Get all 13 The Crux releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
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1. |
Don't Need No Man
03:25
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I was drunk when I met her, how she liked to dance
She had a loop through her septum and a shaved back head
She was a force to reckon with
We caught a couple words on the way to the bathroom
We agreed we’d met a couple months back
She pushed me on to the couch
She said, “I’ll take you to the bed,
but I don’t need no man”
I said, “Well neither do I,
we ought to make good friends”
In my little studio, I slept in the closet
In a pile of blankets. I like to sleep naked
I like to sleep right next to you
Off she drove to the city underwater where the levy broke through
Summer stole her, the hurricane’s a-coming but the levee’s unsure
And off she drove to the city underwater where the levy broke through
Summer stole her, the hurricane’s a-coming but the levee’s unsure…
I was drunk when I met her, how she liked to dance
She had a loop through her septum and a shaved back head
She was a force to reckon with
We caught a couple words on the way to the bathroom
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2. |
The Loyalist
05:17
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Well there was a house in the city of Shred
And the picket fence was black and red
And The Loyalist got out of bed
She put a red cap on her head
And I’ve missed you ever since you left home
Yes I’ve missed you ever since you left home
She met a man who fashioned wood
He could do things she never could
He had strong hands and he understood
All of the things which she stood for
All the people in the town
Tried to laugh and put her down
‘Cause she was speaking ill of Mox the Clown
She said he’d always be keeping them down
She built a sculpture out of bronze
She put the thing out on the front lawn
And her man threw her out at the crack of the dawn
She thinks she might know what went wrong
Well The Loyalist needs time to think
Pour out another drink
Start to swim, start to sink
The Loyalist needs time to think
She’s felt the pain of being wrong
She’s heard them ring that false alarm
She’s a Loyalist with a rebel charm
She’s enlisted in her lovers’ arms
I wonder at times what could be as
sad as ideals without ideas
Yes, I wonder at times what could be as
sad as ideals without ideas
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3. |
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Two houses on a barren hill
The families are sitting still
The storm is weeping overhead
Everybody stays in bed
They hear the falling raindrops chime
Their dreams consume them all the time
One house is red with a hollow floor
Rosemary is planted all around the door
The babies sleep in the master bed
The mother holds her weary head
The other house is blue and gray
The fences have all given way
The father sleeps with open eyes
And bread is baking deep inside
A stranger from the forest looks
Across the valley and the raging brook
He sees the sight and feels the chill
Two houses sliding down the hill…
No one up there understands
As they sink into the land
They don’t know, but soon may learn
That their houses make the whole world turn…
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4. |
Louis XIV Loved His Legs
03:27
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Well, Louis XIV loved his legs
He got a painting of himself done for his grandson’s birthday
But when he saw himself dressed in them pearly-white tights
He said, “Ooh that painting’s gotta be mine”
And Louis XIV had a maid
Aesthetically speaking, she had made the grade
But when she was winking at him with them working-class eyes
He was busy rubbing lotion in his thighs
Champagne bubblin’, Chardonnay
The honeys were all about the Crème Brule
There’s Monsieur Moliere and Monsieur Le Croix
Chatting while their mistresses surround the snuff box
Well, from Catholic mass to Versailles’ walls
You could hear the Sun King shouting “Le etat ce moi”
And in the Bastille, where the prisoners roost
The shackled men were whispering, “se n’est pas juste”
Well, Louis XIV had some friends,
Well, actually you couldn’t really call them friends
They all wore wigs and were greedy as hell
Better keep them drunk so that they don’t rebel,
Boogie woogie woogie woogie woogie wa woo
Louis loved to dance and you know it’s true
In his fancy pants, always center stage
Everyone was forced to look his way
And applaud him as he fucked up his ballet
Well, the jealous aristocracy, the poor and disaffected peasantry
Increasingly controlling, isolated monarchy
And the upstart bourgeoisie
All these sweet potatoes in one big pie
And Louis’ thighs, they was lookin’ fine
And the guillotine, like you’ve never seen
It was just a matter of time
And oh! How the blood
Pisses and mixes with mud!
And the crimson puddle sips
Drips from Antoinette’s lips
And how our bellies groan!
From the smashing and mashing of bone!
But there’s still is nothing to eat!
Nothing except human meat!
