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The Friends
Thanks to these great musicians, writers and friends who contributed to this record.

Richard Altieri
Richard Altieri
Mark Bluhm
Mark Bluhm
Dave Borucki
Dave Borucki
Jim Butterfield
Jim Butterfield
Billy Capuano
Billy Capuano
John Castrigano
John Castrigano
Dan Cook
Dan Cook
Terry Hartman
Terry Hartman
Laura Hasek
Laura Hasek
Tom Leatherman
Tom Leatherman
David Lowery
Dave Lowery
Bill Rouse
Bill Rouse

With Friends Like These

by Paul Nickels

"An immediate power pop gem"
Chris Noga, The Listen Project
With Friends LIke These CD Cover
Now Available! Stream it everywhere or
click here to buy a CD Copy
*     *     *

“With Friends Like These” is the product of two things: An enduring interest in arranging and recording great original songs, and an immediate need to absorb time in the suspended animation that was The Year of Covid. Both needs were satisfied and result in the record you are holding.

THE FULL STORY: Deeply excited by seeing The Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan show in February 1964 (I was nine), I gravitated straight to Ringo and was in drum lessons a few months later. High school brought opportunities for typical “jam” sessions and rudimentary renderings of the hits of the day with friends. After college, things heated up... My first opportunity to join a (semi) serious band arrived in 1979, when the drummer’s chair opened in a now legendary Cleveland psychedelic pop band called The Backdoor Men.

While the band covered some obscure non-originals from the likes of the Velvet Underground and older acts such as Del Shannon, its forte was that it included two extraordinarily productive and talented songwriters in Terry Hartman and Dan Cook. These two childhood best friends from Fairview Park, Ohio had very different writing styles, but both were animated by a rich knowledge of pop, country blues, and folk music. Both were also influenced heavily by the twin pillars of Bob Dylan and the British Invasion. Doesn’t get much better than that for songwriters-in-training…

During the band’s decade-long run, mostly under the BDM moniker but occasionally disguised by other names to fool suspicious club owners, Hartman and Cook wrote more than 100 originals. The two couldn’t STOP writing – in fact, they became a go-to source for other Cleveland punk and new wave bands who simply didn’t share the writing gene. Thus developed my keen interest in playing music that hadn’t been heard before. Every rehearsal was like Christmas day… What would they bring next?

All good things must pass, and The Backdoor Men did not see the end of the 1980s. But the lads reunited in the early years of the 21st century to record the delightfully titled punk masterpiece “Mohawk Combover” as a final act (and another bounty of songs). Today Cook lives in Portland, Oregon and continues to write and play, while Hartman, after a terrific internationally successful run with The Deadbeat Poets, is in retirement in Akron, Ohio. My own path had led to a strong interest in the recording process – which began to burn brightly after the experience of recording “Mohawk Combover.” Thus, the founding of Handsome Studios.

After a break to raise a family, my own musical career continued with bands like Inner Ring Conspiracy, The Clifton Beat, and The Old Brown Shoe Revue, giving me the opportunity to work with other writers, as did production duties in the studio for a number of other very talented original artists. In addition to Hartman and Cook, who both came through in stellar fashion, the disc includes tunes I co-wrote with my long-time rhythm section cohort and friend Mark Bluhm, as well as contributions from Richard Altieri, David Borucki (A.K.A. Dave Blaze), Jim Butterfield, John Castrigano, and Bill Rouse. I am grateful to all of them for contributing their magic – and make no mistake, I consider songwriting to be a magical endeavor.

Special thanks go to Jim Butterfield and Mark Bluhm, who were particularly helpful and provided constant support and honest feedback, and to Billy Capuano, who, for no other reason than his love of music, made very important musical contributions to this project. I am also extremely thankful to all of the musicians who contributed their chops, both in the studio and, due to the Covid circumstances, remotely, and to my dear wife Colleen for enduring the noise (and the louts who make it) that accompanies the dream. And finally, love and thanks to Terry Hartman and Dan Cook, who gave me the shot at the drummer’s chair more than 40 years ago… I’m glad I passed the audition.

