the present tense

Taken out of time

Ended with a whimper by those we once forced to simper

Even with a limp, her

Noble subjects saw to her unrelenting climb

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

162 : 9/19/98 : Complex Verse (Fibonacci 7/8)

Eight by six by six by twelve
isn’t it something the ideas we shelve
got a better life in another dimension
heaven on earth and a nice fat pension
tick tock tick and around comes another twelve

Eleven disciples and one to take the fall
isn’t it a shame I can’t walk through a wall
given the way things are I should feel lucky
hellzapoppin’ and it’s all just ducky
take my time another lost summer fades to fall

Ermine wraps and diamond rings
isn’t it crazy how we’re crazy for shiny things
got my treasure where rust can’t bite
heaven can wait I got time to get tight
till the counter rolls over and the Bells all start to ring

Extension is a useful thing
I read it in the Tao, it’s a Lepton thing
give it up for a complex verse
half assed but I’ve sure seen worse
take a little here a little there ain’t that the real thing

Even I grow tired anyway
I got no answers but still I pray
give my spirit over to the light
he who hesitates has no right
to tell me how to make it anyway

Even if you can’t make sense of it
it’s multidimensional there’s no end to it
gear up for the last trip round the coil
hear me out we all end up as soil
to dust to dust and there’s the end of it

End it all on a gentle note
I can only make up what I don’t know by rote
God’s in God’s heaven and it’s all right
here’s a riddle to keep you up nights
the end of the melody comes but the goal is not the last note...

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

161 : 9/18/98 : Stock In Trade (Fibonacci 6/8)

Fearlessly I face the crowd smiling
It’s an old song but hey, if the shoe fits
Validation comes from the number I’m dialing
Earth’s own hotline; fifty thousand daily hits
Fundamentalism that’s my stock in trade
I’ve got a habit but it’s under control
Victims of all the usual black trades
Expect results! It’s a free call, no toll
Fixing what’s wrong’s my mojo
I can do it I only need more time
Victory is mine and this I know
Every dog gets its one call its my dime
Fraternize with the new revolution
It’s a free call satisfaction guaranteed
Vote for the final solution
Everyone follow the piper’s lead
Fools on foot and fools on horseback
I’ve got a tune for you all to obey
Vested interests are a minor setback
Each to his own that’s my way
Finality is my stock in trade
In time you’re all gonna march in a row
Villain and victim you’ll both taste the blade
Each up his own hill up through the snow


You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

160 : 9/17/98 : Heaven Won’t Help You (Fibonacci 5/8)

Tell it to the judge kid
heaven help you, no one down here will
reflect upon the errors of what you did
eat the bitter poison pill of what you ought
eventually we all get caught

Take to a higher court fool
here’s what they’ll say; ain’t no justice here
repentance doesn’t buy the Man a swimming pool
exit’s that way so shed a tear for what you lost
even the lucky one’s get caught up by the cost

Trust nobody at all, rube
heaven won’t help you if you do
resist the lure of what you seen on the sparkling tube
esoteric eventualities are your cue to make your move
easy does it you got nothing to prove

Tricky proposition, that
help yourself but don’t get caught
revelation’s easy open the bag out pops the cat
exotic scenery it’s not but just the same
elevate yourself above your shame

Take it to Jesus neighbor
he’ll lighten up your heavy load
release you from your fearsome labor
even maybe meet you on the road to Damascus
everything’s available just ask us.

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

159 : 9/16/98 : Wake Me (Fibonacci 4/8)

744 ?


tempt me, taunt me make me beg for it
when I’m at my rope’s end
overcome with indecision and regret
take me to the edge and don’t let me forget
wake me, shake me throw the blinds up
open my eyes to the new day friend
takes a moment to make my mind up
waiting to see how the hell I’m going to wind up
often enough, I’ve seen so many mornings come
too many letters that I’ll never send
when evening comes, keep me up late give me some
offerings of hope some little tune to hum

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

158 : 9/15/98 : Ecce Homo (Fibonacci 3/8)

Oblique references to secret sects
narcissistic knights and famous chalices
evil eyed; the ancients cast their hex

Oh the balustrades the gargoyles perch
never ceasing vigilance in forgotten palaces
ecce homo; two million years, pop! I’m on the couch

Olden days they’re all long gone
nevertheless, we boil in the same old malices
egomaniacs one and all, first to last

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

157 : 9/14/98 : Only the Lonely Know (Fibonacci 2/8)

Only the lonely know this score
nobody knows what we’re put here for
every ending starts another round

Oh but I’ve seen through that wall
next time around I’ll dodge the fall
existence revolves revolves around

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

156 : 9/13/98 : Zealots (Fibonacci 1/8)

Zealots in the street are crying armageddon
everybody’s crazy babe you’re not the only one
revelry is what you see: but in the end it’s blood
only a few survive the flood

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

post alphabetic interlude

Thus endeth the alphabet, first of four serial lyrics exercises found in volume 2 of project one of the Songs of the Days.

Coming up... the dreaded Fibonacci series!

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

155 : 9/12/98 : Zen (Alphabet 26/26)

737 ?


