1. |
Mercy of the Court
04:46
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"Mercy of the Court"
[Kent]
I'm a goner, your honor/ There's so much at stake/ Could you kindly look down/ from that black gown/ and give a poor boy a break?
I throw myself on the mercy of the court/ I throw myself on a dud grenade/ I throw myself into making lemonade/ should your ruling go lemon/ So, come on, Judge, Be a sport/ I throw myself/ on the mercy of the court…
Fair and square, mon Frer/ I did misbehave/ I just wasn't thinking/ Be an Abraham Lincoln/ and free me like he freed the slaves
I throw myself on the mercy of the court/ I throw myself on a dud grenade/ I throw myself into making lemonade/ should your ruling go lemon/ So, come on, Judge, Be a sport/ I throw myself/ on the mercy of the court…
You grimmace/ You seem slightly bored/ as I throw myself on the mercy of the court/
You turn to the clerk/ like you're looking for a sword/ I throw myself on the mercy of the court/
Either way when the gavel comes down/ I'm gonna turn my life around/ from now on/ and seek only/ spiritual reward...
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2. |
Famous Women
04:43
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"Famous Women"
[Kent]
Some are sky-high/ Some snake-low/ Thin candy shell of shy/ coating a caramel ego/
Careful with whom they fall in love/ Nobodies/ businessmen/ Jesus Christ Superstars/ or politician
Famous women/ All the same/ Famous women/ All insane/ Cycling up/ Circling men/ who are secretly circling the drain…
Some wear diamond/ Some sport tattoos/ Sleeveless hearts climb on/ Step up to be interviewed/
Cotton candor bittersweet/ Gossiping whiskey sour/ Xanax to relax by the boatload/ Therapy by the hour/
Famous women/ All the same/ Famous women/ All insane/ Cycling up/ Circling men/ who are secretly circling the drain…
I know, Darling/ You hate your fame/ You want to be treated just the same…
Famous women/ All the same/ Famous women/ All insane…
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3. |
Government Wide
03:47
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"Government Wide"
[Kent]
Chicken Little was standing by I-95/ government high, government deep, government wide/ He wanted to cross to the other side/ government high, government deep, government wide
When five full body armor guys gave him a tackle/ screaming "Homeland Security!" Put him in shackles/ Chicken Little cackled loud for his rights/ but a-la-king his rights were denied/ government high, government deep, government wide...
At Chicken's arraignment the Judge he was snide/ government high, government deep, government wide/ "With drones and with infrared cameras we've spied,"/ government high, government deep, government wide
“Ninety-nine violations, fourteen infractions/ of Federal Fiats and Guidelines and Actions/ of crossing said road with unknown intention/ Flight risk," ruled the Judge, Bail so high, Chicken was fried/ government high, government deep, government wide…
They told Chicken Little, "Cop a plea, pay a fine,"/ government high, government deep, government wide/ "If you want to be home come Christmastime,"/ government high, government deep, government wide
And they made it quite clear if he so much as clucked/ They'd have his white meat/ He'd be boiled
and plucked/ "Someday, when the sky falls, I hope they’re all fucked,"/ thought Chicken, as
crossing the road filled his mind/ government high, government deep, government wide...
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4. |
I See You Got a New Man
03:59
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"I See You Got a New Man"
[Kent]
Walked in hand in hand/ into the family reunion/ Smiling/ Lost weight/ Not angry or bitter
I see you got a new man/ Fairly handsome, too/ I see you got a new man/ Good for you…
Seems like a previous life/ we were husband and wife together/ Struggling/ No use/ Timed out and over
I see you got a new man/ Maybe a new attitude, too/ I see you got a new man/ Good for you…
We don't talk/ but that's okay/ You probably think of me/ as one more mistake/ you made /along the way/ But I'll always think of you as a friend/ and wish you the best/ with congratulations now to extend
I see you got a new man/ Fairly handsome, too/ I see you got a new man/ Good for you…
I see you got a new man/ Fairly handsome, too/ I see you got a new man/ Good for you…
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5. |
She's Falling Apart
05:36
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"She's Falling Apart"
[Kent'
Oh brother/ She’s your sister/ She’s your daughter/ She’s your mother/ She’s your lover/ whatever/ She's a woman/ She's a woman/ She's a woman and she's falling apart...