The album is dedicated to the memory of Karl “Casey” Meers, the original and classic drummer for The Backdoor Men. Still using that ride cymbal, Casey. Rest in peace.

Paul Nickels, June 2021

The Songs

Time To Play (P. Nickels, M. Bluhm)
Literary Tradition
(T. Hartman)
Everything Will Be OK (R. Altieri)
Gnadenhutten
(T. Hartman)

Falling and Rolling (J. Castrigano)
I Don’t Mind
(B. Rouse)

Girls Girls Girls (T. Hartman)
Don’t Hang Up (T. Hartman)
I Wanna Be A Cowboy (J. Butterfield
Inner Peace (D. Cook)
Our Dog Days (P. Nickels, M. Bluhm)
Are You There (D. Cook)
Jen Jenny (D. Cook)
Pavlov’s Cat (T. Hartman)

Schoolgirl Tomboy (B. Rouse)
Shit Outta Luck (D. Cook)
New Crazy Now (B. Rouse)
Change on Me and You (P. Nickels, M. Bluhm)
Well of Rage (P. Nickels, D. Cook)
Cry If You Want To (D. Borucki)

The Credits

Produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Paul Nickels for Handsome Productions. Recorded at Handsome Studios in Bay Village, Ohio. Additional recording by Trina Emig at Boopie Recording, Cincinnati, Ohio and by Billy Capuano in the spare bedroom of his home in Twinsburg, Ohio.

All contents ©2021 by Handsome Productions. Published by Mab Zab Music/BMI with the exception of those written by Terry Hartman, published by Talking Dog/BMI. All Rights Reserved.

Lyrics at the bottom of this page. Address correspondence to paul @ handsomeproductions.com.

The Players

Paul Nickels:
D
rums and percussion, electric and acoustic 6- and 12-string guitars, occasional bass guitar, lead and harmony vocals
Richard Altieri            
Electric and acoustic guitars, lead vocals
Mark Bluhm:
             
Bass guitar, lead and harmony vocals
David Borucki:           
Electric and acoustic guitars, lead vocal
Jim Butterfield:
        
Acoustic and electric guitars, harmony vocals
Billy Capuano:           
Acoustic and electric guitars
John Castrigano:       
Acoustic guitar, lead vocals
Paul Castrigano:        
Electric and acoustic guitars, synthesizer
Dan Cook:                  
Electric guitar, piano, lead vocals
Terry Hartman:         
Acoustic guitar, lead vocals
Laura Hasek:
              
Violin and harmony vocals
Geoffrey Kelleher:     
Acoustic guitar
Tom Leatherman:     
Piano and organ
David Lowery:
Lead Vocals
Bill Rouse:
                 
Electric guitars, lead and harmony vocals


The Lyrics

Time to Play (P. Nickels, M. Bluhm)

Hey

Come on over today

Kick your shoes off, stay

We got time to play

 Now the amps are warm and ready

To unleash that joyful noise

The back beat’s strong and steady

It’s time for playin’ with our toys

 

Bring forth that wondrous sound

Awash in chime and jangle

The rhythm’s puttin’ it down now

Jumpin’ out from every angle

 

All our friends are here to party

We have the whole place to ourselves


Got some brand new tunes to work on


And some oldies off the shelf

 

Day is here, time is right


Jam our tunes, scale the heights


Beer is cold, we’re feeling bold


Gonna rock this house tonight

 

Hey

Come on over today

Kick your shoes off, stay

We got time to play

 

A sound, a riff so sublime

Guitar strings, ringing drones

Every note in its own time

Searching for the perfect tones

 

Hey

Come on over today

Kick your shoes off, stay

We got time to play

 

While we may not find the lost chord

Won’t be no record sales to shatter

Having time to play is its own reward

Nothing else really matters

 

Drivin’ home a simple hook

Thrill just won’t go away

Band begins to really cook

Finally found time to play

 

Hey

Come on over today

Kick your shoes off, stay

We got time to play!

