Get all 12 Doug McKean releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Stars Have All Fallen from Your Sky, Wildfire Sun, Kissing Booth, Mutatis Mutandis, The Second Golden Age of Piracy, Between Gray and Silver, The Sprinkler Song, Dear Santa, and 4 more.
1. |
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Time and I were waitin'
Sittin' at the Surasak station
A quarter million baht burning a hole in my jeans
I said "Time, what can you tell me
About what just befell me?"
He said "You'll know when you get to Chong Nonsi"
Standin' at the corner
Of South Lamar and Red River
Shiftin' my weight, bustin' a hole in my knees
Punks in boots, cowboys in galoshes
I stood astride 'em like a colossus
With a view from Texas to Chong Nonsi
Buddhist angels line the banks of the Chao Phraya river
Watching your every wish come true
Old men with a long boat full of lost souls to deliver
Thought they were only passing through
This Christmas I can't wait
To get back to the Buckeye State
Feel the chill, see those sturdy barren trees
Clear my throat just in case
They don't recognize my face
By the time I get to Chong Nonsi
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2. |
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It's going down tonight, but don't get excited
There's a party in the USA
But you're not invited
I woke up alive again this morning
It's a preexisting condition
Stepped outside to a country full of fear and superstition
They're tuning up the liberty bell
To play 'God Save the Queen'
You know they'd do just as well to melt it down into a guillotine
So I put my hands up
Listened to what they were saying
Yeah, I put my hands above my head
Listened to what they were playing
'Hail to the Chief', 'Taps'
Something in my stomach just didn't feel right
Then the dj put on another song
It said "There's a party tonight"
A few people got up to dance
Didn't notice everyone sitting
A lot of them were drinking tea when they ought to be taking up knitting
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3. |
Silk Scarecrow
03:45
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Turn your home into an aviary
Lots of pretty birds inside
Plenty for them to play with and peck at
Nothing to hide
Make all function secondary
Build statues out of buttermilk
Keep a garden growing all around you
With scarecrows made of silk
And it's come little birdie come on now
Come little birdie come on now
You know you've got nothing to fear
Open the door to the refrigerator
Birds flying in there too
Taking wing among the apples and oranges
And honeydew
Cover the windows up with paper
Shoo away the flies
A fire burning at the bottom of the chimney
Wear a silk disguise
Welcome those who come to visit
Keep regular hours
A euchre deck waiting on the table
Pots full of flowers
This ain't a bad idea now is it?
A world that's self-contained
Surround yourself with beauty
Keep away all pain
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4. |
Almost Everywhere
04:15
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Fell apart on the telephone
Far away from your voice
A plea from your lips
A moment exists and goes
Heard your sobs between lonely breaths
Breathing catches and goes
A sea in your wrists
The wind blows a kiss back to me
You and me, almost everywhere
Nowhere we couldn't be
Heard a bird on its perch
Across from the church tonight
Rivers flow into waterfalls
Around bends rivers rush
Fell apart on the riverbed
Thinking back to the first time I saw you blush
You and me, almost everywhere
Were so clearly defined
Lifted up above everything
Almost all the time
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5. |
Civil Twilight
03:17
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Hours and hours have piled up
Like water in a puddle
And gently made suggestions
Though they made them much too subtle
The street lights came on at 10 after 6 tonight
Marking down the onset of civil twilight
People step out of fading shadows
They've been cultivating all day
As the wind that blows through vacant alleys
Carries everything away
Children run for their front stoop just to stay in their mothers' sight
Mother's sight grows weaker at civil twilight
The rain comes down, washes nothing away
Turns the street into a house of mirrors
A painter paints a backdrop
And everything appears
Businessmen without suits or ties
Observe the daylight fading
They appreciate all the moment to moment
Changes in the shading
They live off the fertile ground that lives between black and white
And harvest time comes around at civil twilight
It's a courageous brother who braves the dark
To keep an eye upon his sister
At a time when doubt becomes resolve
And shouts turn into whispers
The textures of the rusted signs of blight
Feel no change under the fingers of civil twilight
Stick men rattle down the street
Confess their needs to Jesus
Women with naked eyes grope blindly
For anything that pleases
You'd think this would make the police more uptight
Even cops will turn a blind eye at civil twilight
The bishops and the aldermen
Communicate by epistle
Try to fill empty hearts with promise
Against that evening wind that whistles
They find no hope in anything they write
Put their hands in their pockets at the onset of civil twilight
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6. |
Winston Salem
03:24
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Flipping the pages in The Lives of the Saints
Find out what I am
Find out what I ain't
It's four inches long, it's six inches thick
But it works real well as a measuring stick
This train I ride has 16 coaches
Each of them coaching love
Some combination of selflessness, lust, protectiveness
And none of the above
Watching the fish bob and weave up the creek
I read about the virgins, the humble, the meek
But soon I'll be back on that road to the world
