Paul Iorio's blog, The Daily Digression, covers pop culture and beyond...
PAUL IORIO'S OTHER WEBSITES:
- Homepage: paulliorio.blogspot.com
- Paul's main music site (w/lyrics) pauliorio.blogspot.com
- MP3s of Paul's songs: myspace.com/paulioriosongs
- Audio excerpts of Paul's interviews with pop culture icons
myspace.com/paulioriooan> & myspace.com/paulioriooo
All posted text on this website written solely by Paul Iorio.
Where people are reading this site this week (4/6/11): United States, Germany, Malaysia, Denmark, Slovenia, Israel, Russia, Iran, India, Chile, Georgia, Austria, Portugal, Moldova, Singapore, Ukraine.
____________________________________________________________________
Here's the MP3 edition of Paul Iorio's brand new "ZIP CODE OF THE MOON"
e.p.: http://zipcodeofthemoon.blogspot.com (3/11/11)....And, back by request,
Paul's "TABOO" album (1/18/2011):http://paulboardgame.blogspot.com/
new material added June 26, 2009!
MySpace alert: highly sacrilegious new song "PRAY TO THE DEVIL" just uploaded!(6/23) (And thanks to KALX for airing it (and "Red Riot") last night.)
I'm Paul Iorio, and here I am in my Berkeley apartment!
* * *
Me with major influence Paul McCartney, who I was lucky enough to have met in 1986 in New York City (no, he's not involved with my music, but I couldn't resist posting the pic!)
* * *
Coming on July 31, "BANNED MUSIC," my new album....
* * *
Just released a three-song single -- "Paradox," "Banned
Music" and "Kim Jong-il" -- in advance of the release
of my new album "Banned Music" in July.
Here're the lyrics:
PARADOX
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
I couldn't see
Until I was almost blind
I did more
When I had far less time
Must start a fire to put out the fire, I know
Sometimes you have to walk back to go forward, I know
If you leave
You'll just arrive instead
I had more
When I had far less bread
Inject the infection to stop the infection, I know
Must start a fire to put out the fire, I know
The closer that you are
The farther away you get
Chase it for too long
You're runnin' away from it
You can only chase something for so long
Before you're runnin' from it
You can only chase something for so long
Before you're runnin' from it
You can only chase something for so long
Before you're runnin' from it
NOTES ON "PARADOX": Acoustic pop about
everyday paradoxes (e.g., one sometimes
has to walk back to go forward, one has
to start a fire to put out a fire, etc.).
I wrote this as an instrumental in
January '09, but a melody and lyric
came to me in March, and it evolved from there.
* *
BANNED MUSIC
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
It started out a daring kind of dreamin'
I risk therefore I am
We took the train to Villa Montecito
To a no man's land
I was warned
About the border
I was told don't go
But after Villa
Montecito
Couldn't stop the adrenaline flow
I'm going past some barbed wire
I'll travel anywhere I want to
They tell me it's
A tough crossing
They'll shoot me if they really want to
ah ahh ahhh
I'm listening to Cem Karaca
And an exiled singer from the Balkans
They tell me it's banned music
They'll confiscate it if they want to
ah ahh ahhh
Deep in the forbidden zone
Where you're not supposed to go
Can't get nothin' on my phone
They want my passport
And they say it's banned music
It's banned music
Banned music
You can't take it where you roam
You shoulda left it back at home
In this country there's a bone to pick
It's the last time
And there's rifles at the checkpoint
And lots of klieg lights
Long blackjack
NOTES ON "BANNED MUSIC":A multi-part
thinginspired by the time when I was in Istanbul
and bought an album by Turkish rocker
Cem Karaca that had been virtually banned
by the government there. The very nervous
guy who sold it advised me not to show it around
when I crossed the border behind the Iron Curtain
(it was '76 and I was an adventurous teenager!).
I wrote the track last month, combining five
musical fragments I'd come up with.
* *
KIM JONG-IL
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
I love Kim il-Sung
Bright as the rising sun
He s the chosen one
I love Kim il-Sung
I love Kim Jong-IL
Bright as a daffodil
Tall as the highest hill
I love Kim Jong-il
The Dear Leader never fails
The Dear Leader never pales
To world leaders everywhere
I love Kim il-Sung
Juce, baby, juche
Juche is my bag
Juche, baby, juche
Juche is the way
Juche, baby, Juche
Juche is my bag
I love Kim Jong-il
Juche, baby, juche
I love Kim Jong Il
Bright as a daffodil
Tall as the highest hill
I love Kim Jong Il
[simultaneously: "Juche, baby, Juche/Juche
is my bag"]
I love Kim Il-sung
He's the chosen one
Bright as the rising sun
I love Kim Il Sung
I love Kim jong il
Bright as a daffodil
Tall as the highes hill
I love kim jong il
Juche, baby, juche
Juche, baby, juche
NOTES ON "KIM JONG-IL":Ironic
parody of political propaganda songs.
* *
A couple people were wondering how I came up
with "Life's Just a Single Blast," and my
answer is, the same way I generally write
my stuff: by playing my guitar alone in my
apartment and coming up with a riff or a
melody that eventually evolves into a song.
I almost always record my 'solo jams' on tape -- and
I have over a hundred hours of tapes that show the
evolution of songs I've written over the decades.
For anyone who's interested, I've just uploaded
a recording that shows the moment when "Life's Just a
Single Blast" was born and took shape. It's a
ten-minute tape on which you can hear me coming up with
the track's guitar riff and playing it again and again until,
around three minutes in, a melody comes to me. (The
solo session is from March 22, 2009; and you can hear me
recording verbal directions to myself into the
recorder for later reference.) I've posted it at
myspace.com/paulioriosongs, and it's titled
'HOW I WROTE SONG" -- and it's very typical
of how I come up with my songs!
* * * *
OK, folks, I just now posted a sneak preview MP3 of my
brand new song, mere hours old, titled
"BANNED MUSIC" (6/18/09).
Listen to it at www.myspace.com/paulioriosongs.
But I won't be keeping it posted online for very
long, because I want to save it for its formal
release in July. So dig in while you can!
* * *
Well, some of you have heard
my new song "Life's Just
a Single Blast" on KCRW, KALX and other great radio
stations (thanks a lot to those stations for playing
it, by the way!).
Now everyone can hear "Life's Just a Single Blast"
on MySpace. Just go to
www.myspace.com/paulioriosongs to listen to it.
I must say that of the hundreds of songs I've
written over the years, "Life's Just a Single Blast"
has connected with more listeners than any of
my other ones. And I'm real glad people seem
to enjoy it! (You can download it for free for
now -- it's on me.)
(P.S. -- I'm posting new uploads to MySpace every few
days so you can have a fresh selection of the many
songs I've written and recorded. Today I added "Time
Begins to End.")
* * * *
OK, I'm just now beginning to re-activate my
MySpace page and have uploaded my new song
"Life's Just a Single Blast" and last year's
"Besides" to www.myspace.com/paulioriosongs.