Literary Tradition (Terry Hartman)

 Livin’ and dyin’ in the literary tradition

Change the human condition to a state of grace

 

Writing like Thomas Wolfe, in a room with a candle

Like a Symbolist Vandal,

A hero with a common face

 

And it’s overdone

And it’s outta date

And it’s just my style

And I’m not gonna break

The literary tradition

 

Save me a table at Les Deux Magots

I’m feelin’ existential

Makin’ sure my essential

Doesn’t get outta line

 

Take me to the foggy foggy streets of London

Or a Mexican bullfight

I’m looking for insight

Into life and times

 

And it’s overdone

And it’s outta date

And it’s just my style

And I’m not gonna break

The literary tradition

 

When my mother wakes me up for toast and tea, you know I swear

II walk the dog, wash the car, and lapse into a deep despair

I call my girl, but she just don’t care

I’ll trade it all for a dream of Baudelaire

 

Livin’ and dyin’ in the literary tradition

Change the human condition to a state of grace

 

And it’s overdone

And it’s outta date

And it’s just my style

And I’m not gonna break

The literary tradition

Everything Will Be OK (R. Altieri)

 Well I dropped you off that day

And I should have made you stay

I was lost inside my head

Cuz I guess I learned that day

 

That you can love and lose

Everything you wanted anyway

And they say that time heals wounds

But I’ve been waiting and this just won’t fade away

 

Well swiftly after that I fell quickly into black

Where moments last for days and days don’t seem to last

And every morning I wake up and I think about where you slept

And every night I lie awake and I think about where you’ve gone to bed

 

Cause when everything you knew well it’s pulled away you lose

And when what you thought was fact, well it’s stolen back you lose

 

Well now hat time has passed I see more clearly looking back

And what I thought would go so long I now know couldn’t last

Everything will be ok, don’t look back at what you loved with hate

Just wish them beter days and feel lucky that you felt love anyway

 

Cause how selfish would I be if I didn’t think of you just what it did to me

And ending things is tough but it takes two to love so set them free

Gnadenhutten (T. Hartman)

 Well I’m just a poor boy from Sugar Creek

I always look before I leap

But late one night by the old canal

I met up with an Amish gal

She showed me some of her country craft

Down by the locks on the old tow path

 

Well before long I was feeling ill

I ran from Strasburg to Ulrichsville

I finally found a quack in a joint downtown

He said son you’re heart’s beatin’ like a rubber ball

Bouncing up against an outhouse wall

Hey hey, hey hey, hey hey

 

Gnadenhutten, Gnadenhutten

Well my face is cold and my feet are hot

Gnadenhutten is what got

 

Gnadenhutten Gnadenhutten

Well my face is covered in purple spots

There’s a rash that’s spreadin’ out from my crotch

My stomach’s tied up in double knots

Gnadenhutten’s what I got

Hey hey, hey hey, hey hey

 

Well my head was hurtin’ cause  my beard’s too tight

Stayed up talkin’ to my mule all night

Put down my chores and took off my clothes

Down where the mighty Tuscy rolls

Took a New Philly doctor to diagnose

He said son looks like you got a dose

 

Gnadenhutten, Gnadenhutten

Well my face is cold and my feet are hot

Gnadenhutten is what I got

 

Gnadenhutten Gnadenhutten

Well my nerves are shot and my body’s sore

Got sweat that’s pouring out of every pore

My mind is filled with social rot

Gnadenhutten is what I got

Hey hey, hey hey, hey hey

Falling and Rolling (J. Castrigano)

 I was young and you were old

We grew tired of the cold

And in the night we speak in dreams

In the night we talk in dreams

 

And I don’t know where you go

Oh after the show

And I don’t know what to say

 

I only know that I’m fallin’ and rollin’

If you’re with me you then you’re fallin’ and rollin’

The world can come crashing and we go rollin’

Don’t need to know where you come from darlin’

 

And we go swimming out at sea

Find the ocean oh so deep

But you tell me you’ll take me higher

I wish you would take me higher

 

And I don’t know where you go

Oh after the show

And I don’t know what to say

 

I only know that I’m fallin’ and rollin’

If you’re with me you then you’re fallin’ and rollin’

The world can come crashing and we go runnin’

Don’t need to know where you come from darlin’

 

In the morning

We go running

In the morning love..,.

