1. |
Vivian
03:27
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Last Saturday night I had the strangest dream
About a woman I had never met
Shot in black and white and framed so right
It was as photogenic as it gets
I was sent there for some reason
to deliver some terrible news
That thing that she kept so tightly under wrap
Has gotten outside the boxes you kept it in
I remember floating through Chicago
over a span of many years
And all the faces from her Rolleiflex taken
Dipped in Amber, stuck in time.
It took a while to find her, when I did she seemed annoyed
She asked me what I thought I wanted here
I looked down at my hands and then began to say
Oh Vivian,
Can I just tell you about the shape I’m in?
Time’s running out, I still won’t let them in
Into the space inside the frame
Oh Vivian
Your life was rescued from a garbage bin
How will we ever know oblivion?
How will we ever be the same?
Now everybody knows your name
I asked her why she’s never smiling
In the portraits of herself
She said remember the fires that forged you
And never worry about anyone else
‘Cause I don’t have to warn you
this world can be a terrifying place.
You never know if things you think you see
Are really there or has the light just tricked your eyes somehow?
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2. |
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Watch your grill on a windy night,
when you’ve been drinkin’ or lest you might
Fall asleep before, the lonesome night consumes you.
Must have been a terrible sight.
Must have made for an awful night
To call 911, but it’s too late to save you.
Where did you go when you drew your last breath?
What is this thing we call death?
You’d have so much to say, you know I’d love to hear it.
Hey, I’m alright, I can see you tonight
The smoke’s all gone but the smell remains
This world spins so fast, and nothing you can think of ever lasts
But I will think of you, when the lilacs bloom again
Ronny baby, you missed a lot
Too much to tell and I’ve forgot
More memories, then you ever got to know
You missed The Cubs finally win it all
Skipped the scene when those towers fell
You missed everything, and the beat keeps grooving on
You missed the part when you’re all alone
In a prison built of flesh and bone
And the long decay, that winds down soft and low
Hey, I’m alright, I can see you tonight
The smoke’s all gone but the smell remains
This world spins so fast, and nothing you can think of ever lasts
But I will think of you, when the lilacs bloom again
I got your bass guitar fixed just last week
plays so fine, her voice still speaks
She’s a charred and soulful, honest faded glory.
The luthier he did inquire:
“Was this instrument in a fire?”
And I just smiled, and said “It’s a long story”.
Where do we go when we’re through down here?
Or is it Fade to Black, for a trillion years?
I got no reception, so I guess we’ll catch up later…
Hey, I’m alright, I can see you tonight
The smoke’s all gone but the smell remains
This world spins so fast, and nothing you can think of ever lasts
But I will think of you, when the lilacs bloom again
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3. |
Deception Pass
04:53
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Oh poor Vancouver- He didn’t know what he didn’t know.
Turns out his maps they were all wrong, he got lost in the valley below.
He was deceived by the tide, as he tried to abide
the course his maps said that the river would be
Had the Salish been asked they would have said with a laugh:
“Son, you know you’re lost as sea”.
Be careful where you’re going.
Always make sure to know when you can believe
You’ve been deceived by what you’re
seeing through the looking glass.
Just a simple delusion.
Then the tide of confusion brings you
down and around below the bridge above Deception Pass.
Lord, save me on Deception Pass.
You should have known me when I was young, I was a legend to myself.
Thought I could make it through this lonely world, and never have to trust in anyone else.
But I could never understand about the matter at hand
And what it had to do with me.
I was just going with the flow because I didn’t want to know
I made a mockery out of living free.
All of my worst decisions, I always kept them to myself.
‘Cause they can never talk you out of things, you never share with anyone else.
I was seduced by the tide, I had nowhere else to hide
And nobody but me I could blame.
I got the doctors to prescribe, to fill the hole deep inside
Until I couldn’t even tell you my name.