Well that just ain’t
the way I’m wired,
Friend
Don’t know nothin’
‘bout that
Don’t know nothin’
about
Zen
Dunno,
I get by
and
I get by

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

154 : 9/11/98 : Yen (Alphabet 25/26)

I got a yen for something I can’t get nothing
I can’t put my hand on it
I got a fearsome craving, these days of slaving
and buying the man’s evil shit
I’ve got a strong desire
my brain’s afire
with restless and ceaseless thought
All the books I’m reading dead horses
I’m beating
By day’s end I’m just shot
What you gonna do?
Nothing you can do
What you gonna do?
Nothing you can do
What you gonna do?
Well there’s nothing you can do
I’ve got a yen for endings and
pathways’ bending
Always jumping my track
I’ve got a hunger boiling a thirst from toiling
and tracing my troubles back
God hides in the details ducking down false trails
And singing a little song
But my yen keeps growing
And I just keep rowing
my little rowboat along

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

153 : 9/10/98 : Xanthippe (Alphabet 24/26)

“Don’t look at me,” said Xanthippe
“God knows you haven’t made life
Easy for me”
While he talks and talks she mends his socks
Takes care of the kids
while he’s out on his walks
“Oh Socrates,” says Xanthippe
“Just toe the party line
and they’ll set you free
It’s all just talk, shouldn’t be such a shock
Instead you’re gonna go
and drink hemlock
And leave me alone to cope on my own
I know you think the truth
is all set in stone
And I’m sure it’s true they’ll all remember you
And I get forgotten; just
What a man would do”

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

152 : 9/9/98 Whistlestop (Alphabet 23/26)

The trains don’t stop here anymore
just another whistlestop town
Not enough of us to need a trainfull
of anything they might ship down
From the great iron ranges of
Northern Minnesota
From the forests of the West
through the flatlands of Dakota
Pulls the whistlestop:
They don’t stop here anymore
They just roll on through
Rollin’ through is all a little town’s good for

When I was younger I thought
Some day I’ll jump a car
When the train is passin’ through
Eastbound to where the people are

See all the glitter and the flash
Of a big town on the coast
I thought I’d sail around the world
Thought I’d have no trouble
abandoning my post
But in a little whistlestop town
hitchin’ a ride’s not easy to do
Nothin’ slows down here
Nobody will stop for you.

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

151 : 9/8/98 : Visionary (Alphabet 22/26)

728 ?


This world needs less visionaries
It’s complicated enough as it is
without a thousand nattering nabobs
fighting to see who can take the longest wizz

This world needs less geniuses
We feel dumb enough anyway
without some egghead on the teevee
with something incomprehensible to say

This world needs more standup comics
television preachers and mimes
we aren’t interested in being exceptional
Jesus people just get with the times

This world needs less visionaries
I can’t even figure out what all of us can see
Keep your opinion to yourself friend
The last thing I need is a damn visionary

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

150 : 9/7/98 : Unction (Alphabet 21/26)

I think this one’s had it
had enough it’s crossing over
spread a little oil on his temples
Let him go

Give him over to the fields of
blooming clover
Try to learn from his examples
Make the story so...

Just put a little cool oil on his forehead
Don’t send him over unannointed
Give him unction
Finish his last rite

For his days unlived
Who wouldn’t be disappointed
Such a quick end to
such a long fight

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

149 : 9/6/98 : Tantalize (Alphabet 20/26)

“My perspective on the situation”
as he coasted in on a long curl
Down an aching perfect Laguna coastline
“Find me whiskey, tobacco, a girl”

“I saw him rolling by, I guess he was the first”
Stopped to ask me why, I didn’t know
then I felt the fetters slip
There wasn’t anything on my mind but go

“Stopped to stuff a handful of grapes into my mouth
Got my board from where they made me leave it on the beach
I felt a mighty wave arising
I felt like everything was in my reach

“I just rolled in I’ve been coasting waves for fifteen days
That’s nothin’ man I was doing heavy time
I thought I’d hit a coast and check the scene
I thought I’d listen to the old bells chime

“So give me strong drink brother
Give me a sight to fill my eyes
Stories to amaze, fine food and strong cigars
Astonish me, brother, tantalize.”

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

148 : 9/5/98 : Spiders (Alphabet 19/26)

Sure hope the spiders are on my side
Dear lord I surely hope they are
I hope they’re fighting for my side
I wish that on my lucky star
The powers of chaos and disintegration
of inefficiency and senseless vice
I like to think they hold it together
a little, a little English on my dice
Can I be saved can she be saved
Can anyone be saved in time
I only want some order in my life
Some reason and some rhyme
The center will not hold
it sways like someone drunk
The spiders hang in balance
illusions can’t distract the monk
They whisper nothing’s moving man
They whisper nothing’s changed
They know a lot just think of it
The time the lands the oceans they have ranged
And if they’re on my side
I’m sure that order can be kept
A gossamer balloon has been prepared
for me, while my enemies slept

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

147 : 9/4/98 : Rhizome (Alphabet 18/26)

under it grows
and shows
no signs above
underneath the flowerbeds
it spreads
the parks and parking lots
egalitarian
under projects
condos
city hall
wherever spores might fall
the rhizome grows
cosmopolitan
one day we'll be pushed aside

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

146 : 9/3/98 : Quill (Alphabet 17/26)

Feeling insecure these days
say it’s the plague of each generation
And after all it’s always falling down
after all, it’s the millennium

Try to count my blessings
Try to count my security
Doesn’t seem to add up to much
I’m inclined to blame the fact on me

And if it all fell down
What would be left for me to do
If it all came a’ tumblin’
Would I have enough to see me through

I suppose there’ll still be birds around
And where there’s birds I’ll find a quill
If I can find a sharp knife, something dark
enough to write about it, I guess I will

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

145 : 9/2/98 : Plinth (Alphabet 16/26)

Listen to a super version of Plinth by the incomparable Andrew at
Songs to Wear Pants To

723 ?