More to come.
* * * *
Many, many thanks to KCRW for playing
"Life's Just a Single Blast" last week
(May 11)!
* * * * *
OK, I've just released my latest songs,
"Red Riot," "War Suite" and "Pray to the
Devil," which I wrote last month and recorded
over the last several days.
Lyrics and cover graphics after I mention
how I came to be releasing my music after all
this years. I've been writing songs since I
was around ten, but I only started releasing
them publicly around three years ago, when a
friend from the old days, Bill Epps, threw
some money at recording studio sessions
and recording equipment for me. Very nice of
him, I thought at the time. And all
he wanted was a cut of the dough, in the
unlikely event that my stuff ever
generates dough.
Turns out, though, that he apparently wasn't
being so altruistic, or at least it seems
that way now. I'm hearing from friends that
he's trying to take credit for some bits in
my songs (though Bill has never claimed that
lie to my face).
Let me make it real simple for everyone: if Bill
is saying that he wrote even a note or a word of
any of my songs, and he hasn't said that to me,
but if Bill is claiming that, then Bill is lying;
and if you believe such a lie from him, then
you are quite literally a fool. (To all you
honest folks out there: we all know that a liar
loses all power to deceive when nobody listens
to him (if you catch my drift)).
My songs (which means every song on this
website) are very personal to me. I wrote
every one of them alone, without any bandmates.
I know when and where I was when I wrote
almost every line and melody here. And I'm not
about to credit someone with writing
something that he didn't write, no matter
how much money he put into my project.
Just look at the emails Bill sent to me (below)
in '05, when he first funded the recording
of my songs (he hasn't been involved in my
work, even as techie, since). As you can read
here, he wrote to me saying he merely wanted to
add some "support bass" to the 52 songs I had
written and recorded for sessions in '05.
Now he's (evidently) trying to take credit
for stuff he didn't write! And by the way,
in that second email in which he refers to me
as a "genius" (and I'm certainly no genius),
he is clearly not referring to my singing
or guitar playing but to my songwriting (which
he obviously overrates!).
Whew! Wish I didn't have to spend any time on
that, but I either have to address the situation
here or allow lies to proliferate!
With that out of the way, here're the CD cover
graphics, lyrics and assorted notes for my new
songs (request a copy at pliorio@aol.com):
RED RIOT
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
Red riot
Red riot
Red riot
Red riot
I went to a riot, an open air riot
Everyone was throwing slogans
I went to a riot, a socialist riot
Everybody took back their homes
Are you saying?
(Yes, I am)
That you can
(Yes, I can)
Take back everything
All that we used to own
Red riot
Red riot
Red riot
Red riot
We took back the tower
The crazy clock tower
We rang every bell and chime
Every bell was ringing, everyone was singing
It was liberation time
Are you saying
(Yes, I am)
That you can
(Yes, I can)
Take back everything
All that we used to own
Red riot
Red riot
Red riot
Red riot
Red riot
Red riot
Red riot
Red riot
I went to a riot
A Zapatista riot
Everybody took back their homes
NOTES ON "RED RIOT": Clashish
punk pop on acoustic guitar. About an
imaginary riot/coup. I began
writing it during the same solo session
that created "Life's Just a Single Blast"
(on March 22, 2009) -- and
revised and finished it in April.
* * * * *
WAR SUITE
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
I lost my leg
For no reason
For a war that had no meaning at all
I lost my leg
For no reason
For a war that had no meaning at all
No meaning at all
I fought a war that was a total disgrace
It made the world a less safe place
I fought a war that was a waste of my time
Had no reason or rhyme
I was born the son of a man who fought
A war he never really bought
He wished the government had told him more
Before he joined the Vietnam War
I wasted all my life for that Iraq war
Still don't know what good it was for
Well, there are some wars that are justified
But not if you're dying for a lie
I fought a war that was a total disgrace
It made the world a less safe place
I fought a war that was a waste of my time
Had no reason or rhyme
Just a waste of my time
NOTES ON "WAR SUITE": A two-part
track -- half gospel, half Old West -- written in
the voice of a disabled war vet who regrets
having fought a war that made the
world less safe. I came up with this one
on April 11, 2009, and revised it for a
couple weeks.
* * * *
PRAY TO THE DEVIL
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
(Oy vey, Maria!)
Pray to the devil
Like you pray to your god
Pray to the devil
You'll have the same odds
Pray to the devil
Pray like you should
Pray to the devil
It'll do ya the same good
Prayin'...
Is just wishful thinkim'
Prayin'...
Is worse for you than drinkin'
Lead us not into temptation
Unless it leads to gratification
Pray to the devil
Pray like you should
Pray to the devil
It'll do ya the same good
Prayin'...
The Lord is my schlepper
Pray or
They'll treat you like a leper
Though I walk through the valley of death
Praying's just a big waste of breath
[spoken]
You know, how do you know whether your
prayer to God doesn't go to the devil
instead? Is there a special exchange for
all this, like a phone exchange that gets you
to the right party? Is there a limit to how
many prayers you can pray per month? Are
there rollover prayers?
Prayin'...
Is just wishful thinkin', baby
Prayin'...
Is worse for you than drinkin'
Lead us not into temptation
Unless it leads to gratification
Pray to the devil
Like you pray to your God
Pray to the devil
You'll have the same odds
Pray to the devil
Pray like you should
Pray to the devil
It'll do you the same good
Do you the same good
Do you the same good
NOTES ON "PRAY TO THE DEVIL":Lyrics
sort of in the spirit of XTC's "Dear God," music
sort of in the style of Johnny Cash. I wrote it
in April '09.
* * * * * *
Well, my "Riot Noise (Off Avalon Green)" EP was
released on Mayday, but my emphasis is on the
full-length "Riot Noise" album, which I plan to
release (perhaps online) on July 1, 2009.
The full-length "Riot Noise" will include six,
maybe nine, additional songs, all performed and
produced and written by me in 2009 (it's as solo
as an album can get, for better and for worse!).
Frankly, I've been more preoccupied with
releasing my latest song, "Life's Just a Single
Blast," for which there has been more demand
than I had expected (it'll be featured on the
upcoming album).
I want to thank all the radio people who have already
played tracks from "Avalon Green" and from
my 2008 album "75 Songs."
I must admit when I first starting releasing my
songs on CD three years or so ago, I was
pleasantly surprised and very grateful that
radio people started playing my stuff. To date,
at least 30 of my songs have been aired by radio
stations ranging from California to New York to
Norway to Germany! (And those are just the
ones I'm aware of.) To quote My Morning Jacket,
I'm amazed!
When I listen to great radio stations -- like KALX,
KCRW, WFMU and many others -- I'm always humbled
by how much great music there is out there, and
I'm thankful and glad that such stations have
taken the time to play my own songs when
there is so much terrific material by others
to play!
Anyway, I'll continue to release my new
songs as soon as I write and record 'em, and
have three new ones almost ready to roll.
