Grand Pop

(Darien Martus)
March 17, 2010
Music and Lyrics by Darien Martus, ASCAP
 

Grand Pop

Never thought he’d live to be a

Grand Pop

But he still can play until the kids drop

Nothing much has changed along the way

Pop is still Pop today

He’s still Pop, he’s still Pop today

He’s still Pop

Nothing much has changed we’ll call him

Grand Pop

‘Cause he’s till Pop today

You don’t need to listen to him more than once

But that single listen can be so much fun

And forever after

No matter where you go

He’s still on the radio

Grand Pop

Never thought he’d live to be a

Grand Pop

But he still can play until the kids drop

Nothing much has changed along the way

Pop is still Pop today

He’s still Pop, he’s still Pop today

He’s still Pop

Nothing much has changed we’ll call him

Grand Pop

‘Cause he’s till Pop today

You get more taste in a handful of crumbs

You get more substance with bubblegum but

Once you get him in you

A little of his song

He’ll stick with you all day long

Grand Pop

Never thought he’d live to be a

Grand Pop

But he still can play until the kids drop

Nothing much has changed along the way

Pop is still Pop today

He’s still Pop, he’s still Pop today

He’s still Pop

Nothing much has changed we’ll call him

Grand Pop

‘Cause he’s till Pop today

Oo, oo, the writing on the wall

Saying nothing much has changed for him at all

He must be fifty, or maybe sixty

Grand Pop doesn’t show his age

Just when we were thinking

He’s gonna call it quits

Pop just turns another page

Grand Pop

Never thought he’d live to be a

Grand Pop

But he still can play until the kids drop

Nothing much has changed along the way

Pop is still Pop today

He’s still Pop, he’s still Pop today

He’s still Pop

Nothing much has changed we’ll call him

Grand Pop

‘Cause he’s till Pop today

He’s still Pop today

He’s still * today

 

 

 

Cold war

(Darien Martus)
March 17, 2010
Music and Lyrics by Darien Martus, ASCAP
 

This was the song idea that inspired the album.  I heard someone say, "During the Cold War we had doo-wop to keep our minds off what was happening."

Now it’s a cold, cold war

No one fires a shot

We just stand here pointing weapons

Until someone dies of shock

Yes it’s a cold war

A thaw could end the human race

We’re crossing our fingers in our pockets

Blasting our cold war rockets

Into space

The family out in Iowa, doesn’t know what to do

With Khrushchev on the TV pounding his shoe

Do we build our air raid shelter, with a gun to keep them out?

Or just stand here in the open exposed to the fallout?

Now it’s a cold, cold war

No one fires a shot

We just stand here pointing weapons

Until someone dies of shock

Yes it’s a cold war

A thaw could end the human race

We’re crossing our fingers in our pockets

Blasting our cold war rockets

Into space

What a shame we build these weapons to hideous to use

When if it ever comes to contest, everyone would lose

How ‘bout we turn around those cylinders, point them toward the stars?

Send them off on voyages and land them on Mars?

Now it’s a cold, cold war

No one fires a shot

We just stand here pointing weapons

Until someone dies of shock

Yes it’s a cold war

A thaw could end the human race

We’re crossing our fingers in our pockets

Blasting our cold war rockets

Into space

Looks like all of human history, is frozen on the brink

Armed with hate and our technology, we could end it in a wink

That’s why we turn our minds to doo-wop, pretend it’s all okay

Keep practicing our harmonies, let it all go away

Now it’s a cold, cold war

No one fires a shot

We just stand here pointing weapons

Until someone dies of shock

Yes it’s a cold war

A thaw could end the human race

We’re crossing our fingers in our pockets

Blasting our cold war rockets

Into space

War is war, or so they say

But this one breaks the mold

No armies and no battlefields

This war is cold

Roxanne Rolls

(Darien Martus)
March 17, 2010
Music and Lyrics by Darien Martus, ASCAP
 

Hey Miss Roxanne Rolls haven’t you heard?