I still don’t know what to say

I only know that I’m fallin’ and rollin’

If you’re with me you then you’re fallin’ and rollin’

The world can come crashing and we go runnin’

Don’t need to know where you come from darlin’

I Don’t Mind (B. Rouse)

I don’t mind, whenever we just hang out

I don’t mind talking and sharing the things that we laugh about

I don’t mind her crying about her day

Life gets better when we’re together, to me there’s no better way

She don’t mind, when life is a bumpy ride

Lean on each other to weather the bother, come out the other side

I don’t mind, the times she looks away

Patience and waiting, never abating, she’s got a special way

 

I don’t mind thinking ‘bout it, she’s thinking ‘bout it for me

I don’t mind dreaming on it, believing what’s meant to be

 

She don’t mind, leaving me to myself

Take some perspective, thoughts are collected, aiding some mental health

I don’t mind, how she makes time for me

Not sure I deserve all that she serves, never begrudgingly

 

I don’t mind thinking ‘bout it, she’s thinking ‘bout it for me

I don’t mind dreaming on it, believing what’s meant to be

I don’t mind, the heartache we live without

A bit of contrition to fix the condition, rendered without a shout

I don’t mind, how she’s always on my mind

Forever together, nothing is better, a love of a certain kind

 

I don’t mind thinking ‘bout it, she’s thinking ‘bout it for me

I don’t mind dreaming on it, believing what’s meant to be

 

I don’t mind

No I don’t mind

I don’t mind

 

Girls Girls Girls (T. Hartman)

 My friends all laugh

They say my mind is fadin’ fast

But it ain’t what I drink

That makes my mind too numb to think

 

Nah nah nah nah (nah nah nah nah)

Nah nah nah hah (hah hah hah nah)

Well I live (he lives) and I breathe (he breathes)

In the air (the air) between (between)

A pair (a pair) of thighs (of thighs)

Lord don’t you hear my anguished cries

 

Girls, they’re always on my mind

Girls, think about ‘em all the time

Girls, they just won’t let me be

Girls girls girls’ll be the death of me

 

My life has changed

In oh so many ways

A kiss, a flirt

From a long-haired girl in a miniskirt

 

Nah nah nah nah (nah nah nah nah)

Nah nah nah hah (hah hah hah nah)

 

Well I live (he lives) and I breathe (he breathes)

In the air (the air) between (between)

A pair (a pair) of thighs (of thighs)

Lord don’t you hear my anguished cries

 

I make a date

When her husband’s working late

But the joke’s on me

And it’s out the window in my BVD’s

 

Nah nah nah nah (nah nah nah nah)

Nah nah nah hah (hah hah hah nah)Well I live (he lives) and I breathe (he breathes)

In the air (the air) between (between)

A pair (a pair) of thighs (of thighs)

Lord don’t you hear my anguished cries

Don’t Hang Up (T. Hartman)

 I left my home down on the rural route

Gonna leave my pappy’s farm

I’m going west to work it out

I’m gonna take along my big guitar

 

Tell old Bessie to hold her milk

Don’t go kickin’ down daddy’s stall

When I call you from the promised land, understand

 

And baby don’t hang up don’t hang up don’t hang up

Don’t hand up, don’t hang up, don’t hang up

 

Tell all my buddies at the FFA

Don’t look for me at the county fair

I’m gonna chase those hens away

I’m lettin’ loose that old grey mare

 

Tell all my buddies at the Grange

I know they’re laughing at my big guitar

They all think that I am strange

Please give me some change

 

And baby don’t hang up don’t hang up don’t hang up

Don’t hand up, don’t hang up, don’t hang up

I Wanna Be A Cowboy (J. Butterfield)