What is the structure what is the basis
What is the underlying form
We claim a basis we claim a knowledge
we claim a vaccine against the wurm
there is no basis there is no structure
this whole town is built on sand
All that we’ve built and all we’ve collected
Not one stone will stand
There is no plinth
There is no bedrock
We’re on swiftly shifting ground
This should come as no big shock
Don’t look for answers,
Don’t rock the structure
We all hold on with our eyes shut tight
Hands over our ears, mouths stuffed with refuse
fearing the fast approaching night
huddled in doorways lamps that are half full
Not one stone will be left to stand
All that can be shaken will be shaken
Makin’ the way for the promised land

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

144 : 9/1/98 : Octopus (Alphabet 15/26)

Next time I swing around this mortal coil
Think I’ll try on something with a shorter span
I could be an octopus next time
Seventy years is an awful long time to be a man

Be a hunter, ride the undertides
surf the silent depths of the unfathomed sea
Collect whatever comes my way
Have color-changing skin and radial symmetry

Give up clothes and cars
telephones and timepieces
Sounds like a pretty simple life
begins then is then ceases

8’s my lucky number anyway
Always loved the ocean
spend my next life eatin’ fish
ever adrift in constant motion

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

143 : 8/31/98 : Nautilus (Alphabet 14/26)

Society’s long spiral
build another wall around us
furthering our obsessions
Nestled in like a nautilus
A little curd of biomass
Just oozing ‘long the bottom rocks
Taking what comes
A nasty little infestation: a touch of the pox
Someday the earth will be cleansed
And only the shells will remain
of our follies...
the empty nautilus, our former domain
If I were the aliens
I’d be playing the waiting game too
Just watch, they’re saying
Just keep it up they’re whispering to you
It’ll just be condominiums
For a higher society
Some strange starfaring race of hermit crabs
Will settle into our strange variety
of architecture and industry
take it up where we left off
Our strange art we abandoned
with it seems a hesitating cough
Leaving behind these shambling hulls
hollow eyes on the television screen
Speeding senseless to and fro...
Ripe for moving in, if you see what I mean?

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

142 : 8/30/98 : Malefactor (Alphabet 13/26)

Who is the mysterious malefactor?
Where is the villain, where is the scene of the crime?
Where is the catalyst? The deadly chain reactor
Who is responsible? Who will do the time...

Some blame the poor cause the poor are always there
some blame the rich for the power they hold
Some blame a selfish gene that won’t let us share
Some blame the devil well that one’s pretty old

Will the real malefactor please stand up?
And tell me please why you want a world so pointless and dumb
call a porter we’ll both raise a cup
I’m just curious I don’t even want your crumbs

I am not a part of your machine
what you cast away I eat
malefactor what does it all mean
Where is the creator? What is the creator? I must be complete

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

141 : 8/29/98 : Live (Alphabet 12/26)

Why’d you have to go and do it Nick?
Why’d you have to turn that final trick?
I wish you wish you had decided
That what you wanted was to live
Not my choice, not my party
I wasn’t invited
I can’t judge what you chose not to give

I wish I didn’t know the truth
I wish I didn’t have the proof
But I see you read that Camus essay
A bottle of pills a night no one will ever know
I know you cast the cup away
Know you heard the question:
Know you answered “No.”

And I know I’ll never reproduce your special taste
And I know it wouldn’t be the same in any case
I have to plod along in my own stupid way
Words that slip away as if my mind were just a sieve
Wake up to find I’ve lived to face another day
Isn’t it ironic, how your songs help me to live

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

140 : 8/28/98 : Kindergarten (Alphabet 11/26)

In kindergarten I learned a couple things
I had to know
How to read and tie my shoes and
give authority a straight-faced snow
But they never taught me why I
Couldn’t get to the highest shelf
I had to learn that by myself

In grade school I learned most of
the math that I still use
I learned a little about fighting
A little about paying dues
But they never taught me how
to feel when I was alone
I had to learn that on my own

In middle school I barely learned
to play the clarinet
Learned to curb my appetite
to back a losing bet
But they never taught me how
to set my music free
they left that one up to me

I high school I learned quite a bit
of lousy love advice
learned a little public speaking
learned a little vice
But they never taught me
what informs the endless rhyme
I had to learn that on my own time

In college I learned filling out
the forms and bending rules
Learned to operate a dozen
highly exoteric tools
They neglected to inform me
In this world the truth is a devalued coin
They let that happy fact jump out
and kick me in the groin

In kindergarten I did not
learn all I had to know
16 years more down the road
I’d learned so little more
Never learned as much as
it felt like I needed to know
You can’t take it with you when you go

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

139 : 8/27/98 : Jones (Alphabet 10/26)

715 ?


I’ve got a jones for jimson weed
Mixed with belladonna and celery seed
I’ve got a bad hemlock jones:
I’m a philosopher
I got so many monkeys clinging to my spine
They’re turning out Hamlet revisions in their spare time
I’ve got the Taste in my bones:
The Romans tainted the aquifer
And now I’m hooked on nightshade and lead
In a pinch I’ll settle for monk’s hood instead
I’m strung out on poison tenterhooks:
I’m a lunatic
I gobble fly agaric and howl at the moon
Chew up castor beans and sing out of tune
I read about it all in books
I’m spirit filled I’m charismatic
I’ve got a jones for heavy metals and alkaloids
I’ve got a thing for being strung out shaky and paranoid
I’ve got a bad arsenic jones:
I’m one crazy little king
I take poison by the jigger and dram
I’m storming the doors of perception with a battering ram
I sing in shaped monotones:
I got my own thing

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

138 : 8/26/98 : Icon (Alphabet 9/26)

