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Has Left The Building

by Gay Elvis

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1.
Good Man 02:38
I don't do too well with a hammer in my hand. I don't do too well following a plan. Everything I try to fix I end up breaking. I don't know I don't do too well getting picked up from a fall. I don't do too well climbing from a hole. But there's no problem I can't fix when I start drinking. I don't know. Who will show. But If you think that I can Make a good man. I'll believe if you say so. I'll try but I don't know
2.
I never had the words before. Till the one day when you showed me the chords. We've got a song all our own. When I'm on my own I just think of you at home. And you make me sing when I'm alone. We've got our song so I'm never far from home. Words and sounds and nonsense things. Come to together when we start to sing. We've got a song all our own. When I'm on my own I just think of you at home. And you make me sing when I'm alone. When I'm on my own I just think of you at home and I can hear you I hear laughter And you make me sing when I'm alone. When I'm on my own I just think of you at home And you make every minute perfect Every minutes worth it.
3.
Lucky 03:14
One more drink before we go. Split a cigarette on the car ride home. Shortest mile I ever drove. Longest walk down the driveway alone. You should have left it alone You should have just stayed gone. Cause you're not that lucky anymore. Halfway down the block and there's the call. Should I pick it up or should I finally let you fall. The street light lit you up coated in red. Blinding in my eyes, splitting in my head. You should have left it alone. You should have put down the phone. Cause you're not that lucky anymore. Why do I find myself in the same place. Hard as I try as fast as I race. I find myself further away from the flock. Driving around and around the same block. I'm not that lucky anymore.

about

Wiggly Worm…Wiggly Worm…You’re just a little Wiggly Worm…It went something like that. No more than 8 words in the entire song. Simple song with a simple message, “Please stop moving around and crying or there is a better than average chance that I will drop you”. I would sing that to my daughter as I walked around the kitchen holding her at all ungodly hours of the evening. See the thing is, when you hit that first phase of parenthood, you down shift into a gear of exhaustion that you never quite shift out of. It’s kind of like you drank a pot of coffee and then chased it with a dixxie cup of ludes. I never had ludes…I just wanted to say ludes, but I digress… So I would be in a trance, somehow driving to work and I’d catch myself singing Wiggly Worm…Or at my desk, Wiggly Worm…Or at the urinal, Wiggly Worm. I couldn’t stop…And I had my first chorus.

I wrote a lot...30 bits and pieces of various songs about battling demons, confronting mortality, marriage, fatherhood etc...Roughly translated: it sucks to grow up, I'm scared to grow up, oh grow up you loser and it's pretty cool growing up. I think I wrote the same 4 songs 30 times, but out of this I was able to frankenstein together a small handful of complete tunes.

I started rehearsing, but it was taking forever and the music never sounded quite right. It was supposed to be my, “Pet Sounds” or “Abby Road”, this grand statement about life, but what I was hearing in the rehearsal room was cats in heat and jack hammers busting up pavement. And this is no indictment of the small army of friends/musicians that helped me along the way. The truth is that with any given configuration of players, I was without question the least talented in the room. It took me three years of rehearsing and endlessly tweaking the same few songs to figure out the obvious...I wasn't creating Pet Sounds or making some grand statement, I was writing simple songs with a simple message. More importantly, I was intentionally creating obstacles to keep myself from finishing. I'm not exactly sure why...Maybe it was all some subconscious fear of change and moving on or maybe I was just fearful that people would hear the music and think it blows. Either which way, I figured the worst thing I could do was set a goal and not follow through...So once my head wrapped around that idea, I got in the studio, finished up and I'm ready as I'll ever be for the next phase...whatever that may be.

Which reminds me…We joined a swim club this summer. I was in the swim club locker room and saw a man in his late 50’s peeing at the urinal with his swim trunks at his ankles and his entire bare buttocks exposed. As I watched his flabby buttocks, clenching and flapping away as he peed, I thought to myself…Is that a complete lack of dignity or total freedom? Maybe a mix of both…I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out…Enjoy!

credits

released September 22, 2014

Gay Elvis: Vocals/Guitar
Paul Rosevear: Guitar/Vocals/Keys
Erik Kase Romero: Bass
John Leidersdorf: Drums
Matt Jaworski: Slide and BVox on Lucky

Songs Written by: Gay Elvis
Produced by: John Leidersdorf and GE
Recorded at: Lakehouse Studio
Engineered by: Tim Pannella and Erik Kase Romero
Mixed by: Steve Evetts at Omen Room Studio
Engineered by: Alan Douches at West West Side
Artwork by: Jason McKay

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about

Gay Elvis Long Branch, New Jersey

My grandfather used to refer to singing as, "carrying a tune". I think that's along the lines of what I do. Unfortunately, I drop it several times between point A and point B.

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