Lyrics | 11 Tracks of Whack

LYRICS | 11 TRACKS OF WHACK (1994) | W. Becker Solo

Down In The Bottom
Junkie Girl
Surf And/Or Die
Book of Liars
Lucky Henry
Hard Up Case
Cringemaker
Girlfriend
My Waterloo
This Moody Bastard
Hat Too Flat
Little Kawai
Medical Science

DOWN IN THE BOTTOM

In case you're wondering it's alive and well
That little habit that you left with me
Here in the suburbs where it's hard to tell
If I got the bear or if the bear got me
How did you know that it would take me down
Down to the bottom of the wine dark sea
Where you were waiting there to bring me 'round
Where you knew all the dopest cuts to be

Drowned at the bottom of your mystery
Down in the bottom of the wine dark sea

Saw your old lady in the park today
The legendary smile is wearing thin
Behind that guessing game you make her play
Now that she knows that she could never win
I guess you're never gonna take her down
Down to the bottom of your little black heart
Lay with her naked on the cool hard ground
To watch the sun rise in the dopest part

Down in the bottom where your lifeline shows
Down in the bottom where nobody goes

Did you loose your way find another
Did you make your play or just run for cover
Is its safe to say you got burned today?

I like the feathers and I love the hat
I like that little gypsy tune you're humming
I guess I'm happy now we've had this chat
Oh yeah I'm really glad I saw you coming
There in the corner of the eastern sky
The tortured angel of your rising sign
Darkens the evening with his one good eye
An evil omen of the dopest kind

Down in the bottom where your demons fly
Down in the bottom of the eastern sky
Down in the bottom where your lifeline shows
Down in the bottom where nobody goes
Drowned at the bottom of your mystery
Down in the bottom of the wine dark sea

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JUNKIE GIRL

In the good old bad part of this college town
Men in business suits they run you down
You take their money just like you take mine
You send it bubbling down the thin blue line
It doesn't matter how it got this way
'Cause we could make it through this thing together
I know you're laughing but I got to say
Now I still want you maybe more than ever

No fooling it's a fucked up world
So be cool my little junkie girl

The cops are out to shut the district down
I comb the ruins of your stomping grounds
Stanyan Street looking like that third world war
You come up blazing like an open sore
Now I believe you but I got to know
How come the right side of your brain is hurting
So take me with you baby when you go
Through to the white side of your China curtain

No fooling it's a fucked up world
So be cool my little junkie girl

In the good old bad part of this college town
Men in grey limousines will drive you down
You take their money just like you take mine
Where does it get you on that thin blue line
Now I can hardly hear you anymore
Your eyes are empty and your voice is hollow
I see you waving from a distant shore
And where you're going I don't dare to follow

No fooling that's another world
Good luck my little junkie girl

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SURF AND/OR DIE

Earthbound to Johnny boy just picked up your message
'Bout those Balinese ikats you thought I might buy
Now your voice on my machine is more alive than what you are
Since your daredevil hang glider fell out of the sky
Now Armand's looked all over but he can't find your car keys
Were they under the tire? Were they under the seat?
Because as it stands now your beloved white Aires
Is fair game for the vandals up on Makapuu Street
And your grandmother's number, we know it's here somewhere
But Suze can't seem to find it, now she's losing control
And so what about her, and little Eldon and Layla
And that hypothetical spectre, your gilt-edged soul
Which defied many perils, in the face of all reason
And in so many settings and for all your young years
Insisting on pure freedom for its too-short season
Riding high on its ration of enchantment and fear
Over the hill and into the next meadow and on and on and on

In a near random universe there are still certain combinations
Picked out from all other possible ones
Which, when given some time and the just-right circumstances
Not too far from the earth or too close to the sun
They will dance and they'll spin in the embrace of the trade winds
Playing havoc with the hearts and the upturned faces down below
Until the laws of curved spacetime, susponed without warning
Kick back in with a vengeance for the last act of the show
Going too far too fast in that final wing over
As your glider comes tumbling out of the clouds
And you clutch at your chest but the chute never opens
And they find you there tangled in that white nylon shroud
When we get Grandma's number I think I'll just say to her
Your Johnny's home for Christmas, it was a hell of a ride
And I know that some day you'll be showing me those blankets
All covered in glory on the hereafter side, saying
There was never any question, it was always all or nothing
Surf and/or die

