==================

ALBUM: 2002 (1998)


Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping
A true Asada king
Lay dying in Shanghai
A comet tracing through the sky

Chairman Mao
Heard thunder in the dawn
The old guard’s come and gone
And underneath our world’s a drone

While my grandfather floats in the sea
All the angels stare at me
The dome of the sky fades away
All I see is outer space
While my grandfather floats in the sea
Chairman Mao laughs joyfully
The dome of the sky fades away
And every now and then I see some outer space

Off the coast
The shipping lanes are closed
The fields have all gone dry
The satellites are standing by

But Bay-one –
He’s whirling like a Khan
Mole’s like a swan
The airwaves of the demi-monde

David Brown – vox
Kenny Lyon – bass
Joel Virgel-Vierset – drums, vox
David Ralicke – baritone saxophone
Mike Boito – piano
Luca Brandoli – pandeiro
Danny Frankel - percussion


Caldo de Cana

Agua de coco
Caldo de cana
Dentes de oro
Confusao urbana

The storm clouds roll in
Set me free Fortuna
It’s late and I can’t find my friends
Caldo de cana

Macumba da cidade chegou
Muambeiro anarquista eubou
Malandro tambem tem coracao
The rain’s still coming down
The rain’s still coming down…

David Brown – vox, saxophone, organ
Kenny Lyon – bass
Smokey Hormel – guitar
Michael Rozon – drums, percussion
Mike Boito – piano
Joel Virgel-Vierset - vox


Sewers of Bangkok

Sewers of Bangkok
That’s what they call me
From the jungle towns
To the slums of the city

I’ve seen the devil
The charming stranger
And I’ve seen the devil
The old bone crusher

I’m the Sewers of Bangkok
And everything rolls off my back
I’ll have coffee and sweet cakes
For everyone stuck on the losing track
The kids picking garbage
The old folks who live by the trains
I’ll wash all their feet with my tears
And their hearts with the summer rain

There’s an order in the world
But it’s hidden from our view
It’s in traffic jams and zip codes
In the early morning blue

It's in the third world hostess
Who’s turning 33
In the tenant farmer
In the plane that crashed at sea

I’m the Sewers of Bangkok…


David Brown – vox, water
Kenny Lyon – bass
Danny Frankel – bongos, drums
Smokey Hormel – guitars
Joel Virgel-Vierset - vox

Pablo’s Lament

Pablo stares at the moon
Pencil moustache
Cheap hotel room
Waiting for dawn
Alone
To take him home

Taxi drivers and whores
Kids on the street
Watching for cops
Keeping him safe
Since his escape
But now it’s late

Soldiers search through the night
Closing in fast
Closing in tight
Each wants to be
The one
To kill the Don


David Brown – vox, organ, saxophone, bass
Smokey Hormel – guitar
Mike Boito – piano
Danny Frankel – percussion


Ocean

Joe Frank – monologue
David Brown – saxophone, vox, organ
DJ Swamp – scratching
Bill Markus – bass
Mike Boito – piano
Joel Virgel-Vierset – drums
Smokey Hormel - guitar


Voce

Cumulonimbus forms
The mornings down here are warm
The smuggler has his charm
Smoking in the dawn

Under the Arctic sun
The submarines make their runs
The high-flying planes look on
The endgame has begun

Voce e muito gostosa
Mas tenho namorada ja

Land of the Morning Calm
Land of the Rising Sun
Land of the Atom Bomb
Tigers of Elam

Hey, o mundo caiou bem
I wonder maybe
If you could do the same

David Brown – vox
Kenny Lyon – bass, organ
Smokey Hormel – guitars
Joel Virgel-Vierset – vox
David Ralicke – trombone, baritone saxophone
Danny Frankel – drums, percussion


Oi

There’s a little cloud
Forming in the dawn
Forming in my mind
I better lie down

Seaweed in my teeth
In my bleeding gums
Oh the winter sun
It makes my brain numb

They say when you die
There’s a purple hum
And you feel real calm
And everything’s one

