The Tape of Only Linda
Released: 1994 (Alias Records)
Credits:
The band: Scott Miller, Paul Wieneke, Zachary Smith, R. Dunbar Poor, Jozef Becker
Guest musicians: Ken Stringfellow, Shalini Chatterjee, Mitch Easter
Producer: Mitch Easter
Soul Drain (Scott Miller/Zachary Smith/Paul Wieneke)
Disconnected
Unsuspected
There was nothing up our sleeve
Raised our glasses
Took the classes
Till we honestly believed
Came with flowers
Stayed for hours
Took it all the way to bed
Pat and Vanna
Joe Montana
All the Star Search rage, we said it was a good game
We shrugged and played along
We gave our glad endorsement
But now it just seems wrong
Cry the cold rain
Down the soul drain
It's that special time of year
Find a snowstorm
I might get warm
'Cause the weather's worse in here
Grab the ice tongs
Sing the fight songs
'Cause my finger's off the pulse
Tea with Donald
Lunch with Ronald
I was not myself, I was a good accomplice
An ideal go-between
I stood up under torture
But now I'm coming clean
My Superior (Scott Miller/Zachary Smith)
Girl, the camera just loves you
But I'm not sure I do
It looks at less than meets the eye
And what an outright lie
I took the first effective view
And turned it into you
I stared directly in your face
But failed to see a trace
Not quite true romance
My superior and I
Facts fall down wanting every time we try
We kiss and fix whatever's wrong
But I don't stay kissed long
It's work to get things straight and then
To lose it all again
Not quite true romance
My superior and I
Can't fall down wanting every time we try
Show me that surface where the eyes meet the image
I'll show you where the hook went in
Small expectations greet the lies and spiders
Filling in a window frame
Long pretty god-boys lurk in corners
Looking murder in the face again
It ties our hands behind our backs
And drops us in our tracks
It gives us slumber party chills
And undermines our wills
Not quite true romance
My superior and I
Facts fall down wanting every time we try
Marcia and Etrusca (Scott Miller/Jozef Becker/Zachary Smith/Paul Wieneke/Rob Poor)
Marcia throw your latex gloves away
You've touched the world now, I would say
You don't need to stand for anything more
Marcia, than the Kleenex on the floor
Dino and Elijah fly into the battle zone
Marcia and Etrusca sitting bravely by the phone
Love them like you'll never live without them
And then leave them on their own
Marcia throw your latex gloves away
You've touched the world now, I would say
You don't need to stand for anything more
Marcia, than the Kleenex on the floor
Dino and Elijah in the hundred year crusade
Marcia and Etrusca watch their photo album fade
Hold it like you'll keep them there forever
And then let them not have stayed
Hyde Street Virgins (Scott Miller)
Right down this street we learned not saying what we mean
To charge the rebel mind but not offend the queen
And found for all our trouble that there's no in-between
The dullest thing to cut you leaves the deepest scar
The place there wasn't for us in the joy-ride car
And if you'd ask me now I'd say we've come pretty far
To be as nowhere as we are
Hyde Street virgins
Rock and roll
Had our secrets
Now you know
We just look for things to make us go
I used to hear, "Don't let rejection wear pride thin."
Advice to use with invitations pouring in
And there we were with more pride saved than we'd ever spend
I don't recall the day that Lake Geneva froze
The goal became to never leave a thing exposed
But now I want to frame it so that each nuance shows
As it starts to come to its close
Hyde Street virgins
Rock and roll
Had our secrets
Now you know
We just look for things to make us go
Baby Hard-To-Be-Around (Scott Miller/Jozef Becker/Zachary Smith/Paul Wieneke/Rob Poor)
She gave it to you something bad
Arose above suspicion
You caved in to the T.V. ad
You should have asked permission
She's baby hard-to-be-around
I'll tell you all about her
She'll make you hate the life that you are living without her
She goes as deep as Jacques Cousteau
It's you that's getting phony
She doesn't crawl and say hello
She's not your little pony
She's baby hard-to-be-around
I'll tell you all about her
She'll make you hate the life that you are living without her
You don't know the family secret
All comes out at midnight
Think you'll be the first to shake it
You'll be in bed by ten
(Think again)
You don't know what you're crying for
I'll tell you where it's going
She's baby hard-to-be-around
And baby it's showing
It Just Wouldn't Be Christmas (Scott Miller/Jozef Becker/Zachary Smith/Paul Wieneke/Rob Poor)
Here comes that can-do agenda
Banging that old baby grand
Who wouldn't sign up just to shake that hand?