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BOOK OF LIARS

Bye and bye now
We'll get over
The things we've done and the things we said
But not just now when
I can 't remember
Exactly what it was I thought we had
'Cause I waited so long girl and I came so far
To find out you're not always who you say you are

And there's a star in the book of liars by your name

Santa Claus came in late last night
Drunk on Christmas wine
Fell down hard in the driveway
Hung his bag out on the laundry line
There's a Cobra Gunship for his golden boy
And there's a Hello Kitty for his pride and joy

And a silver star in the book of liars by your name
They hung a star in the book of liars by your name

Stars imploding
The long night passing
Electrons dancing in the frozen crystal dawn
Here's one left stranded at the zero crossing
With a hole in its half-life left to carry on
But now the world's much larger than it looks today
And if my bad luck ever blows me back this way

Then I'll just look in my book of liars for your name
I'll just look in the book of liars for your name

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LUCKY HENRY

Dusted down in shanty town behind a sky of red
Hoist upon some frozen dawn exploding in my head
Fast asleep in trouble deep or wide awake and burning
Stuck inside some stranger's hide whose karma keeps returning

Where you trail that holy grail of darkness and despair
Way cross town, now up now down, as though you'd really care
On the bus across from us seen once in silhouette
The old man's face you couldn't place that now you can't forget

Down and dirty
There you go
Lucky Henry says hello
Burned his bridges high and low
And down the road and gone
It's raining boxcars did you know
From County Cook to Baltimore
Where ever those old jockeys go
To live out their lifelines

Burning down that two lane town the boys call Hollywood
Kicked around now lost now found now lost again for good
Badly placed or half erased or lost in space and time
And all because the real one was the disappearing kind

Now you tumble
Now you know
Lucky Henry says hello
Scratched in verses high and low
And down to hell and gone I'm told
It's raining boxcars that's for sure
From Bakersfield to Elsinore
For all what I care anymore
For now and forever gone gone gone

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HARD UP CASE

You told me once I was your pride and joy
I guess those days are dead and gone
You must have took me for some golden boy
You didn't know what you were taking on
It was a hard up case

It was a hard up case
Just another hard up case
It was a hard up case
Just another hard up case

Now all the angles have been played in three's
There isn't much that I can say
I know you gave your little heart to me
I guess I threw the thing away
It was a hard up case

It was a hard up case
Just another hard up case
It was a hard up case
Just another hard up case

Sometimes the truth is kind of hard to find
But don't you worry I can read your mind
And you don't have to tell me to my face
You put some other joker in my place

They dealt us houses full with the queens and kings
And now they're calling out our bluff
'Cause you and me girl we had everything
But it just wasn't quite enough
Now that's a hard up case

It was a hard up case
Just another hard up case
It was a hard up case
Just another hard up case

You say the truth is gonna set me free
Like you might throw a dog a bone
I know you're thinking that the joke's on me
Just take a look at what you 're dragging home --
Another hard up case

It was a hard up case
Just another hard up case
It was a hard up case
Just another hard up case

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CRINGEMAKER

What ever happened to my college belle
When did she turn into the wife from hell

Cringemaker
What are we coming to
Cringemaker
What have they done to you

In the beginning we rode high on the hog
Down in the kitchen now it's dog eat dog

Our little Cringemaker up on the second floor
Sweet little Cringemaker
Hey listen cringemaker who locked the bedroom door
Sweet little Cringemaker
Sweet little Cringemaker

And every time I go to make my play
She rolls mighty boulders in my way

Say little cringemaker it's such a bumpy ride
Hey little cringemaker thought you were on my side

And every time I get to have my say
She just laughs and looks the other way

Oh little cringemaker this time you hurt my pride
Sweet little cringemaker
Say little cringemaker where am I gonna hide
Sweet little Cringemaker
Sweet little cringemaker

Nobody told us when we started out
Just what this life is really all about
Sometimes I wonder and you do too
If I could do it all over would I
Still do it all over you

She calls me Daddy and I just go numb
Down in the bottom where the love comes from
Sweet little cringemaker what happened on the way
Sweet little cringemaker to where we are today

I try to figure but I'm way too dumb
How we got here from where we started from
Cringe I guess we always knew
Swee' little who we would turn into
Sweet little Cringemaker