Yeah she's smiling sweetly but look again/ She's smiling through the pain/ of a wrenched ankle/ or a broken heart/ Uh-oh!/ She's falling apart/
No she looks so fine but look a bit harder/ Prescription drugs filling her larder/ and her spine's on fire/ Angst off the chart/ Uh-oh!/ She's falling apart
Pretty little perfect little princess/ What a work of art/ with such a secret someday to share:/
Uh-oh!/ She's falling apart…
Maybe she's an olympic gymnast/ but get her alone/ She's all fractured bone/ and soothing as Sartre/ Oh, she's falling apart
Okay you know what's what, but look away/ cos ironically someday/
she may be the one to/push you around in a cart/ Although/ she's the one who's falling apart
Pretty little perfect little princess/ What a work of art/ with such a secret someday to share:/
Uh-oh!/ She's falling apart…
Oh brother/ She’s your sister/ She’s your daughter/ She’s your mother/ She’s your lover/ whatever/ She's a woman/ She's a woman/ She's a woman and she's falling apart...
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6. |
Hoppin' Joe Brown
04:08
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"Hoppin' Joe Brown"
[Kent]
In ancient old days when Chicago was blues/Joe Brown had his ear to the ground/Listening for the scent/of low-rent talent/he wouldn’t have to pay to use/
Tuesday on the lookout/Wednesday on the findout/Thursday, Friday lay the wax down/Saturday for pressin’/ Sunday sell of mess of/Records off the back of his Wayfarer Sportabout/
A gentleman of limits/ and limited reknown/ in a Chess playing town/ No stopping/ No stopping/ No stopping/ Hoppin' Joe Brown…
J.O.B. Records, his mom-n-pop label/Hoppin’ Joe Brown shakin’ Uptown down/ “Five Long Years” by Eddie Boyd charted large/but the big fish always swam right out of his stable/
The ghost of Joe Brown follows me around/Could be he’s a kindred soul/He’s a Wile E. Coyote/Robin Hood and Don Quixote/and we don’t suffer fools/ so send in the clowns/
A gentleman of limits/ and limited reknown/ in a Chess playing town/ No stopping/ No stopping/ No stopping/ Hoppin' Joe Brown…
Here's a photo/ of Joe/ taken with no warning/ at the Club DeLisa/ The Harlem of Chicago/ “Breakfast Dance Every Monday Morning"...
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7. |
Coming Around
03:32
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"Coming Around"
[Kent]
I'm proud of you/ you're coming around/ You been/ knocked down, dragged across rocky ground/ but you're coming around…
I’m proud of you/ you’re coming around/ You flew too high/wax wings meltdown dumped you cold in the Sound/but you’re coming around...
Life's lesson plan/ took you from the deep fryer/ to the fire, to the frying pan/ It surely sucks/ That's the truth/ but you're feeling fairly fireproof/ aint you?/ Aint you?
And you're coming around/ coming around/ coming around.../And you're coming around/ coming around/ coming around.../ Most definitely/ Most assuredly/ Coming around…
Coming around to what it maybe means to love yourself/Coming around to what it maybe means loving somebody else/ Coming around to what we all go through/ just to survive/ You got to know when to putt/ know when to drive…
And you're coming around/ coming around/ coming around.../And you're coming around/ coming around/ coming around.../ Most definitely/ Most assuredly/ Coming around…
I'm proud of you/ you're coming around/ You been/ knocked down, dragged across rocky ground/
but you're coming around…
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8. |
Please Mr. Soundman
04:25
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"Please Mr. Soundman"
[Kent]
Please, Mr. Soundman/ turn up the bass now/ I want my lower end to shake this place now/Ease off on the lower mids a couple of decibels/ to punch through/ the folk, the smoke, and the smells
Mr. Soundman, It's up to you now/ Don't let us drown in a garbled stew now/ Mix us like we were the headlining band/ Please, Mr. Soundman…
Please, Mr. Soundman/ give the guitar a goose now/ I wanna buzz that old guy's fillings loose now/ Let the troublesome treble enhance/ We'll make 'em deaf if we can't make 'em dance/
Mr. Soundman, you know what's what now/ We know you're so worth that hefty cut now/ Get out that kitchen, move them pots and pans/ Please, Mr. Soundman…
Lift us up/ from a dull roar/ and we'll be grateful to you evermore/ And if some chicks/ we happen to score/ You'll get a cut, too/Cos we can't do/ what we do/ without you on board…
Please, Mr. Soundman/ turn up the vocals/ Get my words of wit out to the local yokels/ My diction's hard so make the reverb wet/ and keep it that way for the rest of the set…
Mr. Soundman/ just one more thing now / No one can hear the instruments when I sing now/ That's it/ Give 'em all a good
increasing/ Cool/ Woah/ Now where'd the vocals go/
No, no, no/ We won't be mocking your abilities after the show/
on the way home in the van/ Please, Mr. Soundman…
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9. |
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"No One's Gone to the Moon"
[Kent]
We're stuck down here, you know/ I'll tell you why/ The radiation from the Van Allen Belt/ does surely fry/ any tin foil astronaut/ foolish enough to try/ driving up and taking the Van/ There's no passing through, n'/
so no one's gone to the Moon…
Cold war, space race on, you know/ USA seem behind/ Commies crow, "We will bury you,"/ USA loses mind/ Science say, "No way, no how," /Secretly seek to find/ a Plan B cos JFK/ shot his mouth off too soon/ No one's gone to the moon…
Check out each perfect/ off-the-top-of-their-heads/ lunar photo/ Never mind the melting point of film/ Where'd the camera's depth of field go?/ They say Kubrick cut a deal for lifelong freedom from the bosses at the studio/ Screen genius/ no one could tell at the time/ it was only a show…
Now you see it, now you don’t/ This alone should convince:/ We took what six trips in all/ and haven't gone back since?/ Not in the nature of Big Gov/ to plant a flag, shoot some golf, / shrug and leave prime real estate/ like it was Brigadoon/
No one's gone to the Moon…
That’s one small step for man/ into one giant lampoon/ No one's gone/ I’m sorry to bust your mylar balloon/
No one’s gone to the Moon...
