some other il gato songs

You're the turkey

As we get dressed you comment on how you are nervous to meet my parents
like there is some horrible monster hiding inside crazy Lydia and boring Clarence
so I calm your nerves by saying we will just make a brief appearance

We take the scenic route all the way from Asheville to Norfolk
we bide the time by listening to The Band while we take just a small toke
but, I see you're still upset so I calm the mood with a tasteless joke

yeah, it's Thanksgiving and you're the turkey, baby, come get stuffed
yeah, it's Thanksgiving and you're the Native Americans, baby, come get fucked

As we sit down to dinner I watch the cranberry sauce drip all over your fancy blouse
now you are all red and white spotted like some laboratory mouse
yeah, and now you don't only have food all over your clothes, it is also all over your mouth

Yeah, you sit back down to dinner in my dad's work-shirt and begin to look embarrassed
and promptly woo my parent's with descriptions of your time in Paris
yeah, you look so happy when you talk about Paris

because, it's Thanksgiving and you're the turkey, baby, come get stuffed
yeah, it's Thanksgiving and you're the Native Americans, baby, come get fucked

While I run out to help my mom with an uncontrollable grocery load
I hear you talk with my sister about feminism in "The DaVinci Code"
yeah, I hear you say it is so progressive for pop culture as she says "I know, I know"

We steal away for a romantic rendezvous in the bathroom as my parents do the dishes
and we turn on the exhaust fan which drenches us in dust and leaves us in stitches
yeah, life never is as sexy as you sometimes wish it is

because, it's Thanksgiving and you're the turkey, baby, come get stuffed
yeah, it's Thanksgiving and you're the Native Americans, baby, come get fucked

Finally, we drive away from my past in our rented economy car
you make a joke about how it is obviously now time to hit the bar
yeah, it seems we will survive without even the hint of a scar

Now, we laugh about how I was excited about today, and how you were rather cold
and I boast how I knew you would fit with my family like my favorite casserole
yeah, I know we fit like my favorite corn casserole

because, it's Thanksgiving and you're the turkey, baby, come get stuffed
yeah, it's Thanksgiving and you're the Native Americans, baby, come get fucked

do the math (the hummingbird song)

yesterday i saw you flying around in my backyard. i promised i’d forget you, but with you always hummin’ around my head it kinda makes it hard. but i’ve before survived on my own. the sky has went black but my eyes were still glowin’. it’s just that in this specific case, and maybe only at this specific time, it seems as if i may not be specifically doing my part.

hummin’ bird won’t you hum my way. i said, hummin’ bird won’t you hum my way.

i remember the way you once ruffled my feathers and the way you chased me all around. i once heard that some other birds mate by nearly avoiding death while dropping straight down to the ground. but now it seems for the first time since i was sixteen, before i knew love was more than the birds and the bees, that the irony of the aformentioned anecdote merely may point out that my relationship with love is a wee bit tightly wound.

hummin’ bird won’t you just go away. i said, hummin’ bird won’t you just go away.

but earlier this morning i flew over to the neighbors and took a bath. i soaked in the smells and the sounds all around and was surprised when i muffled a laugh. i didn’t know there was so much sugar in this world; i got lost in you and thought you were the only girl. and as i was never good in school, us 2 minus 1 you is more than enough for me, so why don’t i let you do the math.

hummin’ bird just do as you may. i said, hummin’ bird just do as you may. i had enough of you hummin’ all around so please, please, please, please just go away. i said, i had enough of you humm, humm, humm, hummin’ all around so please, please, please, please, please just go away. though i obviously can’t say the same for you as you lied to me about kissing jimmy roberts and then went behind my back and lied to my mom about me cheating on you, i know that i mean what i say.

lips are numb

we’ve been dancing around just a little bit, trying to figure out how we fit, and now it’s getting in the way. rose petals on the mantle folds, under an altar to prove what you know, and now there’s nothing i can think to say, except:

three inches on the bottom just to make you look taller. take just one piece when you know you want all of them. four people telling me how i could have a better life; how i could grow back my hair, how i could buy my wife. how i could make myself a better me, subject myself to your philosophy, but i’d rather just walk away.

there were times when i was meaning to tell you, and i believe there were times i did. there were lies they were trying to sell you, and though i thought you’d look, you just reared your head and bit. told you were only pretty if you were the skinniest one, so you smoked 5 packs a day, but now your lips are numb. the latest issue of your magazine said the season’s color was red, but now that you spent all your money on clothes, you realize it’s not “in” to be in debt. been listening to someone else’s words so long you forget which are your own, would drive away into the sunset but cars come with loans; meaning you could never own, but you can always buy, supplement someone’s pockets while you get your 5-minute high.

