1. |
Formerly Boomtown
04:00
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There’s gold in them there hills
But the hills are in the way
If we could level everything
Then we could suck out all the good parts
We need money
We need status
We need success
But your eyes are way too bright
And your voice is too excited
If it’s such a foregone conclusion
Why do you need to advertise it?
This is Boomtown
Don’t get trampled
By the parade.
It’s so good to be alive
When you’re history in the making
When you’re the new financial darlings
And authority kisses your ass
We’ve built a theme park
In our own image
We’ll party after work.
It’s an inexorable force of nature
So says Darwin, so says Wall St.
Alpha males have left their trails
While in the clouds Ayn Rand is smiling
New Power Generation
Change the landscape
Cubes ‘r’ us!
And when all your dreams collapse
Leaving holes on every corner
And the sunset casts the shadow
Of your half-constructed empire
Favored children discover failure…
Stop the presses!
But your eyes look so surprised
As you’re forced to change your diet
Yeah, tomorrow belongs to you
If you could just afford to buy it.
This is Boomtown:
Come and get it while it’s hot.
© 2002 J Neo Marvin (BMI)
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2. |
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Veracruz is a hopeless fuckup
But he’s better than his friend
Who knocks on my door trying to sell me shoes
He picked out of a garbage can
On weekends they bring home some working girl
And try to make her work for free
Or else they just get shit-faced and pass out
Burning cigarettes and blasting the TV
When he’s sober you can sometimes catch
A look of vacant misery in his eyes
If he wasn’t such a sad pathetic loser
He’d probably be a decent guy
The Christian thug, he’s not so bad
I don’t mind him all that much
We talk about dead wives, old bad habits
And life and fate and such
He takes me to his church where they serve free food
We try not to be the last to arrive
It’s a big group of bloated, neurotic people
Talking all about their brand new lives
I tape him some old James Brown songs
He passes on some K rations* he scored
He’s OK now, but apparently he was a real savage
Before he found the Lord.
Everybody’s got nothing to lose
Everybody’s got something to prove
Everyone is acting out
Down in the Primate House
Everyone is in a rage
Rattling the bars of their cage
Trapped in a world they can’t figure out
Down in the Primate House
(Meanwhile, just a couple blocks down the street…)
At the party the girls all work in the kitchen
While the boys all smoke in the yard
In a song in a mountain dialect
Some guys are boasting how bad they are
Talking about traditional values
In between discreet lines of speed
One guy just got back from Cambodia
Where the teenage hookers are cheap, and he says,
“Where I come from the women serve the men
And there’s nothing that they won’t do”
There’s not much I can really say to that except
“I guess that works out well for you.”
Everybody’s got something to say
Learn something new every day
Never know what might come out
Down in the Primate House
Nothing’s like it was before
Take those pictures off your door
Never want to stop looking out
Down in the Primate House
The couple in the room two doors down
Are predictable as the moon
They get the sniffles every morning like clockwork
And tie up the phone till noon
Then they disappear for about an hour
Then they shuffle back upstairs
Of course I know exactly what’s going on
But I no longer even care
Yesterday someone ripped off the landlady’s TV
Who else would have had the nerve?
Oh, I know that it’s wrong, but I couldn’t stop laughing
She got what she deserved.
The toothless woman across the hall
Is complaining about her old man
She’s sick of the way he beats her up all the time
I say well, maybe you shouldn’t go back
About a week later he’s moved in too
Soon he’s threatening everyone in sight
One morning he says to me “I hear you been talkin' to my bitch”
I guess I’m supposed to cower in fright
Then she comes in screaming at me “Mind your own business, faggot!”
And they both take off with their load
Off to seek their fortune holding up signs
Along the airport access road.
Everybody’s gotta throw a fit
Everybody’s gotta talk some shit
Always something dumb to shout
Down in the Primate House
Piss and moan the same old blues
Big world’s got ’em so confused
If they cared they’d wonder what it’s all about
Down in the Primate House
This house is a house of bad luck
Filled with casualties and creeps
I feel like I need to take a shower
Every time somebody speaks
Some of us are just passing through
Some have nowhere else to stay
Some are damaged and desperate
Some just like living this way
It’s a Valuable Life Experience
That will leave it’s mark on you
Wipe that cocksure smirk off your face, my friend
You’re just another ape in this zoo.
Everybody’s got nothing to lose
Everybody’s got something to prove
Everyone is acting out
Down in the Primate House
Everyone is in a rage
Rattling the bars of their cage
Trapped in a world they can’t figure out
Down in the Primate House.
*Should have sang “MRE’s” here, but I forgot the correct military jargon when I wrote this song.
