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A Little Night Music
(Woloschuk)

This is just a little night music
Takes its cues from Tanning instead of Sondheim
Six or seven chords played carelessly
Overlaid with a modest rhyme

Broadcast to the bedroom masses
Let them turn it up to lo-
Fidelity indelibly
Earmarks the stereo

A little night music
Something to walk you home
A little night music
Something to call your own

You know it's just another numbers game
Masquerading as intervention
Add it all up and you're back on top
Cut your losses and you're in contention

Suffer fools with the best of them
As you jockey for position
Harbour undesirable elements
In the name of recognition

A little night music
Something to walk you home
A little night music
Something to call your own

Boost the signal, begin transmission
On a pirate band believed decommissioned
Target audience, lock coordinates
I operate under my own ordinance

If there were a soundtrack to this life
I'd save you for the hidden track
A dark secret guilty indulgence 
Written off as studio hack

Spin you like a turn of phrase
Put you on high rotation
Play you like a party line
Kick-start a conversation

A little night music
Something to walk you home
A little night music
Something to call your own
 

Commission
(Woloschuk)

I receive my commission
Commit the crime of a century
Having cast my decision
Retire to the armoury 

Where a seraphic voice is my weapon of choice
Cutting their hold to the quick
Affording me entry to the homes of the gentry
Leaving nary a lock unpicked

I've been out of commission
For the better part of this century
But I've held this position
Like a time-honoured memory

The passage of years is denoted by peers
Who've abandoned their thieving ways
For family and order and picket fenced borders
Enthralled by the suburban sway

I accept my commission
On the sale of a century
But append an admission 
By way of advisory

My stock in trade has seen me remade
From what my parents conceived 
Defined by my commerce and the black market's worst
I'm not the man I was meant to be
 

Costing Me Sleep
(Woloschuk)

You've been costing me sleep
With the hours and the company you keep
The weight of your discretion's
Been bourn by me complexion
You can see you've been costing me sleep

They say your spirit's intoxicating
It's a point I'm open to debating
Order another round 'cause to date I have found
Your wiles well on their way to abating

You've been costing me sleep
With the hours and the company you keep
The weight of your discretion's
Been bourn by me complexion
You can see you've been costing me sleep

And even you on the avenue
Picking pigments to paint your patron saint
Can't imagine, you could not conceive, it's beyond belief
The notions that come to me
On these impotent nights when a slight of hand
Remands you into the custody of a dirty pop song
That's held sway too long on the radio
You know the one
It's only begun to occur to me
Your allure's lost it's lustre
And I can't muster my motivation
I'll take this occasion to declare
Don't you dare come around
You're bound to find I've made up mind
I'm staying inside of the hour you'll get no reply
No cause for alarm only resting my eyes

There's no cause for alarm
I'm only resting my eyes
 

In Threes
(Woloschuk)

In the argot of the patriot
I'll pen an anthem for a dead nation
Weight and measure every incantation
Make believers over the receiver
Move lips in time to words I've tendered
Sewing coats of arms artistically rendered

Unseemly as it might appear
I'm looking forward to past arrears

Kill the stage lights, let fall the curtain
Onto the shoulders of a beast of burden
By the grace of god, aided abetted
To devil's advocates forever indebted

It comes to me in threes

Take full stock in this epoch
Let's end an era right here in this room
Our role was foretold on the walls of the womb
All drift nearer to ephemera
Unless we enact an aesop fable
Sterilize these scalpels and clear that table

For the greater good, I'll play the surgeon
Sully instruments pristine and virgin

Excise the abscess with keen precision
Employing a deviant's vision
Rework the systems in my own image
You're body's a temple, we're the surrounding village

It comes to me in threes

At the end of a cold war I'm left to hold your 
Life in my hands a list of your demands
My attention and might I mention
It's all too much, I find you a touch
Too clerical, a miracle of modern design
Contours and lines
Angles of infraction drawn to distraction

Carved in crude verisimilitude 
Blend and dissipate into the masses
Await the signal, meet after classes
Final foray, a red letter day
Recall all forces for the incursion
An act of deviance, outright aversion

To the doctrine of this region
We've been christened, our name is legion

March like it's May Day in the name of labour
Let love and honour guide your behavior
Synchronize watches, our time is at hand
Sit this one out but I know where I stand

It comes to me in threes
 

Living in Castles   MP3
(Woloschuk)

As a boy who couldn't talk by the age of three
You could say communiqué never mattered much to me
Now I'm living in castles a bit at a time
Receiving mixed signals and transmitting in kind

Will Austin - Tasmanian devil
Chris Lovell - bass
C.L. McLaughlin - electric guitar
Curtis Woloschuk - vocal; acoustic guitar
 