and i would judge it all and proclaim ‘the evil one i saw’, the eden that would fall, but i’m riding in the same boat, my eyes are stuck on the same road. the only difference i sense, which incenses me to wince, is that i’m aware i’m slippin and i lost my shoes. that your kindness is just a passive kind of abuse. but, it just blew my fuse, and i flew the coup, after i tried to reach you to share my truth. and, still, you just stay, but that’s okay because i’ll leave alone. i’m not afraid of being on my own, cause i know i can just walk away.

otis (in stereo)

take the old thrift store records off the shelf, and use your wind to turn the record player into somebody else: otis redding from 1963 -- make us laugh, make us love, but please make us believe. because we’ve lost whatever we’re fighting’s respect. so i guess it’s finally time to ‘try a little tenderness’.

aretha, aretha, aretha was her name. she found his ‘respect’, and then she found her fame -- make us laugh, make us love, but please don’t make us forget; as tipsy minds find lost time, and all our wounds are still wet. but, “no hearts are breaking tonight” is our pact. the only other sound is gonna be the clinking of the wine bottle on the wine glass.

michael joseph jackson, oh how time does move. rarely do we see footwork that precise degree of smooth. but, i’m not gonna say ‘i want you back’, because as soon as you find your roots, you find the moment has passed. let’s just let the record player decide; lose ourselves in the music and the world will align.

we still have ‘dreams to remember’ and ‘pains in our heart’, but we’ll ‘shake’ them all away and be the horse and the cart. a music revolution with sound beaming out of our eyes, ordinary people transformed into fountains of light. i’ve got faith this world can change, though i don’t know how. but i do know ‘i’ve been loving you too, too long and i don’t want to stop now’.

the queen of understanding

you’re the queen of understanding for what it’s worth. your dress tears in two so you call it "my brand new skirt". but my clothes are just worn. do you understand that when i tear my shirt, it is just torn? now I can’t wear it anymore. but, that’s okay i didn’t like it much before. i didn’t like it that much before.

the queen of understanding is walking the line. your heart’s not too demanding, but there’s never enough time, when every hour becomes nine. do you understand that my clock’s not worth a dime? but i just might, read the star’s tonight, because they are shining so bright. they are shining so bright.

the queen of understanding doesn’t understand why. though she’s got her heart in front of her eyes. so take just one step away, and, maybe, just maybe, you will find no tears today.

the queen of understanding likes to take it as it comes. flat tires and funeral pyres are just a different kind of fun. but, sometimes my life can appear numb. do you understand that I often feel like i am the only one? but now when raindrops become something to shun, now is when I make my own sun. i make my own sun.

the queen of understanding doesn’t understand why. though she’s got her heart in front of her eyes. so take just one step away and, maybe, just maybe, you will find no tears today.

vain attempts

what’s in the childish grin? what was in your welcoming as you turned your blonde-streaked head? what’s in the potato chips? what was in your evolving hips as i couldn’t wait for a trip beneath your childish blankets?

you said you were impenetrable, you said your life was just too damn full, and now you are only a fool for me. i fashioned myself a prince, unpure thoughts were for all the peasants, and now i slowly become my ignorance instead.

“vain attempts”, you abruptly said as we ate our crusty bread and took in the ugly red of our favorite restaurant. a woman walked by as i turned my head, missed the rest of the words you said and now she sits and is starting to flaunt. and i tell you, “commitment is something new and despite all of the animal desires in the back of my mind, it is true, it is you. you are all i want, in the front”.

what was that flirting under your breath? a fatal whisper of restlessness? why do all these misstep moments now feel like just a test? i said, “i have a happy fear, that i may like it too much here, i can meditate and then have a  beer, and sleep with my ear on your delicate breasts”.

“but someday you may want to leave, and you become years i can never retrieve, and then effectively deceive my love. one look at another girl, two thoughts of a different world, and our life unfurls like the fingers to the glove”.

i say, “i can never be a stone. and even stones don’t have a home, as they are thrown and fly just like the gentle dove. life offers no consistencies, signed declarations or warranties. we can only offer ‘we’ll just wait and sees’. and i do know that you are the road i’m on, and rainstorms and wrecks are never too, too long, and you are all that i, all that i want, in the front”.

some say

you grab your pen and paper trying to capture the world. though, please know i am not trying to lose your favor when i say you’re just a foolish girl. when i say, oh yes i say, when i say you’re just a foolish girl.

