SAVE THE WORLD
Hawking said "universe is string"
Perhaps that's why I'm tangled up in you
Nebulae in a napkin ring
So how am I supposed to frame the view?
When all I wanna do is save the world
When we met did you ever think
"I wonder if she feels the same way too?"
Cause all I wanna do is save the world
All I wanna do is save the world
All I wanna do is save the world!
SUNNY DAY
When I saw you in September it was such a sunny day
All my worries and my troubles seemed to slowly fade away
Just melt away
I'd do anything to be inside this moment once again
But you seem so far away so I guess I just don't know when
Come home again
I miss you, I need you
I want you, must see you again
It wouldn't be a sunny day unless I spend the day with you
I'm waiting for a magic time when I can make your special dream come true
How could it be a sunny day without a perfect meal for two?
This girl is gonna call your number so that you can make my dream come true
I remember when I met you there were pictures in the sky
Tiny airplanes drawing patterns like a super samurai
Wish I could fly
So we talked until the morning in your new automobile
But the next day you had vanished did I dream or were you real
Who's at the wheel?
I miss you, I need you
I want you, must see you
I miss you, I need you
I want you, must see you again
It wouldn't be a sunny day unless I spend the day with you
I'm waiting for a magic time when I can make your special dream come true
How could it be a sunny day without a perfect meal for two?
This girl is gonna call your number so that you can make my dream come true
It wouldn't be a sunny day unless I spend the day with you
I'm waiting for a magic time when I can make your special dream come true
How could it be a sunny day without a perfect meal for two?
This girl is gonna call your number so that you can make my dream come true
BB
What the... again?
This is the one I was telling you about
I know, it's on like every 15 minutes
What was he thinking?
Right? This is the first thing you figure out when you get a guitar
Do people dig this?
I guess. I didn't mind it the 26th time I heard it
Each time I tune to that show, there's a basic busker on the radio
Silverlake is shimmerin' and summer is a-comin' in
But in my mind machine the storms of ennui are punishin'
Need to fill the air with effervescent sounds
But when I turn the dial mundanity abounds
Each time I tune to that show, there's a basic busker on the radio
Three chords in a minor key, an exercise in mediocrity
Every time I drive my turbo, there's a basic busker on the stereo
Six strings in a humdrum way, benign expression of the everyday
Ooyeah, ooyeah, ooyeah, ooyeah, ooyeah, ooyeah, ooyeah, ooyeah
Oono, oono, oono, oono, oono, oono, oono, oono
The words you pen get played again, your blithe resolve I can forgive
But when you tell us how to live it's just so heteronormative
If you had an edge you airbrushed it away
As you reach platinum your songs all fade to grey
Each time I tune to that show, there's a basic busker on the radio
Three chords on an old guitar, ain't no surprises in the repertoire
Every time I drive my turbo, there's a basic busker on the stereo
Six strings in a humdrum style, homogeneity in your stockpile
Ooyeah, ooyeah, ooyeah, ooyeah, ooyeah, ooyeah, ooyeah, ooyeah
Oono, oono, oono, oono, oono, oono, oono, oono
Conforming shape
Your master tape leaves me agape
What were you thinking, boy?
Each time I tune to that show, there's a basic busker on the radio
and on the stereo, and in the afterglow
and on the HBO, and in the Uniqlo
and on the...