Never let your songs have complicated words

Stick to girls and cars

So we don’t have to think too hard

And hey Miss Roxanne Rolls

You’re goin’ far

Hey Miss Roxanne Rolls play just three chords

Who cares if all the music geeks are bored?

Stick to just three chords

That way anyone can play ya

And hey Miss Roxanne Rolls

Heya

Roxanne Rolls you never miss

There’s never been a Miss like this

Got me achin’

Got me shakin’

This I know

Got me rockin’

Miss Roxanne Rolls

Hey Miss Roxanne Rolls I don’t know why

After all these years of rockin’ you just won’t die

Stick with me Miss Roxanne Rolls

So you can make me a star

And hey Miss Roxanne Rolls

We’re goin’ far

Roxanne Rolls you never miss

There’s never been a Miss like this

Got me achin’

Got me shakin’

This I know

Got me rockin’

Miss Roxanne Rolls

Hey Miss Roxanne Rolls

I don’t know why

Though we sang this verse before it just won’t die

Anyone in my condition

Needs lots of repetition

So hey, Miss Roxanne Rolls

Sing it again

Roxanne Rolls you never miss

There’s never been a Miss like this

Got me achin’

Got me shakin’

This I know

Got me rockin’

Miss Roxanne Rolls

Got me rockin’

Miss Roxanne Rolls

 

Black Smoke

(Darien Martus)
March 17, 2010
Music and Lyrics by Darien Martus, ASCAP
 

True.  Autobiographical.

15 year old East Side Boy

Had seen it in the papers

Now he wants to see it for himself

With his brothers and his curiosity

He climbs the high school smokestack

13 miles away

The West Side is on fire

15 year old feet

Dangle down the chimney

Nothing there to see just

Black, black, black

White hands grab the lighting rods

“Will it reach to the East Side?

It’s getting way too close

We can see it from here”

Black smoke

Rising in the distance

Black smoke

Now it’s violent resistance

Black smoke

And in this circumstance

Peaceful disobedience

Doesn’t stand a chance

11 year old East Side Boy

Marching with his mother, singing:

“We shall overcome”

He saw it in the faces

He heard it in the song

When it comes to injustice

4 years is too long

Black smoke

Rising in the distance

Black smoke

Now it’s violent resistance

Black smoke

And in this circumstance

Peaceful disobedience

Doesn’t stand a chance

4 years is too long

Black smoke

Rising in the distance

Black smoke

Now it’s violent resistance

Black smoke

And in this circumstance

Peaceful disobedience

Doesn’t stand a chance

Black, black, black, black smoke

Rising in the distance

Black smoke

Now it’s violent resistance

Black smoke

And in this circumstance

Peaceful disobedience

Doesn’t stand a chance

"We shall overcome"

The Aquarian Age

(Darien Martus)
March 17, 2010
Music and Lyrics by Darien Martus, ASCAP
 

We thought we were seeing the light

But we were incredibly high

We’d alter our consciousness

Nothing would bother us

With Lucy and her Diamonds

In the Sky

In the sky

While we were expanding our minds

Our parents were paying the fines

When we got arrested then even the best of us

Left incense and peppermints behind

Left them behind

We thought all we needed was Love

As long as we had the good stuff

As long as it lasted and them when we crashed

It was gone, gone, gone, gone

Some girl who thought she could fly

Became a sidewalk pie

And some guy who thought he was Jesus…

Now what we Aquarians had

Wasn’t just a passing fad

Maybe we shouldn’t have

Maybe we couldn’t have

Thrown out the good stuff

With the bad

Good with the bad

Those ancient and permanent truths

That lit up the fires of our youth

Can’t be denied

We still have them inside

They go on and on and

Maybe we really could soar

And the drugs were some kind of door

And maybe within us we are Divine

Now that the Aquarian Age

Is and old and yellowing page

If we did it over could we do it sober and clean?

