Category Archives: acoustic

Baby Said

Baby was the ultimate be-careful-what-you-wish-for present. A pretty little Pandora’s gift box of trouble that any red blooded young man would be delighted to find lying under the Christmas tree.

Requiring more maintenance than a fleet of Jaguars, Baby could accelerate from zero to absolutely insane in 6 seconds flat, swinging in dizzying arcs between coyly demure and wide-eyed man-eater, from maudlin sentimentality to steely disdain to weeping, soul-melting anguish. And back again.

Best left to connoisseurs and aficionadi…

A note on these recordings…

I’ve included both a (more or less) straight folk version as well as a (hopefully) funky (but still quite acoustic) version. You can also hear the ‘studio’ version on my one blue nine soundclick page. The one blue nine version is, I think, kind of droll. The basic mix has been kicking around for a few years and was DL’d thousands of times at the old mp3.com (where it made the ‘hard house’ top 10). Earlier this year, I came up with an acapella harmony intro that’s good for a chuckle or two, I think. I wish I could tell you I was a natural whiz at harmonizing with myself, but technology played a big roll in the new intro.

BTW… the inclusion of two AYoS versions today puts us even after the Holiday Clip Show. I’m now back on mission. A song per day. I won’t try to slack off again. Clip show… what was I thinking?

folk version:

acoustic funk version:

[full club style version on Soundclick (2000) | requires Flash]

Baby Said

baby said she’d love me
she’d always stand beside me
baby lied . . . but that’s all right
baby said forever
baby said never say goodbye
she left that night

baby said a lot of things a
fool wouldn’t buy
she got caught a thousand times
I sorta let it slide
baby said she loved me
I think she thought she did
baby said a lot of things
she was such a crazy kid

baby said honey
you ain’t got no money
I like that so
my old man’s made of loot
and it don’t buy no truth
and Baby knows

baby said a lot of things
it was such a crazy time
Baby said remember
cause I’ll see you when you die
baby said its over
over and over again
baby said forever and then we
just begin again

baby said save me
sometimes I think I’m crazy
She’d say anything–even the truth
But once you surrendered
it really was forever and
there wouldn’t be nothing anyone could ever do

Things That Lisa Says

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Things That Lisa Says

Who among us can resist the temptation to get maudlin and morose on Christmas Eve?

And what can be sadder than the story of a tragically misunderstood young girl who cried out for attention once too often?

You won’t find the whole story in this reading of the song because last night when I was recording this, I simply could not commit the denoument verse to the hard drive… it was just too pat, too on the nose… too obvious. Too lame.

Suffice it to say that in the part of the story I left out, Lisa will have an opportunity to be reevaluated at the staff’s convenience at some future date — if she shows a sufficient change in attitude. Her parents will send the upstairs maid to visit her every other weekend.

Still, there’ll be glimmer of hope, a young intern who whispers that he’s going to the state authorities, trust him — he’ll get her out.

Yet, she doesn’t see him again and on a lonely Christmas Eve, staring out through the tiny, barred window of her discreetly padded cell, she finds herelf praying for a Christmas miracle…

Yep, all of that was in that was in that one verse I cut. You know what they say, art is knowing what to leave out.

Happy holidays!

Things That Lisa Says

No one understands
the things that Lisa says
they just shake their head
they think that Lisa’s strange

No one understands
the games that Lisa plays
singing to herself
and dancing in the rain

No one’s ever seen
the world where Lisa lives
it’s all some crazy dream
she’s just a crazy kid

No one understands
the games that Lisa plays
singing to herself
and dancing in the rain

I Just Started to Cry

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I Just Started to Cry

If you’ve ever made love in a hayloft — or tried — you probably realize that the reason such scenes are a fixture of certain romantic literature is that you have to be completely filled with a crazed, don’t give a damn passion to lay down in hay much less roll around in it.

But waking up in a hayloft the morning after puppy love turns serious during a sudden, summer storm… I’m thinking there might be a few delicious moments, there… or maybe bittersweet, if deep down you know you’re headed out of town as soon as you can get some travelling money together and hop a freight out to one of the coasts or maybe down to the gulf.

This song is about that moment, that very moment, when you know for certain just how much you’re about to throw away.

I Just Started to Cry

We ran through the summer night
it was hot and it was black
we ran until we were all alone
and didn’t even know the way back

We were young
we were in love
that summer we were one
when I look back I start to cry
to think of what is gone

A storm came up from the south real fast
and lightning lit the rain
I looked in her eyes for a moment
and then it was dark again

Our hands entwined and then our tongues
we were soaking wet
we made our way to the old Hansen barn
and there our souls met

I woke up the next morning
and she slept by my side
the sunlight poured through the hayloft door
and I just started to cry

I cried cause she looked so pretty lying there
I cried because I loved her so
I cried cause I knew she was the only one
and I cried cause I knew I was gonna go

Rubber Room Rock

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Do the Rubber Room Rock

This sardonic cautionary tale joins my earlier opus to dangerous dancing, “The Slam” (as yet unpresented on AYoS).

One of the great things about having been around more or less at the beginning of the punk thing in LA is that I never felt I had to buy into anyone else’s vision of punk — so I never felt compelled to dive into a slam pit or jump off a p.a. tower.

The way I looked at it — the first person who jumped off a p.a. tower — maybe that was punk (and perhaps fatal). But the second guy who did it was just a poseur — and a stupid one at that.

A few years ago, after I first put the ‘studio version’ of this song on the web, I heard from a few people who saw (or knew the victims of) very unfortunate incidents — so I guess I should point out that engaging in a moment of stupidity and ending up brain damaged is not always a laughing matter. I’d like to think that today’s youth has learned a thing or two — but just in case — Don’t try this in your century, kids.

Today’s acoustic version:

Full version:

RUBBER ROOM ROCK

I used to twist and do the jerk
they don’t let me do that no more
now all I do is do the worm
in my straight jacket down on the floor

but I still rock
I still rrock
I do the Rubber Room Rock
Oh yea I rock
I still rock
I do the Rubber Room Rock

Used to slam and bang my head
ten thousand stage dives or more
dove forty feet from a PA tower
and went three feet into the floor

But I still rock
yeah I rock . . .

None of my friends are no fun no more
they just sit in the dayroom and stare at the floor
they come back from the lab with rings round their eyes
therapy’s so expensive — they lobotomize

But they still rock
oh yeah we rock
we do the Rubber Room Rock
Oh sure we rock
unh hunh we rock
we do the Rubber Room Rock