1. |
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Go, Daddy, go
Get real old
Age, Mama, age
Tear a page
From your calendar
With pictures of rivers and glaciers
And other enduring places
Go on, go on
Do you need persuasion
Why prolong this lax evasion
Of your destiny?
Finish the race in record time
Go, Daddy, go
Take the wrinkles from your soul
And apply them to your face
Age, Mama, age
Throw the calendar away
And find a permanent place
Oh, there is grace
Because someone who cares
Will put fresh flowers in your hairpiece
Every time the old ones die
Go, Daddy, go
Get old
Bye bye
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2. |
Do The Don't
03:45
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(This is the song to end all songs
And, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It has just begun
It will be sung
And when it’s done,
The world will fin’lly be as
One Two Three Four...)
Cool - You don’t need to dress up to do it baby
Cool - You don’t need to take no one home
Cool - You don’t need to do what they’re doin’, Baby
There’s a dance that No-Nobody’s doin’ at all
Baby, do The Don’t
They won’t get it, no they won’t
Do The Don’t
Leaning on the wall
Does not appeal to them at all
Do The Don’t
(Now picture this…)
Cool - No Nobody’s lookin’ around that I see
Cool - Everybody lean on the wall
Cool - No Nobody’s puttin’ the moves on, Baby
Cool - No-Nobody’s movin’ at all
Baby, do The Don’t
They won’t get it, no they won’t
Do The Don’t
Baby, when it’s done
The world will finally be as one
Do The Don’t
(You put your whole self there
And leave it there
That’s what it’s all about
Just look around you
They want you to believe they’re having a really good time
But there’s a dance that lasts forever
And if they don’t want to know
They will never know!)
Cool - Mao was always twisting the night away
Cool - Then I guess it went out of style
Cool - Stalin taught his people The Locomotion
Cool - Now he isn’t moving at all
Baby, do The Don’t
Leave the hipsters to their fate
Do The Don’t
Baby, do The Don’t
Hurry up, it’s getting late
Do The Don’t
(Next time some smooth talkin’ Joe in black leather
Tells you get your back up off the wall
Tell him I said that everything that gets down on it
Must get up
Up!
Up!
Up!)
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3. |
They Don't Wanna Play
03:31
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|
"We can put it back together"
That is what I want to say
"Pick up your guitar and play!"
Skins left for the Caribbean
Screwed around and had a son
Things like that can be undone
But they don’t want, they don’t want,
They don’t want to play
Cuz they think I’m crazy
Bass man joined the monastery
He can take back every vow
If his hands remember how
Keys went bad and got arrested
Seven years without parole
Bust him out, for rock n roll!
They think they cannot repeat the past
The music is all that’s gonna last
But they don’t want, they don’t want
They don’t want to play
Cuz they think I’m crazy
We may be fat and bald and ugly
We may rip off every song
And everything may work out wrong
But you don’t know until you’ve done it
Til you’ve lived your life again
If it was any good the first time
And they don’t want, they don’t want
They don’t want to play
Cuz they think I’m crazy
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4. |
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At night, they come a’ knockin’
They line up at our front door
I hide away in my room, I pray
The knocks will come no more
Well, I know he’s my kid brother
And I’m glad he’s doin’ well
But he’s having fun while I’m getting none
I wish he’d go to hell
The only thing I got is this little ditty
But it’s over too soon and it isn’t too pretty
And he wrote all the words cuz mine were shitty
My brother gets all the girls
My brother gets all the girls
The girl I should have married
She said she needed room
Now she’s got my nephew
Kickin’ inside her womb
Even my mother adores him the best
His prospects are good and he’s much better dressed
And he’s not like me, all scrawny and depressed
So much for my mother
My brother gets all the girls
My brother gets all the girls
(Phone rings)
Hello?
No, this is his brother.
He’s out right now I don’t know who he’s with.
I don’t know when he’ll be back.
Look, you don’t need to call again tonight, okay?
I said "Dear God, please listen,
I don’t mean to whine
But are you playing favorites?
Just give me a sign."
He said, "Call back: I’m on the other line
With your little brother."
My brother gets all the girls
My brother gets all the girls
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5. |
I'm Still Living At Home
04:46
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I’m still living at home
I’ve got my cds and a telephone
Some days I don’t go upstairs at all
I like my parents okay;
I get hot food; I don’t have to pay
They might think I’m on the way to ruin
I spend all day in my cocoon
Dream away the afternoon
But not the night
When I’m the greatest in the world
Inside my car
A superstar
Though it’s get a job
Find a wife
I don’t care
As long as I’m there for the nightlife
I don’t care.
All the girls that I’ve known
You say the wrong word and you’ll be alone
Some days I don’t speak to them at all
Happy Birthday to me
I can’t help it; I’m twenty three
He’s a jolly good...Hip Hip Hooray!