Guess I'm not much of an hombre
Don't stack up quite all the way
For the man's work of doing what you say
Your lucky charm apologist
Your company convention hall rented comedian
Working the room, surfing the tedium
Coming in nights with a rag and a broom
Guess it just wouldn't be Christmas
No fun if we couldn't shout
What a deal we got selling someone out
Guess we'd be nothing without it
Sworn to uphold and defend
Faked it so long it's like I comprehend
You should have owned me while you could
Harvested a cottonfield, filled up a uniform
Fleshed out a war
Shared a drink afterward
Gone in half on a Cambodian whore
We talked to hundreds of successful people
We asked them how they get around the
Lines we jam to
Walking their families through
This is the science of losing by one
When they blow smoke
In our face why we choke
This is the point of sweating what's done
This is science of losing by one
This is the way we won't have to depend on things,
we've only just begun
Here comes that badge of distinction
Flashing and slashing away
Just like it still got you the time of day
Guess it just wouldn't be Christmas
Guess it would only be winter solstice, graceless, goalless
I see myself in twenty years
Begging for Avalon, pending my trial
Watching the gavel drawn
We've got the luxury just for a while
That we can can tell you get lost in style
Better Nature (Paul Wieneke)
Bought culture
Got some liquor with a video
Fly falling
Never know who's on the ground below
Turn my better nature
Rust farmer
Drinking in the old scenario
Safe harbor
From the thought I had a week ago
Turn my better nature
Thinking I bought culture
Press me Shiralee, there's no such home free ride
(press, distress me—half way to)
Drive me Shiralee, drive some way outside
(drive, revive me)
Home's just too far gone home
Abstraction
From a class I took in stereo
Lost traction
But I think I might have started slow
Turn my better nature
Buckled under pressure
Thinking I bought culture
Press me Shiralee, there's no such home free ride
(press, distress me—half way to)
Drive me Shiralee, drive some way outside
(drive, revive me)
Home's just too far gone home
Bought culture
Though I lost it quite a while ago
Still thinking
Maybe one last thing I might outgrow
No more better nature
Press me Shiralee, there's no such home free ride
(press, distress me—half way to)
Drive me Shiralee, drive some way outside
(drive, revive me)
Home's just too far gone home
Still Its Own Reward (Scott Miller)
There are ways if they'd asked
I'd have told the world to treat you
At each stage you could take what they'd throw at you
I don't want to believe
That this time they really beat you
See you there looking not meant to make it through
But don't you find it's on your mind
With friends all going places?
And even though they told you so
Was that sufficient basis?
And when you lose across the board
Is trying still its own reward?
Still its own reward
Could I have been there to
Feed you pieces of survival
Drag it out till we thought of that as the norm
And at the first sign of strength
Turn into your fiercest rival
Condescending to come in a pleasing form
But do you size up in their eyes
How much they'll feel your leaving?
And even though they told you so
Were words much worth believing?
And with the fall you're headed toward
Is trusting still its own reward?
Is trying still its own reward
I'm sorry, I've seen a whole lot of bad advice go by
You don't worry about yourself and baby why should I?
Is baby gonna die?
Is baby gonna die?
Don't you find it's on your mind
With first impressions ending?
And even though they told you so
Was there much worth defending?
And when it's not your own accord
Is living still its own reward?
Is trusting still its own
Is trying still its own reward
For Beginners Only (Zachary Smith)
I've considered suicide
But there's really no point, after all there's only one of me
Come on baby, let's take a ride
Let's get out of this joint there's another place we ought to be
These days everyone's going insane
But I'd rather not go 'cause I've already been there
Don't need to feel that much pain
So I'm taking it slow medication don't agree with me
I've had a talk with the dogs of war
Now it's never too clear when they tell me what it's all about
Heard a hint of what's in store
So I'm living in fear but the future seems to be in doubt
My friends all buy small arms,
And they sell they sell them with style 'cause there's always a rebate
Mercenary boys got plenty of charm
But slaughter with a smile is a service I can do without
Take me downtown, take me 'round the block
Take me anywhere, long as it's somewhere
Show me how to begin 'cause I know that
This game goes to beginners only
Thought I had a date with Lili Marlene
But I got stood up, now I guess she's never gonna show
Sitting in the car in the driving rain
Feeling so fed up with the music on the radio
These days everyone's knocking romance
And it seems out of place in a town with a club scene
But I'd rather do more than dance
If I could find one face that I thought I'd like to get to know
Take me downtown, take me 'round the block
Take me anywhere, long as it's somewhere
Show me how to begin 'cause I know that
This game goes to beginners only
To beginners only
To beginners only
To beginners only
I've considered suicide
But I've given it up, better leave it for another day
Spillin my guts on the three by five
Gonna light them on fire, gonna watch them till they blow away
Been living on borrowed time
Just like every one else in the whole bloody pawn shop
I'll figure out how to make it mine
Then you better watch out 'cause the usury is gonna stop
Stop!
Ballet Hetero (Scott Miller/Zachary Smith/Rob Poor)
I could be someone you'd love more than me
I'd have thought it was strange,
But there's not that much of me there to change
Save your life, while it fits under the knife
Look what you counted on
The very first fairy tale up and gone
And it weighs on us now, precious and overgrown
We've lost our old skill at being left on our own
Since when have we been such shrinking violets?
What came to push us around?
What's there to threaten our code of silence?
There's not as far to fall near the ground
Please don't cry, I know you're passing me by
But I don't let down my guard
And believe me, I'd only try too hard
Momentum fulfilled, fault in the viewer's eyes
Path unperturbed as if we should apologize
Since when have we been such shrinking violets?
What came to push us around?
We'll die defending our code of silence
There's not as far to fall near the ground
The little deuce coupe
The fox on the run
The fugue state aphasia
The ego dismantled
The kiss in the fourth grade
The sex in the bathroom
The theme varied slightly
The four-county crackdown
The Heisenberg threshold
The virgin conception