Know what I mean?

Run in the Trees

(Darien Martus)
March 17, 2010
Music and Lyrics by Darien Martus, ASCAP
 

As you leave your things behind you

All the superfluity

I feel I must remind you

To give a thought to me

I’m your child and I’m the future

I hope I’m not your last

It’s up to what you do here

It’s not too much to ask

Oh please, let me see the stratosphere

Please, let me breathe

Please, let me swim the river clear

Let me run in the trees

Let me run in the trees

Run in the trees

Where all of Nature sings

Unfettered and free

And so connected to Everything

We’re the flower children’s children

We hope we’re not your last

It’s up to what you do here

It’s not too much to ask

Oh please, let me see the stratosphere

Please, let me breathe

Please, let me swim the river clear

Let me run in the trees

Let me run in the trees

Let me run in the trees

 

 

Disco Daze

(Darien Martus)
March 17, 2010
Music and Lyrics by Darien Martus, ASCAP
 

Dance with me

Zone out in a trance with me

It’s like nothing even matters

Spinning in the haze

Turn the music up

We’ll get lost in a disco daze

Dance with me

In your bell-bottomed pants with me

We’re so fabulous

Who could ask for more?

It must be nice to be us

They let us in the door

Disco Daze

With the lights flashing in our eyes

Disco Daze

We won’t notice that the sixties just died

Booze with me

In your platform shoes with me

Dancing makes you thirsty

So we’ll have to drink some more

‘Till anyone who’s anyone

Is sprawled out on the floor

Disco Daze

Mr. D.J. do your thing

Disco Daze

Blow our minds with the brass and the strings

We’re so fabulous

Who could ask for more?

It must be nice to be us

They let us in the door

Dance all night long with me

Do a line and a bong with me

Makes me feel just like a king

And you can be my disco queen

Then I won’t even mind at all

When you play your tambourine

Disco daze

One twenty bpm

Disco daze

Disco sucks but it just won’t end

No it just won’t end

It’s like nothing even matters

Spinning in the haze

Turn the music up

We’ll get lost in a disco daze

Disco Daze

With the lights flashing in our eyes

Disco Daze

We won’t notice that the sixties just died

 

 

 

Jack and Jill

(Darien Martus)
March 17, 2010
Music and Lyrics by Darien Martus, ASCAP
 

Jack was a boy of 7

In 1958

On his way to heaven

When someone closed the gate

Saying 7 was the season

Life was closing in

He’d reached the age of reason

And understood his sin

Jack fell down and broke his crown

His shining soul was shattered

Oh it’s a fact

He heard it crack

And his heart

Came tumbling after

Jill was just 11

In 1962

On her way to heaven

When womanhood shone through

Now her body takes her over

Love had come to stay

Jack is coming over

And childhood drops away

Jack and Jill went up the hill

With all the sons and daughters

And stories tell that by that well

They shared a pail of Water

What do you think they found there?

What were they looking for?

Life or Love or all the above?

Or was it something more?

Jack was almost 18

In 1969

Already tired and aching

With so much on his mind

And Jill she’s there beside him

And I’m told she Loves him still

Hand in his she guides him

Still heading up the hill

Oh, Jack might fall but don’t we all?

And Jill might tumble after

But they won’t stop ‘till they reached the top

To share a pail of Water

It's Crazy

(Darien Martus)
March 17, 2010
Music and Lyrics by Darien Martus, ASCAP
 

A thousand years ago the world was flat

Religion said where everything was at

With revolutions and executions

They made sure everybody knew that that was that

What can I say?

Some people still believe that crap today

So they use it in elections

Like an infection

And now it hits us like a ton of bricks

It’s insanity

And we were living in a fantasy

Now we got science

Become defiant

And all the evidence says we just can’t buy it

It’s lunacy

If we survive then very soon we’ll see

We’re on a cliff

And wonder if

We’ll either fall or fly away

It’s crazy

It’s crazy

We’re on a cliff

And wonder if

We’ll either fall or fly away

Back in the day there’s only Jack and Jill

But today there’s also Jack and Bill

When it’s upsetting, maybe we’re forgetting

Any kind of Love is chill

But what the hey?!