© 2002 J Neo Marvin (BMI)
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3. |
Dear Emma
03:03
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If we could somehow reach back in time
And pull you forward
Drop you into this century
You’d still be ahead of your time
You’d still be unsatisfied
You’d still be ahead of your time
You’d still be unsatisfied.
We still talk about how free we are
Slave like horses
Dreaming about the big score
Cling to tradition
Kiss the shackles on our own wrists
While kings and bosses
Still get their way as always.
I’d love to welcome you
Roll out the carpet
Fill up the samovar
You can take the front room
Come out and have a look around
I’d love to hear what you’d have to say
But that’s impossible
We’ll have to find the words ourselves.
(If I can’t dance, I want no part of this
I want freedom, self-expression, beautiful radiant things
If I can’t dance, I want no part of this
Well actually, she never said this, but it’s a good line.)
© 2002 J Neo Marvin (BMI)
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4. |
Slow Drain
03:36
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5. |
Unforgivable
07:25
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The wine has just kicked in
At the end of a long day
She’s telling me about her little sister
When she went to UCLA
One night she went to a party
With two guys that she called friends
The whole fraternity
Had their way with her that night
Apparently this is called a “train”.
I never heard the word used that way before.
It happened just before finals
She never told anyone
So nobody ever found out why
She never even showed up that last week
But she knew it was all her fault
Her mother would have told her so
She must have led them on somehow
She brought shame down on her family.
She moved away to find herself
She found herself a new religion
Found a leader with the answers
To fill the endless void inside
He told her what she had to do
To cleanse the sins of the past away
She drove back to California
And apologized to each boy one by one.
“You wanna know what’s bothering me?
You wanna know why I look so angry?
You wanna know why I don’t let you touch me?
I’m not telling and don’t you ask me!”
He cuts the ribbon to launch his new business
He’s a pillar of the community
Respectable wife and three fine children
Neighborhood coach in his spare time
Sometimes he sits back in his recliner
And dreams about his college days
He smiles remembering old friends and good times
And what was that slut’s name again?
There’s got to be
Something worse than Hell for you.
© 2002 J Neo Marvin (BMI)
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6. |
Ex-Supernova
03:25
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She’s been feeling the pressure
That increases with age
You can only run so far
On rebellion and rage
She feels her confidence slipping
As if her purpose is gone
Everything she once stood for
Now seems pointless and wrong.
She remembers being certain
Now there’s nothing but doubt
While everyone on the TV
Seems to have it worked out
She must have taken a wrong turn
At some point in the past
Now she wants to blame someone
But they’re all moving too fast.
The doctor makes his house calls
In his nondescript car
When he leaves his prescription
You can forget where you are
She’s discovered a new goal
And she’s learning the way
The medicine hasn’t worked yet
It will one of these days.
© 2002 J Neo Marvin (BMI)
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7. |
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It’s been months now since we’ve spoken
So I assume that we’re not speaking
I remember your last message
I can quote the words verbatim.
If you remember and still stand by it
I’ve got nothing to say to you
If you’ve forgotten, that’s even worse, dear
Actions do have consequences.
Are you ready for your close-up?
Are you planning brilliant crimes?
Are you hiding in your chamber
Wasting someone else’s time?
Are you being fabulous somewhere
While your friends all roll their eyes?
Are you hanging by your thumbnails?
Are you fighting to survive?
A selective memory
Means you never have to say you’re sorry
You may be riding for a fall
But you’ve got The Greatest Love Of All
Center of the universe
Unstable and getting worse
When the world crashes all around you
I hope someone will be there for you
‘Cause I won’t.
© 2002 J Neo Marvin (BMI)
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8. |
Kite Song
05:46
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9. |
Stick Figure
04:04
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Your constitution is so strong
That’s the reason you’ve lived so long
Despite all you’ve done
To yourself for all these years
What’s your motivation?
Who can tell?
It’s all logical when your life is hell
Sometimes I understand
But I hate it anyway.
I search in vain
For words that might help
I turn my back
And hate the weakness in myself
But I don’t know if I can take another tragedy.
You cut through so much pretense
With your brilliant mind
But when you see yourself
You can be so blind
You’re so thin
It’s really frightening
But you’re still beautiful to me.
You can’t deal with someone loving you
Guess that’s your tough luck, dear
I still do
You do your best
I fear the worst
But you’re too good to throw away
You try and you try
But you will not disappear.