Well, the French Revolutionaries loved their heads
But chopping off too many made one hell of a mess
When Napoleon Bonaparte took control
Some wondered why it happened at all
In a battlefield in Cairo, near the emperor’s camp
The generals were sleeping and he lit his lamp
Though they felt like jelly and smelt like eggs
Napoleon was looking at his legs
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5. |
Down on the Floor
05:01
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Katherine Hepburn had a lead head of hair
So I pulled her lightly up my stairs
And I closed the door so we both were inside
I took her for a ride
I rubbed her gently on the thighs
And then I hear her coarsely sigh:
“There’s a monkey with a blackbelt in kung-fu
I helped him escape from the zoo
I took him home but he was in too deep
He had enormous debts and he couldn’t sleep
The drugs we took were very unique
We did coke off of he cover of Newsweek
Now I’m down, now I’m down, now I’m down
I’m down on the floor”
Marlene Dietrich had a copper groin
I smelted it down into very little coins
And I kissed her on her ruby lips
And I grasped her by her mahogany hips
She said, “Kinder, I love the way
You beat that monkey every day
You Errol Flynn, you escapain
That monkey creeps just like Saddam Hussein
That monkey, that monkey
That fucking monkey junkie
Well, he keeps all his knives in an oak wood trunkie
No I’m down, now I’m down, now I’m down
I’m down on the floor
Cary Grant had a hairy aunt
She was eating up old men like Robert Mitchum
I took Cary and Robbie way up to my lair
And I turned their legs into marble stairs
And I climbed them way up to that place where
That monkey dances every night
That monkey dances in his emerald tights
That monkey ain’t quite what he seems
Oh, no! My dear friends, that monkey is me!
I’m a monkey, I’m a monkey, I’m a juicy pewter monkey
I make all the film stars spunky
Now I’m with every A-list star
From the jungle, I have come far
Now the floor is the ceiling, plastic is glass
Monkey is the future, man is the past!
Now I’m down, now I’m down, now I’m down
I’m down on the floor
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6. |
Every Crooked Finger
03:32
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Well the bread they broke grew mold, I turned my head, I looked away
Was passed for generations, growing dustier with age
For what it’s worth, I couldn’t give a shit, I’m not ashamed
I’d crush it into tiny pieces if I had just one day
To rinse all of the blood out of my brain
I swear, it’s pinned to my chest, laid down to rest, strewn across the floor
Left our bodies achin’, always looking for that penny more
Never could prepare us for what we’ve got in store…
I got legs for walking, breath for talkin’ my way out of the back door
Escape the fire, head into the storm
It don’t matter how you package it, the content’s all the same
Every crooked finger’s pointed back at who’s to blame
You got a million fingers pointed at you every goddamned day
You ask me for my signature but I don’t even know my name
Just what my momma called me when I came
La de da de da de da da da
La de da da da da da
La de da de da de da da da
La de da da da da da
We’re drenched in medication, we’ve been carrying the load
In our crooked little factory machinery explodes
What used to clink and whir and spin, now the joints corrode
You know that lunchtime’s over when you hear that whistle blowing
Now, get back to work you nasty little chode!
Bark! Bark! Go the hounds
Take the man, throw him down
Cock! Cock! Cock your guns
Pinned to the deck and drowned in rum
Traveled I, from shore to shore
Lost my eye to a bloody whore
Traveled I, from sea to sea
Deck stained red with mutiny
Now, the reservoirs are empty, yet another harvest failed
You can hear them diesels hummin’ but you’re tied down to the rail
For a good investment, buy stock in prison cells
Because felonies are champagne bubbles for our boys on capital hill
Marble floors on top of a landfill
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7. |
Clown and Bard
04:45
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Raised themselves a child with knives and pepper spray
I found her in a railroad yard, I climbed in her suitcase
Yeah, we were young at first but she needed her space
I put away my guns, I would not run that chase
I got back on that train, I cut a deck of cards
I walked down cobble stones I found the Clown and Bard
If she’s asking for my address I’m staying at the bar
Another round of whiskey and I won’t be straying far
So raise your glasses high boys for verfremdungsteffect
I jumped into that pool, but my hair did not get wet
Now she cleans after the orchestra and I just paint the set
If she’s looking for the words she sure hasn’t found them yet
As I sing along the crowd begins to fade
Alice sits up front she spiked her lemonade
As they spill out on the streets she climbs up on the stages
But I’m still back in Utah with the paradigm parade
The Gestapo marching band, they fight against the sea
Duck behind the soundstage, drop LSD
Her prom date was a mannequin, or so she told me
He wore such a nice suit but he could not move his feet
We talked on the phone of coincidence
Curiosity betrayed indifference
In all my drunken glory, I still maintained defense
Alice hung up the phone and I laid down to rest
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8. |
Walls for the Poor
05:29
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They had him pinned in a book, had him tied to the wall
His eyes were stuck to the moon, it was outside
He was thinking of Donna, how he left her behind
With a flick of his wrist, how her crown toppled down
The street was a mouthful, for the teller to tell
But every lie, was so carefully placed
The rain seemed so normal, except it was red
Scratches from work, on an immigrant’s face
That’s the way it is, my friends, it’s the way it’s always been
The king loves the throne, and the rebel loves the stoop
If you switch their places, they’ll switch them right back
It was proven the day, that they had him pinned down
He’d left her behind, with the ‘fraid and the young
A wall for the lover, and a wall for the loved
The rest of the group, was tattooed on her arm
That dirty street corner, with the lamppost above
Way up in Heaven, you cannot read by the moon
For a captain at sea, it is death or the deep
And that poor man reached out, and he pushed at the wall
And the officers laughed, because he thought it would move
No one understands, the pain of the head
There’s nothing inside, and the Nothing wants more
If this is the throne, I was made for the stoop
As soon as I’m there, I was made for her bed
The colonel just laughed, and spit at him twice
“We got you pinned boy!” and he shook him again
And prisoner just cried, for his friends made of ink
And she bled in the rain, for a thousand and one days
Cops with their torches, dark veins on the town
Viruses and clamor, walls for the poor
Can the pure taint the scarred? You just ask the rain
Don’t leave her behind and don’t leave your name
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9. |
131st Floor
04:30
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On the edge of a seat sits a man
On the 131st floor
In the corner of a room surrounded by glass staring straight down to the lobby floor
Too many stairs for a dress shirt
Too many fleets for shiny black shoes
For what will he do when the power runs out? What on earth will he do?