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4. |
Opioids(make me blue)
03:39
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“I Don’t want to be married to a junky”
is what my baby once said to me
You know I don’t need much from anyone in this world
But this is one thing that cannot be-
if I am to stay married to you, I can’t have you need-
Something you will never find, in this world that would kill you if you did
Oh- Goddamn you
Opioids
Make Me Blue
(She Said) “I know you’re sick, I know the drill”
but I know sometimes you seek the thrill, your motives are in doubt.
But I will hide your dope for you, deal and dole it out to you
It seems there’s no way out
I will hide your pills where you can’t find them
In a safe beneath the sea.
I would do most anything to make this easy on you
Oh- Goddamn you
Opioids
Make Me Blue
So blue, so blue, so blue…
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5. |
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‘Oumuamua, Distant Traveler, from where do you come so far?
I know you’ve come from another Solar Mother
I know you know I’m you’re carbon-based brother
Please take a U-turn on your next trip ‘round the sun.
We’re all alone here and we don’t know anyone.
We don’t know anyone.
‘Oumuamua, Wistful Wanderer, please- don’t just pass us by.
I hate to bug you but it seems so plain to see.
This here’s an S.O.S., a real emergency.
My mother’s sick, and we’ve got no way to save her.
We thought that we were Gods, but now we’re not so sure.
No, we’re not so sure.
‘Oumuamua, ancient sentinel, please tell me how long you must roam.
I know you’ve come from another Solar Mother
I know you know I’m you’re carbon-based brother
I hope that one day you run into my mother.
Please say “Hello” for me and tell her I love her-
Please tell her that I miss her.
Tell her that I miss her.
(Repeat and FADE OUT into irrelevant nothingness)
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6. |
Mary The Elephant
05:31
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Mary was swimming in the river with her sister when the men with the guns arrived
For years she told anybody who would listen it’s a shame that she even survived
Hiding all alone in the weeks that past is hard to do at such a tender age
She was taken in by a gold-toothed man, crossed the ocean in an iron cage
With no one to sing to her the way her mother would
She would give anything, if only she still could
Because you know they say, a broken heart never forgets
It didn’t take long for the gold-tooth man to find a place for Mary to go
What he got paid in the deal that was made is a number that we’ll never know
Mary found a home with a man named Sparks, in the circus that bore his name
You might never get to pick that hands that you’re dealt but you can learn how to play the game
She was alone inside a dream that never ends
The bearded lady and the dogface boy were friends
Because you know they say, broken hearts never forget
When she closed her eyes, Mary saw Indian skies
And all around her, possibility
Then Morning would come, she saw what her life had become
So very far away from where she thought it would be
Because you know they say, broken hearts never forget
She could play Rossini and Ravel on a trumpet, dancing on a big red ball
Mary played along to the same old song until one day she got sick of it all
Maybe she had enough of the shock and the lash and trampled the man with the gun
Crushed his skull right there on the street, her final act for everyone
It wasn’t so long ago all elephants ran free
How could you blame the girl, she missed her family
Because you know they say, elephants never forget
The very next day, Sparks found a way to put his Problem in the ground
“Murderous Mary” they called her in the paper, made the news many miles around
The radio said there’d be an elephant dead, four-o-clock that afternoon
And Sparks could get away from the mess that he made and leave not a moment too soon
Then Mary was hanging from beneath an iron crane
A bulldozer dug the hole into which she was lain
But you know they say, an elephant never forgets
When she closed her eyes, Mary saw Indian skies
And all around her, possibility
Try averting your eyes, when you hear elephant cries
That sound will stay forever in your dreams
…But you know they say, elephants never forget
elephants never forget, elephants never forget
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7. |
The Space In Between
05:37
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Hiding away in my bed on a cold winter’s day
I only wish I could stay
Lying here forever, I’d just listen to the raindrops
and travel in my mind, hope to find the mysterious place,
where we come from.
How far away must I fly to get out of this place
that’s mostly filled with empty space
But I will build the wall around me, and lay out all the rules
concerning yours and mine in 4/4 time, a luxurious prison
all of my own design.
Moving vibrations, entrained excitations are all we will be.
Please hold me closer, show me your true face
The one that you want me to see.
