Ol'Yeller, 2001 - SMA Records
mp3s:
To Thine Own Self
Haven't Tried Much-An alternate
version from the album track!
cast:
Rich Mattson: Lead Vocals and Guitar
Dale Kallman: Bass Guitar and Vocals
Keely Lane: Drums
Randy Casey: Vocals and Guitar
- Champion
- You Can't Sing!
- Wherever I'm At
- Haven't Tried Much
- To Thine Own Self
- Confident Fool
- Ancient Sky
- Piece Of Work
- Second Childhood
- The Denial Song
- Filterless
- Follow the Heart
Recorded at Flowerpot
by Rich Mattson
"Champion", "Second Childhood", and "Follow the Heart" mixed at It's A
Secret by David J. Russ
"Haven't Tried Much" and "Wherever I'm At" mixed at Melvin Ray by Brad
Cassetto
Mastered at Melvin Ray by Brad Cassetto
With:
Kevin Murphy-Hammond B3 on "Champion"
Glen Mattson-Drums on "Confident Fool"
Eric Heywood-Pedal Steel on "Piece Of Work" and "The Denial Song"
Dave Russ-Tamborine on "Piece Of Work"
Graham Gregorich-Guitar on "Filterless"
Pete Sands-Chamberlin on "Follow the Heart"
Cover design by
Dan Kalal and Reginald Pype
Layout by Ross Stienberg
All songs copyright
2001 by Rich Mattson, Esper Music (ASCAP), except "the Denial Song" by
Randy Casey copyright 2001 Guitar Case Music (BMI), and "Ancient Sky"
by Rich Mattson and Mark Saari copyright 2001 Esper Music/Worn Fret (ASCAP).
Champion
She only wants to be one of a
million
Reading her book, lying topless by the sea
Me, how I've championed the negative mindset
Looking around, seeing there's noone like me
Children-those waves they're
crashing one after another
You're battling them as if you're gonna win
And the old man he don't come here 'cause he don't know the language
All this talk can't help but piss him off
Yeah I finally found something
to do
Sit and grieve with my tablet
I've championed the negative mindset
In the sunshine on the beach
The Goddess walks alone, but
everybody knows her
They hold her hand and they make her feel at home
I don't see why I feel like I deserve it
To sit by her side at a candle-lit table for two
She don't have nothing to do
Except help and entertain the helpers
None of them have ever felt her
In the way they intend to
Why-why? Why can't you sing?
You were born with everything
Why can't you sing?
You show your pain so physically
Explain it all so certainly
Take it in so recklessly
Why don't you sing?
I've seen your show a hundred
times
Even your conversation rhymes
Tell how your troupe is on the rise
It's a sin!
Why don't you sing?
You have the voice of reasoning
Why don't you sing?
On the day you were given an
electric guitar
You decided that you'd be an opera star
Well, that venture it didn't go far
You can't sing!
Wash out your hair of that purple
shampoo
I'm gonna tell you what we're gonna do
We're gonna bring you a mic on a stand with a boom
And you'll sing!
Sing!
Sing!
Sing!
It's not the worst thing I've
heard in my life
Not like dragging across your plate with a knife
Not like the call of a crow or the clank of a pipe
Not like white noise on my tv screen
Not like the collicky baby who screams
Not like alarm clocks that spoil my dreams
But you're close!
I see why you don't sing!
I see why you don't singe!
I see why you don't sing!
Victim of soul
Losing control
Figuring that it'd be a good thing to lose
Past what is sad
Learned from what's bad
Lost and forsaken in my own paradise
Apple tree
Don't you mess with me
Got the rights to life
I need some sleep
Boy, do I ever
The hours I keep just doing whatever
Week after week
Month after month
Year after year, are we still having fun?
I can't see
Where are we?
Lost my keys and my wallet
Yeah I want to be there now
Takes some time to prepare now
It's not my time
It's not my life
Got this advice from a trip down south
Wherever I'm at
If it's worth all the crap
The crap that you make us look at
Watching the airplanes touching
down
I can't believe those things can even leave the ground
Next stop's the beach at Normandy
I'm ending this one, I'm ending this one
What does anyone go home to,
what's waiting there?
I keep all my inhibitions there
My dog and my wife
The love of my life, the love of my life
On one hand I can't believe you're
getting by
On the other hand, I see you haven't died
It's not like you haven't tried
We used to stay awake all night
long
We used to sit together and write some songs
But now you're too drunk by seven p.m.
By seven p.m.