But until that day
We have bleeding gums
And the winter sun
We better lie down

Oi chu seh yo
Oi cho-a heh yo
Dhal chu seh yo
Dhal cho-a heh yo

David Brown – vox, keyboard, guitar
Danny Frankel – bongos, drums, percussion
Kenny Lyon – bass
Mike Boito – piano
Smokey Hormel – guitar solo



IMF

Little girl from Hindustan
Holds the world inside her hand
Poorer than a Delhi rat
Feeds the dolphins at the ghat

Factory ships and market share
Stocks and bonds and thinning hair
IMF and shanty towns
Your heroes hiding underground

Look! He’s like a skeleton
Walking naked through Sudan
His children and his wife are dead
He’d like a bullet in his head

David Brown – vox
Mike Boito – piano
Kenny Lyon – bass, organ
Danny Frankel – drums, percussion
David Ralicke – trombone


Shioda

The world can fall apart outside my door
I don’t care no more
The air-raid siren sings the song of war
I don’t care no more

Salt and cherry blossom tea
Has the flavor of the sea

The monsoon winds are punishing the shore
I don’t care no more
The world can fall apart outside my door
I don’t care no more

South of Java in the sea
Nirorukidul’s Ali

The air-raid siren sings the song of war
I don’t care no more
The world can fall apart outside my door
I don’t care no more
Salt and cherry blossom tea…


David Brown – vox, tenor saxophone
Bill Markus – bass
DJ Swamp – scratching
Joel Virgel-Vierset – drums
Danny Frankel – drums, percussion
Mike Boito – piano
Smokey Hormel – guitar
David Ralicke – baritone saxophone solo


Shams

Ali was a sailor’s son
Joined the merchant fleet at twenty-one
Dreams of ports in distant lands
A bag of figs and some low-grade heroin

As the years rolled by at sea
Ali thought about his destiny
Tired of the sailor’s life
Ali thought he’d find himself a wife

Lisbon, Guangzhou, Taipei, Bandung,
Naples, Brunei, Capetown, Shanghai,
Bangkok, Pusan, Dublin, Luzon,
Lima, Dakar, Cypress, Malta

Sometimes things aren’t what they seem
Late one night our sailor had a dream
A queen of Indonesian lore
A voice he’d loved a thousand years or more

Lisbon, Guangzhou, Taipei, Bandung…

When the typhoon struck at dawn
Ali had his finest civvies on
All the crew were cramped below
And with a smile into the sea he dove

Lisbon, Guangzhou, Taipei, Bandung…


David Brown – vox, saxophone
Miiko Watanabe – bass
Mike Boito – piano
Danny Frankel – drums, tamborine
Smokey Hormel - guitar


1963

Summer’s been delayed
But I don’t want to think about it
In the shade of a Guar Gum tree
1963
Devils by the lake were spotted
1963

Way across the pond
European trade commissions
Selling jasmine in Istanbul
Suicides and freak conditions
Candles by the lake were burning

1963

David Brown – vox
Kenny Lyon – bass
Smokey Hormel – guitar
Mike Boito – piano
David Ralicke – trombone
Danny Frankel – bongos, percussion


2002's Hidden Track

Luca Brandoli – samba percussion
Mike Boito – piano
Kenny Lyon – bass
Smokey Hormel – guitar



========================

ALBUM: SOMNAMBULISTA (2000)


Airmail

Fallen down
He’s too weary
Can’t get up
His eyes are blurry
Chinatown
He just fades away

He’s drunk up 1/2 his weight in sherry
Swallowed the apothecary
Whispering a farewell lullaby

I’ve seen enough in my old life
Just send an airmail to my wife
Tell her her hobo’s gone and died
And that my world is looking wide

He came to town
37 years ago
His hair was long
His eyes were blue
He lived down by the sea
Head full of poetry
Rock & roll and galleries
Nickel bags and happenings
The fall of ’63

I’ve seen enough in my old life… etc.