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GIRLFRIEND

Alone in my cave
It's corn flakes and Camels
And the long restless shadows of my life
None but the brave
Jim Beam and Jack Daniels
Channelhopping these empty days and nights
Glued to the screen
Rerun by rerun
At the dark outer limits of my soul
Stranded between
The Green Acres of my good intentions
And the Twilight Zone of zero self-control

So come on angel
Tune in on me
You 'll see your faithful servant
Lost in misery
And all of your hard work
Coming down to no good
Better see about me babe
If you only could now

Girlfriend if it can't be you
I don't even have anyone to tell my story to
I said girlfriend if it can't be you
Girlfriend if it can't be you
I don't even have anyone to tell my story to
I said girlfriend if it can't be you

Dust and despair
Cobwebs and confusion
Collecting in the corners of my room
All of my dreams
Bitter illusions
I just can't be rid of them too soon
Tired of my brain
Tired of this movie
Too tired to get up and shut it off
The time that remains
What good can it do me
Now that I know that too much is not enough
Wait a minute baby
What about my heart
Was it your idea
To take it all apart
And put it all back together
Just one piece at a time
Now it's down to you darling
That's why I'm all

Girlfriend if it can't be you
I don't even have anyone to tell my story to
I said girlfriend if it can't be you
Girlfriend if it can't be you
I don't even have anyone to tell my story to
I said girlfriend if it can't be you

I'm pullin' in a picture now
Up off my back pages
And all at once am privy to
The entire grim design
Of a great civilization
In the terminal stages
Of a slow but steady mental moral spiritual decline
And so it goes
And thus it is written
And all I want to know is
Where does a guy like me fit in?

So I'm visualizing a cute little bunny
With a fluffy white tail and long grey floppy ears
Who looks up at me and says, Doc don't you worry
All you got to do is, hide in here
Now all you got to do is to just say when
You might consider bringing your sweetness 'round here again

Girlfriend if it can't be you
I don't even have anyone to tell my story to
I said girlfriend if it can't be you
Girlfriend if it can't be you
I don't even have anyone to tell my story to
I said girlfriend if it can't be you

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MY WATERLOO

I came a long long way from home
I travelled far just to be here today
Across an endless sea of salty tears
Behind the divided line of eighteen years

You gotta walk that road alone
You gotta walk that lonely
I wear my heart out on my sleeve
A sight you surely must have spied by now
I admit that I don't even know your name
I feel like I could know you all the same

Are you gonna walk that road with me sometime
Or is it gonna be that lonely
Are you gonna walk that road with me this time
Don't make me be that lonely

It's still no easy thing to hold your head up high
When every time you turn around
Somebody kicks your statue down
I tried my best to hold my ground
I swore I'd never let it be this way
But now I broke my sword, dropped my gun
Just like some tragic beat Napoleon

Now I gotta walk that road again
Now I gotta walk that lonely
Now I gotta walk that road one time
Now I gotta be that lonely

What with no better way to go
As long as I'm still kicking that gong around
I see this time I met my match in you
I know now that you are My Waterloo
My Waterloo

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THIS MOODY BASTARD

Little friend of mine
Can you still recall
Our salad days
Between the ivy walls?
Beneath the autumn sun?
When all is said and done
We were a good combination
We were good clean fun
Still my thoughts roll back
Every now and then
Think about you
Remembering
I start in smiling and
I just can't stop
You on the bottom
Me on top

These days it's like a tomb
Amid in the stacks of gloom
Looking out the window
In the downstairs room
And the time goes by
And the time goes by
Sometimes it goes so slowly
You know a man could cry
Till the day goes down
In deep disgrace
With empty pockets
And a dirty face
And then the day boils over
And there's nothing there
But a roomful of smoke and a lot of hot air

This moody bastard remembers
You were some kind of friend even then
Once in a great while
He needs one...
This moody bastard
This moody bastard
He needs one
He needs some kind of friend now and again
Once in blue moon
Could use one
This moody bastard

Little friend of mine
You don't even know
When the wind starts blowing
How far a man could go
Little friend of mine
Are you even there
Did you disappear
Back into thin air
If you 're still here with me
If you got this far
I hope you're smiling
In fact I know you are