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10. |
What For
04:20
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"What For"
[Kent]
Salesman knocking on my front door/ and I wonder, "What for?"/ Lady with a flashlight searching the floor/ and I wonder, "What for?" I lose every time I play the lottery/ to increase and decrease the poor/
And I wonder, "What for?" What for? What for? And I wonder, “what for?”
Traffic backed badly once more/ and I wonder, "What for?" Son gets nagged for an undone chore/ and I wonder what for? Air
And I wonder, "What for?" What for? What for? And I wonder, “what for?”
Guy drives 5 miles under the speed limit/ Girl arrives and goes right out the back door/ Kid survives the ghetto and get on board the war/ What for?/ What for? / What for?/ What for?/
I ask, "What for?"/ like something really matters...
And I wonder, "What for?" What for? What for? And I wonder, “what for?”
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11. |
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"Lost in Your Own Neighborhood"
[Kent]
Did you never get lost in your own neighborhood?/ Did you never never really think that you could/ get lost/ get lost/ in your own neighborhood?
Your mind drifts/ Reality shifts a little bit/ to one side and you miss/ the turn that you've taken two thousand times before/ You could flip a bitch/ and find your way once more/ but you keep/ on/ going down/ unexplained avenues
Did you never get lost in your own neighborhood?/ Did you never never really think that you could/ get lost/ get lost/ in your own neighborhood?
Circling/ Circling/ Everywhere/ Circling/ Circling/ and nowhere/is your home/ but you call it good
Did you never get lost in your own neighborhood?/ Did you never never really think that you could/ get lost/ get lost/ in your own neighborhood?
Circling...Circling...
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12. |
Micromanager
05:15
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"Micromanager"
[Kent]
You got your eye on the mote in my/ Not the plank in your own/ Micromanager/ Can’t you just leave me alone?
Your sausage fingers in every pie/ cos you don’t know how to bake/ Micromanager/ Can’t you give us all a break?
God gave you the claws of a tiger/ Micromanager/ The tongue of a viper/ Micromanager/Hypersensitivity/Sniper sensibility/and the brain of a tanager/ Micromanager...
The big picture you’re too small to see/The big picture you’re too small to see/ The big picture you’re too small to see/ now fuck off and let me be/
You started life at the top of the org chart/ to the manor born/ Micromanager/ Watching us work is your hard core porn/
Too Terrified to trust us beneath you/ Deep down you know no one needs you/ You’re Swine Flu/ Micromanager/Hey, I know: go fix the cleaning crew...
God made you Gepetto/ Micromanager/ in a world of Pinocchios/ Micromanager/ No strings on me/ for you to pull easily/ I got a job, but you got sinecure/ Micromanager...
The big picture you’re too small to see/ The big picture you’re too small to see/
The big picture you’re too small to see/ fuck you I’m free
God gave you the claws of a tiger/ Micromanager/ The tongue of a viper/ Micromanager/Hypersensitivity/Sniper sensibility/and the brain of a tanager/
God made you Gepetto/ Micromanager/ in a world of Pinocchios/ Micromanager/ No strings on me/ for you to pull easily/ I got a job, but you got sinecure/ And the brain of a tanager/ Micromanager...
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Claxton Kent Portland, Oregon
"...I didn't grow up rich, but my father did. He owned a ranch in Texas with over ten thousand dairy cows. Those cows didn't give milk, though, they gave oil. That is a true fact. Those cows were so valuable they weren't branded, they were engraved..." excerpted from Claxton: A Life-like Life. ... more
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