Corporate symphony
Passive conformity
Sonic simplicity is considerably over-represented
And sub-Dylan balladry
Was OK before the Fairlight was invented
ALTO
Every microphone's a speaker too, every speaker is a microphone it's true
Gonna send a set of signals down, through the pipeline underneath the ocean blue
Sometimes a beam of light engulfs us when we hit the studio
From Santa Monica to San Sebastian with no shadow, ALTO
If you wanna sing a circuit song, magic fingertips can play along with you
Discombobulate the distant drums, till the resolution overcomes the view
Slow down inside, pulling back from the mountainside
Make time collapse, overcome seasons' Hyperlapse
When you're breaking down and your heart's a rock, your mind's a cave
Summon a choir, we can make it open up onto the stave
When you're bouncing down and a mental block occludes a sound
The contradiction can be found
Riding radio waves
Every Saturday we hit the beach, building castles till we reach the stratosphere
Tesselating like an Escher dream, till you see us from another hemisphere
Sometimes a thought bubble appears above our heads like mistletoe
From hippocampus to the epithalamus in rococo, ALTO
If you wanna sing a secret song, magic pineal can dream along with you
Every time the beat quantizes, automatic adagio, LIDO
Slow down serene, pulling back from the movie screen
As clouds unfold, overcome stories' stranglehold
When you're breaking down and your day won't start, your blanket sky
Covered in fog, when your thoughts intensify we'll come around
When an absent friend reappears in town, remember
Sunny memories can never drown
When you focus right on a complex plan, a simpler one
Beckons you forth, keep your train on track a turned tick at a time
When an engineer opens up the gate, remember to
Begin again before too late
16 STARS
16 stars in a silvery sky cast their crystal eyes on me
Across the night Saturn spins on a dime and I miss your company
Even as I rise above, analyse the love that comes to meet me
Tell me are you feeling high, does it signify we are friends eternally
You could almost pretend to see I always defend you
Keep your hand held for a high-five you are all up in my disk drive
It's a family tradition not to ask for permission
Digging around in the archive just like a wasp in a beehive
Semaphore on the factory floor in a compound on the moon
The signs align in a beautiful line like a cartoon honeymoon
Did you ever rise above all the wiser stuff you tried to teach me?
Put your hand inside my glove, digitise your love the ones and ohs of me
Staying at the Overlook in a secret nook where Jack can't reach me
Wishing we were full of stars on a trip to Mars aboard a bumble bee
Even as I rise above, supersize the love that comes to meet me
See you in the sky, my dove, like a Powerpuff we are friends eternally
You could almost pretend to see I always defend you
Keep your hand held in a peace sign until we pass through the faultline
It's a family tradition not to ask for permission
Fooling around in the backstage just like a rock in the stone age
16 stars in a silvery sky cast their crystal eyes on me
Across the night Saturn spins on a dime and I miss your dismiss your
Miss your company
Forgive them all, sweet cannonball, no need to
Destroy them all, no curtain call, just send me to
Your sweet room, the shape of a life
The sonic boom, of us flying overhead cuts the gloom like a knife
PAINT CAN
My cabin in the woods is where I'll be
Establishing a plan for a tunnel through reality
So if the blinds are down leave me a note
Or tie it to the thread that unravels from my overcoat
It's 11 days since I saw the sun
As the willows seem to remark upon
When they whisper down to me
Would a visitor be admissible
If her presence was inexplicable
In a passageway underneath a plane tree?
Did we jump around in time?
Beyond the yard we scaled the hill
The sassafras became Yggdrasil
And from the peak we climbed some more
Until we beat the high score
On Saturday I built a new machine
To plot a revolution at home on a computer screen
So if the power fails give me a sign
One more antediluvian message from my valentine
Would a visitor be a nervous wreck
If she found herself in a discotheque
In a passageway underneath a plane tree?
See you in the wintertime
Beyond the garden by the lake
Where woodpeckers tap out a drum break
Keep running till you find a cave
And listen for the sine wave
Hyperventilating in the factory of sound
We orchestrate the framework for a sonic battleground
Between the passengers aboard the submarine
Opening the loft hatch in the house where you were born
You journey back to childhood on your rocking unicorn
Until you find yourself beside the green
Beyond the field we made our mark
A spiky font cut into the bark
The formula for time machines
And friendship neverending
The rooftops are falling away
We float through the nimbus in moon-bound ballet
Molecular clusters are superimposed
While back in my cabin the blinds are still closed
YOU & I ALONE
Oh, oh oh oh, oh oh oh, oh oh oh, oh oh
Day one, line two, found three cassettes of you
Explaining what to do if they were found
Your distant voice recalls the best of you
The years obsessed with you in sequenced sound
Dropping a fullscreen on a six-string let me memorise it
Stand in a doorway of a gatefold and I criticise it
Frequency pulsewave in a sawtooth rhythm can't disguise it
Fidgety digit position the tone
You and I alone, talking on the phone
Something in your voice leaves me with no choice
I placed them in a box below a stream
Revealed it in a dream, did it get through?