Condemning others makes us feel okay

And now it seems, it’s in the genes

And that one hits us like seven Gs

It’s insanity

And we were living in a fantasy

Now we got science

Become defiant

And all the evidence says we just can’t buy it

It’s lunacy

If we survive then very soon we’ll see

We’re on a cliff

And wonder if

We’ll either fall or fly away

It’s crazy

It’s crazy

We’re on a cliff

And wonder if

We’ll either fall or fly away

Some think it’s all about what Adam did

That we just popped up as a hominid

That evolution can’t be creation

Like this Egyptian named Moses said

It’s so absurd

To think that Darwin is a dirty word

However how, we got to Now

It could hit us like a nuclear blast

It’s insanity

And we were living in a fantasy

Now we got science

Become defiant

And all the evidence says we just can’t buy it

It’s lunacy

If we survive then very soon we’ll see

We’re on a cliff

And wonder if

We’ll either fall or fly away

It’s crazy

It’s crazy

We’re on a cliff

And wonder if

We’ll either fall or fly away

 

 

 

 

Pages

(Darien Martus)
March 17, 2010
Music and Lyrics by Darien Martus, ASCAP
 

Pages

Turning over

Pages

Flipping past

Dog-eared

Yellowing

Stacked up

Towering

Pages

Marked with memories

Pages

Books of them

Paper airplanes

Leaving thought planes

Landing

Indecipherable

Take off

Un-retrievable

Here’s one

On its way

That one

Profound

Glimpses

Flashing

Brilliance

Passing

Pages

Blank ahead

Pages

Brave and white

Waiting

Patiently

Turning

Inexorably

Moments are

Remarkable

This one is

Unstoppable

Pages

Catch them

Pages

Fill them

Thoroughly

The Guy You Never Heard Of

(Darien Martus)
March 17, 2010
Music and Lyrics by Darien Martus, ASCAP
 

He grew up on the fringes

Of a history that hinges on those

Standing in the spotlight

At the time he thought he hadn’t got it right

In the shadow of the best

He measured his success against

Impossible dimensions

And it isn’t fair for me to fail to mention:

He didn’t always know what to do

But once he made a choice

He always followed through

He hardly ever finished in first place

Still he never dropped out

Of the race

He says he never fit

Hand in a glove

He’s the guy

You never heard of

Someone else’s hero

As someone else’s years go by

In a thousand different sizes

Fragments no one recognizes

He followed circumstances

Danced someone else’s dances

In the shadow of the sounds

Where a thousand songs are falling all around

He didn’t always know what to do

But once he made a choice

He always followed through

He hardly ever finished in first place

Still he never dropped out

Of the race

He says he never fit

Hand in a glove

He’s the guy

You never heard of

He hardly ever finished in first place

Still he never dropped out

Of the race

He says he never fit

Hand in a glove

He’s the guy

You never heard of

Must want to be the guy

You never heard of

 

You and Me

(Darien Martus)
March 17, 2010
Music and Lyrics by Darien Martus, ASCAP
 

There’s you, there’s me

As right can be

We walk together though we know we’re always free

It’s you and me

Inevitably

On and on together you and me

Like summer rain

Like pain and gain

Like something far too complicated to explain

Like autumn leaves

Like birds and bees

We just go on and on together you and me

You and me

Right as it can be

Walk along together though we know we’re always free

You and me

Inevitably

On and on together you and me

Like winter snow

In Buffalo

Something so obvious that everybody knows

Like redwood trees

And endless seas

We just go on and on together you and me

You and me

Right as it can be

Walk along together though we know we’re always free

You and me

Inevitably

On and on together you and me

On and on together you and me