This moody bastard remembers
You were some kind of friend even then
Once in a great while
He needs one...
This moody bastard
This moody bastard
He needs one
He needs some kind of friend now and again
Once in blue moon
Could use one
This moody bastard
This moody bastard

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HAT TOO FLAT

We come in on the morning scan
All the way from far Arcturus
Bringing with us peace and good will
From the margins of space and time
Our women are slung down low to the ground
They're very good you've probably had one
Our men are brave, studly and wise,
A pleasure to behold
Right away we walk the walk
More or less we talk the talk
But every time we make our play
Their eyes get wide they run away

'Cause the hat stays too flat
My hat is way too flat
My English she is much better now
But my hat remains too flat
The man smells a rat
And that's the end of that
My English it is more better now
But my hat is still too flat

Fair Arcturus Fashion forecast:
Skirts will be shorter
Legs stay long
Virtual raincoats are coming back
Hats as always continued flat

Back at home the machines work hard
We folk like to take it easy
Honing our awareness of
The finer things of life
Here when I go down to my job
I work hard for what seems like a long time
I look at my watch: fifteen minutes
It felt like half a day!
Soon enough we break for lunch
Me and the boys now I'm one of the bunch
But no one wants to sit with me
So tell me what can the matter be?

The hat stays too flat
My hat is way too flat
My English she is much better now
But the hat is just too flat
A little thing like that
They don't get past the hat
My English it is more better now
But my hat remains too flat

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LITTLE KAWAI

Here's a note from one Miss Turnbull
Certain homework was not done
Tiny holes in brand new windows
From an unknown BB gun
Cinder Annie and your Big Mommie
Say the facts all point to you

But they don't love you
Little Kawai
Not the way that I do
Not the way that I do

That new squirt gun
Eric got you
Don't you aim it over here
That's a mean song Eldon taught you
I no longer wish to hear
And where he says babies come from
This is not completely true

That's a tall one
Little Kawai
And those bad boys
They don't love you
Not the way that I do

In the morning in spite of everything
We'll go driving in our car
Straight to IHOP where it's well-known
The world's junkest pancakes are
Maple syrup on those french fries
They say it's no good for you

But you're still growing
Little Kawai
What do they know
Do they love you
Not the way that I do
Not the way that I do

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MEDICAL SCIENCE
[Japanese Import Only]

My man Stanley
Suave but manly
Taking cover from the mark within
Now he's hiding
Pretty soon he's sliding
Looking for a lonely heart to take refuge in

Down the alley
My gal Sally
A little bruised and battered maybe from a couple times before
Hold her steady
You know I think she's ready
To climb into the ring and do it all once more

Does it hurt when I do this
Can you laugh when I go like this
All right keep it down
This one's cool for maybe one more round
Just look for big pieces when we sweep up tonight boys

Nobody's going to blame you
Scratch 'em right off that list
You know medical science is helpless
Helpless in a case like this
I know you're gonna thank me later
For giving this one a miss
'Cause medical science is helpless
Helpless in a case like this

Ivory Eddie
Half dead already
But too dumb to lie down or even let a brother know
Trouble's cruising
You know Ed's still using
Never known for passing on a chance to just say "Yo"

Little Leroy
Eddie's homeboy
Still too wet behind the ears to know his right from his wrong
And what big E's sporting
Little Lee is snorting
Guess Ed stopped on his way down to drag the kid along

And all the jiveasses and the true believers
The bullshit givers and receivers
Here today tomorrow gone
To the triage tent in the great beyond
Wherein the angel tangoes with the infidel

Normally I'd be angry
Normally I'd be pissed
But medical science is helpless
Helpless in a case like this
Better make mine a double
Serve it up with a twist
'Cause medical science is helpless
Helpless in a case like this

Nobody's gonna blame you
Scratch 'em right off the list
Medical science is helpless
Helpless in a case like this

I know you're gonna thank me later
For giving this one a miss
'Cause medical science is helpless
Helpless in a case like this
Normally I'd be angry
Normally I'd be pissed
But medical science is helpless
Helpless in a case like this

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All songs written by Walter Becker © Zeon Music ASCAP except Cringemaker, written by Walter Becker and Dean Parks, © 1994 Zeon Music ASCAP/Runaway Inflation BMI. Lyrics Reprinted by Permission. All Rights Reserved.