 I wanna be a cowboy out on the prairie

I wanna be a cowboy back home on the range, okay

Wanna be a real big man, punch some dogies I know I can

I wanna be a cowboy before I die

 

I’m gonna be a cowboy if I’m able

I wanna be a cowboy if I only can oh my

I’ll buy some spurs and a nice pair of boots

A ten gallon hat and a cowboy suit

Because I’m gonna be a cowboy if I’m able

 

I know that I can make it, I’m sure I can

Just like in all the movies

All ya gotta do is ride a horse and act like a man

 

I wanna be a man just like Roy Rogers

I wanna have a horse that I can call my own

I’ll get a gun and I’ll learn to shoot

Wear a sheriff’s badge on my cowboy suit

Cuz I’m gonna be a cowboy if it kills me

 

I’m gonna be a cowboy if I’m able

I’m gonna be a cowboy if I only can oh yeah

And if I can’t make it out west I’ll move to Australia cuz I heard it’s the best

I wanna be a cowboy if I’m able

I wanna be a cowboy before I die

I wanna be a cowboy oh me oh my

Round ‘em up

Inner Peace (D. Cook)

 Well I was sittin’ in the lotus position

I didn’t think it was no imposition

Just then a big cop come along dragged me to my feet

He said you’re sittin’ in the middle of the street

 

What’s this shit about inner peace

You tell me my abundance is gonna increase

And you said one day I shall be released

Can you please tell me when?

 

Well I was meditatin’ tryin’ to save my soul

But I just kept thinkin’ ‘bout that old jelly roll

I know someday I’m gonna transcend it all

But will I ever get the call

 

What’s this shit about inner peace

You say one day I shall be released

And you tell me my abundance is gonna increase

Can you please tell me when?

 

Yeah I was astral projecting outside of my body

I felt nice and warm just like a rum hot toddy

Just then that crazy landlord come knockin’ on my bell

You know I run like hell

What’s this shit about inner peace?

Our Dog Days (P Nickels, M. Bluhm)

 I remember when our dog days were on

Played around and then, always having fun

Run the night again laughing with the sun

I remember when we had just begun

 

Run forever free under the stars above

Run forever free safe within our love

Rarely given fine, a love of the keepin’ kind

 

I remember when love did here abide

As the day begins switching into glide

Turned around and then taking one last ride

I remember when you were by my side

 

I remember when you were sleek and fine

Honestly say it again after all this time

Only be given a love of the keepin’ kind

I remember when I could call you mine

 

Are You There (D. Cook)

You can walk down the street in any big city’

You can stroll down a dusty country road

You can walk down a track in a forest dark and silent

But you can’t walk away from your soul

 

You can look to the sky, straight up through the clouds

Beyond the moon and stars if you look hard enough

But if there’s nothing behind those eyes that are seeing

Then you ain’t seein’ nothin’ at all

 

Are you there are you there, are you in there somewhere

Are you anywhere, are you anywhere at all

Are you in there, my brother, behind that stoic stare

Just give me a sign, that’s all

 

You can look in the eyes of a child so innocent

Those eyes so trusting, looking back at you

They’re looking to see if there’s someone there who cares

What’s the child seeing in you?

 

You can still spread your wings, take flight, soar above

Your troubles, your sorrows, far above your woes

So spread your wings like when we were children

And we flew beyond the garden wall

Jen Jenny (D. Cook)

 Jen Jen, Jennifer Jenny

You’re the sweetest girl of any

Any girl I think I’ve ever known

 

Jen Jen Jennifer Jenny

I’m a-savin’ every penny

Buy you a diamond ring you can call your own

 

When I see you walkin’ down the street

My poor heart skips a beat

Lace and leather mixed up together

Trippin’ along just as light as a feather

 

Susanne Sue Sue Suzy

Yu make my head so woozy

You’re the sweetest girl I’ve ever known

 

Katherine, Kitty Kate Katie

You’re one super fine lady

You’re the sweetest girl I’ve ever known

 

