Tag Archives: The Barista Cycle

associated with the 1996 concept album, The Barista Cycle

You’re Too Much Trouble, Christine

think we’re gonna try something new, here.

I recorded this a few days ago and put it aside. As I was prepping the file to use it today, trimming the clunks and thunks off the begining and end and outputting it to an mp3, and I sort of got the song caught in my head.

I started singing it out loud (I live by myself — I can do these things) and finally picked up a guitar and started playing the song much more aggressively and decided I really liked it better.

But us database guys hate wasted anything, so I decided to post this one anway — and as soon as I get done with this post, I’m going to hit the big red button and record what I’m hearing in my head right now, and, barring unforseen circumstances, like the sudden onslaught of a bout of good taste or better judgement, I should post that version tomorrow. So, it’ll be an opportunity for comparative analysis and criticism. In fact, for my next project, I think I’ll just do a year’s worth of different versions of this song.

By the way, this is yet another song from the ’96 project, The Barista Cycle. Oh, yeah… and yes, I am painfully aware of how much the tempo varies, sometimes within a bar or two in today’s version. All I can say is, wait’ll you hear tomorrow’s version.

You’re Too Much Trouble, Christine

You’re too much trouble, Christine
You’re too much trouble, Christine
You’re too much trouble, Christine
So Why do I love you, Christine
You’re too much trouble, Christine

Christine on a beach, Christine on a plane
Christine in a cafe with the boulevardiers
Christine on the set Christine in my head
Christine in my heart and tearing up my bed

You’re too much trouble, Christine…

Christine I’m terrified just holding your hand
Christine you twist me like no one else can
Christine you’re crazy but you got a plan
world domination begins with one man

You’re too much trouble, Christine
You’re too much trouble, Christine
You’re too much trouble, Christine
So Why do I love you, Christine
You’re too much trouble, Christine

Losing Lisa

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Looks Like I'll Be Losing Lisa

Ah… the once ubiquitous present participle title. Actually, the original title of this song was Looks Like I’ll Be Losing Lisa. Then it was just plain Lisa. But the Goldilocks in me said the one was just too long and the other too short. Still, the cynical iconoclast in me is gritting his teeth and saying, geez.

Anyhow, this song is about a sap, er, a guy who just can’t throw enough bling at his enamorata to make her happy and content.

A note on a couple of cultural references in the song, which was written way back in 1996 (as part of the Barista Cycle album project mentioned in a previous entry). Specifically, the lines: ‘Got a second job just to buy nice things for Lisa / Laptop, cell phone, wetbar in her car — all for Lisa.’

Obviously laptops and cellphones are now commonplace.

So, if you’re old enough, roll your mind back to the previous century, to a naive, much simpler time… a time of long, lazy summer days, and evenings by the radio in the parlor with the family, listening to The Green Hornet and The Great Gildersleeves and sipping lemonade from the family lemon tree…

Hmm… that was 1996, wasn’t it? It’s all so hazy, now. (See yesterday’s song.)

AYoS acoustic version:

full version (Mp3, 128k)

Losing Lisa

Lately it looks like I’ll be losing Lisa
Danged if there’s a thing I can do to keep her
It scares me what I used to do to please her
‘Cause now I know there’s just no pleasing Lisa

Now I know — there’s no pleasing Lisa
Now I know — there’s no pleasing Lisa

Gave all my records and my stereo to Lisa
gave up my band and dropped out of school — all for Lisa
Tattoed her name in a secret place — it said “Property of Lisa”
What a waste of time ’cause nothing ever pleases Lisa

Now I know — there’s no pleasing Lisa
Now I know — there’s no pleasing Lisa

Got a second job just to buy nice things for Lisa
Laptop, cell phone, wetbar in her car — all for Lisa
But she’s not impressed, she’s not happy yet — that’s just Lisa
‘Cause nothing in the world will ever please that girl — that’s our Lisa

Now I know — there’s no pleasing Lisa
Now I know — there’s no pleasing Lisa

Don’t Let Dee Dee Dog You ‘Round

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Don't Let Dee Dee Dog You 'Round

I figured that things were getting far too serious, what with all this talk about betrayal, dissolution, and futility. So I thought, what better to lighten the tone a little, than a loving broadside directed at a small-town trollop… (Part of my 1996 girl-name album project, The Barista Cycle.)

Don’t Let Dee Dee Dog You ‘Round

Don’t let Dee Dee dog you ’round
If you knew her old tricks you’d haul yer bones outta town
Let me share the wisdom that the pack has found
don’t let Dee Dee — dog you ’round

You’re new round here
so let me clue you in
there’s a firestorm of trouble
you’re about to jump in
her name is Deborah Dale
won’t wanna hear that again
‘Cause Dee Dee means danger — and damnable sin

We all ’round here we’ve seen it before
we pretty much know what you’ve got in store
she’ll rip out your heart and tear up your soul
there ain’t a man here in town that she can’t control
–all the same, we all love Deborah Dale

In the trailer parks
and the liquor stores
in the strip mall lounges
‘midst the strip mall mores
one light shines above all the rest
its the same flame that draws
the moths to their deaths

Don’t let Dee Dee…

A fool and his money are soon famous round here
and the vampires have radar for a fool full of beer
most suck out your money then they leave you alone
but Dee Dee don’t stop til she’s drained out your soul

Don’t let Dee Dee dog you ’round
If you knew her old tricks you’d haul yer bones outta town
Let me share the wisdom that the pack has found
don’t let Dee Dee — dog you ’round.

Kristin (Was Never Here)

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It’s too hot to think, here… it’s certainly too hot to strap on a pair of headphones. I recorded this last week and put it aside for just such an occasion.

Kristin was written for an album of “girl name songs” back in 1996, The Barista Cycle. The women behind the names that inspired the songs were real — they worked at my favorite coffee shop — but the songs and the girls in them were entirely fictional. (Still it made for a few awkard moments with a couple of boyfriends and husbands.)

AYoS acoustic version:

Barista Cycle version:

Kristin Was Never Here

Kristin was never here
You didn’t see her slip in the back way
You didn’st see her float up the stairs
You didn’t see her perfect hand on my door
Because Kristin was never here

She loves me twice as much as him
Lord, I know that’s true
but she loves those kids 10000 times more
and, man, I know that too

Nothing adds up or works out right
Nothing’s gonna make it so
I’ve run the numbers a million times
at the bottom line I gotta go

Kristin was never here…

one last time I swear we only kissed
for a moment there were only two
eternity is where parallel lines meet
and all lies are true

You didn’t see her slip in the back way
You didn’st see her float up the stairs
You didn’t see her perfect hand on my door
Because Kristin was never here

____________

Did I mention it’s hot here? Stinking hot. Melting plastic hot.

Hot, hot, hot.

Hot.

(And, yes, my Riverside and San Berdoo brothers and sisters — I know I don’t know the meaning of the word.)