mp3 sample: Under the Tree
Recorded entirely at Flowerpot Studio and produced by Rich Mattson
The band:
Rich Mattson: vocals, guitars, harmonica, percussion
Dale Kallman: bass, vocals, piano, Rhodes piano
Keely Lane: drums and percussion
Greg McAloon: banjo "Under the Tree" and "Expecting to Die"
NUZZLE lyrics:
All songs copyright 2002
by Rich Mattson; Esper Music (ASCAP)
Out There
Ed Hamell he travels in a red Cavalier
Put a hundred fifty thousand miles on it this year
Don't you ever think he wonders, "what am I doing here"?
I sure know I do, cuz it's lonely out there
Like a sailor at sea, it's just shore
leave for me
Just a couple days off from the usual k.p.
To Ed it's the opposite, the time spent at home
And the time that he works for is time spent alone
So let's drink to the screw-ups, the
jokers, the ghosts
'Cause those are the ones we're gonna sing about the most
That old van you see died out on the side of the road
With the Black Flag stickers-stop and give them a tow
But Ed Hamell, he travels in a red Cavalier
Cris-crossed the country seven times in one year
Don't you ever think he wonders "what am I doing here"?
There sure is a lot of roadway out there
Don't you know I'm just a poet, honey
I write songs and hang out with flunkies
There's too many dreams to remember
All of them live in the burning embers
Underneath the tree
Sometimes the more obscure it is
The more obvious the genius to me
Underneath the tree
Underneath the tree
Sometimes the more controlled it is
The more intense the rage is to me
Underneath the tree
If you learned so much in your last life
What are you doing here today?
Did you come back just to learn how to love me?
Well, you're so far away
Tonight it's my night to feel the burn
As I wait for sleep to come
Last night I earned my keep
Tonight I'm gonna dance until dawn
Only in my dreams is it all that well
Tonight I'll feel the burn, I guess it's my turn
I'll just keep my mouth shut
Just keep my mouth shut
I'm gonna cash in all my points
At the new cheater's warehouse
I'm gonna just start from scratch
And I don't wanna hear nothing about it
So as usually I'd berate you
Tonight I won't hate you
Tonight I'll feel the burn, I guess it's my turn
I'll just keep my mouth shut
Just keep my mouth shut
With your beautiful lips and your almond
eyes
If I'm nuts about you, you shouldn't act so surprised
But if my deck is stacked
I'm just not the same man-I just don't need to be
Honey don't do that to me
Tonight I'll take my turn
Tonight I'll feel the burn
I'll just keep my mouth shut
There is nothing I can do about it
Just sit here and brood about it
The way I can't break through about it to you
So I guess we'd best believe it
Cuz that's the way that you're gonna play it
And we're gonna go over like a lead balloon
It's a heartache
It's a waste of time
Payin' so much
To go nowhere
Ridin' in coach and the food looks like shit
Nobody's enjoying any of it
But we made up our minds
We're goin' through with it
I could go get drunk and have a ball
That would be so original
I'm sick of drinkin', I'm sick of acting like a fool
I'll just lie down on the floor and dream it off
Think about how I stole you love
And how I plan on giving it back to you
In a few days
I'll miss you
I'm gonna miss you babaaay
I'll miss you
Won't you miss me too?
Well, we made up our minds-we're going through with it
You'll never catch me in bed before midnight
I'm a late night person all the way
And the more I accomplish in one day
The more I am likely to do the next
I forget about momentum when I sit on the couch all depressed
I get caught up in the whereabouts
Of the have-nots and the haven't ever beens
But if everything was easy
I'd make the same mistakes over again
Now time doesn't creep by it flies by and here we are, my friend
Ambition is one word that's been forgotten
Ambition is like something from the past
Ambition-that's just something for other people
Ambition just got smoked up with the grass
Now, if there's something to recall it
is ambition
For don't you know the song remains the same
Whether or not you ever hit the big time
And whether anybody knows your name
You just can't go back to from where you came
To my black-eyed waitress at the waffle
house
God damn the man who gave that to you
Now you're giving him wake up calls at 5:30
'Cuz that's what you said that you'd do
That's what you said that you'd do
I'll be your witness-you called him three
times
And that bastard didn't answer-he didn't wake up
And now he's gonna blame you
From the blast furnace heat of the parking
lot
To the hellish refineries at night
Coming into Sulpher, Louisiana
I couldn't live here if it meant my life
I wouldn't live here if it meant my life
Sleeping in the van-with the windows
wide open
Dripping heat in the July weather
We drove 400 miles on two hours' sleep
Man, it was crazy-but now it's cool
Cool, clear water-and Mexican food
And my black-eyed waitress at the waffle
house
Man, that bruise it went all down your cheek
How often do you get to New Orleans?