When I see you in the coffee shop

My heart goes flip flop

Chewin’ on a bagel, form like a table

Couldn’t look finer in silk and sable now

 

Barbara Barbara Barbara Ann Babsy

Your just so fantabulous fabsy

You’re the sweetest girl I’ve ever known

 

Pepper pepper  pepper peppermint Patty

Well I just want to be your daddy

You’re the sweetest girl I’ve ever known

 

When I see you on that move set

Smokin’ that cigarette

Bardot and Monroe better pack up and go

Caue you’re about to steel their show

 

Jen Jenny Jennifer Jenny

You’re the sweetest girl of any

Any girl I think I’ve ever known, yes you are

Of any girl I think I’ve ever known

 

Pavlov’s Cat (T. Hartman)

 Pavlov's cat is watching as the master rings the bell

And Pavlov's dog is waiting there to eat

At times it seems that he's the only one who's eating well

But the workers have a riot in the street.

 

Pavlov's cat, Pavlov's cat

Knows Vladimir Lenin's got a cure for that

 So he riles up the proletariat

And everybody is waiting to be fed

The bells of revolution in their heads

 

Along comes Uncle Joe and then, everything gets weird

Comrade Leon heads to Mexico

They're starving in the Ukraine, beating plowshares into swords

As the Red Army marches off to war

 

Pavlov's cat, Pavlov's cat

Sees revolutionaries become bureaucrats

And party apparatchiks do the saber dance

Everybody is waiting to be fed

Bells of victory ringing In their heads

 

Next, here comes Nikita and the Cold War it begins

He pounds his shoe- the next thing that you know

There's missiles down in Cuba and a wall around Berlin

And the whole world is going toe-to-toe

 

One more tractor rolling off the Party line

Sputnik signals everything is doing fine

One more megaton and we'll no longer be behind...

 

Pavlov's cat he watches as the dinner bell is rung

And Pavlov's dog is waiting to be fed.

Though he waits and salivates, this time no supper comes

And Pavlov's cat he finally understands...

 

You can wait to be fed or

Go out and ring a bell.

Pavlov's cat

Schoolgirl Tomboy (B. Rouse)

 She carves a form, renders me weak in the knees

Sinewy strong, witness la femme Hercules

Oddly erotic, or ultimate haute couture

Say what you want, she’s in a shape to allure

 

Baritone beauty with eyes that shine

Ruthlessly squelches my air supply

Six pack seductress, I can’t get you out of my mind…

 

She’s my schoolgirl tomboy

Beauty and grace in oh such a strong way, and oh boy

She’s all that I want, but not what I’m ‘sposed to need]

 

She walks about, knowing just where she should be

Her gaze is so high, no chance to recognize me

Muster the nerve, I got to tell her how I feel

Perish the thought, her backhand might cause me to reel

 

I should just walk up before she goes

Wiggle my eyebrows and say hello

But I’m a mere mortal, there’s no place for me in her world

 

For my schoolgirl tomboy

Beauty and grace but she’ll mess you up boy, and oh boy

She’s all that I want, but not what I’m ‘sposed to need

 

She’s like no other that I’ve ever seen

One way or another… She’ll make you plead

 

Shock beyond awe, she says hello to me

She takes my hand, she crushes it femininely

I tell her my name, she shouts to me hey there boy

Slap on my back, I cough and tear up with joy

 

Could it be love, or just bro-mance

Neither is OK if that’s her stance

But I can’t stop thinking that she could be perfect for me

 

She’s my school girl tomboy

Linebacker chic, mais je ne sais quoi boy, and oh boy

She’s all that I want, but not what I’m ‘sposed to need

She’s my schoolgirl tomboy

 

Shit Outta Luck (D.Cook)

I’m way behind on union dues

Dogs are losing, ponies too

Boss is yelling for my head

Wife just wants to see me dead

 

I’m shit out of luck again

I’m shit out of luck again

 

Pissing blood puking bile

Teenage kids running wild

Truck broke down beyond repair

Got no luck no hide no hair

 

I’m shit out of luck again

I’m shit out of luck again

 

I’m poppin’ pills, back is aching

Gotta go out and bring home the bacon

Late at night I lie awake

How much more can one man take

 

I’m shit out of luck again

I’m shit out of luck again

New Crazy Now (B. Rouse)

Afford me a pleasant talk, I’ll wear your eardrums down

It’s over fifteen years since she was buried six feet down

I miss her more than words, oh please, can’t you stick around?