i grab my guitar and some inspiration and strum all day till it hurts. some say as a musician i will never even be able to afford a shirt. some say i am just a foolish boy, but i have been called much worse. but i have, oh yes i have, i have been called much worse.

some will try to stop you from accomplishing the dreams of their own hearts. though, please know there was a time when life and play were not considered to be apart. because i can only hear the subtle whisper of a desperate soul, telling you just to grow old. because, then, you can retire and have all the days in the whole world to control your own time. but, please, don’t sacrifice 40 fuckin’ years just to own your own life. just to own, oh just to own, just to own your own life.

so, go ahead and grab your brush and your easel right now and try to capture your mind. work part-time in 9-story office buildings because desperate measures come in desperate times. some will say it’s time to join the real world, but i say you’re doing just fine. but i say, oh yes i say, i say you’re doing just fine.

so i will just grab my guitar and try to play an uplifting tune. all alone by myself, but i have everyone’s hope filling the room.

but, i have everyone’s hope filling the room. but i have, oh yes i have, yes i have everyone’s hope filling the room -- everyone’s hope filling the room. everyone’s hope filling the room.

the sky seemed so red today

the sky seemed so red today, whether it was all the hopes and the fears, or that the sun finally decided to disappear. and i don’t know if the sun will ever find it’s place; jupiter’s cold and busy with other things, as is the rest of space. and i don’t know when i’ll even notice with my eyes always directed down and my heartstrings pulled by a contemptuous colt who has never known the ground. and do you think people will ever change, or will my feet kick your pants and it won’t feel so strange as now, when all of time has let out, and we are all floating away. as when, on my day of reckoning, i find out it was all just a mistake.

trees fell to the ground, a large oak full of birds on the floor or haven’t you heard before, the chirps from the dirt, crying “save me please, the darkness is closing in and the demons will be released from the sky up above to glow with wondrous light”. and so i clamor all day, and find myself exhausted at night as the days come with skies glowing red. and i think it’s the pain in my heart and not the pain in my head that keeps me quiet, within all of my might, when i come to your lonely room and sing my song, when all noise has gone, to become your passionate brew.

and, i say, “we will be inebriated tonight, and rest with our fear; as cowards who find sleep when heaven is near. but, we’ll tell stories of loss and stories of hope as we watch all of our confidence slowly grow out of our ears and into our minds -- to be drunk on our dreams, become the leaders of our time. which is always slowly fading, as all moments do, from the red of the sun to the blue of the moon."

and i’ll be reminded once more that we are all pieces of a puzzle, wondering wild in a whimsical world full of bubbles. trading our time for a life full of poisoned perfume and a stint in the same poignant cartoon -- of colors unreal, and weather unfelt, and never ask why all of our time is for sale. and our words are never sung, and our days merely become coffins only missing the nails, with skin that slowly fails, and a sun that can only shine pale.

the dreamer who didn’t dance

i never had known a superstar from japan. i never had known a debutante from france. i never had known a weeping old woman who would only prance. i never had known the dreamer who didn’t dance. but, you, didn’t stand for the conivings of a lecherous lover’s lie. but, you, didn’t land on the plan of just anyone’s tattered, shattered life.

i never had shown anyone all my concealed scars. i never had shown anyone my weakness for high-heeled bars. i never had shown anyone secrets heavier than the feel of a real steel car. i never had shown anyone my believe of venus in the third house of mars. but, you, didn’t grab my words as readily as you would grab complimentary treats. but, you, didn't let all my anxious thoughts orchestrate their reluctant retreat.

but, you, and me lived happily.

ever even once again

the world below is for all of us who live as angels. lost amidst our friends, absent from all that words can entangle. you saved my life and i saved yours. oh, the bittersweet taste of all the hardships which we can endure.

but, then, you spread your wings and flew like never before. rings of sweat and determined breaths i had never saw. said you were going to befriend the wind and heal all the hearts of men. said you never wanted to see me, not ever even once again. not ever even once again. not ever even once again.

you said you saw the sky above once beckon to you: only follow signs, left when left and right when right and accept whichever results ensue. i looked past your eyes and longed for everything that my faith could not find, because my steps are short, filled with more dreams then i can sort, but with an ember i feel will never shine.

but, then, you spread your wings and flew like never before. rings of sweat and determined breaths i had never saw. said you were going to befriend the wind and heal all the hearts of men. i said, "i’ll be right behind you, one day my beloved your family will find you. and i’ll fly within your wind, and never fall behind, not ever even once again. not ever even once again. not ever even once again".

( il gato )