The years rolled by
3rd & Broadway caught his eye
Black tar, speed and china white
Took it all away
Left him in ragged clothes
Cardboard boxes for a home
An old man when he should be young
Trashing through the day

I’ve seen enough in my old life… etc.

David Brown – vox, keyboard, saxophone, electric guitar
Smokey Hormel – guitar
Josef Zimmerman – bass
Michael Rozon – drums
Mike Boito – Fender Rhodes
David Ralicke – trombone
Mike Bolger - trumpet


Foreign Disaster Days

Fades like a super 8
Shot from above the parade
My mother the sad young Jew
Glimpsed in a dream or two
She’s always my saving grace

Love beneath the waves
Memories of her face
Drag me down like heroin
Foreign Disaster Days

Well there’s nothing like a car bomb
Window shopping at three
All she ever wanted
Was a lighthouse by the sea

David Brown – vox
Smokey Hormel – guitar
Josef Zimmerman – bass
Mike Boito – piano
Joel Virgel-Vierset – vox
Danny Frankel – percussion sounds


Sandman

Hills facing east
The slums have a view
Of the sea
Towards Africa gaze
Tenderly
The rains last for weeks

1st of the year
We’ll meet in Flamengo
For tea
We’ll smoke cigarettes
By the sea
Sandman & me

Menina dengosa
Nao chore amor
A vida e saudade
Beleza e dor
La da Palestrina
Morre o cantor

Word on the street
Jorge Ben’s gonna sing
New Year’s Eve
In Rio the rains
Last for weeks
The rains last for weeks

David Brown – vox, organ, saxophone
Mike Boito – Fender Rhodes
Smokey Hormel – guitar
Mike Bolger – trumpet
David Ralicke – trombone
Michael Rozon – drums, shaker
Andrea Ferraz - vox


Boeing

Late afternoon
A girl in a black-lit room
Music plays
She dances her heart away
Worn out days
Head full of cheap cocaine

Old memories fade
Of Europe in younger days
With long haired boys
Hitchhiking down to Spain
Up all night
Laughin’ in cheap cafes

Boeing
Carry me away
Help me press erase
On all of my stupid mistakes

Trans-Atlantic Boeing dreams
Coffee and French TV
Fleur-de-lis
30,000 feet above the sea
Jet stream and poppy seeds
Sad to leave

Boeing… etc.

David Brown – vox, keyboard
Kenny Lyon – bass, guitar
Danny Frankel – drums, tamborine
Michael Rozon – sound FX


Casa Batllo

She smelled like a thunderstorm
When I met her
Down in the Tenderloin
Sipping tea

Vicodin pills, some scotch
And a sweater
Soon I was feeling
Back on my feet

She lived in a little shack
By the water
The sound of the ships would lull
Us to sleep

A couple of sloths the world
Had forgotten
With nothing but youth
And faraway dreams

After the saints fly home
Solomon resting in his tomb
Paperbacks on a train
Sugarcane fields
All wet with rain

Hurricane lanterns glow
After the rain the boats are slow
I’d rather be left behind
Nothing’s as pure
As an empty mind

David Brown – vox, organ, saxophone, Fender Rhodes
Smokey Hormel – guitar, ukelele
Mike Boito – piano
Josef Zimmerman – bass
Danny Frankel – bongos, tamborine
Joel Virgel-Vierset – drums
Mike Bolger – accordion, trumpet
David Ralicke - trombone


Lazy, Flawed & Hopeless

Lunch special
Koreatown
Cuban fried bananas
Lazy, flawed & hopeless

All our cars
Are rusted through
TV’s in the garbage
Lazy, flawed & hopeless

Fame and Fortune
We’re caught up in the game
I love the smell
Of asphalt in the rain

When my days
Have come and gone
Lay down with my blanket
Lazy, flawed & hopeless

Load me on
An aeroplane
Point me towards the tropics
Lazy, flawed & hopeless
Lazy, flawed & hopeless

