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In: Lyrics, Strictly Personal
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The path is the mask of love, a way, a way The flow is the task above today, There is no other way (repeat) You gotta trust us when y’ need a friend T’ find us y’ gotta look within Y’ gotta trust us (repeat) before y’ turn t’ dust (repeat) Y’ gotta see before y’ see Y’ gotta be before y’ll be (we love you) Y’ gotta touch without taint Y’ gotta hear without fear Y’ gotta feel t’ reveal Y’ gotta touch without taint Such is IS n’ AIN’T is AIN’T (repeat) We’re for you, love you, with you, love you, just a few We love you,Read More →

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In: Lyrics, Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
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Tropical Hot Dog Night Like two flamingoes in a fruit fight Ev’ry colour of day Whirlin’ around at night I’m playin’ this music So the young girls will come out To meet the monster tonight Tropical Hot Dog Night Like two flamingoes in a fruit fight I don’t wanna know ‘bout wrong or right I don’t want to know – I’m anywhere tonight Tropical Hot Dog Night Like two flamingoes in a fruit fight Like steppin’ out of a triangle Into striped light Striped light, striped light Tropical Hot Dog Night – Everything’s wrong, at the same time it’s right The truth has no patternsRead More →

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In: Clear Spot, Lyrics
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[Chorus:] I got too much time, too much time I got too much time to be without love In my life I’ve got a deep devotion Wide as the sky and deep as the ocean Every war that’s waged makes me cry Every bird that goes by gets me high [Spoken: Sometimes when it’s late and I’m a little hungry I heat up some old stale beans, open up a can of sardines, eat crackers and dream of somebody to cook for me.] [Repeat chorus, verse and chorus] (1972) Originally made available at Justin Sherill’s Home Page Replica.Read More →

The Thousandth and Tenth Day of the Human Totem Pole as imagined by OpenAI

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In: Ice Cream For Crow, Lyrics
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The thousandth and tenth day of the human totem pole. The morning was distemper grey, Of the thousandth and tenth day of the human totem pole. The man at the bottom was smiling. He had just finished his breakfast smiling. It hadn’t rained or manured for over two hours. The man at the top was starving. The pole was a horrible looking thing With all of those eyes and ears And waving hands for balance. There was no way to get a copter in close So everybody was starving together. The man at the top had long ago given up But didn’t have nerve enoughRead More →

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In: Lyrics, The Spotlight Kid
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There ain’t no Santa Claus on the evenin’ stage There ain’t no way t’ pull the curtain ‘N hide from hunger’s rage There ain’t no town t’ stop in There ain’t no time t’ stop in There ain’t no straw for my horse There ain’t no straw for my bed There ain’t no comfort in cold boards There ain’t no rumours or food for my stomach ‘N someday I’m gonna be saved ‘Cause I gotta eat ‘n drink ‘n breathe ‘n sleep ‘N I’m ah slave Down in hominy’s grotto there’s ah soul die’n ‘n leavin’ Every second on the evenin’ stage There’s ah soulRead More →

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In: Doc At The Radar Station, Lyrics
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Paper and wire killed my brother and my sister too And if you don’t watch out You know they’re going to get you too And if I don’t watch out You know they’re going to get me too Telephone Telephone Telephone Telephone Well I strangled the cord Ripped it off of the phone And I saw the bone And I saw the twinkling lights It must have been rats [?? is this right? – any ideas?] ‘Cause it sure was a drone It sure was a drag Paper and wire killed my brother and my sister too And if you don’t watch out You knowRead More →

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In: Lyrics, Mirror Man
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Baby Percy told Elixir Sue Listen to me baby I’m gonna tell it to you Gonna need somebody on your bond You gonna need some bodies on your bond Just you bear this in mind True friends is hard to find You gonna need some bodies on your bond Gonna need somebody on your bond You gonna need some bodies on your bond Just you bear this in mind True friends is hard to find You gonna need some bodies on your bond I say bear this in mind I say bear this in mind Just you bear this in mind True friends is hard toRead More →

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In: Lyrics, Trout Mask Replica
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Sweet sweet sweet sweet bulbs grow in m’ latest garden Warm warm warm warm warm sun fingers wave In m’ latest garden Flowers dance their faces brave Come talk freely in the garden of m’ lady Her hominy smile her hominy snatch Only uh crow would peck n’ uh chicken would scratch Her lips turned up t’ kiss I see yuh Phoebe baby in yer bonnet With the sunset written on it ‘n the shadow of uh tree Curled around yuh knee in color n’ just behind yuh was the sea of negativity Tinklin’ like mercury in the wind Her feet kept by the groundRead More →

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In: Lyrics, Safe As Milk
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Well I was born in the desert came on up from New Orleans Came upon a tornado, sun not in the sky Ah waited ’round all day with the moon sticking in m’eye Hey hey hey all you young girls wherever you’re at Ah got a brand new Cadillac, got a Ferrari too Sure ’nuff baby, sure ’nuff n’ yes I do Got the time t’ teach ya n’ I bet you’ll learn some too Got the time t’ teach ya n’ I bet you’ll learn some too Sure ’nuff baby, sure ’nuff ‘n yes I do Hey hey hey all you young girls whatever you doRead More →

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In: Clear Spot, Lyrics
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Nothing makes it move From the bottom to the top Does it start at the bottom? Or does it start at the top Magnet draw day from dark Sun zoom spark Sun zoom spark Now which hand’s got it? Bottom, or the top? Neither hand’s got it It’s just got it Hope it don’t stop Magnet draw day from dark Sun zoom spark Sun zoom spark Think you can uh hold it Once it start I don’t care who ya are or what size ya are I’m gonna magnetize ya Magnet draw day from dark Sun zoom spark Sun zoom spark Ohh, don’t let itRead More →