 

Bus ride to the grocery store to see what’s going on

Bags of peanuts now on sale, I’ll pick up two for one

Maybe cruise the produce aisle to see who’s having fun

 

Wish I had someone to talk to, miss you and how

Searching for an open ear, a lifeboat for sound

You may think I’m crazy, there’s plenty going ‘round

Just remember, loneliness is the new crazy now

 

People come and people go, with people all around

Deaf to others’ beating drums, we seldom hear their call

Locked inside their inner rings, inside our sheltered walls

 

Wish I had someone to talk to, miss you and how

Searching for an open ear, a lifeboat for sound

You may think I’m crazy, there’s plenty going ‘round

Just remember, loneliness is the new crazy now

 

Life’s been good, there is no doubt, family friends and all

But we do our own thing, islands we become

The cycle keeps on going, the echo’s lonely sound

 

Wish I had someone to talk to, miss you and how

Searching for an open ear, a lifeboat for sound

Well I can babble all night long, with no one else around

Just remember, loneliness is the new crazy now

 

Just remember, loneliness is the new crazy now

Change On Me And You (P. Nickels, M. Bluhm)

How does it feel as the sun sets in the evening

End of the day, you’re feeling kinda blue

Some how you know fate will overtake you

Can it be true your marker’s almost due

 

So many ways the change is upon you

Lying in bed, waiting for sleep to come

Tensions of the day, imprinted, hard wired

Jumble of emotions leaves you feeling numb

 

Change on me, change on you

In the way we think in the way we move

In an eye’s blink, all the way through

Change on me and you

 

Even with roots, the wild moon still calls you

What was long ago, seems like yesterday

How do you feel when she slips her arms around you

For every choice we make there’s a price to pay

 

Playing your hand, smiling and lying

A turn of the cards you can never win

You just gotta laugh or you end up crying

Time rules the world that’s the way it’s always been

 

Change on me, change on you

In the way we think in the way we move

In an eye’s blink, all the way through

Change on me and you

Well of Rage (P. Nickels, D. Cook)

 Spinnin’ round, fallin’ down

Hit the ground, hear the sound

Of my head splittin’ open

See the blood flowin’

All the time knowin’

You’ll soon be goin’

And nothin’ left showin’

 

Tryin’ to get a grip

But my hands they just slip

And I fall down flat, flat on my back

Can’t you see I’m not free?

Of the lies you sold me?

Now my only hope’s at the end of a rope

 

Day by day

Night by night

Tryin’ to make it through

Before I lose the fight

 

All alone on my own

I just wanna go home

But there’s no home there

Nobody to care

You knocked down the walls

When you made me crawl

Just like you had to do

When they did it to you

 

But my innocent blood

That poured out in a flood

Won’t even the score

I’m just one victim more

You coulda said “wait”

But you fed off your hate

And you took us all down

When you spread it around

 

Day by day

Night by night

Tryin’ to make it through

Before I lose the fight

Cry if You Want To (D. Borucki)

 You don’t get a second chance

You ain’t got the time

Yesterday’s a memory in your mind

 

Your big mistake was when you tried

To climb the highest wall

No one’s there to catch you when you fall

So you just cry if you want to tonight it's all right

Cry if you want to it’s all right

 

You can’t lose, you lost it all

All your friends left town

No one’s there to kick you while you’re down

 

And now you see you’re all alone

Nobody there but you

Funny kind of feeling when you’re through

 

So you just cry if you want to tonight it’s all right

Cry if you want to it’s tonight it’s all right

 

It’s all right

It’s all right

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