David Brown – vox, saxophone, guitar
Josef Zimmerman – bass
Mike Boito – piano
Michael Rozon – drums, percussion



Jane

I miss you dear
It’s quiet up here
Lost in the troposphere
At dawn
Hurricane clouds appear
Roll on…

An April storm
Yamamba clones
Lost in the troposphere
At dawn
Hurricane clouds appear
Roll on…

Asteroid fields
Comets and mangosteen
Vapor trails
Lost on a lonely beach

Televised
The old transmission flaw
Empty eyes
With no place left to go
Lost in the troposphere
At dawn

David Brown – vox, guitar, saxophone
Mike Boito – piano
Danny Frankel – drums, percussion



Super Gizi

Let’s make a scene
‘Cause baby, you’re my queen
You are my favorite time day
New York in May
A Barcelona rain
Nothing’s as moving as you little face

Jet lagged at sea
Like Super Gizi in my tea
Mistress from Bangkok
Fallen beauty of my dreams

After the rain
The comets linger in the sky
Lyin’ on his back
He watched the satellites float by

If life’s just a dream
A melancholy scene
I want to sleep with you forever dear…

David Brown – vox, organ
Josef Zimmerman – bass
Kenny Lyon – guitar, Fender Rhodes
Danny Frankel - percussion


4 a.m. Osaka

4 a.m. Osaka
My brain’s a mess
Octopus balls and sauce
End of the century stress

Sleeping on the floor
Of a record store
The girl that I love’s at home
Facing the world alone

Eyvind Kang
Eyvind Kang
Eyvind Kang
Waltzing with Eyvind Kang

Sea cucumber stew
And a pot of tea
Taiwanese cigarettes
Commuters all fast asleep

Eyving Kang… etc.

David Brown – vox, guitar
Kenny Lyon – bass
Smokey Hormel – guitar
Michael Rozon - drums


Old Man Dub

Pall Malls
And a racing form
Oh oh oh…
An old man
In a furnished room
Oh oh oh…

Had his eyeglasses
Smashed again
Oh oh oh…
Prowlin’ downtown
For some teenage skin
Oh oh oh…

Fingernail dirt
And blackhead cheeks
Oh oh oh…
His faded “Members
Only” speaks
Oh oh oh

The sky says forever
The clouds wander by
The heat of September
Makes him glow

Korean War
Setting sun
Dashing and young
Now he’s so alone


David Brown – vox
David Ralicke – trombone

Mike Bolger – trumpet
Mike Boito – organ
Phil Chen – bass, guitar
Danny Frankel – percussion
Michael Rozon - drums



3rd & Broadway

Runnin’ downtown with the drag queens
turning tricks
Down by the pier
A twenty’ll buy a balloon and some beer

It’s our weakness that makes us beautiful
to God,
That’s what she said
If your life’s too safe you might as well
be dead

Quedate en tu apartamiento…

She smiled a lot for a girl who was raped
Since she was 12
Her Daddy said, Girl you’re goin’ straight
to hell

Back in Puerto Rico
The dawn smelled like cinnamon
Cumulonimbus clouds hid the sun

3rd & Broadway…
Land of Sad Days

David Brown – vox, guitar
Greco Rossetti – programming, keyboard
DJ Swamp – scratching
Johari Funches-Penny – vox
Glenys Rogers - vox


======================


ALBUM: ROUGE ON POCKMARKED CHEEKS (2002)


Motel Room

Night is here in my veins
I’m losing again
And not much remains

Come
Lay down next to me
I’ll tell you a bit
Of who I used to be

I was a handsome
Golden boy you see
Full of summer
Morning poetry

Dawn
A soft winter’s day
A room full of dope
And cheap lingerie

I love you my friend
And though we just met
You’re at least as lost
As me
So let’s close the drapes
And lose the new day
And see how dark
We can be

David Brown – vox, guitar
Erica Garcia – vox
Kenny Lyon – guitar
Lee Cedeno – guitar
Danny Frankel – drums, bongos
Joe Zimmerman – bass
Mike Boito – farfisa organ, mellotron
Josh Segal – violin


Samurai

Lay me down
On the street
Where the hobos meet
Southern day dreams

I don’t know
Which way the wind blows
But I’ll tell you what
comes and goes

People grow old and die
Cold like a Samurai
Under a dim, breathtaking winter sky
Perrier c’est foux

Lonely days
By the sea
Watch the ships go by
Taiwanese

Half as old
As the sky seems
In my larger dreams
Mangosteen

People grow old and die…etc.