I’d rather be an icon than a snail
Yes I would, sir
yes I would sir
I’d rather be an icon than a snail
But I don’t even know if it’d do any good sir
What service have our icons done us?
What kind of lifestyle have they won us?
I wanna be an icon just the same
I wanna shine onna dark stage
I wanna earn a sumptuous wage
Be the kind of slave that gets a name
I’ll be an icon to the masses
Unify the lower classes
Make a mighty army of the milling crowd
Raise ‘em up into a mighty thunderstorm cloud
Why not? Let’s go to war
With them or you or each other
Let’s kill the rich let’s eat the poor
And every man betray his brother
We just need an icon
Someone with the thumbs up! to say - carry on
A good face for the televised revolution
I said yes I would sir
I said yes I would, sir

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

137 : 8/25/98 : Halcyon (Alphabet 8/26)

If I were a rich guy I would build a boat called the Halcyon
Deck it with all the modern amenities
Run it all on the sun
Sail away and let all you evil bastards run the show
I'll be out on the Halcyon riding the flow

When the next crazy hothead
Unships his AK47
I'll be off the coast of Australia
Watching this majestic heaven
I won't taste your filthy leaven where I go
I'll be out on the Halcyon riding the flow

I'll sail to Marlon Brando's island
When the heavy shit rains down
I'll be so hip and charming he'll love having me around
Or maybe I'll just buy my own
A rich man's bay to go aground and watch you make it blow
Until you bomb me too and I'm just another cinder in the flow

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

136 : 8/24/98 : Gin (Alphabet 7/26)

Maybe I’ll start drinking gin
Maybe I’ll get really thin
Maybe I will grow a beard and cut off all my hair

Maybe I’ll start running guns
Maybe I’ll start heckling nuns
Be a gin soaked hobo ride the boxcars everywhere

Maybe I’ll start speaking Dutch
Maybe I’ll walk with a crutch
Be a one-legged boxer make it to the hall of fame

Maybe I’ll set fire to cars
start provoking fights in bars
Doesn’t sound too bright at least it wouldn’t be all the same

I could drink myself to death
Always have gin on my breath
stumble through a haze of juniper and fuzzy rage

If I turned it all around
made heaven hell, the sky the ground
Would it push me force my spirit to ascend a higher stage?

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

135 : 8/23/98 : Furies (Alphabet 6/26)

Got three furies on my shoulders, whisper in my sleep
‘Bout everything I’ve wanted, couldn’t have or couldn’t keep
Things that lie in shallow waters, things that echo deep

Furies look like crows out of the corner of my eyes
Furies swoop like swallows, shrill like bats, and swarm like flies
Their eyes are full of promises, their mouths are full of lies

Furies fly a hundred feet up, stop and silent hang
Wait for me to make a move, hover in their gang
Wait for me to try evasion wait with claw and evil eye and fang

Doctor says the furies only harrow in my mind
Doctor says a pill will cure the cloud they leave behind
Furies smirk and cluster with mouths sewn, ears stopped, eyes blind

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

134 : 8/22/98 : Elemental (Alphabet 5/26)

709 ?


I can’t shake the feeling
That the solution must be elemental
Unsentimental
Something that the gentle wind could carry...

I breath elements of light
I spin through deep heaven’s endless night
a friendless plight;
Thinking to see something to end this fight I tarry

It doesn’t seem like this could be
that elemental solution
cognitive pollution
I cannot deny collusion with a dark design
This doesn’t seem to me
a worthy day’s production
For eternal induction
Each element fulfills its function, marks its line

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

133 : 8/21/98 : Doomsday (Alphabet 4/26)

How it's gonna go the whole world will so
slowly turn more tainted and poisonous
one day we'll wake to find everything pickled in the brine
of our wasteful and profligate detritus

How it's gonna go, one enormous blow
when we finally go over the edge, push all the buttons
in the night while we sleep peaceful
death death cruising in from above us

How it's gonna be we'll learn to hate technology
before we know it we'll have torn down all we've made
before we know it we'll be gathered 'round the fire
fighting with sticks and stones and scavenged blade

How it's gonna wind up, we'll finally dry the vine up
use every last drop and dollop of goodness we have left
having reached a pinnacle of useless industry
we'll whither away and disappear for lack of daily bread

how it's gonna face us, the comet come to erase us
the asteroids the rogue planet flying through the void
Doomsday, our final end, under the cloud the cycle turns again
world without end nothing created or destroyed

How it's gonna go, everything will just go more and more slow
we won't notice it, we'll be slower too
it'll all just wind down over years until it finally stops
there won't be a damn thing we can do.

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

132 : 8/20/98 : Cuttlefish (Alphabet 3/26)

We dream... in caverns of sea
We shift and flicker; make a living carpet
a mighty undulating screen...
We dream...

We breathe as one thing
through subtle apertures we shift
and take to our wings
we breathe

We were here first
we were here longer
you've ignored us
we just keep getting stronger
we've got stealth and jet propulsion
we've got the Mass Mind, cellular compulsion
we won't watch forever
we won't let you go on forever

We rise from caverns of ice
we're waking our Oldest
seeking the titans' advice
we rise...

We've gathered here for a parliament
consider the welcome you've sent
so far
tonight we'll decide your fate
so here
we have gathered

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

131 : 8/19/98 : Barnstormer (Alphabet 2/26)

Now that we’ve all armed ourselves
Now that anyone could be the enemy
Why not have a riot? Why not set the city on fire?
We’re gonna have a good old-fashioned
Barnstormer tonight

You made the classic error
Credited only yourself with ambition
Meanwhile we were buildin’ pipe bombs
Makin’ bathtub napalm and ultralights

All I need is five hundred people
Who want to die anyway?
Why not take it with you when you go
You can take it all with you when you go
Storm the heavens make your presence known

We’ll watch it from the hills together
you and I
See a good barnstormin’ goin’ down
Roman candles in the skyscrapers
Then turn away quietly go on
together, alone

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

We're Back

And the digital translation of the first Song of the Day project, Volume II: Record is now underway with the posting of song number 130, Anthill.