No News Is Good News
(Woloschuk)

I've seen them back your national front
From the wrong direction
I've never bought your school of thought
Regarding insurrection
Throw down your arms, drop all defences
Top of the hour armistice commences
Take your time, set it astray
Cast it out in rapturous array

Beleaguered brigade soldier on
Be strong, be brave, save face about
This fine occasion for evisceration
Do you think you can gut it out?
I'm the avant-garde of laissez-faire
I've no regard for current affairs
Bypass headlines for photo spreads
Opinions for horoscopes instead

I know no news is good news
Domestic or overseas
I know no news is good news
Jam all frequencies

Word came down on Saturday
The revolution failed to be televised
Preempted due to lack of interest
Cameras turned to anchors in ties
Who pledge allegiance to syndication
Multi-media conglomerations
Who run their flags up opinion polls
And cater kindly in complete control

An unnamed source on public access
Credited for this full disclosure
I don't know what you heard, I didn't say a word
I'm overwhelmed by under-exposure
Under my breath and off the record
I'm out of touch of my own accord
Correspondence with foreign bureaus
Will corroborate exactly what I don't know

I know no news is good news
Domestic or overseas
I know no news is good news
Jam all frequencies

You would teach me to fly
Just to shoot me down
Over the ocean
Just to watch me drown
You'd call it exclusive
Just between you and me
Cross your heart with dotted eyes
Broadcast for all to see

I know no news is good news
Domestic or overseas
I know no news is good news
Jam all frequencies
 

Parallels   MP3
(Woloschuk)

You were drawing concentric circles
Leaving me to draw parallels
To works of creative writing
Shapes of things you used to tell me

"Independent thought's had it rough of late
Why not join the convention and end the debate?"
But I have it on good authority
We've been carpet called by the emissaries

And when the agents of the rapture arrive and impart
Demands for me to declare all I've suffered for art
I'll produce three ring binders and puncture marks
Hope for the best, hope to hear: "Well, it's a start."

You were drawing concentric circles
Leaving me to draw parallels

Will Austin - electric guitar; synthesizer
C.L. McLaughlin - glockenspiel
Curtis Woloschuk - vocal; acoustic guitar
 

Puppets
(Woloschuk)

You've got the poise, you've got the parts
To earn you top beauty marks
You're true confection flavour of the day
You're on display, you're on parade
Heaven sent, material made
New star ascending off the runway

Never one for labels or lip gloss
Never packed a purse
Dressed yourself in rags and hand-me-downs
Thought about being a nurse

But fuck it
You're just a puppet
Dangling from a string
Becoming everything
You ever hated
But now you've made it
So hip-hooray for you
Hip-hooray for you

Making connections, making moves
To corporate up-tempo grooves
I'm well ahead, leader of the pack
I'm climbing fast on the pay scale
Heavy-hitter, hard as nails
Higher-ups had better watch their backs

Never one for fights or rivalries
Never cliques nor sets
Loved my mom, was kind to animals
Thought about being a vet

But fuck it
I'm just a puppet
Dangling from a string
Becoming everything
I ever hated
But now I've made it
So hip-hooray for me
Hip-hooray for me

Cells, biscottis, s.u.v.s
Two bedroom flat - three-seventy
Grand the plans drawn by design
We're getting married, talking kids
Sleepy lives with heavy lids
All laid out in a line

But fuck it
We're just puppets
Dangling from our strings
Becoming everything
We ever hated
But now we've made it
So hip-hooray for us
Hip-hooray for us
 

She's in a State
(Woloschuk)

She's in a state, she's all but come undone
The pills fix her fits but won't let her cum

She's in a state, she's taken a turn
The day's third joint, no lesson learned

She's in a state, she'd staying in
Dramamine drama queen theatrics begin
She's in a state, can't escape her skin
She implores me to score her a requiem

She's in a state, she's clearing the air
Her razor wire words strip both us bare

She's in a state, she's gone for the worse
Taken her toll and lined her purse

She's in a state, she's staying in
Dramamine drama queen theatrics begin
She's in a state, can't escape her skin
She implores me to score her a requiem

After days of malaise she lays disarrayed
Saying, "Sing me the saddest song you can play
It can't hurt me know, I've come undone
And in doing so, I've begun
A communist clique of the revolutionary chic
Who've deemed me a damsel diplomatique"
That's all she can manage before she passes out
I move to the phone, dial and shout,

"She's in a state"
 

Summer Cold
(Woloschuk)

Summer cold
Under the weather for over a month
Caught up in this paradox
Await the equinox
These things tend to turn in time

This has happened before
I'm well aware of the routine
Caught up in the congestion
And ignore any suggestion
Pharmaceutically inclined