And what about the wake up call that YOU need?
Harken back the old days of winter-for
this I can't wait
Seems like this dismal summer is never gonna take
They had us all looking forward to the times that we'd spend
Rolling 'round in the clover, floatin' down that river bend
But it's a long, hot summer of madness
Can't find a comfortable spot on the mattress
The season of love has let me down
Like a baby run away screaming from a clown
What ever happened to all my crazy friends
Ringin' the bell, sayin' hey it's time to tap the keg
All of a sudden that behavior isn't healthy
Not like sittin' around with dreams of being wealthy
In a long, hot summer of madness
Like maloncholy and the infinite realms of sadness
When the leaves are changing, it'll surely make it sadder
Knowing summer's come and gone and it didn't even matter
And I'll be the last to admit that the
honeymoon is over
I'll be the last to say that the good times are gone
But it seems like this year everybody's working
Nobody has time for wine and song
In a long, hot summer of madness
Can't find a comfortable spot on the mattress
The leaves are changing, it'll surely make it sadder
Knowing summer's come and gone, and it didn't even matter
Is it just me or all my friends?
I never thought I'd wanna see summer coming to an end
I can't hang when the night revolves
around you
Everybody's clinging to your every word
You get off on your ability to hold rapt attention
I can't hang, and I feel so claustrophobic
Nobody's allowed to talk but you
It's unbelievable-where's a heckler when you need one?
You're too cool for school
Everyone eats it up
It's just yer emo-core country
You're so messed up
Don't give me my propers
Well you're so in demand
Hell, I don't even think I'd allow myself to shake your hand!
I've been spurned-nobody's in on the
action but you
You're a great politician aren't you?
You can hack down all the jocks now, and none of them can get to you
Yeah, that's enough-I'm so tired of talking 'bout you
But that's all anybody wants to do
Hey-if all you perceive is jealousy in me
Well, that's where you're wrong
It just ain't my scene
Your fucking emo-core country
It's all make believe
When those heroes you worship don't know where they're from
You gotta admit it-it's a little dumb
Sometimes when I'm researching my potential
I get amused at what I find
I just sit for hours and hours searching
Looking for those golden rhymes
And there simply is no structure
No real reason for being lost
Just seems that the tail end that I grabbed onto
Got broken off with the frost
And they're scared of me
They don't know where to place me
I'm making enemies of folks I never see
By the time that I ask for help
I get into the drowning
Go down again, taste the bottom again
When I come back up I'm frowning
'Cuz I know if they'da looked they might have found me
Swimming low, down in a web of weeds
Don't you know sometimes you have to die
To find the most precious seeds
Sooner or later, they all get it straight
Sooner or later you're just stung by the hate
Everyone except people like my dad
Come on, sometimes it doesn't look so bad
People are out there, and I'm still standing
Selling their souls out like pieces of candy
There's lots of smoke but I don't see no fire
The cash and the chicks is all they desire
Leave it to travel to make you feel so
small
Halfway across the country it's the same damn strip mall
I see why you never leave the house
Everything you need's a click away on your mouse
Sooner or later they all get it straight
Down on their knees at heaven's gate
Sooner or later, yeah even my dad
Come on, sometimes it doesn't look so bad
If I can't see my dreams through
Can I see yours through with you?
I won't tell you what to do
But I can't promise you I won't
Maybe I'm better going alone
Fame's an empty promise,
Who's gonna gamble on the doubting Thomas?
Seen the day go by for this
Yeah, it's come and gone
The whole world's singing different songs
I don't have to sing along
If I can't see my dreams through
Mind if I tag along with you?
We'll travel afar, through the air
Go to Napoli, Rome, Paris
Visit the Czar and his ministers
Drink the wine and quench your thirst
Abandon all my ideals and bad friends
Following my pretty girl to the end
She's crying like a baby, she's howlin'
like the dickens
I son't understand it-it was only one time
I guess in my mind, I was just scratching the surface
Looks like in her life, she's just about had enough
You never know about some people
They're awful thin-skinned
Ain't seen shit like we have, ain't been where we been
Never slept on your doorstep calling out to the lord
Ain't never been hungry, ain't never been a whore
So when the men in white took her she
went to them calmly
I guess sometimes lessons come with a price
Even living at the nuthouse is a far cry from hell
They keep her doped up, and she likes that just swell