And the table is dry of brandy
There’s no papers on his desk
For what importance is a man with a pen if there’s no line to scribble on, marked with an “x?”
Below the streets, they are quiet
No one moves, not an inch
For what motivation has a person if they’re not making somebody else rich?
And every window frames a face
Every face pale as a ghost
Main Street like a conveyer belt, Time Square lynched up on a rope
And the streets reek of sweat and of urine
From the oil that seeps from our pores
Leaks the blood of the steak that is dripping, the steak we no longer afford
On the good days, he don’t leave his bed
On the good days, he don’t even bother
On the bad days he’s asked to make the way to the stage to be decorated like his father
So out you will flee from the city
Color TV at the motel
When you finally make home in that small town you no longer can drink from the well
So you go to complain to his choir
At that clinic they call City Hall
And you dream about suicide bombers while you drop your kids off at the mall
And your children are growing older
And their children are growing older
And now their children are growing older- but they’re all fucking overweight
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10. |
Love Song
04:45
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My jeans ragged and old
My shopping carts is full
Of the only things in this hole world that I can call my own
I got a paper bag
And an aluminum can
Is gripped between my fingers to share with my woman
The only thing that I am shore
She is all my lifes worth
On this bench we sit
And we watch the buses pass
We don’t have fare or anywhere to go, so we just rest
At night we bundle up
In the trees and in the brush
But because she lies down next to me, I got a reason I get up
She’s the first to fall asleep
When the moons full I love to watch her breath
Morning brakes again
And were sitting on that bench
Watching all them busy people acting important
They refuse to look at us
And they’re all so quick to judge
But in a world that’s bought and sold I wish them all good luck
They don’t bother me anymore
I’ve tried it there way before
And when that day does come
And the sky is falling off
While people cry and scream and run, will sit quietly and love
So cheers to you, my love
Go on and drink up
We got another day ahead of us we might as well look up,
we might as well stay drunk
we might as well
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11. |
Goodbye Madgie, Goodbye
05:10
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People came for miles just to have one beer
Madgie pulled the taps for thirteen years
She cooked up potions in a little room
In a shack hidden back, on top of an Indian tomb
The whole damn town was there on Friday nights
She poured water for the children and they still got high
Bass rompin’, boot stompin’, squeeze boxin’, fiddle poppin’
Madgie hopped a tabletop, the whole place caught on fire
So now, my friends, let us lift all our glasses up high
With a cheer, let us wish our fair Madgie a…
Goodbye Madgie, goodbye, next time we’ll be drinking in Heaven
And everything will be all right, when you lay down to rest tonight
Goodbye Madgie, goodbye, We’ll be mourning for you in the morning
And everything will be all right, it’s a good time as any to die
I went to the pub that I often frequent,
And told my dear Madgie that my money was spent
She slipped her finger behind my ear
She pulled out a coin and poured me another beer
My mate, McGowan had a hunting dog
With one good leg, we called him “Stick in the Mud”
How that hound rolled around cracked me up
But he always came home with a rabbit or a duck
She sat on her roof of her shack with a gnome
She had a closet of disguises in the heart of her home
Her deceptions were clever, she was red as a rose
Chewing sauerkraut, talking ‘bout the time she dosed the Pope
Dew drops settled on the first day of spring
Madgie woke up to the door ring
A former lover from the old country
With a bushel of daisies and a basket of fine cheese
He said, “Madgie, will you marry me?”
She said, “Might do, if you can eat all that cheese”
The poor fool choked it down, but it came back up
Now he’s happy making saddles, married to the Widow Bunk
Skidamarinkadinka in my rigadidoo
My lady dropped a nickel to buy my necklace of blue
She climbed back in her carriage for to live her fine life
But when broken shells make Christmas bells, I’m going to make that girl my wife
Please, good people, there’s no reason to grieve
As I rise up to take my leave
Fill to one the parting glass
Good night and joy be with us when we pass
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