David Brown – vox, nylon string guitar, saxophone
David Ralicke – muted trombone
Mike Bolger – Hohner pianet, trumpet
Joe Zimmerman – upright bass
Kenny Lyon – electric guitar
Erica Garcia – vox
Danny Frankel – drums


Queenie

When I see
My life of sin
All the creeps
That I have been

Makes me wonder why
You stayed
You’re my Queen
Of Summer Rain

You make it all OK
My Queen of Summer Rain

Underneath
The falling stars
We live our lives
With heavy hearts
This world can make you
Want to die
But there’s another world
On high

You make it all OK
My Queen of Summer Rain
Soon I’ll be on a plane
And home with you again

David Brown – vox, nylon string guitar
Deborah Falconer – vox
Kenny Lyon – Martin & slide guitars
Joe Zimmerman – bass
Oscar Seaton – drums
Nigel Godrich – Fender Rhodes, Salina
Luca Brandoli – tamborine



1980

Long drives
Over the veldt
Head full of songs
Boxcars
Old European
Occupied zones

Grey day
Welfare hotel
Lost in the stars
With her
All of my fears
Melt in the dawn

Milk tea
Under the midnight sun
Not sure
Why we were ever born

Storm clouds
In the afternoon
Lonely
In my hotel room

Late June
Lost latitudes
The transistor hums
Street cars
Indigo blue
Roll through the slums

Milk tea… etc.

Storm clouds… etc.

David Brown – vox, mellotron
Mike Bolger – accordion
Mike Boito – Fender Rhodes
Kenny Lyon – guitar
Joe Zimmerman – acoustic bass
Johari Funches-Penny – vox
Danny Frankel – drums, triangle


Rainy Night

At 14
He was an adolescent
Beauty Queen
Slammin’ speed
And working on the NY streets
Oh Dear!

All the boys
With their leather
And peroxide
Rouge on pockmarked cheeks
Always drifting east

O templo de querer (x3)

David Brown – vox, nylon string guitar, saxophone
Danny Frankel – drums, percussion
Joe Zimmerman – bass
Kenny Lyon – guitars
Mike Bolger – trumpet
Mike Boito – Hohner pianet
David Ralicke – saxophone
Erica Garcia – vox


Genoa

At the weekend
Face down
Teargas and barricades
Downtown

Ahhh –

Seattle
D.C.
Gunships in Genoa
Not me

Anarchists
Tearin’ up the Beltway
Molotovs
As if they knew
The right way
I promise not to tell

David Brown – vox, guitar, mellotron
Joe Zimmerman – upright bass
Mike Boito – piano
Luca Brandoli – bongos
Smokey Hormel – guitar
Joel Viergel-Vierset – drums
Josh Segal – violin



Trona

Daylight
Waits for me
On the back of night

Trona (x4)

Low Tide
Rusting hulls
Barroom fights

Trona (x4)

Daylight
Makes me feel
Cold inside

Trona (x4)

David Brown – vox, mellotron
Smokey Hormel – guitars
Kenny Lyon – slide guitar
David Ralicke – Flute
Mike Bolger – accordion
Joe Zimmerman – upright bass
Luca Brandoli – pandeiro
Sammy Blue – vox
Deborah Falconer – vox
Michael Rozon – drum programming


Xanax & 3 Hrs of TV

In this land of plenty
What happened to our dreams
Can’t even find a mangosteen

Can’t find an e.e. cummings
Or a Martin Luther King
Just online porn & SUVs

I don’t care much anymore
The world seems sad and lonely
I lay down on the floor
And try to sleep
And dream about the days
When life was more than
Just a Xanax and 3 hrs of TV

Where are all the grandmas
The Mark Twains & the Beats
What happened to our make believe

The smell of toast on Sundays
Or falling space debris
The freighters slowly cross the sea

I don’t care much anymore… etc.