The volume is composed of four sections or Quartos. Anthill is the first song of Quarto 1, the Alphabet.

The original handwritten volume opens with the following quotation:

"English is a rather rhyme-poor language."

Joseph Gallagher, To Hell and Back with Dante

130 : 8/18/98 : Anthill (Alphabet 1/26)

I want to live in a society run like an anthill
I want to bow to a higher authority
I want the powerful to lord it over me
I want to live in a society that’s united

I thought a lot then I swallowed the bitter pill
Is the price of my freedom the suffering masses
Does society really need more divided classes?
Give up the American dream anyway I wasn’t really invited

The texts that I’ve read are abundantly clear
I’ve read my Plato and I’ve read my Thomas More
I’ve read the figures I know what is in store
It’s a crying shame we can’t admit we’re not unique

The ark is ready but there’s noone to steer
Don’t look this way I’m not the man for the job
Maybe I’m not so ready to get with the milling mob
Who knows? I might be rejected by the anthill clique

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

So Far

Does it look like 1,684 songs to you?

Note Interim

I completed the RPM Challenge on February 26th with -=solvet saeclum in favilla=-, an album with 23 tracks with a total duration of 45.9 minutes. I created this album by recording song of the day lyrics from the current project (songs 642 - 664, written February 1st - 23rd) accompanied by music created somewhat randomly by one of the stranger pieces of software out there, Voice of the Goatcactus. I used a very crude recording technique, recorded everything live (no overdubbing) and generally permitted a single take. This is a very quick and certain way to generate tracks, but by necessity they are also very rough and contain mistakes. As a whole I would call the album practically unlistenable, although I have listened to it in full several times (so I won't subject you to anything I haven't gone through). So be it: I chose a method and I stuck with it. The lyrics aren't bad, I think. All the lyrics are up in my RPM project blog, the first link up there, though I don't know whether they are going to maintain those indefinitely.

Over the next few weeks I will post a few of the most successful songs over at Metafilter Music: my profile linked there has a few other songs I've posted previously, all lyrics from songs of days.

(An ellipsis gone awry...) (below) is the last song of the first "volume" of the first song of the day project. I originally wrote these songs longhand in a series of hardcover journals, and gave each one a volume number and title. This, the first, bore the title "Vicious Cycles Revisited."

As I noted previously, I've decided to take a break and return in April. I was going to start in March but being the ending of the first volume has arrived as so convenient a dividing point, I'll just start now. In this interim I plan to spend some time transcribing songs from volume two, being titled "Record," into digital format, ready for posting, and wrap up a couple of other projects that have been languishing.

If you wish to receive an email when I resume operations drop me a line at visionaryATNESSSYMBOLgumptionPERIODDOTNESScom. Otherwise, when the date arrives at which one would naturally think of fools, think of me.

Can't figure out what this madness is about? Click here, which might help... and please check back again in April.

129 : 8/17/98 : (An ellipsis gone awry...)

Why do I always mistime my pauses
get sick or go get a job?
Every time a thing ends
I’m looking for some new thing to rob
I’m beat I need a break
But I will not slow down
And it doesn’t seem like courage to me
Seems like I’m just bein’ a clown
But clowns only pretend to fall down
When I fall down it’s for real
Clowns never really step on each other’s faces!
Myself I’ve eaten some heel

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

128 : 8/16/98 : Fire

Fire should be raining from the sky
to torch these evil bastards where they lie
where is your mighty fist of vengeance
for all the evil souls without repentance
They lie in wait full of venom
give me the word I’ll gladly end them
Give the word I’ll punish them in kind
Sure to God it would ease my mind
There is no justice here on earth
There is no valid scale of human worth
They are so bad, they’re beyond wrong
eradicate the brutes, the rest of us will get along
without them we’ll make a proper world
without them and the chaos that they hurled
I’ll even take my medicine as well
For every test I failed for every time I fell
I wouldn’t ever claim to be untainted
Still compared to them I’d probably be sainted
Don’t tell me I can’t see enough
Don’t tell me that you told me it’d be rough
Don’t tell me they deserve a second chance
They’ve had a thousand shots to make amends
They’re laughing at you laughing at you Lord
Send your angel send your flaming sword
Judge not judge not if I don’t will you
“Vengeance is mine,” is that still true
Guess I better back off of a job too great for me
Still it is a sad estate to see
Cut your losses burn them now
Okay I’ll shut up stop darkening your brow

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

127 : 8/15/98 : Sick, Weary

Sick weary the card turns up once more
I’m on my knees my head is resting on the floor
May not be holy but at least I’m poor

Flesh is mortal flesh is weak
I’m 27 I feel like an antique
Wanna retire to Chesapeake

Raise trout and jimson weed
Make letter bombs and bathtub speed
Really make the fuckers pay me heed

Stay fucked up on belladonna and monk’s hood
Strike a blow or two for the common good
Nothing matters so maybe I guess I should

Maybe with the morning the mood will pass
Be satisfied with a day job and some decent grass
Can’t think right now my head’s at critical mass

Maybe if I wasn’t so weary and sick
I could choose a method and make it stick
Embarrassed by how hard I find it to pick

It’ll probably be the same anyways
Who the hell really decides things these days
We’re all blindly running this endless maze

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

126 : 8/14/98 : Cloth of Gold

660 ?


