The Universe: 14 Examples

Recorded summer 2007

LYRICS

ORDERING info

THE SONGS

Occupation: BLANK BLANKER 2007 · Many folk songs are about jobs. Here's our generic version; put your own job in the blanks. Inspired by a sign on Peter's favorite songwriting highway, Wisconsin Hwy 22, advertising the services of a stump grinder.

 

Composition: TWO LITTLE BIRDS? 2007 · Writing is like mowing with a push-mower; it takes many thrusts per swath of greensward. In this song, two lyricists work and rework a song together, constructively, you might say.

 

Projection: DOES YOUR DOG AGONIZE? 2006 · A dog is like a mood-ring. The question is, whose mood? Does the dog wonder too? If you have a light hearted happy little dog with not a care in the world, you (and the dog) might not appreciate this somber meditation.

 

Hesitation: ARTISTE INTERRUPTED 2007 · They say unfinished-ness is something we have to accept. This song is our attempt to

 

Consultation: WALKING WITH ROGET 2007 · Studs Terkel once said the Thesaurus was his favorite book. It's one of our favorites too, right up there with Studs Terkel's books. Of course now we have replaced the $40 worth of used reference books with a $1500 computer which does the same thing in twice the time. But that's not what this song is about.

 

Assimilation: CHANTEY FROM THE BRITISH ISLES 2007 · How much info wafts across cultures and centuries just phonetically? And who cares, anyway? Maybe the messages are well worth forgetting.

 

Evolution: KETCHUP WASN'T RED 2007 · This inspired by Mr. Food, who said ketchup was once made with fish and without tomatoes. An odd song, this has something to do with our newfound discovery that life does not stop being strange when you turn 60. Incidentally, for those of you who were wondering, this is the first song we have written whose title begins with the letter "K".

 

Recreation: LIVE MUSIC 2007 · Like frogs, youth, and Pluto, live music is still out there somewhere in the universe. This is a little like song number 1, Blank Blanker, because it's another job song. One to play for all your iPod pals.

 

Appreciation: THANK YOU 2007 · Exchanging gifts is so much more complex than it seems at first glance. Sometimes the only ones left without funny feelings are the retail giants, bless their hearts.

 

Vacillation: UPS & DOWNS 2007 · When you're up you're up, and when you're down you're down, and sometimes it seems like everything within range of your senses bounces right along with you. How is it that the same chimney can look lovely one minute and dreadful the next, while actually nothing about it has changed?

 

Solicitation: SOME DAYS JINGLE 2005 · "Not a day goes by that I don't think about marketing," said Fred Meijer. Here's a song hawking our last CD. Expect a song hawking this CD on the next one.

 

Rumination: WE DIDN'T HAVE A BLIZZARD 2007 · We would have called this song "Stupid Stupid Day" but that gives away the punchline, such as it is, so we didn't. A stupid stupid decision?

 

Observation: MADISON SKYLINE 2006 · In our home town, Madison Gas and Electric (MG&E) features an unmistakable silhouette which, along with the capitol dome, frames the local shape of sky. Written to compete for the Grim Side of Madison song contest of our imagination.

 

Misconception: WHEN THE WORLD SEEMS 2007 · All is illusion, or is that just an illusion? Hard to say, but don't assume all's well just because it seems that way. Dedicated to our horrified therapists.

 

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