Marry the moonlight and dance in the space in between
This improbable game, what mysterious name for the show?
As we watch the shadows swoon and glow
But Jupiter pulls us closer, to the center of the dance
We come into the light, then out of sight,
making our way through the stars on a cold winter’s night
Moving vibrations, entrained excitations are all we will be.
Please hold me closer, show me your true face
The one that you want me to see.
Marry the moonlight and dance in the space in between
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8. |
500 Pelicans
04:50
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Step into the water with me here, it’s much warmer than you think
Let go of whatever’s weighing you down, and offer it to the sea.
Remember the time in Colorado we were poking through the cattle lands?
You stopped the car and I began to sing “Over the Rainbow” and the herd came in.
Swimming with 500 pelicans, did you ever think you’d see such a sight?
Everything is just so improbable baby, it’s a mystery-moonless night.
How’d I ever find my way to you in an ocean of endless night?
You and me baby we’re just swimming with- 500 Pelicans, 500 Pelicans.
People often wonder where the dinosaurs went when the asteroid hit not far from here.
Just watch 500 pelicans dive into the water and the answer seems very clear.
There’s lots of people saying that nothing even matters, getting caught up in the undertow.
But I prefer to savor the sunset on the water, and the way it makes your brown eyes glow.
Swimming with 500 pelicans, did you ever think you’d see such a sight?
Everything is just so improbable baby, it’s a mystery-moonless night.
How’d I ever find my way to you in an ocean of endless night?
You and me baby we’re just swimming with- 500 Pelicans, 500 Pelicans.
I’m just a sentient being standing on the beach, with one foot in the sand.
Tell me what is all of this I think I see, just a daydream or something planned?
I’ve come to know that magic isn’t always pretty, watch the crabs on the concrete stairs.
I don’t suppose they’ll ever reach their destination, and I wonder if they even care?
Swimming with 500 pelicans, did you ever think you’d see such a sight?
Everything is just so improbable baby, it’s a mystery-moonless night.
How’d I ever find my way to you in an ocean of endless night?
You and me baby we’re just swimming with- 500 Pelicans, 500 Pelicans.
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9. |
10% Hopeful
03:56
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I found a mole on my arm yesterday, this looks like The End.
According to my morbid daydream, my most exclusive livestream,
I won’t even try to pretend…
It doesn’t help I’m depressive my nature, and often deceived-
By the worst-case-scenario, the baggage that I carry still,
Stories that I used to believe
Once I went to find the man on the mountain with the keys to it all.
With the shadow riding next to me, I ran the horse into a tree
We tripped and took a mighty fall.
But my horse would not abandon me, she brought me through the night.
And I woke up lying in the sand, the beach where I would understand
The miracle morning light.
Sometimes it’s just too hard for me to smile on a sunny day.
If you listen through the lies, you can hear their lonely cries
But I just want to turn away.
In my prayers you know I hear only silence, but I want to believe.
I’ll remain 10% hopeful, despite all I see.
Wake up my old friend you know you’re sleeping your life away.
What you gonna do, with your precious life today?
The dog wakes up and barks as we’re making the right turn onto County Road “D”.
Cuz he knows where we’re going, where the North Wind’s been blowing
And the loons return in the spring.
And it is here that he will bolt like the lightning, and run between the trees.
That were planted here before us by the birds of the forest
And it is here that he will forever be.
Sometimes it’s just too hard for me to smile on a sunny day.
If you listen through the lies, you can hear their lonely cries
But I just want to turn away.
In my prayers you know I hear only silence, but I want to believe.
I’ll remain 10% hopeful, despite all I see.
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Corduroy Cat Chicago, Illinois
Corduroy Cat is an all-original 4-piece band based in the Chicagoland area. Formed in 2019, as the brainchild of singer, Dan
Doherty, (guitar, piano) who was soon joined by Bob Poole on bass, Marv Doolin on guitar and Kalyan Pathak on drums.
Their debut album 10% Hopeful is a genre-defying, modern-day song cycle depicting a journey emerging from a dream, into darkness then back into the light.
... more
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