I’m standing on this platform
I’m right at center stage
In cloth of gold I’m ready to perform
I’m shining preaching earning my wage
I was a holy man of God
No sinful word would pass my lips
I gave my money to the poor
I preached on all the seamy strips
Las Vegas old Times Square
Detroit and Bourbon Street
Wherever sin was I would stake a claim
Preach to each lost soul I’d meet
But I gave it all up
for cloth of gold
I had a native talent
and the barefoot profit bit was getting old
I don’t see things changing anyway
You can’t be reached anymore
For a few moments your eyes will focus
Then you go along no better than before
If I’m so smart why not be rich
Why not live like a king
Why cast my pearls before you swine
Why should I give you anything
Now the people come to see me
and buy a little sweet salvation
In my cloth of gold suit smiling
Now I’m going to preach to a nation

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

125 : 8/13/98 : The Kingdom Come Institute Press Release

657 ?


And so in the month of
August, the point when you
realize the midpoint of the
year has gotten quite away
from you. Time for midterms.
On an inauspicious Thursday
Looking right down the barrel
of 27 years old.
Time to recap.
I’ve unaccountably managed
to run out of cigarettes. I’m
just astounded with myself.
This does not happen. But
there it is, damnit
So it goes. Least, I got some
fucking money, jesus, what
a putz.
And so I Launch
the Kingdom Come Institute.
Totally. In this moment.
The crazy turnarounds all
the strange reversals, the moments,
the cracks in the pots we play
and beat our drums to
enchant great solemn bears
hoping they will dance down
the stars for us. They will.

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

RPM Challenge and Other Tidbits

On the urgings of Mr. Cortex of the Metafilter Compilation Album fame I've agreed to take the RPM "record a whole album in the month of February" challenge. I'm in the thick of it. I plan to blog the lyrics, all piping fresh songs of the day from February, at my profile site there, so you'll probably want to bookmark that and check it obsessively five times a day. Don't get all excited, given my methodology (see the second blog entry, titled "I like sure things") it is going to be pretty weird and pretty rough. I don't expect to be posting anything more about that here until it is complete.

I'm going to try to keep up at least fairly regular posting on the increasingly not secret song of the day blog through February. I'm thinking about taking March off, though, to work on getting up a backlog of transcribed lyrics again. I still haven't quite managed to get into a habit with that. I also just need some offline time to ponder the eternal verities and my so not eternal part in them. If I decide to go through with that hiatus I'll make a posting about it at the time including soliciting a mailing list for anyone who wants a heads up when I get back to blogging. Otherwise, you know, just check in around April 1 and see who the fool is.

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

another aside

_
Sorry for the patchy posting and asides but I've got something new (and song-a-day related) in the works, give me a couple of days to sort out some specifics and I'll be posting details here. Or search for the hidden clue for a preview of what's percolating. I've also eaten up my backlog of transcribed songs, so I need to get another batch of the archives digitized, then I'll get back to posting songs. Stand by.

124 : 8/12/98 Cigarette

640 ?


When I’m down in the mouth and I start to fret
I play a little game called cigarette
I say pal I’ll make you listen to me
he says that’s just not the way it’s gonna be
cigarette
cigarette
you always win that game with me cigarette
I’m a nervous gambler trying to bluff it through
But baby you gotta know just
what I’m going to do
Baby I always lose that bet
You know I’m gonna have another
cigarette
Oh I know they hurt me
know they turn my poor lungs black
But they never ever desert me
Baby gotta give me my cigarettes back
When I’m in a slow and stupid mood
Don’t want no liquor and I don’t want food
I just need one thing baby and then I’m set
Just gotta smoke myself a
cigarette

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

123 : 8/11/98 : Grand Idea

What a grand idea
The great society
All good things in abundance
Everything costs a penny

What a novel concept
Give the children food and cloths
Thank God we’ve got politicians
To figure out where the money goes

What a monumental brainstorm
Try to do the best I can
Manage not to make the same mistakes
Try to be a better man

What poetic justice
kill the fuckers with kindness
Let the best of the best set us free
Let them untangle and unwind us

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

breaking the frames, an essay on content and form

We've secretly replaced your regular song of the day with an essay. Let's see what happens.

Yesterday I took a break from my life of ceaseless toil to knock out a lyric for the current project (number 2.633, Recycle) which contained these lines:

Nothing new comes in
but energy
information, dust
and entropy
So it's all about
recycling
Mostly carbon, nitrogen
oxygen and hydrogen

And I caught myself thinking, man, stringing these lists of chemical elements together is a snap, it's like rhyming in Italian. I had to laugh, because this was such an obtuse, nerdy thing to think - but fundamentally accurate and not, I'd think, without some reasonable linguistic underpinnings. Keeping in mind that I am a student of neither Italian nor linguistics.

But it put me in mind of the fact that, man, if anyone is reading this thing, the stuff you are in for. In less than sixty songs we'll be in the thick of my terrible, terrible recasting of Dante's Inferno, a work of 34 songs (duh, obviously) featuring myself cast in Dante's role with T.S. Eliot serving the part played by Virgil in the original. Ooh, it's horrible, partly because my soft 20th century brain can't quite negotiate Dante's stark Medieval Christianity, partly because it just seems worse when you are taking on something widely regarded as one of the great works of poetic literature, but mostly because I insisted on perpetuating Dante's terza rima structure, a rhyme scheme where things go something like this:

Ducks are very awesome
I think ducks are nice
A duck is as cool as a possum

So I will tell you twice
There's nothing as great as a duck
I'd buy one at double the price

And think of it as better luck
Than getting hit by a truck

See how that works? The important things to note are, you have to come up with a trio of each rhyme rather than the usual pair, and notice how I suck at it. English, I discovered in my researches on the topic, is what they call a "rhyme poor" language. I'm not slagging off Dante or anything, I'm just pointing out, that 90 percent of everything in Italian ends with "oh" or "ah." Add in the narrative necessities of hewing somewhat to Dante's original story arc and it winds up with a mess that was horrible to write and is all but impossible to read. If I had tried to keep up the hendecasyllable meter I probably would have gone insane. Actually I probably would have just given up, which might not have been such a bad thing, but I cling to the theory that finishing it built character.