David Brown – vox, guitar, bass
Joel Virgel-Vierset – vox, percussion
Kenny Lyon – guitar
Danny Frankel – drums
Mike Boito – Fender Rhodes
Johari Funches-Penny – vox
Joe Zimmrman – bass


High Life

High life
Sing me a sweet song
You used
To think I was grand
Downtown
Chelsea and Soho
I held
The world in my hand

I flew
The Concorde to Paris
Sniffed lines
Of cocaine for free
Champagne
And mangoes for breakfast
Warm nights
And dawns by the sea

OD’ed
In the afternoon
With her diamonds and pearls
And a burnt spoon

Now I’m
A little bit older
And I’m
In need of a friend
I’ve got
Some pills and some liquor
And soon
I’ll see you again

OD’ed… etc.
Honey
What you gonna do
When your beauty and youth
Are behind you?

David Brown – vox, tenor sax, guitars
Joel Virgel-Vierset – vox
Kenny Lyon – Martin guitar
Joe Zimmerman – bass
Danny Frankel – drums
Mike Boito – Farfisa organ


North Koreatown

We’re all just dreamers
From North Koreatown
We have no future
Just helicopter sounds

The last survivors
From days pre-MTV
Our fate's to wander
In search of poetry

Pink champagne
And nickelbags of weed
Afternoons
On the RTD

David Brown – vox, nylon string guitar
Kenny Lyon – Martin & electric guitars
Sammy Blue – vox
Joe Zimmerman – upright bass
Mike Boito – Hohner pianet
Josh Segal – violin


Late Night Lullaby

Lay me down
Milo brown
Fast asleep
Like a little
Cherub bean
Like a little
Cherub bean

I’ve traveled far
And I’ve traveled wide
And I’ve seen some things
That I’d rather leave behind
That I’d rather leave behind

Lay me down
Milo Brown
Sweetest thing
That has ever come around
That has ever come around

David Brown – vox, guitar
Mike Bolger – accordion


=====================


ALBUM: HASTINGS STREET (2004)


Intro

(instrumental)

optigon - David Brown
bass - Josef Zimmerman
drums and bongos - Danny Frankel


Londres

Juan says she's a funny kind of girl
Who sits on rooftops to escape the world
She smokes her cigarettes and keeps a journal
Dreaming of the day she'll fly to Londres

She lives with her folks in East L.A.
She goes up to Hollywood to hear bands play
She listens to Smiths cassettes and
Robos with her friends on Friday nights
Killin' time 'til the big flight

And she'll leave all the smog behind
As the 747 starts to climb away
In the big sky
And the Virgin Atlantic life
Will banish all the fear and all the strife
As it takes her to Londres

Some cholos shot Flaco yesterday
His wife has a little baby on the way
Last night she heard helicopters
It seems she hears them
Every other day
C'est muy mala suerte

lead vox and guitars - David Brown
guitars - Kenny Lyon
bass - Josef Zimmerman
drums - Jason Pipkin
percussion - Danny Frankel


Love Is the Answer

He smacked her 'round one last time Sunday
She called her friend, said let's run away
Rooftop sunrise
Sweet 16
Her cigarettes and her dreams

La la la la la la la la love is the answer

They headed north up the coast one day
San Francisco or bust she'd say
We'll find some boyfriends
And drink some wine
And I'll forget him in time

La la la la la la la la love is the answer

lead vox, guitars,drum machine - David Brown
bass - Josef Zimmerman
drums and percussion - Danny Frankel
pianet - Mike Boito
backing vox - Erica Garcia
violin - Josh Segal