Trigger a tritone on a 12-track when you synthesise it
Channel a force-nine through a stage door just to civilise it
Flipping a cartwheel in a show home as they analyse it
Hiding a mystery under a stone
You and I alone, talking on the phone
Something in your tone, memories unknown
GHOST BOX, HOUSE ARREST
STRANGE FRUIT, INFINITE JEST
BLACK DICE, KANDY KORN
PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN
THIRD POLICEMAN, PRINCE PARADE
EDUCATING MARMALADE
WORLD OF ECHO, COURT AND SPARK
LELAND PALMER IN THE DARK
You and I alone, talking on the phone
You and I alone, talking on the phone
Oh, oh oh oh, oh oh
Oh, oh oh oh, oh oh
ALARMS
Heading up to the track, sky the blackest of blue
Left my last power pack in suburban drive-thru
Visibility's down to the length of arms
When the third star appears gonna sound alarms
Looking up, comets seem to synchronise
Rise above, Sister Fate will organise
Bring me back alive, creature of the darkest night
Never let me go, destiny my guiding light
Possibility splits like an apple in two
May the future you choose be the best for you
Something's changed, let's pretend it's still the same
Are we now trapped in a computer game?
Bring me back alive, creature of the highest height
Never ending show, symphony in black and white
Have I ever been lost as much as in your eyes?
Circumstance of life, ever-unfolding surprise
Bring me back alive, if alive is what we are
Further shall we go, follow the exploding star
Missed the finish line, temporary loss of sight
Sisters in the sky, on a neverending flight
TAKING NOTES
Townhouse mercantile
Snare drums snapping like a crocodile till late, till late
Max's modular Nord arrived
Call us if you're feeling bleep deprived upstate, upstate
While you take a bow
We are only getting started now create, create
Downtime evermore
Just like when we waited for R8, R8
Did we see you hiding, taking notes at the back of the show?
Cos we heard your latest record and we think you're trying to steal our flow
The parrot painted packets while she listened to The Love Below
And the whole caboodle landed in to Speakerboxxx in stereo
Summer secrets find them concertinaed inbetween
Memories of that fading century
Always knew that we would meet again before the end
You and me, we're so extrasensory
Makin' melodies with a chunk of ambergris
Like a pale pangolin in parentheses
Golden tambourines started sprouting from the trees so
Shake a branch to the beat, one of our machines is missing
You extemporise, we're too busy getting idolised, relate, relate
Captured like a track
Celebrated in a paperback, why wait? why wait?
Since we saw you hiding, taking notes at the back of the show
We heard you did some music for a dramedy on HBO
Made yourself a mixtape from the Clear Channel memorando
But then you tried to sell a copy to an undercover po-po
It's time to go
Summer secrets find them concertinaed inbetween
memories of that fading century
Always knew that we would meet again before the end
D&C, we're so extrasensory
Making melodies then we take them overseas
Like a panglossian in Los Angeles
Multicoloured keys started sprouting from the trees so
Shake a branch to the beat, one of our machines is missing
Made our melodies now it's time to shoot the breeze
Saunter home, feed the cat, put on Silk Degrees
Macaroni cheese started sprouting from the trees so
Grab a plate, take a seat, you just don't know what you're missing
GOLDEN DOLDRUM
Dakota, Dakota got me in a tailspin
My tailspin, my tailspin left me on the black tar
The black tar, the black tar stuck me to the lakeside
Where I remain, as it makes me immune now grind no shicky-shine shine you
The lakeside, the lakeside, rushing sound of axis
My axis, your axis permanently standing
Upstanding, grandstanding power of a wave front
A tidal recital on the reservation
Reserving, reversing industry and conflict
Hurricane, better make me immune now grind no shicky-shine shine you
Tribe will bleed like a golden doldrum
Anthropomorph enfolding totem
Here and now you'll protect me with it
Down to the shoreline backwards digit
Keep going back to visit
Least there's not more sensation in it
Grant me a permanent exhibit
Phase of a moon inhibit
Don't constrict a convict if he knows the reason
