1. |
Open mike
03:54
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In every little city in a dingy bar
There’s an overweight Adonis with a blues guitar
There’s an overage Madonna who’s a half step flat
There’s the next insert a name here in a stupid hat
You can meet ‘em any Monday in a nervous dream
Like a cavalcade of losers on the winning team
Every one of them would live or die to feed the beast
It’s the weekly competition to see who sucks least
It’s open mic, open mic
Everybody’s great at open mic
All the clothes and the hair are so outta sight
And everyone’s a millionaire at open mic
There’s a Yankee in a cowboy shirt who’s so sincere
Singing songs in southern accents that assault the ear
There’s an artsy fartsy poet who can’t even play
But that doesn’t stop her getting up there anyway
It’s a masochistic ritual for the friends who come
After just a couple verses well you just feel numb
While the girlfriends in the corner like to sit and squeal
Over who looks more professional and who’s more real
At open mic, open mic
Everybody falls for you at open mic
You were the best one you were so psyched
And everyone’s a visionary open mic
This one’s a little too whiny
And that one’s a little too slick
And everyone’s always so shiny
And nobody ever says dick
At open mic, open mic
We’re one big happy family at open mic
I’ll forget you tomorrow but I love you tonight
Cause everyone’s a superstar at open mic
Open mic, open mic
Everybody’s great at open mic
The rockin’ rollin’ future on display all right
And everyone’s a poster child at open mic
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2. |
The bible's last stand
06:28
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Well they bulldozed the ancient city when they leveled the hilltop flat
Bones and pottery shards just a couple of yards
From the tank where the man in the gun turret sat
Yeah they dug up a thousand years or two and they dug up a whole lot more
Of the torture and pain that they use to explain
Why they’re fighting a hundred year war
And the ancestors’ graves and the answers they gave
Blown away in the desert sand
Everybody’s come out just to scream and to shout
Take a side at the bible’s last stand
Well it used to mean something to someone, but everything’s so different now
We can justify slaughter for oil or water
No matter how sacred the child or the cow
It don’t matter just what you believe in, to survive you believe what you can
But when they force you to run from a book or a gun
Even suicide seems like a reasonable plan
And now nothing that’s spiritual matters it seems
All true faith’s been replaced by a brand
You got nothing to lose, still your life’s what you choose
To depart at the bible’s last stand
You were told to liberate your mind from the western world
You were taught your faith could take you anywhere you want to go
But the western world’s the only world there’s ever gonna be my friend
And everybody’s Christian now son don’t you know
(I sing with the voice of one who walks with death each day
I sing with the voice of one who knows all hope is gone
I sing with the voices that will not be heard again
But still I sing)
Well they bulldozed the constitution when they leveled our consciousness flat
If you’re Muslim or Jew you don’t pray like they do
And they don’t like those funny hats
Yeah they buried the ancient scriptures in a place where they’ll never be found
And said don’t be surprised at the gospel revised
That our soldiers are handing around
And the word of the lord’s been deleted
And replaced by an earthly command
Of the righteous and strong who will never be wrong
As they fight for the bible’s last stand
So it’s man versus man in the ending
It’s a trigger a pin and a hand
Everybody’s come out on the sidelines to shout
Taking odds on the bible’s last stand
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3. |
The local song
01:59
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Every local has its own philosopher
The guy who’s got the lock on how it works
He’s never left the neighborhood but he can read the signs
And parse his way through all the cosmic quirks
He knows as much as any Steven Hawking
The fellas all shut up when he starts talking
But if you start to feel epiphany
Just take a walk outside to go and see
The genius at the local round the bend
Who’s got his own ideas how things will end
And think of this as mouths begin to run
When all of these fine gentlemen are called to save the universe
They’ll be too shitfaced drunk to get it done
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4. |
Kids screw everything up
03:20
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We were so happy you and me
When we got married we just felt so free
We both made money
We spent our checks
I called you honey
We had wild sex
But now I’ve given up your nipples so the baby can sup
Kids screw everything up
We used to travel
To Spain and France
I loved adventure
You loved to dance
Our tans were golden
Our clothes were fine
We ate the oysters
And drank the wine
But now I’m pouring apple juice in an unbreakable cup
Kids screw everything up
Kids
Why’d we do it, why’d we have to go through it
Kids
Sucked our savings down the drain
Kids
S’posed to love ‘em but we really wanna shove ‘em
Kids ain’t nothing but pain, pain, pain
I had a six pack
You had an ass
I had a motorcycle
And you had class
We had a passion that we could not deny
We made a baby and it all went bye-bye
We used to run with the big dogs now we’re raising a pup
Kids screw everything up