Old Folks

So far away, so like a dream
A cup of tea with powdered cream
Or comet dust and subway steam
Or 3 kilos of mangosteen
Ayaaah ayaaah mangosteen

An airport lounge in Amsterdam
A summer rainfall in Japan
Your cowboy hat, your lovely tan
With you I'm such a happy man
Ayaaah Ayaaah, a happy man

I hope one day I'm old with you
We're holding hands like old folks do
With knobby knees and funny shoes
Yeah, that's the future I would choose
Ayaaah Ayaaah I would choose

vox and guitar - David Brown
piano and mellotron - Greg Kirstin
bass - Josef Zimmerman


Hong Kong Cafe (It Only Hurts)

Last night I had a dream
That you were done with me
The sparkle in your eyes
Had all but gone
You told me 'bout a guy
That you chanced to meet on a crowded street
Who made you feel alive
Made you feel whole

It only hurts when you're far from me
It only hurts when you're gone
I'm such a sub-standard human being
I'd never make it alone

I want to let you know
That you're my everything
If life is like the night
Then you're my dawn
My morning in July
My favorite melody on an empty beach
My winter by the fire
My midnight sun

vox, guitar, drum machine and casio - David Brown
bass - Josef Zimmerman
backing vox - Erica Garcia and Olivia Pucci


Hastings Street

In a city by the sea
I think of all the things I've tried to be
It's raining at the beach
And I'm feeling all washed up at 33
Oh no!

They say it's lonely at the top
But there's nothing quite as sad as sleepin' rough
(I was) just lookin' for relief
Now I'm feelin' all washed up on Hastings Street
I'm feelin' all washed up on Hastings Street
Oh no!

Salt wind wash over me
Blow my sins to the distant galaxies
10 years of smuggling
And I land in the depths of Hastings Street

lead vox, optigon - David Brown
guitar - Kenny Lyon
drums - Danny Frankel
bass - Josef Zimmerman
trumpet - Mike Bolger
backing vox - Erica Garcia
piano - Greg Kursten


Single Apartment

Jean was a heartbreaker in her day
Carefree and dancing the night away
Then she turned 41 oh oh oh
Had her moment in the sun oh oh oh
Now she eats all alone
And talks to her best friend on the phone

She wakes up at 6:30 everyday
And heads off to work at the Blue Cafe
But the money's not enough oh oh oh
And her clothes are lookin' rough oh oh oh
And her car needs an alternator
When will it all let up

And her single apartment's closing in
Her loneliness won't give way
All the girls on the TV look so thin
And she's already turnin' gray
And the guy that she met on the internet
He turned out to be a creep
She says, "God I've got so many dreams to share,
If you'd send me a good man to keep."

At Christmas, she flies out to Illinois
She treasures the time with her sister’s boys
She was unlucky in love oh oh oh
Now the years are catchin' up oh oh oh
And at 3 AM sometimes it's just a little too much

lead vox - David Brown
piano - Greg Kirstin
bass - Josef Zimmerman
drums - Victor Indrizzo
tambourine - Danny frankel
backing vox - Erica Garcia and Olivia Pucci
guitar - Kenny Lyon


Night train to Moscow

Night Train to Moscow
Say good bye to the Petersburg sun
The half light of winter afternoons long gone
Pancakes and mushrooms
Tea with the hookers at dawn
The TV is warning of a coming storm

Come lay with me
Hide me in your arms
And sing to me
Of all the other sailors
Their promises, flowers and champagne
And in the end
Life's just a Sunday morning

Night Train to Moscow
Be kind to your loneliest son
There's frost on your windows but your heart is warm

lead vox and guitar - David Brown
guitar synth - Kenny Lyon
pianet - Mike Boito
drums - Victor Indrizzo
accordion - Mike Bolger
backing vox - Erica Garcia and Olivia Pucci
bass - Josef Zimmerman


Interlude
(instrumental)