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In: Lyrics, Trout Mask Replica
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Sugar ‘n spikes ‘n neon lights ‘n walks ‘n lights ‘n chains coughin’ smoke whoopin’ hope Cardinal sky rush by falls bark in dark Fall back in dark Pies steam stale shoes move broom ‘n pale Moon in uh dime store sale Sugar ‘n spikes ‘n everything nice ‘n everything nice ‘n crazy That’s what little worlds are made of lady I’m paid up in home in ‘m new Friday’s house There’s no H on my faucet there’s no bed for m’ mouse My punch ‘n grow mind in diamond back time Now it’s king for uh day with my lady look fine Got m’Read More →

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In: Song notes, Trout Mask Replica
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Justin Sherill writes: Interestingly, I received an email from a Peter Wray, who might just be the fellow mentioned in the song. Here’s a chunk of his email. “My only claim to fame was being mentioned in one of his songs (Sugar n Spikes). How I got in the lyrics I don’t know except that I met Beefheart on tour in Columbus Ohio in 1968 or 69.” “I remember that one of my friends in college got one of the first issues of TMR – when Warners included the lyric sheet – and came running into my room yelling and insisting that I somehow hadRead More →

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In: Doc At The Radar Station, Lyrics
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Chills quick you Voices pick you Crows hex you Deluxe-um(?) Postum avion Wizard kiss and all be gone Scenes Dreams Boats to forever Bolted ether Creep the ether feather Sue Egypt Sue Egypt Boing pong hocus pocus avion I think of all those people that ride on my bones I think of all of those people that ride on my bones That nobody hears That nobody sees that nobody knows Sue Egypt Sue Egypt I think of all I think of all I think of all those people who ride on my bones That nobody sees, that nobody dares That nobody hears, that nobody caresRead More →

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In: Lyrics, Trout Mask Replica
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The black paper between a mirror breaks my heart The moon frayed thru dark velvet lightly apart Steal softly thru sunshine Steal softly thru snow The wild goose flies from winter Breaks my heart that I can’t go Energy flys thru a field ‘n the sun softly melts a nothing wheel Steal softly thru sunshine Steal softly thru snow The black paper between a mirror breaks my heart that I can’t go The swan their feathers don’t grow They’re spun They live two hundred years of love They’re one Breaks my heart to see them cross the sun Grain grows rainbows up straw hill BreaksRead More →

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In: Lyrics, The Spotlight Kid
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Said the momma t’ the baby in the corn You are my first born You shall here on in be known as The Spotlight Kid ‘N the mornin’ cry of the rooster The baby lay alone ‘N the old cow in the green grass Shed white tears in the red hot sun ‘N The Spotlight Kid stood under the moon that evenin’ Givin’ her alibis ‘n eatin’ her a la modes ‘N the ice cream man searchin’ high ‘n low For his a la modes foe his a la modes ‘N the green frogs croakin’ around his abode ‘N the mud cat pond by theRead More →

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In: Lick My Decals Off Baby, Lyrics
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Space-age couple Why don’t you flex your magic muscle? Space-age couple Why do you hex your magic muscle? Space-age couple Why do you hustle ‘n bustle? Why don’t you drop your cool tom-foolery ‘n shed your nasty jewelry? Cultivate the grounds They’re the only ones around. Space-age couple Why don’t you flex your magic muscle? Hold a drinking glass up t’ your eye after you’ve Scooped up a little of the sky ‘n it ain’t blue no more. What’s on the leaves ain’t dew no more. Space-age couple Why don’t you jus’ do that? Why don’t you jus’ do that? (1970) Originally made available atRead More →

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In: Lyrics, Strictly Personal
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Mirror mirror mirror (repeat) mirror man mirror me(repeat) mirror man mirror than mirror man follow the band farther than you oh farther than me mirror mirror day mirror way mirror man mirror me mirror man farther than mirror man mirror me mirror man farther than you’re a me and you’re a me and you’re a me…….. oh mirror man oh mirror man mirror me mirror me mirror me (bop bee boo bop do-be-do) (1968) Transcribed by John Ellis and CBM. Originally made available at Justin Sherill’s Home Page Replica.Read More →

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In: Multimedia, Poems, Stand Up To Be Discontinued
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A 1993 poetry reading CD was included in the Stand Up To Be Discontinued exhibition book and later reproduced in the Pearls Before Swine book. It included readings of the following poems: Fallin’ Ditch The Tired Plain Skeleton Makes Good Safe Sex Drill Tulip Gill At the time, many found the recording shocking and upsetting. This was the first time Don Van Vliet had been widely heard in public since 1982’s Ice Cream For Crow and the intervening 11 years had clearly not been kind. He sounded far older than his 52 years and rumours of illness seemed to have confirmation. Today, I think theyRead More →

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In: Ice Cream For Crow, Lyrics
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There’s so many things to feel and see while you’re awake they’re just out of reach out of grasp yeah out of reach and just as many; maybe more the minute that you sleep so I got to throw my preach skeleton breath scorpion blush I have a crush on your skeleton watch out unsuspecting stranger you’ll fall off the log headfirst into dreams end up screaming this will comb the wolf and that will comb the fog what will peen the rain what will preen the hog oh you mean earth and hell over you and laugh at your tire tracks if you getRead More →