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.