I’ll put this on my resume:
Though I sleep all through the day
I drive all night
I’m the greatest in the world
Inside my car
A superstar
Though it’s get a job
Find a wife
I don’t care
As long as I’m there for the nightlife
I don’t care.
Ooh, nothing can stop me now
I’m driving in my car
I can get real far
Ooh, nothing can stop me now
I’m driving through til dawn
Leave the bar light
Leave the bar light
Leave the bar light on
And they will say on judgment day
He has ruled the motorway
He’ll be alright
And he’s the greatest in the world
Inside his car
A superstar
Though it’s get a job
Find a wife
He don’t care
As long as he’s there for the nightlife
He don’t care.
Ooh, nothing can stop me now
I’m driving in my car
I can get real far
Ooh, nothing can stop me now
I’m driving through til dawn
Leave the bar light on
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6. |
I Think I'm Dumb
03:56
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I’m a superhero in disguise
And this is true despite my size
I can save my hand
From my other hand
But I can’t get away from Jimmy McGee
He’s the one who always sits on me
And on me he stays til Ms. Obstravald says
I’m the special one
I can’t understand the names he calls me
But I wish I could
Then I’d know just who I am and what I will become
But I think I’m dumb
I’m the one who bumps into the wall
And when I try to play b-ball
I score the winning points
For the other team
Donnie does reports about the moon
He’s says he’s gonna get there soon
I would get there first, but it seems
I’m the special one
Someday he will die and I’ll be happy
Or else I’ll be dead
I will steal his secrets
What a smart boy I’ll become!
But I think I’m dumb
I think I’m dumb
Dumb Du-Dumb Dumb Ba Dumb
Mom and Dad can go with me to the moon
If I make it there
They are nice to say I’m just the same as anyone
But I think I’m dumb
I think I’m dumb
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7. |
Richard Hell
03:18
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Richard Hell
When you were a punk star
I was only five years of age
You cut your arm
But meant no harm
Burned down a farm
Just to watch the fire rage
You were alone inside your head
So you said
Let me out of here!
Who said it was good
To be alive?
You’re still alive
You’re Richard Hell
Richard Hell
You’d forgotten where the other world was
Riding high
On my daddy’s shoulders,
I had never heard tell of you.
I could find
Outside my mind
A world so kind
Did you never have a dad?
I was a child, but so were you
You were, too,
Mr. Richard Hell!
You said it’s no good
If I’da known you
I’da shown you
Something good
Richard Hell
You’d forgotten where the other world was
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8. |
I Need A Motivator
01:57
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How come I always end up flat on my ass?
Can’t get a job and I don’t go to class.
Where did it go?
Where did it go?
You always tell me what I do that is wrong
Your observations will not make me strong
You know it’s so
You know it’s so
I need a motivator
Not just a commentator
Someone to lean on
Me
Someone...
For every rebel says I don’t give a damn
There’s always somebody holding his hand
My hands are empty
Who gives a damn?
I need a motivator
Not just a commentator
Someone to lean on
Me
Someone
Someone to say:
Keep it up!
Do your stuff!
Not enough!
I need someone to say
These cliches:
Bombs away!
Seize the day!
I need somebody with a microphone stand
Maybe the muscle girl who talks with her hands
Your hands aren’t talking
When will you go?
Who taught the birdies what to do in the sky?
Who taught the monkey boy to ask himself, why?
It wasn’t you
It wasn’t me
I need a motivator
Not just a commentator
Someone to lean on
Me
Someone
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9. |
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You,
Who find it so hard to be true,
Who right from the start were only playing a part,
Don’t make me the fool
Who thinks you’re someone who’ll
Be good to him forever
Cuz it’s you
It’s not Peggy Sue
You did things to me she’d never do
There’s a passing resemblance,
But don’t you ever say your name is
Peggy Sue
She,
Was honest and never afraid
She kept all the plans that she made
And you think I just can’t see
Through this fantasy
But I see through it completely
Cuz you’re you
You’re not Peggy Sue
I was lost and lonely waiting for you
There’s a passing resemblance
But don’t you ever say your name is
Peggy Sue
Two teddy bears
Two vats of sweet perfume
Same posters in your room
Same driver’s license, I presume
Let me be the one
Let me be the one
Let me be the one
You don’t know her
She used to be my girlfriend
You don’t know her
She used to be…
You know she wouldn’t like you at all
Don’t go back to school
You’ll only learn the rules
And all you’ll do is break them
And it’s you
It’s not Peggy Sue
But you’re all I got and I’ll rot here with
You
I admire the resemblance
But don’t you ever say your name is Peggy Sue
Same little sigh
Same yellow car with dents
Same laugh at my expense
Your obsession makes no sense
You can’t see the garden for the fence
Let me be the one
To tell you
I can’t
Call you Peggy Sue,
Peggy Sue
Peggy Sue
Anymore.
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10. |
Drop Dead
03:30
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There is a golden-throated boy named Malcom Horace Goody
He likes to ride his big wheel through the neighborhood, but should he?
