Lyrics

Words & Music by Kenny Schick

September

the sting of september
try to remember
those endless, sticky summer days
the bite of october
the carnival’s over
last days of sunlight to go out and play

spoken but unheard
all these poems and words
the letters all blur and fall off the page
the taste of salt and sin
when spring invited you in
sweaty pale silky skin now thin and cracked with age

the cold of november
try to remember
how you loved me so much you would cry
the dead of december
the flames fade to embers
sleep wins the battle we don’t even try

the spirit’s unyielding lust
beneath the settling dust
and never sleeping rust, the beauty of decay
unforgettable fire
fields aflame with desire
harvest moon retires to the pale light of day
another song for the young
decomposed and unsung
wrung out and then hung out in the cold to dry
bouquet of red flowers
fades away with the hours
and collapsing towers fall away from the sky

in the warming of may
when you visit my grave
fight back the tears, you’re still in my arms

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None More Black

consumed by all we consume
distracted by the beauty of a dying deadly bloom
don’t you look to the men in charge
they’re puppets dangling from the rings of hell and their appetite is large
and the devil knew he’d been outdone
when they slaughtered raped and scorched the earth in the name of the holy son
mother put your babes to rest
there’s poison coursing through your veins and flowing from your breast

out here in the shallow water
no longer does the river run deep
this is where we lost our daughter
blind drunk and tired, seduced by sleep

mother father what have we done?
built a tower of your sins so high and wide we’ve blocked the sun
and in the cities of facade
and architecture void of light and laughing at your god
so we drove down this country road
burned down our house, from the city ran to escape this heavy load
but god’s country was fucked up
the river beds were empty just like the sacred cup

my love and i we drank ’til dawn
when we woke to find our child and our innocence were gone
so in this swamp we’ll spend our days
looking for our little girl in the god-forsaken maze

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Notes on None More Black

I wanted to give you an idea about what I was thinking when i penned none more black. It is more in my ‘obtuse’ style of writing, as it is a political song, and I don’t like political songs that are just obvious and in your face. I forget what political event happened at the time I wrote it, but I was feeling rather bitter toward our country.

I’d picked up our copy of rolling stone magazine, and Katy Perry was on the front cover. I started to read the interview, and she just seemed so unworthy of an interview. It bothered me that with so many worthy musicians to interview that she should occupy the front cover. She is not really a musician, but a model who they carved into some sort of vapid creation. When I got into the political section, there was some maddening article there as well. I was having a ‘what the fuck is wrong with us!!’ kind of day.

I felt, and do often feel, that we have gotten way off track. We don’t care about our own people. We spend enormous amounts of money on meaningless wars. Meanwhile we can’t afford to have medical care for our own. We can bail out the rich bastards who have sunk us. They don’t give a damn about the hard workers who keep this country rolling. You get the idea, a lot of frustration.

‘Our daughter’ sort of represents ‘America’, or our innocence that has been lost. If we ever had it. Our cities are ‘temples’ of decay. The centers where we formulate our ‘truths’ that we accept. Despite the fact these truths seem to be leaving our country falling apart, our souls tormented, and our planet in decay. We may try to escape to the country, but there is poison there as well. So we are just wading in the shallow, murky waters, looking for what we lost. There is also the theme of unsound ideas being passed from generation to generation. Like the culture of guns and violence that America was even founded on. Kenny Schick

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Black & Blue

gonna dream my way back
gonna dream of all the colors i lack
and the moon is the shape of your face
only sleep takes me back to that place
in the sun
oh god i’m done
without you my world looks
black and blue again

gonna float back to the south
dream of the taste of you still in my mouth
your soul shines in eyes so deep
oh i float across the ocean in my sleep
when darkness falls
tears down these walls
without you my world looks
black and blue again

gonna dream in orange and blue
then float like a ghost over you
kiss the back of your neck when you sleep
i’ll make wine from your tears when you weep
at night we’ll fly
through the southern sky
without you my world looks
black and blue again

gonna dream my way back
to a lily-white ghost in a shroud of black
and the moon is the shape of your face
only sleep gets me back to that place
in the sun
oh god i’m done
without you my world looks
black and blue again

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City of Angels

with a broken heart and a broken home
me and a dream and a bottle on the road alone
miles of highway and desert motels
last drops of water from the bottom of empty wells

the believers in the bars
along the walk of fallen stars

fleeing for fame like looking for god
but the fables in the bible you believed were just a facade
in the city of angels where you gotta believe
but the holy are falling and the prophets are born to decieve

the believers in the bars
along the walk of fallen stars

at the end of the earth, maybe the end of times
burnt out by the rhythm, tired of the rhymes
an angel told me there’d be hell to pay
and i knew it was time to get myself out of LA

prayin’ for vision in a church of deceit
on the coast where the poets all go to get back on their feet
one step forward, two steps back
putting faith in counterfeit saints to give us purpose we lack

the believers in the bars
along the walk of fallen stars

another broken dream and a fallen star
everything i own in the back of a broken down car
a promise of angels and a palace of gold
was just a deal with the devil where my soul was stolen then sold

after the famine, flood, and fall of rome
once seemed like hell, now it’s good to be back home

