1. |
Big Stupid Grin
02:37
|
|||
|
The politician banks on his fake smile
The advertisers know how grins beguile
They’re coming now, for money and for votes
I smile along so I won’t rock their boats
My big stupid grin
Does me in again
I hear the salesman knocking on my door
I tell him I don’t live here anymore
He says to me while winking knowingly
That’s alright sir - you can still buy from me
My big stupid grin
Does me in again
Surrounded by a game of confidence
That everybody plays at my expense
I meekly smile and wish it wasn’t so
What do you do when you just can’t say no?
My big stupid grin
Does me in again
And stupidly I take a fool’s advice
And stupidly I pay more than the price
And stupidly I am in love with you
The smartest thing that I could ever do
My big stupid grin
Saves my skin again
My big stupid grin
Does me in again
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
2. |
Cocoon
03:55
|
|||
|
Remember the times when time stood still
Sunlight cascading through our windowsill
How could I then envision my regret?
In my eyes, a future clear -
Just you & I without a tear -
If only I could find a way to forget
CHORUS:
Darkness calling, hear me calling
Can’t escape the way I feel
Nighttime creeping and I won’t be sleeping
Weeping for a love I thought was real
I could stare at the ceiling for 100 years
Hide in a world where you never appear
Huddled safe in my cocoon
The whistling wind blowing through the attic
Is the cry of a soul when love goes static,
Frozen just as it begins to bloom
CHORUS
Reach straight down into my marrow
Find every cell pierced with an arrow
You were such a perfect shot
I still can’t quite believe how rotten
The apple of my eye has gotten
Am I the man that love forgot?
CHORUS
Remember the times when time stood still
Sunlight cascading through our windowsill
Won’t somebody help me to forget?
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
3. |
The Net
04:16
|
|||
|
The sky is fading, the memory ages
The flesh is folding, the moments crawl
And we are wading through these stages
And we are holding nothing at all
CHORUS:
Watch the water turning black
Feel the tightrope going slack
You were the one who threw away the net
The sky is smoking, the fumes revealing
The ground below me, just out of reach
My thoughts provoking me through the ceiling…
CHORUS
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
4. |
Boop Wendt's Place
04:10
|
|||
|
Camouflage trucks gathering rocks
Maybe to throw at each other
Maybe to throw at nobody
Somewhere here on Highway 55
And it reminds me of the times
Gathering rocks in summer
Picking them up for nickels
Somewhere south of Belleville about 5 miles
CHORUS:
The Texas winds keep rolling
Like the sun spins out in space
Like them old lawnmowers
Up at Boop Wendt’s place
Ol’ Wilbert’s clan, they made their stand
In the mid 1800’s
All the way from Munich
Or somewhere like that there in Germany
Boop he was called before he went bald
And he collected his mowers
He’s got one from 1910
Somewhere in that barn of harmony
REPEAT CHORUS
One day, ol’ Boop gave me the scoop
On how to kill a turtle:
‘Yer not supposed to shoot it
You let it hang til its neck don’t move at all
Then, with yer mitts, you cut it to bits
You fry ‘em up in a skillet
Let ‘em simmer about an hour
Boy, that’ll make you run through a brick wall”
REPEAT CHORUS
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
5. |
How It Really Was
03:05
|
|||
|
He’s boring
He’s boring a hole in you
You’re snoring
Ignoring his point of view
You’re leaving
You’re leaving his world behind
He’s grieving
Believing you’re just unkind
CHORUS:
When he wakes up, will he remember how it really was before?
You met him
You met him and all was right
Forget him
And let him alone tonight
He trusted
He trusted you, don’t you see?
He’s busted
You just said “get over me”
CHORUS 2:
When you wake up, will you remember how it really was before?
Do you know?
Do you know the harm you’ve done?
You’re Juneau,
But you’ve no heat in your midnight sun
He’s taken
He’s taken up solitaire
Awaken
You’re making his life nowhere
CHORUS 3:
When he wakes up, will he remember how it really was before?
When you wake up, will you remember how it really was before?
When you both wake up, will you remember how it really was before?