The mailman, Mr. Nottingham, one day in January
Heard the boy and said my son, you sing like a canary
But Malcom looked away
A look of triumph in his eye
And spitefully he offered this reply:
Drop dead!
The boy scout saw the mailman in a catatonic state
He tried to earn his merit badge before it was too late
But as he found his stethoscope he heard a joyous sound
His heart was filled with love, but he lay stiff upon the ground
T’was then he knew that Malcom
With intent to mortify
Successfully was urging him to die:
Drop Dead!
There is no such thing as a bad little boy
There is only such thing as a sad little boy
He has dropped his mom
He has dropped his dad
But he loved them both
Bet it feels real bad
He may not know hope
He may not have friends
And he’s looking for the place
Where the heartache ends
You’re in another world; you swear you’ll never hear the sound
But Malcom travels far and wide; he really gets around
Picking boisonberries and digesting thrown out food
Picking off pedestrians when he gets in the mood
You’ll stay inside your house
But you will hear him passing by
Successfully persuading you to die
Drop Dead!
The mailman
And the garbage man
And my sister
And her best friend, too
And the ganglord
And the boy scout
And the vagabond
And the alley cat
And soon it will be just
Him and you.
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11. |
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No one understands my guitar
No one understands my guitar
He won’t be jammin’ anymore
Finds other instruments a bore
Weeping, wailing, something’s ailing
My guitar
He got little use for this world
He’s already used the boys and the girls
Don’t know just what the problem is
He cites artistic differences
Never learning what’s concerning
My guitar
He gonna go solo
Nothing can stop him now
He gonna go
Goodbye
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12. |
Shoo-Wop
03:00
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I was blue
Singing to myself at the zoo
Watching the monkeys doing the do
I had not met you
And I thought that this was love
And the words
To the songs I hear in my head
Were just words somebody had said
Who was long since dead
And I did not know what they meant
Now I hear a melody
There’s a music box inside of me
Though I suppose I’m out of key
Hear my jubilation
You’re no good at playing dumb
There’s a phrase to which we all succumb
Though it’s been abused by some,
Shoo-Wop rules the nation
You may think
I can’t write a song about you
And not get it wrong
And it’s true
I will get it wrong
I’ve got time to get it right
When a band begins to play
And in hearing them I see the way
Best that I can do is say
That band was really something.
With you and me it’s just the same
On the morning when you took my name
All my words just sounded lame
That’s why I’ve started hummin’
Someday, we’re both gonna find out
What these words were all about
And some of it won’t be to our liking
Someday, the forces of darkness will come
Okay, Baby, let them come!
When they do,
I will sing this song just for you
And you’ll sing it back to me too
Baby when they do,
They’re gonna see the light
They’re gonna see the light
There’s no need to live in fear
Though I tell you, girl, I live in fear
What’s that hummin’ in your ear?
Don’t you hear what I hear?
You are not the only one
Who shivers with the rising sun
But before the day is done,
Everything will work out right
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13. |
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We’re speaking only on the telephone
In consequence of which, I’m left alone
Left alone!
Out of the tuba blows a bluesy tone.
Left alone!
I need a chaperone.
And on account of being half a man
There’s not a soul I’d say I’m better than
Half a man!
Yes, even I would toss me in the can
Half a man!
And I am my greatest fan!
If only I could cease to be
Inadequate in all my ways,
Then maybe I would be a better person
But the world’s alive for me tonight
Swingin’ bands, balloons in flight
And though my debts are growing
I’ll be going
As a result of my peculiar state
(so sad it is to be a slave to fate),
I’m no good!
It’s a condition that I’d tolerate
If I could
Let it be understood
If only I could cease to be
Inadequate in all my ways
Then maybe I would be a better person
But the world’s alive for me tonight
Well maybe not for me, alright?
But I will go there just to say I’ve been there
The moral of the story is, in part
That if you sleep with me, I’ll win your heart
I’m not bad!
Good things will come to those who sleep with me
You’ll be glad
Just ask the girls I’ve had
If only I could cease to be
Inadequate in all my ways
Then maybe I would be a better person
But the world’s alive for us tonight
Swingin’ bands and flashing light
And I’ll save you a place just in case
If only I could cease to be
Inadequate in all my ways
Then maybe I would be a better person
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The Shut-Ups Atlanta, Georgia
We're a five-piece new-wave power-pop band from Atlanta and Athens, GA and practice daily at 6AM. We do more before 8AM than
most bands do all week.
We're not about Pleasure or Fun. You may enjoy listening to us. You may not. You may pretend to enjoy us because others you respect seem to. They may be pretending, too. In which case you may want to consider what else they're pretending about.
... more
The Shut-Ups recommends:
Dingbats
by Casper & the Cookies
Jason plays here
go to album
Ben plays here
go to album
Magnet Factory
by PYLON REENACTMENT SOCIETY
Jason also plays here
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