(I write so many songs that I sometimes
half-jokingly wonder whether the
tissue of my brain that controls songwriting
has somehow become permanently overstimulated
or something. Maybe too much Yuban!) In any
event, as I mentioned, I've almost finished
recording three new ones and am almost
done writing a few new ones that aren't
quite ready for the recording studio yet.
* * * *
Thanks a lot to KALX for playing
my new songs "Life's Just a Single
Blast" and "I Think My Phone is Tapped"
last night (4/20/09).
I must say I'm really grateful and
pleasantly surprised that people are
connecting with "Life's Just a Single Blast,"
which I started self-releasing just
a couple weeks ago and has already
generated more response than my other
songs. (You can request a copy at
pliorio@aol.com.)
By the way, my MySpace page is currently
mostly inactive (I haven't had time to
friend more than a few people -- and the
songs posted there will soon be replaced
by my more recent 2009 songs!). It will
be updated in coming months.
* * * *
Many thanks to KCRW for playing
my new song "Life's Just a Single
Blast" a few days ago (4/13/09) and
to KALX for playing my recent songs
"The Riot Noise (Off Avalon Green)"
and "You're Gettin' Played" last month!
* * *
OK, I wrote a few brand new songs last week,
recorded them over the last few days and
am releasing them now (3/31/09). The tracks are:
"Life's Just a Single Blast," "You Can See It
From Space" and "I Think My Phone is Tapped,"
and here are the cover graphics and lyrics
(you can get a copy by writing to me at
pliorio@aol.com):
LIFE'S JUST A SINGLE BLAST
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
Watch the film of your entire life to
Play it back fast
So it only lasts a minute or two
Watch the film of your favorite day
Play it back slow
So it last 80 years to play
One moment
Is eternity
A life's just a single blast
Watch a film of a dynamite blast
Slow it down to see how long it'll last
Watch a film of your longest blues
Speed it up so it lasts as long as the morning dew
(or the evening dew)
One moment
Is eternity
A life's just a single blast
A lifetime's a single blast
A lifetime's a single blast
A lifeitme's a single blast
Life's just a blast
Life's just a blast
Life's just a blast
NOTES ON "LIFE'S JUST A SINGLE BLAST":
Stylistically, somewhere between pastoral
REM and acoustic Nirvana. The idea behind the
lyric is the fantasy of filming a person's
entire 80-year life and watching it in ultrafast
motion so the 80-year span passes as quickly as
a dynamite explosion.
* * *
YOU CAN SEE IT FROM SPACE
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
You can see the love that's so huge between us
You can see the love, it don't take no genius
You can see the love
You can see it from space
You can see it from space (space!)
You can see love from space (my love)
You can see it from space
The sky's as black as the sky on the moon at mid-day
The sky's as black as the sky on the moon at mid-day
Come on down to the Broadway side of the Upper West Side
To see the glow of the moodlight
Come on down to the Broadway side of the Upper West Side
To see the glow of the moodlight
I'm dancin' in outer space
I'm dancin' in outer space
I'm dancin' in outer space
You can see it from space
You can see it from space (ace!)
You can see love from space (my love)
You can see it from space
[simultaneously] I'm dancin' in outer space
Come on down to the Broadway side of the upper west side
To see the glow of the moodlight
[simultaneously] I'm dancin' in outer space
Come on down to the Broadway side of the upper west side
To see the glow of the moodlight
[simultaneously] I'm dancin' in outer space
Come on down to the Broadway side of the upper west side
To see the glow of the moodlight
I'm dancin' in outer space
I'm dancin' in outer space
I'm dancin' in outer space
NOTES ON "YOU CAN SEE IT FROM SPACE":
A pop/rap hybrid partly inspired by a
conversation I once had with moonwalker
Alan Bean, who vividly described his walk
on the lunar surface, saying the sky
on the moon is the purest black imaginable.
It's also about someone whose love is
so obvious that you can see it from space.
* * *
I THINK MY PHONE IS TAPPED
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
I think my phone is tapped
I think my phone is tapped
How you know about what I just rapped?
I think my phone is tapped
Rumors keep goin'
Around and around now
Rumors keep goin'
Around and around now
Rumors keep goin' around
Around and around now
I think my phone is tapped
Smash the phone with my guitar
Break it up with an iron bar
Smash the phone with my guitar
I think my phone is tapped
I think my phone is tapped
I think my phone is tapped
How you know about what I just rapped?
I think my phone is tapped
Rumors keep goin'
Around and around now
Rumors keep goin'
Around and around now
I think my phone is tapped
I think my phone is tapped
I think my phone is tapped
How you know about what I just rapped?
I think my phone is tapped
I think my phone is tapped
I think my phone is tapped
How you know about what I just rapped?
I think my phone is tapped
NOTES ON "I THINK MY PHONE IS TAPPED":
A folk/punk sort of thing. I think a
lot of people, every now and then, suspect,
justifiably or not, that their own phone
has been tapped by someone. But I don't think
a song has been written about the subject --
so I've stepped up to the plate!
* * * *
Many thanks to Marshall and KALX for
playing two of my new songs, "The Riot Noise
(Off Avalon Green)" and "You're Gettin' Played,"
last night on The Next Big Thing! (March 3, 2009)
Someone asked me what inspired my new
song "The Riot Noise (Off Avalon Green)." I started
writing it after walking into a riot that erupted
in Berkeley, Calif., on September 5, 2008. (I actually
ran into the riot to snap the shot that is the
cover of my upcoming album of the same name.)
In my song, the line "I don't know who threw
the chair but that was no excuse to shoot bullets
in the air" was suggested by this AP photo of
another riot, in Thessaloniki, Greece, on December
7, 2008, where violence escalated after a protester
tossed a chair at cops:
(photo: Nikolas Giakoumidis)
* * *
Coming on Mayday 2009, an album of brand
new 2009 songs by Paul Iorio called "THE RIOT NOISE (OFF
AVALON GREEN." I'm now sending out advance copies.
Here're lyrics and the cover art (photo by Paul Iorio
of an actual riot that I walked into in 2008):
L Y R I C S
The Riot Noise (Off Avalon Green)
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
It started out a peaceful march
But suddenly the cops got harsh
Tear gas in the air
I couldn't breath
The riot noise
The riot noise
The riot noise
Off Avalon Green
Off Avalon Green
Couldn't see through all the blood
Caked up on my face like mud
The street was just a blur
I couldn't see
They put us down the very last time
We're taking to the streets with signs
The crowd began to chant
"Let him go free"
The riot noise
The riot noise
The riot noise
Off Avalon Green
(and cops chase them through the smoke rings in the park)
Off Avalon Green
I don't know who threw the chair
but that was no excuse to shoot bullets in the air
The riot noise
The riot noise
Off Avalon Green
(and cops chase them through smoke rings in the park)
Off Avalon Green
(riot noise)
Off Avalon Green
(riot noise)
Off Avalon Green
(riot noise)
The riot noise
The riot noise
The riot noise
NOTES ON "RIOT NOISE": I use feedback as sort of an
instrument here. Loosely about my experience of
walking into a riot in Berkeley, Calif., on Sept. 5, 2008.