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5. |
Approximates a soul
05:09
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Hey hey stranger come on in
You look kinda familiar, I think I mighta known you when
You’ve been out there in the wild looking hard and looking long
Trying to see your life within the confines of a song
And it’s taken you to places that you didn’t want to be
And it’s sometimes left you stranded for the price of being free
Just a prodigal son coming out of his hole
Searching for something that approximates a soul
Sit down stranger you don’t have to say no more
Everybody that you’re looking at we’ve all been there before
There’s been many different mountains there’s been many different ways
But somehow we all end up here at the end of all our days
And we know you must feel broken and we know you must feel beat
But you’ve seen it through the scars and bars and haven’t met defeat
You just keep riding the highway and paying the toll
Searching for something that approximates a soul
They say it’s already here and that may be so
But till you’ve been over there, there’s no way to know
So long stranger I know you have to go
The life beyond the edges is the only life you want to know
We’re always moving onwards though we don’t know what we’ll find
And sending back dispatches for the ones who come behind
From a gutter filled with all the pretty dreams that didn’t sell
And the visions still unrealized decomposing where they fell
We’re all mining out the diamonds from our own lumps of coal
Searching for something that approximates a soul
From the fragments of existence well it just might make us whole
Searching for something that approximates a soul
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6. |
It's all right
05:18
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See the skinny girl staring at her conscience, caught between confession and shame
In a land of fear you better make your voice heard, just point a finger and place the blame
It’s not a crime to let emotions take you over to the point you say what you really feel
It’s clear the day and age of rolling in the clover is over for the long run
When all is said and done
It’s all right to be angry at your neighbor, It’s all right to be bad
It’s all right to abandon your compassion, It’s all right to be sad
We all fight ‘cause it’s what the papers tell us, We all fight what we knew
It’s all right to be shallow to be jealous, It’s all right to be you, to be you
See the flabby man hand upon the good book, swearing that salvation’s within
Before you go that way you better take a good look, and you may find you prefer to sin
I know the pull is strong to straighten up and fly right when it feels like something you’ve gotta know
But tell me how you figure cashing in on Jesus is more noble than a paycheck from the fella below, when
It’s all right to be angry at your neighbor, It’s all right to be bad
It’s all right to abandon your compassion, It’s all right to be sad
We all fight, doesn’t matter what they tell us, We all fight what we knew
It’s all right to be shallow to be jealous, It’s all right to be you, to be you
It’s not a time to ask for answers or for reasons at least not if you want to stay whole
When all the dirty words like treachery and treason have a meaning for the first time
They’ll pull you outta line
See a fragile globe slipping through your fingers, see a flag that’s tattered and torn
See a stranger’s face cracking in your mirror, shattering reflections from before you were born
It’s way too early to be looking for conclusions and it will be for the next hundred years
But now the real world’s ripped away the last illusion that we’re actually the good guys
We better all get wise
It’s all right to be angry at your nation, It’s all right to be bad
It’s all right to demand an explanation, It’s all right to be sad
We all fight never showing that we’re nervous, We all fight though it’s true
And one night if our sanity preserve us, We just might make it through
Me and you
We just might make it through
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7. |
Grease remover
03:07
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You’re like a stir fry from a cheap Chinese takeout
A bad plate of ribs that don’t come from the south
You’re like a pizza with too much pepperoni
I need grease remover baby get you outta my mouth
You shot the arrow and it blew me wide open
You took no prisoners baby right from the start
You made me fall and I fell for it all
I need grease remover baby get you outta my heart
I learned to live with the lies l learned to live with the pain
But now I opened my eyes I’m getting rid of the stain
And I can’t complain
You took my love and you took me for granted
You took my time you took control
You took me in and now you’re hard to get out
I need grease remover baby get you off of my soul
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8. |
Corruptible
04:08
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Everybody is corruptible, buddy
And it ain’t nice
But everybody is corruptible, buddy
When I name the right price
And I’ll laugh when you say than you’ll never be sold
‘cause I’ll get you for less when you’re desperate and old
Everybody is corruptible, get in line
It’s just a matter of time
Everybody is corruptible, sweetheart
That’s no lie
Everybody is corruptible, sweetheart
When you meet the right guy
It’s not wrong to believe in the love that you found
But baby don’t be naïve come back down to the ground
Everybody is corruptible this is true
Now honey how ‘bout you?