This is the sort of thing that can end up seeming like a plan in the face of coming up with something new to write day after day after day. I'm not looking forward to transcribing this, and I doubt anyone would try to slog through much of it, but there it is: I'm a completist, an obsessive, so it will all be carried across the digital divide and presented here.

And anyway there is the central thing about a song a day: as I liked to point out about what I came to refer to as "my pathetic little inferno," the writing of the first cantica of Dante's masterwork took him 5 years of his exile from Florence to complete. Writing mine took 34 days with a full time job. However painful it is to online it, 34 postings later we will be on to new things.

I think, now, 6 months into the online project, that it will take a few years before the central object of the song of the day project - persistence - really begins to become clear to the outside observer. People I tell about this project tend, I think, to necessarily view it as an abstract: part of putting it online is to transform this into something concrete. This isn't some theory: these songs exist, for all that they ain't Dante. I question at this point whether what it is can sustain anything like a regular readership, but perhaps I can hope to occasionally bemuse the random passer-by. Back to songs tomorrow.

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

122 : 8/10/98 : Spout

You can only get so fed up
then you gotta spout
raise your hackles lift your head up
let your venom out
You may feel justified
but I can’t see it doing any good
The poison just builds up again
That much I understood
But what confuses me
Is what any of it is good for
Why were we made with so little faculty

You can only get so strung out
before something has got to snap
When weaknesses have won out
When your one good hand refuses to clap
You may feel mystified
By the seeming caprice of the powers that are
I understand sometimes even scripture
reads no better than advice you’d get at any bar
Don’t get me wrong sir
I would not presume to test the Lord
I assume he’s got it covered
I just hope the price is one I can afford

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

121 : 8/9/98 : Ugly World

632 ?


My goodness what an ugly world you’ve made
Seems kind of unfair that you’re so well paid
Well the people don’t seem interested
in rising up and pulling you down
not my place to make their
choices for them, not my place
to bring the hoi polloi around
All you revolution comrades all you libertarians
I’d rather live in a world run by librarians
You get whatever you pay for
that setup’s pretty fixed
They bought the lives they settled for
They drank the drinks they were mixed
And if it’s not my cup of tea
I guess that’s just too bad for me
But what else can I do but mind
The life that I am buying
In the end I’m just another one
Walking when I should be flying

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

120 : 8/8/98 : Best of the Best

Through the trials eighteen years
Many call but few are taken
As we measure every man against his peers
Few stand firm, most are shaken

All around the world the tournaments are held
Anywhere on earth a young man can rise
Strive with honor, till every foe is felled
stretch his hand out take the prize

Then in the final arena
The finest are gathered to compete
Demonstrate their talent on the concertina
Show proper deportment and grace on their feet

That’s how we choose the best of the best
That’s how we find the season’s darling
That’s the young man who passed every test
That’s this weekend’s sacrificial starling

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

119 : 8/7/98 : Sisyphus’ Reprieve

When I received the word of my reprieve
confess that I could scarce believe my eyes
7000 years of confusion toil and tears
He dropped the letter off and didn’t even tell me why

So good to be rolling I hear the great bell tolling
Changes at the top they said it was
Ol’ Tantalus received the work
Climbed right on his trusty surfboard
Said don’t ask me I don’t know who cares? It’s just because

So good to be moving my lot’s finally improving
So good to be rolling rolling home
7000 hard ass turns
My God the way the time just burns
Away into vanishing ephemeral sea foam

What will I do now I’m almost feelin blue now
Freedom is a heavy load after so long
confess in all that time alone
I almost learned to love that stone
Not that I paused a minute
I’m gone
so long

It’s good to be traveling
That fearsome knot unraveling
My trusty stone will carry me away
Up out of the valley
You’ll see my backside, pally
This is my first birthday

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

118 : 8/6/98 : In the Box

I’ve got a box to live in
and a box that rolls me home
A box to fester in 8 hours
The man throws me a bone
I’m livin in the box
I’m pleased as punch I’m mad as hell
I’m rollin in my coffin
Lord I know my boxes well
I guess that I complain too much
and look too little for escape
I guess I choose to sit in here
Another braying jackanape
There’s one box that I’m stuck with
carry with me all the time
a sack for all my memories
a clock to count the time
A bobbing grinning jack o lantern
resting on my neck
A box to keep my ego in
to hold my wild spirit in check
I could jump outta this
insane rolling coffin
I could jump outta this
silly maze I’m lost in
But I know the smallest box
is something that I’m stuck with
Guess it thinks it’s got a good thing going
Guess it’s not the box to fuck with

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

117 : 8/5/98 : Burning Coal

Well we’re doomed doomed doomed
that’s all I have to say at last
we’re doomed doomed doomed
To constantly relive the past
The words I say are wicked
And my mouth is full of lies
Yet I’m better than the average
This brave new world is festering with flies
Lord put a hot coal on my tongue
I’ll start the prophet gig today
I don’t know why you’d bother
The people never listen anyway
Lord doom this wicked race
I want to see them run before you
Lord move this vile people
Want to see the ashes scattered too
Lord move my wicked heart
Do not harden it against your word
Lord make my speaking pure
I just can’t credit everything I’ve heard
Lord justify this sacrifice
The cup’s too much I cannot drink it
You’ve gotta have a plan for me
the alternative’s so bad I cannot think it
Lord I’m doomed doomed doomed
Please God put a hot coal on my tongue
Lord I don’t want to be doomed
I just need light inside to see the next rung