* * *
Love to See You Swallow Hot Lies
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
Try to harmonize like it happens every time
A lie is like the truth 'cept it isn't quite as true
Lies are so alone but have a lot of friends to show
Lies revise the facts, so I can turn the clock right back
You say
Love to see you swallow hot lies -- yeah
You say
Love to see you swallow hot lies -- yeah
Try to harmonize as if the truth was on your side
The lie said to the truth, "I'm more flexible than you"
Lie to ease the pain, I might even be that vain
Lies are like a bet that hasn't happened just as yet
You say
Love to see you swallow hot lies -- yeah
You say
Love to see you swallow hot lies -- yeeah
Hot lies!
Hot lies!
Hot lies!
NOTES ON "HOT LIES": stylistically, somewhere
between the Foo Fighters and Squeeze and
the Kaiser Chiefs. (No, it's not autobiographical;
I wrote it about a long-ago "friend" who appears
to be a disgusting liar.)
* * *
I'm Covetin' (My Neighbor's Wife)
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
I'm a-covetin'
I'm a-covetin'
I'm a-covetin'
My neighbor's wife
I'm a-covetin'
I'm a-covetin'
I'm a-covetin'
My neighbor's wife
I covet in the morning, covet in the evening, covet during suppertime
Covet out in Memphis, covet out in Houston, covet out in Cherrywine
Can't stop covetin', can't stop covetin', I tried and I tried but I can't stop...
Covetin'
I'm a-covetin'
I'm a-covetin'
My neighbor's wife
I'm a-covetin'
I'm a-covetin'
I'm a-covetin'
My neighbor's wife
They say covetin' leads to harder things
She's gettin's so thin she's a-losin' that ring
Can't stop covetin', can't stop covetin', tried and I tried I can't stop
I'm a-covertin'
I'm a-covetin'
I'm a-covetin'
My neighbor's wife
That Commandment was written in stone
But I ain't feeling it in my bones
Can't stop covetin', can't stop covetin', tried and I tried I can't stop
Can't stop covetin', can't stop covetin', tried and I tried I can't stop
Can't stop covetin', can't stop covetin', tried and I tried I can't stop
NOTES ON "COVETIN'": roots rocker about my inability
to stop all that covetin'.
* * *
You're Gettin' Played
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
You're gettin' played
You're gettin' played
And you don't even know you are
You're getting played
You're gettin' played
Just like a hollow lap guitar
He's throwing money at you
But it ain't geneorosity
He's just trying to see
All that he can see
All your life
You've lived it bright
But now you're livin' blind
And you can't see what's really on his mind
You're gettin' played
You're gettin' played
And you don't even know you are
You're getting played
And he's gettin' laid
Just like a hollow lap guitar
He's paying attention to you
But it ain't curiosity
He's just trying to see if you'll fit for free
All your life you've lived it bright
But now you're livin' blind
Now you're wasting time
Now time's been unkind
And you can't see
You're gettin' played
You're gettin' played
And you don't even know you are
You're getting played
And he's gettin' laid
Just like a hollow lap guitar
You're getting played
NOTES ON "PLAYED": a Gram Parsons sort of
tune inspired by a line in the TV show
"Friday Night Lights" (a character says to
another, "You're gettin' played").
* * *
Doctor, Please Restore My Youth
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
When I was young I used to think
Life was endless days and endless drink
But half my life's now down the sink
The rest could go in just a blink
Doctor, please restore my youth
Is there something you can do?
Doctor, please restore my youth
I've never been this old before
And neither've you, or so I'm told
It's brand new turf for me and you
And who's to say just we'll do
I liked it more when I was young
Front-loaded all of my fun
Didn't hesitate, never wanted to
Nothing gets older faster than youth
....my youth
Doctor, please restore my youth
Is there something you can do?
Doctor, please restore my youth
Is there a premium I can co-pay
To make old age just go away?
To turn back life's odometer
To take a pill to be like before
Doctor, please restore my youth
Is there something you can do?
Doctor, please restore my youth
NOTES ON "DOCTOR, PLEASE": I was surfing on the
Internet on the evening of January 21, 2009, when
a phrase spontaneously bolted into my brain:
"doctor, please restore my youth." I immediately
thought, that would make a good song -- and
I jumped up and started humming and singing a
provisional melody for it. Initially, I wrote
the verses as rap and the chorus as a melodic
piece, but the verses soon began to evolve
melodically. By the morning of January 22, I
had a draft of the song on tape and then
added a bridge a few days later. Recorded
it in the hallway of my apartment on
January 28 and 29, and sent it out on
January 30. KALX radio was the
first to air it (on February 9, 2009). (Thanks!)
* * *
Stealin' Medication
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
Well, I'm going to the mansions where Pfizer lives
The mansions that they built by rippin' off the sick
Gonna tell them that they can't do that no more
There's a deep discount on aisle four
I'm stealing medication
Stealin' medication
Stealin' medication
Stealin medication
Fifteen million for the corporate king
I can't even buy Bufferin
I don't qualify for no deductible
'cause CEOs are so corruptible
I'm stealing medication
Stealin' medication
Stealin' medication
Stealin medication
Well, I pledge allegiance to the flag
And to the profits for which it stands
You say, "Bleed to death, it's a Darwin zoo"
Well, lemme tellya, I'm imitatin' you when I'm
Stealin' medication
Stealin' medication
Stealin' medication
[police siren and shoplifter saying: "Hey, what
ya talking about, man? This is my corporate bonus!"]
You say, "Bleed to death, its a Darwin zoo."
Well, lemme tellya, I'm imitatin' you when I'm
Stealin' medication
Stealin' medication
Stealin' medication
Stealin' medication
NOTES ON "MEDICATION": a rap song I wrote
in January 2009. (It, too, has already had
some radio airplay.)
* * *
The Wine Song
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
I want wine, I want wine
I want more and more and more and more and more
Wine, I want wine
I want more and more and more and more and more
I love wine when it's dry
Love it when it's wet
I love when I remember
How it makes me forget
I tend to underthink
When I overdrink
I stop paying my shrink
So I can I make a stink
I want wine, I want wine
I want more and more and more and more and more
Wine, I want wine
I want more and more and more and more and more
Wine has been around since the beginning of time
That's what god was drinking on the creation line
When Jesus got in trouble all those years ago
I hear he was buzzing from a Coppola Merlot
I want wine, I want wine
I want more and more and more and more and more
I'd rather die at fifty
A-drinkin' lotza wine
Then live to be a hundred
Boring all the time
Wine can lead to rehab, or so they say
But I can't go to AA without my Vin Rose
I want wine, I want wine
I want more and more and more and more and more
Wine, I want wine
I want more and more and more and more and more
More and more and more and more and more wine
More and more and more and more and more wine
More and more and more and more and more wine
I want wine!!
NOTES ON "WINE": Also recently aired on KALX radio!