I ain’t a cynic, and I ain’t a saint
I’m just watching it all go down
You got your values well isn’t that quaint
Now get out of my way while I take this town
Everybody is corruptible, father
Do the math
Everybody is corruptible, father
Once you stray from the path
‘Cause we’re only as strong as our one secret vice
When you’ve given in once might as well make it twice
Everybody is corruptible, always was
Human is as human does
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9. |
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He’s cute and he’s funny he smells really good
He comes from the best part of the neighborhood
He’s nice and polite he’s a well brought up boy
Certain to bring any young woman joy
He never makes the conversation tense
He’s mister freakin’ white picket fence
He always remembers and he always calls
He never sits naked and scratches his balls
He’ll listen for hours while rubbing your feet
He always says something that sounds really sweet
And when you’re down he’ll come to your defense
He’s mister freakin’ white picket fence
And every woman dreams she’s gonna get him
I’d like to find a single one who’s ever really met him
He’ll clean up the dishes and take out the trash
He’ll do all your laundry and lay out the cash
He’ll visit your grandma at least once a week
If you’re asking me kinda sounds like a freak
He’s not a bad guy just a little dense
Somebody gotta teach him common sense
He needs your help so don’t spare one expense
For mister freakin’ white picket fence
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10. |
Outta time
03:48
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People tell me the end’s getting near every day
I’m beginning to have my doubts
They been raising alarms now for forty odd years
You would think that the clock had already run out
While the one fella claims that he’s right
But he’s getting no help
And he’s losing the fight
And the next fella’s left standing tall
When he tells us there’s no one to fight with at all
Cause we’re fine
Everything’s fine
And we’re not outta time
Someone told me democracy always works best
When the folks get to put in a hand
And I’ve heard aristocracy’s also been blessed
Cause at least everybody knows just where they stand
But the weavers of worlds start to spin up the threads
Of the finest deceptions that money can buy
And the ones we elect lose the touch of their hearts
As their fingers get tangled
And caught in the lie
That we’re fine
Everything’s fine
And we’re not outta time
Well I wonder if anywhere out in this world
There’s a person who knows the whole truth
Would he stand and salute as the flag is unfurled
Or throw stones at the wall with the wisdom of youth
Would he always stay calm and secure
With the faith in his heart
That there’s nothing to fear
Or go scream in the streets at the top of his lungs
That we never should take it on faith when we hear
That we’re fine
Everything’s fine
And we’re not outta time
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Mark Westin Newburgh, New York
"Heartfelt lyrics, soulful melody and enchanting vocals" -Honk Magazine
"Absolutely
stunning and moving"-Existential Magazine
"Downright transcendent"-We Write About Music
Mark's been gigging and writing a long time, and he's a wordsmith of a very high order. His songs are diverse, eclectic, darkly humorous, and for real.
Listen and decide for yourself.
... more
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