But these assaults on my system
You know I'm powerless to resist them
And abject failure
Hangs like a suit poorly tailored

Summer cold you've been to bold
Bringing about all that spring foretold
Fever flares under July's glare
Leaving me dreaming 'bout things that were never there

As a sickly scribe
I'm telling tales from out of school
Attempt to plot a night course
Lead a life that you'll endorse
Absolve all complicity

I really can't foresee
This ending any other way
All my futures lead the same place
A home in your good grace
Sacrosanct simplicity

But these assaults on my system
You know I'm powerless to resist them
And abject failure
Hangs like a suit poorly tailored

Summer cold you've been to bold
Bringing about all that spring foretold
Fever flares under July's glare
Leaving me dreaming 'bout things that were never there

All my fortunes turn
On the whim of a woodland wrist
Reading tealeaves by the treeline
Throwing bones and charting starsigns
Across a pagan sky

I'm just killing time
But in the interim I'll catch my death
Immunity's all but eclipsed
I find myself too ill equipped
To muster a reply

But these assaults on my system
You know I'm powerless to resist them
And abject failure
Hangs like a suit poorly tailored

Summer cold you've been to bold
Bringing about all that spring foretold
Fever flares under July's glare
Leaving me dreaming 'bout things that were never there

Summer cold
 

The Death of You
(Woloschuk)

The death of you has been declared monumental
They're breaking ground and drawing up plans
Publicly debating architectural aesthetics
Deciding how best to mark the man

Whose body of work outlived his earthly vessel
For the betterment of generations to come
Once forward thinking, you're now westward facing
Staunchly saluting the twelve-o-clock gun

I'll lay down and sunbathe
In the grass around your grave

The death of you a matter of great debate
Your final fate a bone of contention
Did you move away, pass on or dream it over
Another foray into reinvention

You took to the stage name with an auteur's aplomb
Adorned yourself in the veils of vice
After all the leg work moved to twelve step programs
Orchestrated a shift to the right

I'll lay down and sunbathe
In the grass around your grave

The death of you reflected poorly upon me
In front of family couldn't muster a tear
A layman's amen muttered without conviction 
Begets questions what I'm doing here

A token effort by my own admission
I'll pay for it at a later date
With an aircraft boarding in under four hours
There'll be better times to commiserate

I'll lay down and sunbathe
In the grass around your grave
I'll lay down a hallelujah
Spread it over hallowed ground
I'll lay down a hallelujah
Leave it behind to confound
I'll lay down a hallelujah 
Beyond cemetery walls
I'll lay down a hallelujah
Amidst a continental fall

I'll lay down and sunbathe
In the grass around your grave
 

Trapline
(Woloschuk)

The fur round the wound is spotted and matted
With blood and mud, the pack scattered
At first report of your opening salvo
Things look grim but you never can tell though

You're put on notice: I'm no fox, no hare
I've bettered legholds and bested snare
I'm a ripe old bitch up to her tits in tricks
Seen my share, taken my licks

I've been caught before
Gnawed off a leg to survive
But I've still three more to stand on
I maintain command of my balance
If this is a challenge I accept
And I don't expect any mercy to be shown
For I've grown up on this trapline
Swan in its rivers, slept under pines
Raised up three litters, left lovers to die
On this trapline

My actions assured neither fearful nor cautious
I tap my species' collect unconscious
One for the ages, a dying breed
From stock built for stealth, resilience and speed

Cut for the underbrush to cover my tracks
You lose my prints, you'll pay for that lapse
Climb up a hill for a predator's view
Before you know it I'll be upon you

I've been caught before
Gnawed off a leg to survive
But I've still three more to stand on
I maintain command of my balance
If this is a challenge I accept
And I don't expect any mercy to be shown
For I've grown up on this trapline
Swan in its rivers, slept under pines
Raised up three litters, left lovers to die
On this trapline

If I be of bounty
Take dead aim
I dare you to claim me

I've been caught before
 

While You Were Out   MP3
(Woloschuk)

While you were out I began to start
To retrace my steps and slowly take apart
A cautionary tale penned for me by you
Composed of regret and everything you would not do

I've had my chance to leave but I believe I'll stay
As long as the muse that moves me asks me to play

While you were out I searched your purse for change
Then moved on to the bedroom where I rearranged
The contents of a life built be my for you
Constructed from regret and everything I would not do

I've had my chance to leave but I believe I'll stay
As long as the muse that moves me asks me to play

While you were out I didn't miss a thing
Just reflected on the obvious and what to light it brings
A co-dependent house divided in two
Collapsed under the weight of everything we would not do

I've had my chance to leave but I believe I'll stay
As long as the muse that moves me asks me to play

Will Austin - electric guitar; synthesizer
Curtis Woloschuk - vocal; acoustic guitar