* * *
Please Turn Me Into Rushdie
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2009
Please turn me into Rushdie
I wanna wear a disguise all around
I wanna wander from town to town
Please turn me into Rushdie
I tried to insult the Ayatollah
(I wanna wear a disguise all around)
I painted bin Laden as a drooling Chihuahua
(I wanna roam around from town to town)
I tried to be offensive and violate mores
I even said the Torah was such a crashing bore
Please turn me into Rushdie
I wanna wear a disguise all around
I wanna wander from town to town
Please turn me into Rushdie
Satanic verse, not the same as the first
I dissed the messiah, tried to be a pariah
(I wanna wear a disguise all around)
I told some snarky gossip about Jesus and Allah
(I wanna roam around from town to town)
I sacrileged for years
It fell on deaf ears
I looked to cause a riot
But nobody would buy it
Please turn me into Rushdie
I wanna wear a disguise all around
I wanna wander from town to town
Please turn me into Rushdie
I wanna be the target of
cloak and dagger plots.
And have Barack Obama
save me from those nuts.
But every time I diss a major deity
I find that nobody pays attention to me
Please turn me into Rushdie
I wanna wear a disguise all around
I wanna wander from town to town
Please turn me into Rushdie
Please turn me into Rushdie
Please turn me into Rushdie
NOTES ON "RUSHDIE": Wrote this one in
January 2009. About a guy who tries but
fails to get the religious right to
target him.
* * * *
Thanks to KALX (and Marshall) for playing my
song "Doctor, Please Restore My Youth"
the other day (2/9/09).
* * * *
* * * *
Dishonesty Alert!
It has come to my attention that someone somewhere
is falsely saying that my biz partner Bill Epps had
something to do with the writing of a few of my
songs. Not true. Paul Iorio is the only person
who wrote every song posted on this website.
Bill had absolutely nothing to do with any aspect
of the writing of any of my songs. If someone says
otherwise, that person is a liar -- and if you
hear such a lie, you should confront that person
and tell him (or her) to stop being dishonest.
If he's being honest, Bill will tell you
the same thing I'm telling you now. I sent
him this website some time ago, and asked him
whether I was omitting anything that he might
have contributed, and he said, no. And
I'll leave it open as a standing question: if
Bill (mistakenly) thinks he added even one note or
one word or anything else to any of my songs (and
I know he did not), what word or note or element is that?
He can simply send me an email telling me what word
or note or element he thinks he added (I'm at
pliorio@aol.com). Truth is, I'm the only person
who wrote every element of my songs, from the
big picture concept to the smallest detail and
everything in between. Every element, not most,
not 99%. All elements. (He did make minor
production suggestions for two or three songs in
'05, but his suggestions were ultimately not
used. He also added a supporting bass to
some songs in post-production -- two months
AFTER the recording sessions of '05 -- but
all his bass playing has since been
completely deleted (he himself admitted
he didn't know how to play bass and
was trying it out for the first time on my
songs!))
Somebody is clearly giving the false impression
that Bill "improved" or "shaped" several of
my songs, and he did not. I think that false
impression stems from the fact that he did
make 3 or 4 minor production suggestions during
the 2005 studio sessions. But as I've said
before, his suggestions were ultimately not used.
For example, on my song "Wait for Girls," Bill
suggested in the studio that I bash away the
intro instead of finger picking it. At the
time, at that moment, I tried it that way
and it seemed to be an ok idea. But after
listening to the final result weeks later, I
abandoned his suggestion and subsequently went
back to the finger-picking opener when I
re-recorded the song for its final verson.
And, likewise, on "Standing on the River" he
also made two suggestions that have since been
deleted. And on "Bluer Than You," I ultimately
didn't use his ideas.
So that's how people have gotten the
mistaken idea that he somehow "improved"
several of my songs, when he actually did not.
Yes, as I said, he made 3 or 4 suggestions in
the studio in '05, but his ideas were not used
by me.
Similarly, I have given Bill advice
about his own songs that he has not used.
For example, I've given Bill detailed advice
and suggestions on his song "Endless Sky"
over the years (which he proably hasn't used),
just as he as made suggestions about my
songs that I certainly haven't used.
In fact, Bill actually shot a video of himself
in the studio in '05 giving me advice that I
later discarded. Look at the suggestions he
made in that video and name one -- even one --
suggestion that I actually used. By the
way, keep in mind that everything you see in
that videotape of the 2005 sessions is Bill
Epps filming Bill Epps. In each shot, he
himself deliberately set up the camera in
order to film himself saying certain things
(that in retrospect appear to be highly
misleading or completely wrong) and doing
certain things that now seem self-promoting.
(For example, at one point he set up the camera
in order to say on camera that Paul Iorio has
arrived at the recording studio to record two Paul
Iorio songs, when Bill knew full well that
I was there to record 52 of my own songs.
So why would Bill say that? Think about
that. Why would Bill set up his own
camera so that he could say on camera
that Paul was there to record two of
Paul's songs, when Bill knew full
well that I was there to record 52 songs, every
one of 'em written by Paul Iorio. I hope
it was just a slip of the tongue. (At first
I thought that he merely thought I had come
to the stuido with only two of my own
songs to record, though I now don't
think that's the case.) If he
weren't a long-ago friend, I would suspect
that he was trying to swindle me out of part
of my songwriting catalogue. Somebody should
ask him why he said that and why he set
up his own camera to say that on camera.)
As I said, the '05 video is not verite stuff;
it's Bill filming Bill. So be very wary of what
you're viewing if you have a chance to view
that video of the '05 sessions.
Bill writes his own songs for his own
albums -- and I have had nothing to do with
writing his own songs. He writes 100% of
his own separate songs that appear on his own
separate albums and on his own separate
websites. Bill does not give me equal credit
for his separate body of work (though I have made
suggestions to him about his music over the
years) just as I don't give him any credit
for my songs, which he didn't write at all
in whole or in part. And I certainly wouldn't
want credit for any of his stuff (in fact,
if he were to credit me as a co-writer of some
of his own songs, I would ask him to
take my name off the credit, because I don't
take credit for things I didn't write).
Of course, there was obviously never any
deal to give Bill Epps a songwriting credit for
songs he did not write, and he did not write
or co-write any of the songs on this website.
And I'm absolutely adamant that this is NOT
going to turn into one of those situations where
a financier like Norman Petty or Morris Levy
worms his way into the songwriting credits
just because he contributed money. Nooo wayy.
These are Paul Iorio songs -- and no one else is
co-credited because no one else
co-wrote anything.
Let me make it real simple for everyone: if Bill Epps
is saying that he wrote even a note or a word of
any of my songs, and he hasn't said that to me,
but if Bill is claiming that, then Bill is lying;
and if you believe such a lie from him, then
you are quite literally a fool.