Lagos Slums

He's had bicycles and sons
He's had salted fish and dark rum
Now his days are almost done
In the Lagos slums

He was a farmer for a while
Growin' plantains by the coastline
And some said he had a smile
Like a movie star

La ah La ah ah ah

(He) met his wife one Friday night
At a dance hall near the train tracks
And his heart soared like a kite
In the evening light

(He) worked the oil fields once
Saved some money for his family
Built a house near Eden's Point
Where they raised their boys

La ah La ah ah ah

He says it's hard to be a man
Who works and still can't feed his children
But he does the best he can
In the New World Plan

We're all forgotten
This road leads nowhere

lead vox - David Brown and Johari Funches-Penny
guitar - Smokey Hormel
Fender Rhodes - Mike Boito
pandeiro - Luca Brandoli
bass - Josef Zimmerman


17

Take me to your house
And show me to all your family
I don't care about
The fool that it makes me seem
'cause I know that you're 17
And I'm just an aging dandy
The world is light and dark
And we live in between

When I was a boy
I wandered the streets of downtown
Staring at the sky
And feeling that I didn't belong
In a world where the gentle seem wrong
And teeth get knocked out on Sundays
I lay down in the shower
And make it go away

This fading world
My lovely girl

And I know that you're 17
And I'm just an aging dandy
The world is light and dark
And we live in between

lead vox and guitar - David Brown
drums and vox - Joel Virgel-Vierset
piano - Greg Kursten
bass - Josef Zimmerman
percussion - Danny Frankel
organ solo - Mike Boito
vox - Jessica Vautor


L.A. River Lady

Saturday night he was gone
That's what she said to her mom
Honey, he's trouble, he's a bum
Try to forget him, move on

It's strange how the years come and go
When did I turn 34
When did my habits take control
And drain all the light from my soul

But mom, when the pain is gone
And you can't go on
And the lonely days seem like decades
It's only hard drugs fulfilling me
I'm lost on a summer's day
Half a world away
From the little girl that you cherished
My faded black jeans
My sunburnt face

lead vox - David Brown
guitars - Kenny Lyon
bass - Josef Zimmerman
drums - Joel Virgel-Vierset
sax and trombone - David Ralicke
trumpet and Fender Rhodes - Mike Bolger
backing vox - Kristen Rajterowski and Erica Garcia
violin - Josh Segal


Left Out

What can I do?
I'm lost over you
I'm left out

I sit and I drink
I try not to think
I'm left out

De da de de de da du da de da
De da de de de da du daya
De da de de de da du dayeeeeh dahn da

The birds in the trees
Aren't lonely like me
I'm left out

The tides ebb and flow
The morning star glows
I'm left out

vox, guitar, rhodes,mellotron, marxophone, casio- David Brown
bass- Josef Zimmerman
backing vox- Olivia Pucci


Asteroid Fields

5 a.m., here comes the sun
I hope I'm not the only one
Alone in an automobile
Passed out in an asteroid field

Summer's gone, my fall's done come
Those sparkling days when I was young
Seem lost in an automobile
Passed out in an asteroid field


Dark Eyes

Lay down over here, Pal
It seems it's getting late
Look up in the sky
Wild parrots in L.A.
The sun is coming up soon
It's time to go to sleep
There's a heavy rain approaching
It said so on TV

Love Sky
I'm lost in your dark eyes
Your beautiful glow makes clear
That things will be alright

The years flow by like water
That's rushing towards the sea
And our little lives, so fragile
Are rounded by the sleep
The cities rise and crumble
We all die cozily
There's a heavy rain approaching
It said so on TV

vox, nylon string, synth and piano - David Brown
guitar - Kenny Lyon
bass - Josef Zimmerman
trumpet and pianet - Mike Bolger
backing vox - Joel Virgel-Vierset and Erica Garcia
tabla, bongo and bells - Danny Frankel
violin - Josh Segal



==========================

ALBUM: EAST L.A. BREEZE (2006)

Peach Tree