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
6. |
Undone
03:29
|
|||
|
I want to be specific
Instead of so unclear
Our ocean’s not pacific
Our galleon won’t steer
You tell me to be quiet
Or I’ll regret it, but
You can’t always deny it
So keep your own mouth shut
‘Cause I know where it’s all coming from
I can tell that it’s all gonna come undone
Undone
You murder conversation
Each time I try to talk
You can’t hide your temptation
To outline me in chalk
You’ve stifled me for too long
This time I will be brave
And I will sing a new song
And throw you in my grave
Darling, just when you thought you had won,
Your control over me has become undone
Undone
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
7. |
Stay Away From Me
05:19
|
|||
|
As harmless as a viper
As feeble as the grave
As clean as morning’s diaper
As cloudless as a cave
CHORUS
Stay away from me before it’s too late for you to see
Stay away from me before it’s too late for you to see
As tranquil as Old Bedlam
As weightless as the deep
As peaceful as delirium
I never get to sleep
CHORUS
As mutable as granite
As shallow as a well
As sure as love, I planned it
As sure as life, you fell
CHORUS
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
8. |
Not Having You Around
01:50
|
|||
|
Well it sure was nice not having you around today
It made it so much easier to breathe and pass the time away
I didn’t have to think about
The words I couldn’t say
It sure was nice not having you around today
It feels so good to set myself free from you
I cut that rope and fell down from the tree you drew
My neck still shows some bruises, but
My heart’s not black and blue
It feels so good to set myself free from you
No more restrictions, no more pain
Wash that guilt out of my brain
Take the reins and jump th efence
Masochism makes no sense
It sure was nice not having you around today
Your shrill small voice replaced by silence keeps the pain at bay
I know that you’ll return, and
I won’t stand in your way
But it sure was nice not having you around today
It sure was nice not having you around today
It sure was nice not having you around
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
9. |
Meaningless
05:38
|
|||
|
It’s a race without a course
It’s a will without a force
Like the dew before the dawn
Can’t we just keep hanging on and on and on?
CHORUS
Let me hide inside my shell
Leave me to my private cell
Let me shrink to nothingness
I just want to be meaningless
Strip me down from flesh to bone
Tear away til it’s all undone
Rid me of this artifice
Leave me only the truth in all of this
CHORUS
Trembling here, my soul will wait
Free of all the fear and the hate
Longing only for a touch
I’ve kept this all inside too much
CHORUS
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
10. |
On The Other Side
03:09
|
|||
|
You memorize the story - book, chapter, and verse
I guess you oughta know by now that it pays to rehearse
You greet the television
You eat the indecision
And you make sure it makes it worse
CHORUS
Time will heal the bruises and abuses of the past
You will see, you will break free and ride
On the other side
You try to burn the candle at both bitter ends
You’d rather carry this blue cross than seek out better friends
You think it’s not up to you
But I can see right through you
You’d thank the blade as it descends
REPEAT CHORUS
You toss aside your pride at the blink of a hat
You’re driving yourself up a tree like a fireman’s cat
You sit there on the loveseat
You say you’re just a deadbeat
But we both know better than that
REPEAT CHORUS
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
11. |
Balm In Gilead
05:20
|
|||
|
Staring blankly through empty space
like a frightened child
Broken memories won’t be erased,
nor the heart reconciled
It’s a brutally sad attempt
at reclaiming my fate
Full of bitterness and contempt,
I’m indignant too late
CHORUS
And it’s all just another try
To take it back again and hope to find
A kind of reason why
All I ask for is peace of mind,
a place to rest my head
But I don’t know if I’ll ever find
a balm in Gilead
When I find light, I snuff it out
by running up too fast
So I’m haunted by this nagging doubt;
I can’t outrun the past
REPEAT CHORUS
Re-establishing confidence
seems a meaningless quest
When you view life as pestilence
and an eternal test
I could find it here on this road,
or it might be the next,
But there has to be a place where my load
can finally be laid to rest
REPEAT CHORUS
A place to rest my head / A balm in Gilead
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
12. |
Christian Radio
02:37
|
|||
|
Christian radio, it’s so unrealistic
It leaves a taste in my mouth like an uncooked biscuit
Christian radio always comes off so glossy
And these processed prophets always sound so bossy
And I’m sure deep down they’d never ever hurt a flea
So why on earth should it bother me?
Christian radio, they’ve always got a quick solution
With thoughts as deep as the bumper-sticker paper they’re written on
And I’m sure deep down they’d never ever hurt a flea
But it’s a giant plastic holiness factory
Christian radio, the music’s got no feel
And it’s only fitting, because they don’t make God sound real
Do you ever have doubt, do you ever have fear?
Well, sorry -- there’s no place for you here:
this is Christian radio!
You gave ‘em 66 books to work with
You’d think they could do better than that
All show, no story, no pain, all glory
You didn’t live a life like that
Christian radio, you’d think they never left the churchyard
But every day isn’t Sunday, and the other 6 make faith really hard
And I’m sure deep down there’s a soul behind the soulless strumming
But will the DJs notice in time for the second coming?