Why I remain, as it makes me immune now grind no shicky-shine shine you
Here and now you'll protect me with it
Down to the shoreline backwards digit
Keep going back to visit
Least there's not more sensation in it
Grant me a permanent exhibit
Phase of a moon inhibit
My sugar, my sugar, many evil psyches
I've seen them, I've seen them take out inner circles
Emerging, emerging better keep the muscles
SONG TO A SUCCULENT
Behind the tray of homemade brownies in my local coffee spot
Above a sack of washed arabica your terracotta pot
Your nascent tendrils slyly spiralled like a verdant mandelbrot
I don't remember my companion but he drank a double-shot
Cameraman, zoom in upon my super succulent
And linger there a moment
When you wish upon a tuberose, your garden grows, sweet firmament
Visitor, be careful of my precious succulent
Its vascular component
When you wish for golden ratios, your garden grows
I got you home I cleared a space beside a copper paperweight
Before too long a crowd of onlookers began to congregate
You must believe I love you so, though you may not have fronds or spikes
Because when I upload your photograph you always get the likes
Cameraman, zoom in upon my only succulent
And linger there a moment
When you wish in bedroom studios, your garden grows
Green growing sentinel
September sunny spell let's wait for rain together
They found you in a desert
Your fractal cabinessence
Drink up, the world's about to
Come and say "aloe"
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO YAZZ?
Hey Daphne, whatever happened to Yazz?
Did she find a brighter day
While she was all the rage
I didn't know it was a golden age
Celeste
Yes?
What happened to Taylor Dayne?
Was it love or just a game?
She popped into my head
And then the levels went into the red
Time through a kaleidoscope, reveals a melody
Songs that we haven't thought about since 1993
Hey Daphne, what happened to Shocking Blue?
Burning like a silver flame
On Sunset Boulevard
I wonder did they get my postcard?
Time through a kaleidoscope, a jumbled history
Folks, people we forgot about appear stochastically
And in a hundred thousand years, a faint reverberation
Will be what's left of you and me, my friend, our love's attenuation
Dropping old files till the people go wild
Cultivate lines like a narco profiled
Memory flipped cos we're being restyled
I'mma survive like a destiny's child
Saturdays stacked in a journal unbound
Leaving for Mars while my girl is earthbound
Universe sings a perpetual sound
Finished the track but there's no one around
KANDY KORN
Well they taste so good I want to eat 'em
And they taste so good I get to need 'em
It kan kan kan kan kan kan kan kan kandy, kandy
Kandy korn, yellow and orange
Kandy korn, yellow and orange
Be reborn, be reformed, stay, stay warm
Kandy korn, kandy
The pink and purple pieces, the bubble tea releases
Rolling round the garden maze like tapioca in a daze all day
The eyes that sprout on stamens expand like cash in Caymans
Twisting into curlicues like kandy kobs on barbecues in May
The party preparations all set for Appalachians
You and I alone at last in seven shades of overcast
But as the sky begins to clear within this pearly biosphere
Keep warm, until we pass through the storm
Stick around, in time we will rise and shine
Your wall will not repress us, don't try to dispossess us
Gouging through the civilised, the stateless and demoralised indeed
You stand but don't deliver, your detumescent sliver
Casts a shadow on the plains that ripple in the hurricanes at speed
You can squash us but we rise up in urgency to wise up
Paint me in a peaceful light, the futile feeling of a fight
Against a fearful demagogue who'd bomb us back to analogue
Keep warm, until we pass through the storm
Stick around, in time we will rise and shine
——
Performed by Karen DiConcetto & Celeste Cruz
A Max Tundra Production
Released in 2018 on Balatonic
All songs written by Ben Jacobs
except Kandy Korn written by Don Van Vliet
and published by Kama Sutra Music Inc
Some vocals recorded by Graham Smith
BTJLP1X and other Balatonic artwork by Dimitris Rokos
BTJLP1 photography and design by Abram Seaman
and illustration by Abbey Ley
Mastered by Guy Davie at Electric
℗ 2018 Ben Jacobs
© 2018 Ben Jacobs