Bill was the nominal producer of my '05 sessions
(which have since been scrapped) but his production
for those sessions was extremely conservative,
consisting mostly of placing the microphone at
a certain distance from my guitar. (I don't
think microphone placement qualifies as
composition!) In any event, at those
'05 sessions, Bill was to be listed as the
producer, and I was, of course, the
singer/songwriter (in '05, we split
the duties "up the middle," BUT
ONLY IN THE SENSE that he handled
the tech responsibilities and
I handled all writing and performing.
In any event, hs role as producer is a moot
issue now, as those '05 sessions have
been scrapped and he's no longer involved
in my music, except as a financial investor.)
Just to prove my point about how different
my music is from my former producer's, here's
the lyric sheet for five of Bill's own songs;
after you finish reading it,
you'll see that he could not have possibly
contributed to any of my own songs (our
sensibilities and styles are wayyyy different).
In fact, it's almost laughable to think he
could have been responsible for even a word
or a note of my material, if you're paying attention.
(BTW, these songs in the scan below are songs Bill
wrote several years before he heard any of my
own songs, so this gives you an idea of the
stuff he wrote before there was any possible
influence from me.
Interestingly, only the material that Bill wrote
and updated after 2005 shows an influence from
Paul Iorio's songs, which he heard for the first
time in his life a few days before 2005. In fact,
I don't think he ever wrote a bridge for one of
his own sngs until he heard my material in '05 --
just look at the albums he self-released
before '05 (I've always written bridges for my
stuff).
For example, after one of my songs, "Combination
of the Oceans," had some radio airplay a couple
years ago, Bill then (on his own website) quickly
posted the lyrics of one of his own songs that
obviously echoed my "Combination of the Oceans"
(for example, he seems to have been influenced
by my line "wisps of gray" when he wrote "waves of
gray").
Now follow me here for a moment. Bill hadn't
heard ANY of my songs until 2005, so that song
of his (I think it was called "Falling From
Heaven") that seems to have been influenced
by "Combination of the Oceans" (which I had
writen in 1994 and sent to people in 1998)
had to have come after 2005. Yet, oddly, he
posts his "Falling From Heaven" lyrics
(and the lyrics of around three other Epps
songs that also have echoes of my material)
with a 2001 date, even though none of the
other lyrics posted on his website had dates
on them. (And none of his other lyrics listed
a co-writer either -- a co-writer who, I'm
sure, will be sticking up for Bill any
moment now, just as soon as he finishes
cashing his check from Bill! Just joking
(I think) about that last line.)
Hmmm. What does that sound like to me? It
sounds very much like Bill heard my stuff
in 2005 and decided to update a few of his
old lyrics with echoes of mine. So in other
words, in 2005 or 2006, influenced by my
work, Bill probably updated a few of his
2001 songs, but kept the 2001 date
for it (instead of accurately saying that
he had written "Falling from Heaven" in 2001
but revised it around 2006).
In any event, my own song ("Combination of the
Oceans") was publicly released in 1998 (in
fact, several people still have copies of
the "Combination of the Oceans" tape that I
sent to them in '98). The Epps song
that has echoes of "Combination" was written
three years later (according to Bill's
own website) and almost certainly updated
after he heard my stuff in '05. (My
original title for "Combination of the
Oceans" was "Heaven," and I posted that fact
on this website many years ago, so Bill
had access to the fact of what the original
title was (I say that in case he wants to
claim that it was just a "bizarre coincidence"
that the song of mine he echoes, originally
titled "Heaven," influenced his own "Falling
From Heaven").
Before he first heard my stuff in '05
(and started revising his own material to
give it a little more edge), Bill had
been self-releasing his own albums on
CD, stuff that now can't be revised by
him in order to deceptively create
stylistic links to my own work.
Wanna see the proof? Just look at the
scan (below) of one of his own lyric
sheets from one of his own 1990s
albums (after he had been releasing his
own music for around 20 years). This
is typical of how he wrote before he
was influenced by my own work:
Also, here's a timeline of my association with Bill Epps,
whose financial investment enabled me to release my music
(click to enlarge it):
* *
And here's (above) an email I sent to
Bill in November 2007, after sending
him this very website! I wanted to make
absolutely sure that he felt I had credited
him fully for his contributions to my
project. And he told me that I had.
(Incidentally, the suggestions he made
for "Bluer Than You" and "Standing on
the River" (that I note in the email) have
since been deleted.
For the record, Paul Iorio is the only copyright
owner of every song on this website (except for
"Waterboardin' USA," which is based on a Beach
Boys tune, and "You Won't Be Burying Me Now," which
is based on a trad folk melody). If anybody else
claims to have a copyright, patent, trademark or
any other registration related to my work, that person
is a fraud, because I've never authorized anyone
else to register my songs. (Even Bill Epps was
told explicitly by me in a conversation on August
28, 2005 that he was absolutely not authorized to
register my songs in any way anywhere and that I was
handling all copyright and other registration of
my work. I couldn't have made that more explicit
or clear to him and he fully acknowledged the fact
that I was handling the registration of my work. Our
conversation was followed by an email reiterating that.)
The copyright covering my songs has one
name -- Paul Iorio -- not two.
For anyone in the music biz interested in my songs,
keep in mind that I have not yet signed
any contract related to any of my work, and so there
would be no conflicting contract issues arising
from previous agreements. In other words,
nobody (thankfully!) ever signed me to a bad
deal that I would have to get out of in the
future!
* * *
OK, here's the cover art and song listings for
my "75 Songs" trilogy, now in full-release as
a 3-CD set. (You can request a copy at
pliorio@aol.com.)
* * *
Here's "75 Songs (Part 2)":
* * *
And here's "75 Songs (Part 3)."
* * *
And, for completists, there will be a 4th disc, "75 Songs (The
Outtakes)," including at least 17 extra songs that didn't make
it on the trilogy. Expect it in '09. Here's the cover art:
* * *
All told, the "75 Songs" series will feature around 95
songs and over four hours of music. All songs were
composed by me (except two of them: "Waterboardin'
USA," based on a Beach Boys tune, and "You Won't
Be Burying Me Now," based on a trad folk melody).
Much to my pleasant surprise, at least 24 songs from the
"75 Songs" series have already been added to radio
playlists in at least three countries. (I've been sending
pre-release tracks to radio people as I've recorded
them throughout 2008, and some have aired them.) I
am very grateful to all the stations that have played
my music. And I should acknowledge that KALX in
Berkeley, Calif., has led the way and really
been ahead of everybody in terms of airing my
songs. Thanks.
I must note that the "75 Songs" series would
have never seen the light of day had my pal Bill
Epps not given me the recording equipment to record
the albums. So thanks to him, too.
Let me put it this way: I've been writing songs almost
all my life, but I never had the money or the recording
equipment to properly release my music to the public
until 2006, after Bill financed a couple recording
sessions. By 2006, I had written a vast number of
original songs that had never been released. But now
that I have a recording studio at home, I'm able to
release songs at the same pace that I write them,
which I had never been able to do before. Hence,
"75 Songs," parts 1, 2 and 3.
* * *
--------------------------------------------
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT "75 SONGS"
(AND SOME INFREQUENTLY ASKED ONES, TOO!)