© 2002 J Neo Marvin (BMI)
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10. |
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One day soon every home on Earth
Will be linked by a complex system of tunnels
You can order anything you could ever desire online
Your groceries will be propelled
Into your refrigerator by themselves
And anyone anywhere can reach you at any time
After all, it’s so inconvenient to go outside
So just keep eating and don’t try to analyze
And if you’re a busy female executive
Whose husband refuses to do the shopping
We’ve got high tech solutions
To preserve your traditional way of life
Why ask why?
Just another poor schlub trying to scratch out a living
In a flag-infested wasteland
Aw yeah, unity is the word du jour
As working people still get shafted
You’ll be waving your maxed out Visa card
When they throw your ass in the snow
Stop grumbling and buy another lottery ticket
After all, you never know
Watch TV documentaries about the rich
And pretend their concerns are yours
Spend your lunch hour discussing the details
Of Christina Onassis’s pain
Life is a commodity
And sex is something you buy and sell
Some afternoons I feel like my skull
Is slowly caving in
Just from listening to you.
But wait…there’s more!
The invisible hand has just dropped the ball
And the players scatter like roaches
Still, the crowd persists in believing in the game
Keep your head down and wait for the next big scam
It’s bound to be coming soon
If we all agree this scenario is real
We’ll see Tinkerbell alive again
The vigilantes saddle up their mules
Every man to his own agenda
We didn’t start the fire, we only provide the gasoline
Loathsome cowboy in a china shop
Loves the sound of breaking glass
When every man is king
Someone still has to play the role of the servant class.
I woke up one morning to find myself
In a bad summer action movie
The special effects are awesome
But the hero is not exactly convincing
We’ve burned all our history books to keep warm
Now the news looks like science fiction
And the acts human beings are capable of
Are forever beyond description
“You’re either on the bus or you’re off of the bus!”
The driver’s voice crackles through the speakers
As the highway to Hell unfolds like a yellow brick road
We’re checking the map as we quell our reservations
With biker crank and Prozac
99 bottles of something unspeakable on the wall
Take one down…pass it around.
© 2002 J Neo Marvin (BMI)
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11. |
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Living in the eternal now
Just like the timeless brat you are
Never gonna change a thing
Can’t keep your hands out of the cookie jar
We had high hopes…
Speaking in a private language
Redefining everything we’d see
We were a nation of two
In our alternative reality
We had high hopes…
It’s a thin line between a myth and a delusion
Where and when we crossed it
I don’t know, I can’t tell you
A life of brilliant starts
Nothing ever finished in the end
Flying off in all directions
Not a lot to show for the exhaustion
You know the chorus…
You haunt my dreams
Like an accusation from the past
I shut my eyes and think about
The way you used to dance!
Oh, oh what a mess we made!
Nothing’s solid anymore
My sense of reality’s compromised
Since the ending of the story
Makes everything before look like a lie
Where’s that leave us?
Where’s that leave me now?
Oh, oh what a mess we made!
Oh, oh what a mess we left behind.
© 2002 J Neo Marvin (BMI)
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12. |
Take Me By Surprise
04:26
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Flirt with the dark
I’m darker than you’ll ever be
What’s on your screen?
There’s nothing there I need to see
Stockpile vicious thrills
Gulp them down like delicious pills
It fascinates you so
I guess you don’t get out much, do you?
Dreams deferred
Grow bitter and look absurd
Come and see
The sad parade of history
Hear the bells
Hacks are casting sickening spells
Behind the wall
Someone screams and I feel it all
The book room grows and grows
As he compiles the evidence
He’s so misunderstood
But he still gets off on scaring people
Transparent boy
The suckers fall for his projections
But he perks up like a pup
The second someone calls his bluff.
Lose your appetite for dreaming
All that could have been burns up in the air
The tragedy of our potential
Is enough to drive you to despair
Tell me something if you dare
Take me by surprise
Convince me there’s a better future
Take me by surprise
Then prove that we might actually get there
Don’t let me down
Or do it quick and get out of the way
Don’t block my view
I’ve got my eye on something better
Dreams deferred
Grow bitter and look absurd
Come and see
The sad parade of history
Hear the bells
Building a global village of private Hells
Behind the wall
Someone screams and I feel it all
I keep my hope locked away where you can’t find it
I keep my hope locked away where you can’t find it
I keep my hope locked away where you can’t find it
I keep my hope locked away where you can’t find it.
© 2002 J Neo Marvin (BMI)
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J Neo Marvin & the Content Providers San Francisco, California
The Content Providers came into being when former X-tal singer/guitarist J Neo Marvin found himself overflowing with new songs that needed to be heard. A massive cast of friends and acquaintances flew in and out of a loose revolving-door lineup and the songs were pulled from rough experience and sharp observation, as each Content Provider added something unique and unpredictable to the whole stew. ... more
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