Jesus is a whole lot cooler than Christian radio
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
13. |
Under The Overpass
04:38
|
|||
|
VERSE 1
Across the map I turn a chapter in my heart
The page, so brown, leaves me dumbfounded at the start
A time of peace and grand release may never come
I know, but then I need someone
CHORUS 1
But it’s all too late, untie the hands of fate, my love
The pavement’s broken glass under the overpass, my love
VERSE 2
A futile show of faith, I know, but that’s OK
I must believe that I can give and receive myself back anyway
The breeze so bold it cuts with cold through flesh & bone
And all I see is you & me when I’m alone
REPEAT CHORUS 1
VERSE 3
The river runs, and still the sun will rise & set -
A soothing thought - and I am not forsaken yet
Too many times I draw the lines that hinder me
But now and then I smile within our memory
CHORUS 2
Is it still too late? Untie the hands of fate, my love,
We could be free at last under the over….
We could be free at last, my love
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
14. |
High Wire
03:45
|
|||
|
You smash the hand that needs you, you quench the burning wick
You never do the right thing, you always do the trick
CHORUS:
You keep on piling branches onto the fire
Your toehold’s slipping quickly up on the high wire
You’re passionate and perfect, that’s what I’m always told
But when you look in the mirror, you feel like you’ve been sold
REPEAT CHORUS
They made you into something you didn’t wanna be
A goddess they could worship and blame for their misery
REPEAT CHORUS
BRIDGE
There at your vanity table
Thinking that love’s just a fable
You’re getting sick of your label
But no one’ll ever be able to tell
You leave a trail of bodies, and they’ve left their scars on you
But part of you is screaming for a new debut
REPEAT CHORUS
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
15. |
||||
|
I first saw you, a vision all in peach
I figured you were probably out of reach
‘Cause back then you were someone else’s dream
I didn’t see the looseness of the seams
Cut to 2 months later in the woods
We talked & laughed like old friends wish they could
My ears turned red to see you even then
But I held back, I thought it was a sin
CHORUS 1
From the start
You reminded me that I still have a heart
But it wasn’t really mine anymore
Your letters helped me through that bitter year
When you & he broke up, I shed no tears
And I had ghosts to deal with of my own
I thought you probably needed time alone
When you said that you’d give me a chance
I felt like I could buy you half of France
We wandered through the shadows and the fog
We played with puppies, and we swam through bogs
CHORUS 2
From the start
You’ve reminded me that I still have a heart
But it’s not really mine anymore
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
16. |
World Of Love
02:49
|
|||
|
We live in a coded world
On this neutral kind of day
You’re a technicolor girl
And I’m feeling kind of gray
We live in a stretched-out world
And it never splits in two
But it slowly comes unfurled
When I’m curled up without you
Just when we seem most apart,
I find your heart
Within a world of love
We live in a yardstick world
Of eleven hundred miles
But the clock is flying, girl,
Toward the days of tea and smiles
We live in a cryptic world
Of a zillion hidden signs
Oh my technicolor girl
You’re the only truth I find
Just when I’m about to crack
You bring me back
into your world of love
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
17. |
Raquel
01:19
|
|||
|
I once knew a girl
Who was not a southern belle
Oh my darling Raquel
She wore pantyhose
That looked like they came from hell
Oh my darling Raquel
Raquel, Raquel
Raquel, Raquel
Raquel, Raquel
Raquelllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
I once knew a girl
And she was very swell
Oh my darling Raquel
©1994 Dolph Chaney (BMI)
|
||||
Dolph Chaney Chicago, Illinois
Latest: MUG (bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com)
Acclaimed recording artist Dolph Chaney's 2023 album MUG
(his 3rd released on Big Stir Records) received rave reviews, multiple "Best of the Year" mentions and international airplay, and he is kicking off 2024 with a new line-up of his backing band The Phins and the release of MUG's latest single “Californiagain.”
... more
Dolph Chaney recommends:
Latest album (Oct 2023) - featuring "Nice", "Cool in the Sunshine", "Mr. Eli", and "Californiagain".
go to album
This Is Dolph Chaney
by Dolph Chaney
February 2021 - with "Now I Am A Man", "I Wanted You", "My Good Twin", and "Cuddle Party."
go to album
Rebuilding Permit
by Dolph Chaney
April 2020 - with "It's OK," "The Handling", "If I Write It Down", and "A Good Road Is Hard To Find."
go to albumIf you like Dolph Chaney, you may also like:
Always Running On (Big Stir Single No. 122.5)
by Irene Pena
supported by 4 fans who also own “Infinity Dogs (1994 / 2021 Remaster)”
go to album
Teaspoon of Time
by Kevin Robertson
supported by 4 fans who also own “Infinity Dogs (1994 / 2021 Remaster)”
This is amazing Kevin!!! Keep up the amazing work X
go to album
The Convincer (20th Anniversary Edition)
by Nick Lowe
Released in 2001, “The Convincer” is a gentle gem in the Nick Lowe catalog; an anniversary edition provides opportunity for rediscovery.
go to album