ARE THERE A LOT OF 2008 SONGS ON "75 SONGS"?
Some date from earlier this year. As I wrote the new ones,
I released them one by one to various radio stations, which,
much to my pleasant surprise, played some of 'em Stuff like
"Besides" and "Sexually Insane" and "You Won't Be Burying Me
Now" and others are of 2008 vintage.
WEREN'T MANY TRACKS ALSO ON YOUR PREVIOUS ALBUM
"ABOUT MYSELF"?
Not these versions. Every song on "75 Songs" was recorded
between August 2007 and June 2008.
"75 SONGS" IS YOUR THIRD SELF-RELEASED ALBUM?
Yes. The first two were "About Myself" and "Lime
Green Celery" (aka "Make a Noise!"), both of which
are no longer in circulation.
WHY HAVE THE FIRST TWO ALBUMS BEEN
DISCONTINUED?
Because I didn't like the production on either. It was
my fault completely. I didn't know how to use the digital
recording equipment on the "Lime Green"/"Make a Noise"
sessions, and the "About Myself" sessions were way, way
too rushed.
A lot of the songs on "About Myself" have never had a fair
hearing anywhere, because they were badly produced. That's
why I've re-recorded them for "75 Songs."
ARE ALL THE 75 SONGS YOUR OWN OR ARE SOME COVERS?
I wrote every word and every note of all 75 songs.
Except the melody of "You Won't Be Burying Me Now," which
is a traditional folk tune put to my lyrics. I was
responsible for everything from the big picture concept
of each song to the small picture production details.
I KNOW THE "ABOUT MYSELF" ALBUM IS NOW DEFUNCT. BUT,
FOR THE RECORD, WHAT WAS BILL EPPS' ROLE ON THAT ALBUM?
He was the producer/tech support person and funded
the sessions for "About Myself." Months after the
"About Myself" sessions, he also added some bass
tracks to the album, but those have all been
deleted. At those sessions, in 2005, he did make
a few minor production suggestions, and I do
appreciate them, but I have to say that those
suggested ideas have since been deleted. Simply
put, I don't do group songwriting or collaborative
songwriting and am not comfortable with it.
I think Bill still has a video of those 2005
sessions, so you can actually see him suggesting
a couple production ideas (e.g., "slightly faster,"
etc.) that have now been discarded. (The
lyric sheets in his hands are the ones I sent to
him in August 2005.) The problem with the
"About Myself" sessions is that the sessions
were too rushed.
When I arrived at the studio, Bill apparently
thought we'd have time to record only two of
my songs (or so he said to an engineer).
I quickly let him know I planned
to record 52 of my songs in the sessions.
And I managed to do it, too, though it's
obvious now that the recordings for "About
Myself" were waaayy too rushed.
photo of my pal Bill Epps (l) (and engineer Shane) during rehearsals of my songs at Paramount Studios, L.A., '05.
Bill didn't come aboard the "About Myself"
project until 05, many months after I had
already released the album on cassette tape in
early 2004.
Anyway, that's all academic now that "About Myself" has
been discontinued.
HAVE YOU EVER WRITTEN WITH BILL?
No, I've never written with Bill. (Unless
you want to count a jokey song we wrote when we
were kids, in 1975, to the tune of Neil Young's
"Tonight's The Night"!)
Frankly, I'm getting a bit sick and tired
of hearing bad information, probably spread
by his old school chums (who have no independent
knowledge of my music), that implies he might
have co-written a few of my songs.
For the record: Bill did not write or re-write
or co-write a word or a note of any of my songs, and
anyone who says differently is either a liar
or misinformed. (And I'm choosing my words
carefully here!) If you want to hear Bill's
own music, go to his own website.
Bill and I have had an explicit agreement from
day one: our separate songwriting catalogues
are completely "separate" (Bill's word). I've
sent him this very website several times and
have asked him if I'm leaving out any of his
contributions -- technical, financial or
otherwise -- and he's never mentioned anything.
(And, by the way, if you hear some rivalrous
person spreading bad info about my music, please
contact me about it at pliorio@aol.com so I can
make sure to correct the record.)
YOU'VE WRITTEN SO MANY SONGS. HOW DO YOU KEEP TRACK OF WHEN
YOU WROTE EACH ONE?
I've had a habit since 1997 of emailing
my songs to myself as soon as I've written them;
hence, almost all my songs are electronically dated
by the AOL email of my last three computers (which
I've preserved!). So there's no doubt about the
chronology of my songs and how they evolved. The
hard drive does not lie!
HOW DOES BEING DEAF IN ONE EAR AFFECT YOUR MUSIC-MAKING?
Fewer distractions.
WAS "ABOUT MYSELF" YOUR DEBUT?
Actually, I did release a 10-song cassette tape
to several critics and bizzers in mid-1998 ("Combination of the
Oceans" was on that one). I also recorded a one-song CD
of "Ten Years Ago" in 2001. Then I released the 2004
version of "About Myself" on cassette tape.
HAVE YOU PLAYED ANY OF YOUR SONGS LIVE?
No. I've never given a concert anywhere. Never even played
for friends at a party. I'm not one of those guys who has been
playing the bars and coffeehouses for years. What I have
been doing for over 35 years is writing songs on a regular
basis in the privacy of whatever apartment I've been renting.
Alone. No collaborators. No bandmates. In some years, I'd
come up with three songs a night.
Lately, however, some have expressed an interest
in having me perform live, and I'm definitely
open to the idea.
DO ANY SONGS DATE FROM 35 YEARS AGO?
No. The oldest songs are from 1979/1980, when I
first moved to Manhattan. By then, I had already been
writing for 7 years. The earliest here are "If One Rainy
Night," "You Know It Shows" (now being readied for "Part 2"),
and "Get Tied."
HOW CAN I GET A COPY OF "75 SONGS"?
You can request it at pliorio@aol.com. I hope to
offer it via various online stores in the future.
I NOTICED THE LABEL ON THE ACTUAL CD IS
ATTACHED WITH SCOTCH TAPE. IS THAT HOW ALL
THE CDs ARE BEING SENT OUT?
Yes. This is hand-made stuff, not mass-produced
banality. If you want slick packaging and production,
go buy some crap by Toto. This ain't
that.
IF I'M INTERESTED IN YOUR MUSIC ON A BIZ LEVEL,
WHO DO I CONTACT?
Contact me, Paul Iorio, at pliorio@aol.com. I'm not
represented by an agent or manager right now, no one
else is authorized to speak for me, and I own
all copyrights.