Where it's dog eat dog and boy meet girl
Drunk on Cheerwine or the blood of Christ
Or just shutting down from too much advice
I toast all my friends both distant and dear
Pete Kyrou, Nic Massey, I wish you were here
Find myself a place in the shade of the trees
Where me and the birds can just shoot the breeze
I blink out my silent contribution to spring
They beat out the same violent pattern on their wings
The vines and the cherry blossoms catch my eye
I put my hand on my heart and look to the sky
You can paint yourself into a corner in so many hues
That you're looking at rainbows while you're singing the blues
I got money to burn, I got time to spare
Breathe in a little of that mountain air
Turn off the radio, I turn off the road
Watch the tops of those mountains explode
Cooking up breakfast in the frying pan
Find out what I aren't
Find out what I am
Hang out the laundry to dry on the line
The fruits of the new year blooming on the vine
Put out my stick over an open fire
Learn about risk and the death of desire
All you do is put them out in the field
Then you learn how to turn, you learn how to yield
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7. |
Aggressive Passion
02:52
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Aggressive passion
As I come upon the fork in your tongue
After a fashion
Stinging like you've never been stung
1200 miles as the crow flies
Or a crooked road surrounded by magpies
Who stare with eyes full of indecision
The surest way to cloud your vision
Aggressive passion
Keep on moving while we're still young
Nowhere to cash in
And no songs that ain't already been sung
It's been a year long breech of etiquette
From Steamboat Springs to New Haven, Connecticut
Across the rivers and over the plains
And now the only thing that remains
Aggressive passion
And we're yelling at the top of our lungs
'til it all comes crashin'
Under a shadow that weighs 16 tons
Feeling just like a spider
Who spins his web just a little bit wider
Remember things that you felt when you were younger
Longing, anger, fever, heartache, hunger
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8. |
Believe
03:10
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If you're feeling like you used to feel before
I believe in heaven with you
In your dusty slippers and your homemade pinafore
I believe in heaven with you
I felt so all alone
Like there was nothing left
I picked up that telephone
Dialed 1-900-909-JEFF
Said "Jeff I believe"
He said "You know who we need
And you know where they'll be"
I believe
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9. |
Night Baseball
04:17
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There is order, there is chaos
And who knows which is which?
Which one will predominate
Depends from pitch to pitch
Grasp your hands inside your hands
And lay your money down
Wait on your advantages
And they will come around
Night baseball under the lights in the park
Night baseball save you from nights in the dark
Wisdom changes form
Eludes all seekers and students
Defines itself, refines itself
You wonder where it went
Between the inches there is heaven
And there's certainly hell
Where desires go unleavened
And thoughts suborn themselves
Night baseball under the lights in the park
Night baseball save you from nights in the dark
Ringing bells sound for the ones who fell
From having without being had
And holding without being held
Sun exhales one last time
Sets over the present
People gather and the night becomes incandescent
Straight and narrow runs its course
Turns out horse salesmen
Acts unseen like Magnus force
Motion based on spin
Side retired, day expired
The crowd goes home to grieve
And take a shot from a ten cent pistol
At the ball of the century
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10. |
Mars and Detroit
03:58
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Pulled into the city a few years back
Buried under the shroud of touring
It beckoned me with its hangdog look
Its streetlights so alluring
It nurtured me and it fed me
Made me strong enough for its burdens
The broken windows, the broken lovers
The occasional late-night disturbance
I spent rainy afternoons
Marginally employed
Reading tales of far-off places
On Mars and Detroit
I watched that Lake Erie sunrise
Starting off my days
It taught me how the sunshine
Can burn off the morning haze
I heard Roger Hoover's dreaming
I dug those Transistor Blues
I heard Billy Fox singing a melody
That could not have rung more true
I spent rainy afternoons
Marginally employed
Reading tales of far-off places
On Mars and Detroit
I'll miss my friends more than anything else
Drinking at the Happy Dog bar
I'll miss the jokes that fell flat
And the ones that went too far
So wave and wish me well
For we have not finished yet
All of this will remain with me
Even in moments when I forget
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11. |
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You hit the road when the teardrops start
She sits at home with a vengeful and broken heart
Plotting new ways to tear you apart
You don't have to stay here
But you can't go home
She's waiting up for you again
You walk in the door and your troubles begin
So you stay out with your friends
There's a light that never goes out
A candle that burns no matter who blows it out
It'll lead you home some day
But tonight you should be on your way
She slaps your face and she doesn't blink
She hits you with words and fists and the kitchen sink
So let's head down the road for one more drink
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Doug McKean Cleveland, Ohio
Catchy songs and biting lyrics with a variety of sounds ranging from punk to soul to folk.
New single 'The Stars Have All Fallen from Your Sky' out now!
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