So now it's good to go home to
something that's warm
And mama's still cooking back on the farm
I hold it all together
It's hard not to care, it's hard not to care
To thine own self be true, don't
let anybody mess with you
If you gotta think twice about it, chances are it's true
I once had a woman who'd never
be my wife
I couldn't live without her, but here I am alive
Those precious memories linger on, but when I see her now, it's not the
same
But she helped me get to where I am today
Things never work out like they're
supposed to do
You're still in love, but I'm not loving you
I'll find a scar and find it attractive
Can't live a normal life, I'm so distracted
To thine own self be true, no
matter what I say to you
You know what to do-to thine own self be true
I once knew an old man, he lived
all alone
He made the finest pancakes, his wife was in the nursing home
He still had his hearing and he still had his sight
And I'll bet he still needed to feel the love at night
Yeah life is so short, and death
surely ain't
Yeah, that is something I don't need to explain
It all somehow weaves itself together
Just like the byrds and bees and the weather
To thine own self be true, don't
let anybody mess with you
Do what you gotta do-to thine own self be true
If I can sing a song about whatever
I want to
Why not turn over a new leaf?
I can't listen to the world that's around you
We don't share any beliefs
When I hear my voice crack, far away I run
Keeps coming back I'm not the one
That I was born to be-
Don't you pity me
I did it to myself
All by myself
Now, if I live by the creed that
whatever I'm thinking
Is what I should carry out
This place would be for sale and someone would be in jail
Thinking 'bout what they had done
Or else I'll shine on through
Not even look at you
Well, that's what you'd do
I think that's pretty cool
Your confidence is cool
And there's no such thing as
a confident fool
That's what you try to tell me
I can sing about whatever I want
to
Why not turn over a new leaf
I didn't solve any problems of any kind
Wow, isn't that a relief
As I look into the ancient sky
Through a telescope, the planes go by
I see a shooting star in the corner of my eye
So much up there in the ancient sky
Have you ever seen a front move
in,
See a clear blue day turn to rain?
The city lights turn the days to nights
And the power turns night into day
Looking up into the ancient sky
One by one those clouds get vaporized
Down here it changes but on one thing I rely
There will always be that ancient sky
Have you ever seen Saturn's rings
Or the northern lights in the winter?
In times of old they would count the stars
As many shimmering as sinners
In the ancient sky...
Now I'm looking through the ancient
sky
Through a telescope, a plane goes by
I see the people with the pain in their eyes
Don't they know they're flying in the ancient sky?
Time has taken whatever you waited
for
Taken it another step away
It gets so close that you can smell it,
Then you wind up waiting another day
It's been so long since I've
had any suggestions
And your clues are hidden so far away
And all the answers-I find there ain't many
Makes it hard to even know what to say
I took a walk, bacame one with
nature
Subjected myself to its silent torture
Then I stood still, until I heard the voices
Telling me that I gotta start over
What a shame, what a scam, what
a piece of work I am
Looking for a lifetime in the clouds
If it's souls that I see, well they're looking down on me
I got my ninety cent deposit
Skeletons in my closet
Ghosts inside my mind, I've got clues I'm trying to find
Still I wish you'd come along
With me down every road I bomb
Tell me a little something about your own damn self..
Dad's car full throttle, long
neck bottles
And girls who'll follow, and girls you chase them
Play games, so innocent
Keep It all at a distance-it's
your insistance
That's how you can despise them
You really got something
But your second childhood soon will end
Your second childhood is better
than the first
But I believe that a third would be the worst
Second childhood..
A far away place, a tight cramped
space
A soul addicted to freedom
A body so grounded
A mind so lost
You rock and roller-you're a
high plains drifter
You oughta feel good
Give and take whenever you want to
Get by only 'cause you got to
Words and music by Randy Casey, copyright 2000 Guitar Case Music (BMI)
I can't believe that you're still
in the picture
I always took you for a camera flash flincher
And your eyes are closed in every shot
Everybody thinks we got high a lot
I see you out there now with
your new man
He don't play in no stupid band
And you look so nervous as you hold his hand
Now you're comin' off like a psychophant
It's easy to see how it couldn't
last
As I stare into my whirlpool glass
The opportunity just wasn't there
Still niether one of us is getting anywhere
I had a dream we're in a courtyard
dancing naked
Down the street there's a carnival and there's music playing
Somehow I woke up in the foulest mood
How come it always ends when I'm getting through?
It goes to show I guess I'll
always care
Even though there ain't nothing there
It's just this forum that we're brought up in
Where we can play all night but noone ever wins
I can't believe that you're still in the picture
Follow the heart but your head
does the thinking
How do you know what your heart is saying
Listening closely to the "boom boom boom"
Sounds a good rhythm and pretty soon
You're hearing a song, but what
does it say?
Do you go or do you stay?
Sounds like a question you've heard before
Most of the time you can't open the door
Listening closely can you get
the key?
And does your heart know how to talk to me?
Does anyone listen, does anyone care?
Is everybody just as scared?
When you follow the heart, do
you compromise
Whatever you're thinking, do you have to tell a lie?
Do you sit by the fire and dream inside?
Do you let go of what your feelings hide?
When you follow the heart, do
you finally feel real?
And can you communicate the honest deal?
And does it matter if anyone understands
In the end, do you know you're a better man?
Follow the heart
Follow the heart