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Flower

i’ve gotta hold back
can’t let it all loose right now
it’s hard to get back
and god knows i’ve never known how
i want to fly now
i want to jump before i think
time after time
these feelings push me
to the brink
i want to jump in
the best and worst life has to give
time after time
it seems to think is not to live

it’s hard to carry this heavy load
when you’re ready to explode

i’ve gotta hold back
can’t let it all loose right now
it’s hard to get back
and god knows i’ve never known how
i want it right now
despite the warning signs
i want to make it mine
like a flower waiting to be
kissed by the light of day
you’ll come out and play
in your own sweet time
around in circles
i’m drunk with thinking and
you’re the wine i’m drinking
i’ve got to hold back
can’t force the climax at the start
it’s hard to hold back the fever
of my screaming heart

let me out, set me free
i need to escape, i need to breathe

but then again, what does it mean to be a friend
but then again, why start if it’s only gonna end

it’s gonna unfold, it’s gonna open up this time
this gorgeous flower, it’s for the world
it’s not just yours and mine

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Games

sunk so low there’s nowhere
left to go but up
not 1/2 full, not 1/2 empty
just a single drop of blood in my cup
the illusion i’d risen above
games people play
seems i haven’t outgrown my toys
at the end of the day

even those of who lay claims
to not playing games are playing
a quiet game of avoiding games
but i place no blaim
it’s human nature and we all
gotta play in some way
but at the end of the day
just be careful not to leave
a path of hell to pay
well ok, your move

we play games
to distract and amuse ourselves
we go down
most times we just abuse ourselves
in flames
wanna feel a fire burnin’ in my soul
not be fuel for a fire burnin’
out of control

in too deep but i refuse to creep
further in
have we rewritten the rules
so neither kings nor fools can win?
gotten so low but i refuse to go
further down
you may continue the circus
but i’ll no longer be your clown

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10 feet thick

this one is for passion
a worn out trait that used to feel great
and this one is for pride
i had it yesterday i think i threw it away
this one is for fashion
the mask i wear that got me here
standing by your side

i don’t understand i’m feeling
10 feet thick and the obvious trick is to
listen to everything you say
i’ll throw it up against the wall
to see if i can make it stick
i think a smarter man would simply just walk away

this one is for pleasure
the bait i took that got me caught on this hook
and this one is for pain
that familiar face i always seem to embrace
no longer can i measure
the length or the depth of the fellings that kept me
playing in this game

this one is for reason
i had it yesterday i think i threw it away
and this one is for rhyme
a parallel sound or a rhythm i found
this one is for leaving
well this is the part that breaks my heart but i won’t
do this one more time

i don’t understand i’m feeling
10 feet thick and it’s making me sick. i can’t
listen to a single thing you say
i’ve thrown it up against the wall
to see if i could make it stick
but i’m a smarter man

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Kiss

sitting in this empty chair
i feel a breeze but i’m not there
took myself away 3 days ago
out beyond these prison walls
a temptress’ voice just softly calls
baits me with relief i should not know

since i went away
miss you everyday
seems so obvious
the beauty of your fading kiss

out beyond these prison walls
are deep blue skies and waterfalls
now i long for a dirty city street
i miss feeling sad and feeling scared
and always feeling unprepared
for a shining soul in a crowd that i would meet

i miss the frail october sky
when everything begins to die
and we’d recognize the beauty of decay
that golden light through dying leaves
as summer’s warming breath recedes
and a harvest moon would swallow up the day

god damn me if i’ve been a fool
and the path i chose was dark and cruel
to my mother, to my lover, and my friends
forgive me i can’t take it back
end of scene then fade to black
please don’t tell me this is how it ends

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Ghost

dry as a bone
a ghost alone
an echo in the phone
fire cinder and stone
and she will fall down
to her knees
oh please
and the steel will grow cold
when i’m gone
desolate view
hides the beauty of you
and captures the few
who peel off their skin divide in two
and i nail myself to the southern cross
rise from the loss
of a stagnant landscape
we fade
and we’re gone

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Sun Goes Down

the needle
a plastic card
a bottle of poison
and a 2 foot yard
ooh ooh the sun goes down
a sea of skin
a cathode ray
a belly full of bricks
and the dying day
ooh ooh the sun goes down
soul seduction and a drug like love
down to the bottom just to rise above
ooh ooh the sun goes down
smoke and mirrorsa queen of hearts
a one arm bandit
pushing shopping carts
ooh ooh the sun goes down

sweet night
shower us with stars
light a path of grace
pale moon
fill us with your light
take us to a safer place
and the blackest night erase

blood red petals
a stem of thorns
a crooked halo
on the devil’s horns
ooh ooh the sun goes down
rag tagpick up sticks
a box of bones and a bag of tricks
ooh ooh the sun goes down

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Kenny Schick Producer