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

116 : 8/4/98 : Virtue

I must have thought I was some kind of friend to you
I must have thought I would fly round the bend for you
I must have thought I was a dangerous guy
I must have thought I had virtue in your eyes

I must have thought I was a smooth operator
I must have thought I would see you later
I must have thought I had a pretty good plan
I must have thought I was twice the man I am

Where is the virtue in this world?
Where is the method in this madness?
When will I see the freedom flag unfurled
When will the creator end the sadness

I musta thought I was a man on a mission
I musta thought I had x-ray vision
I musta thought I was made outta gold
I musta thought I was immune to gettin old

I musta thought I had a secret objective
I musta thought that truth was subjective
I musta thought I had a sensible goal
I musta thought I had an ace left in the hole

There is no virtue in this place
evil minds speak evil words in every corner
I’m no better than the rest of this wicked race
still I feel like I’m the only mourner

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

115 : 8/3/98 : Tips on Waiting for Miracles

Quiet is the essence of this little fishing trip
Try to keep your mind blank stay quite still don’t rock the ship
Waiting is the game you’re playing such a simple strategy
Watch the sunrise watch the sunset eat your dinner drink your tea
Your imagination’s not your friend this time around
Keep your lowest profile and your ear down to the ground
Terra incognita is the definition of the prey
This is not a war that’s won by living in the day
Make a stalwart effort not to look to your resources
Make sure not to count your blessings to their subtle sources
Hold out for the great big thing and keep your spirits low
Never ever let another tell you what you know
Waiting for a miracle I’ve done that road before
Guess the time goes by I guess the wind gets through the door
Don’t know what the difference is what makes it stick tonight
Just keep trying to believe that everything will be all right
Wish that I could I sincerely wish that I could find
A way to look beyond this rutted circle in my mind
Waiting for a miracle’s a tough habit to break
Still I gotta wonder how much shit I’m gonna hafta take

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

114 : 8/2/98 : Good Intentions

Somebody told me the road to hell
Is paved with good intentions
and priests’ skulls

Somebody told me the way to heaven
Was straight and narrow and
sealed with seven

I’ve got good intentions and
a pain in my skull
I’ve got a soft spot for a parable

I’ve a good idea that I’m in it thick
Wish I had some clue to
What it is that makes me tick

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

113 : 8/1/98 : Red Ink (Red Ink 3 of 3)

618 ?


This is not an exercise
this time is for real
This red ink is drawn in blood
Pain is all a nerve can feel

This is not an accident
This is by design
Heaven didn’t make this up
this one must be mine

I seem to be swimming in red ink
I seem not to know what I should think
I seem to be made of bad investments

I’ve had better years I’ll warrant
Some times trouble comes in torrents
I seem to be made of bad investments

brother can you spare a cup
of anything to make me feel right
brother can you spare a light
to wield against this endless night.

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

112 : 7/31/98 : The Account Must Be Drawn Down (Red Ink 2 of 3)

You can’t run away forever
The night will come at last
When you’re thinking of the past
When you’re looking for the lever

To pry up the hidden places
The trapdoors in the floor
When you’re looking for the door
You’ll remember all the faces

Of the ones you really failed
All the red ink of a life
All the memories under the knife
The well intentioned deeds that paled

In the light of hard truths saying
The horn must one day sound
The account must be drawn down
And I’ll be the one who’s paying

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

111 : 7/30/98 : Table of Contents (Red Ink 1 of 3)

The goal the means the method
the resources the plan
the summary the statement
of the condition of one man
the best worse case scenario
The way it all came out
The best laid plans screw up sometimes
I guess that’s what it’s all about
I guess my voice is never certain
I guess I teeter on the fence
I like to think I’m making progress
like to think I’m making sense
My books won’t seem to balance
even the contents are in red ink
My tables all are turning
And I just do not know what to think

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

110 : 7/29/98 : Magic

Don’t seem to find myself
praying for magic so much anymore
Maybe I’m getting old pray
for a good night’s sleep
a good day...

Rest back little fool
I’ll tell you what to do
once you have what you need
you won’t want magic
anyway

Spirit of forest spirit
of light spirits that
travel by day and by night

was it ever real
the magic I wanted
so badly

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

109 : 7/28/98 : They’d Like to Pinion Me

They'd like to strip me naked
and toss me in a pit
they'd like to gamble for my clothes
they'd like to make a game of it
they'd like to get inside my skull
I know they'd like to shave my head
they'd like to put a bullet in it
swear to God they'd like to see me dead
But instead
I think they'd like to pinion me
I'll teach them
some goals aren't reached so easily
I'd like to push the button
and watch the fuckers smoke
man the way that things are going
that's not such a funny joke
I'd like the world to know
just exactly what they give
my God this mess is growing
soon there'll hardly be the space to live

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

108 : 7/27/98 : Purple (Secondary 3 of 3)

612 ?


In his purple phase
the young artist sure could turn a phrase
Isn't it so cool to be among the elite
Culture was fragmented rents were low
the average starving artist could still buy nice clothes
every righteous brother did his time out on the street

In the purple period
the artist pondered myriad
issues of enormous purport
He let his hair grow down his back
and set himself a choppy tack
times were good
he had no lack of support

Little did he know
the royal hue was poisoning him
Cobalt lead and cadmium
all burrowing inside
slowly he grew more scattered
forgot the things he thought had mattered
Only spoke of purple anymore

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here