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
SHORT DISCOGRAPHY
"75 Songs (Part 2)" -- December 2008
"75 Songs (Part 3)" -- November 2008
"75 Songs (Part 1)" -- June 2008
"Lime Green Celery" (aka "Make a Noise!) -- 2007
[discontinued, because I didn't like the production]
"About Myself" -- 2006
[discontinued, because I didn't like the production]
--------------------------------------
LONG DISCOGRAPHY
"75 Songs (Part 2)" -- December 2008
"75 Songs (Part 3)" -- November 2008
"75 Songs (Part 1)" -- June 2008
"Lime Green Celery" (aka "Make a Noise!") -- 2007
[discontinued]
"About Myself" -- (2006)
[discontinued]
"About Myself" (cassette tape edition) -- 2004
"Ten Years Ago" (CD single) -- 2001
"10-Songs by Paul Iorio" (on cassette tape) -- 1998
[releases of singles not listed here because
they are too numerous to easily keep track of.]
__________________________________________________
* * *
Many thanks to KALX in Berkeley, Calif. (and
to Marshall Stax!) for playing a couple advance
tracks -- "Make a Noise!," a rap song
I recently wrote; and my folk-pop tune "You, Walking
Away" -- from my upcoming album "75 Songs
(Part 2)" last Monday (12/8/08).
* * *
Fortunately (and unfortunately!) demand for
advance copies of my latest album, the 3-disc
"75 Songs," has far exceeded the demand I'd
originally anticipated. So I've moved the
official release date of "75 Songs (Part 2)"
from December 6 to December 16 in order to
accomodate those who have requested or
require a pre-release copy. (If you'd like a
copy of the album, please email me at
pliorio@aol.com.) Also, my apologies to those
who have tried to contact me via MySpace;
because my MySpace site is linked to a mostly
inactive email address of mine, I neglected
to check messages there for the past week or two.
So, sorry for the belated responses. I'll be in
touch with the site more often from now on! -- Paul
-------------------------------
Many, many thanks to radio stations (particularly
KALX and Marshall Stax) that have played my new
releases, "Split the Gray" and "Life is a Winnowing"
(11/24/08). (And by the way, everyone should check
out Marshall's great show on KALX every Monday at
6pm, must-hear radio!) The two songs are included
on my next album, "75 Songs (Part 2)," newly-finished
and slated for release on December 6th.
* * *
Thanks a lot to the radio stations (especially KALX and
Marshall Stax) that have played my new song
"The Creationist Anthem"!
* * *
OK, I recorded two new songs yesterday (10/8/08)
that I wrote last week -- "The Creationist Anthem"
and "Jean-Claude Louise" -- and have just started
releasing them. Lyrics are posted below.
* * * *
THE CREATIONIST ANTHEM
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2008
Well, God created Earth 10,000 years ago for
Jesus Christ, who owned a pet dinosaur
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
Well, Darwin's mom might've been an ape
But the last I looked, my mother sure looked great
All of creation took about six days, too
God's a fast worker, let's give him a brew
Well, God created Earth 10,000 years ago for
Jesus Christ, who owned a pet dinosaur
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
Everyone drowned in Noah's flood
And their fossils got stuck in all of that mud
Mary gave birth without a man
She was so good-lookin', God gave her a hand
There were dinosaurs in Shakespeare's time
They became extinct in 1829
Read all about it in Genesis
And take a gander at what Charlie Darwin missed
Well, God created Earth 10,000 years ago for
Jesus Christ, who owned a pet dinosaur
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
Jesus Chist, he died for my sins
Picked up the tab for all that I did
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
---------------------------------
JEAN-CLAUDE LOUISE
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2008
Sky
Everybody touch the
Sky
Everybody touch the sky
With your feet
Move to the beat
Come down to mirth
For all that it's worth
High
Love's the highest peak in the
Sky
Love's the highest peak
For Jean-Claude Louise
Weak in the knees
Losing oxygen
Love comes again
Jean-Claude Louise will never be the same way
Jean-Claude Louise will never be the same
Jean-Claude Louise will never be the same way
Jean-Claude Louise will never be
Never be the same way
Never be the same way
High
You can see him getting
High
He's starting to caress her thigh
He's a cheat
Heart starts to beat
Cries out for more
Four on the floor
Jean-Claude Louise will never be the same way
Jean-Claude Louise will never be the same
Jean-Claude Louise will never be the same way
Jean-Claude Louise will never be
Never be the same way
Never be the same way
Jean-Claude Louise will never be the same way
Jean-Claude Louise will never be the same
Jean-Claude Louise will never be the same way
Jean-Claude Louise will never be
Never be the same way
Never be the same way
Jean-Claude Louise
Jean-Claude Louise
Jean-Claude Louise
___________________________________
Thanks to radio stations (particularly KALX
and Marshall "Hussein" Stax!) who have played
my new song "Love's the Heaven You Can't Reach."
* * * *
I've just released 2 brand new songs (8/25/08) that I wrote
and recorded last week. Here's the cover (lyrics are below):
If you'd like a copy, email me at pliorio@aol.com!
By the way, many thanks to radio stations
(particularly KALX) that played my previous song,
"Late October Chimney Smoke."
A few people have asked me about "Late October
Chimney Smoke" and how it evolved, so here's the scoop:
The title I had for around a year before
I did anything with it. And then, on a
fall-like summer day last June, as I walked
along a tree-lined street with a couple
chimneys going, the melody of the chorus
started coming to me, except the lyric
was taking a much darker turn than I
thought it would. I put the whole song aside
for a time. Then I heard Feist perform in
Berkeley in July, and afterwards I remember
thinking her voice must be one of the most
beautiful sounds on the planet, and when I
got home, the rest of the song just tumbled out.
And I wrote a final verse that changes the
meaning of everything before it. And
that's how the song came to be!
* * *
Also, here are some notes on two of my other
new songs:
LOVE'S THE HEAVEN YOU CAN'T REACH:
In early August, 2008, I had a generalized
shape of this song roiling inside my head. It
was like a hurricane that hadn't yet formed,
a sprawling, stop-start thing
halfway between "Black Dog" and "The Message,"
or "Black Dog" re-imagined as folk-rap,
with deliberately long and unwieldy lines
that slowly, over the first week of August,
I trimmed and shaped and tailored to the melody
and structure of the song, while still retaining
its purposely messy quality. I wanted a vocal
that was equal parts Allen Ginsberg and Melle Mel
and a guitar riff that was sort of Pageish.
Lyric is about my belief that we fall in
love with those who are just out of reach,
probably because they are just out of reach,
and (absent first-hand contact with the person)
we tend to imagine that she (or he) is heaven.
This one took awhile to self-produce.
Recorded my first version on August 4,
tried again on August 10, again on August 17,
and finally nailed it on August 19.
* * *
THREE MINUTE SONG:
In early August, 2008, I was listening
to some Dionne Warwick and was suddenly
seized by a melody of my own that was just
irresistible to me, and I hummed it for a
few days without having any words to go
with it. I decided to put that melody
to a lyric idea I'd had for years,
"Three Minute Song," a song that is exactly
3 minutes long because the narrator meets
his fate at the end of it. It quickly
became the story of a guy on death row
who'd just been given his final injection.
Because I wanted a distant, sort of martial
drum beat in the background, I put the microphones
far away from my drumming (which is how I mix
-- by mike placement!). Final version
recorded 8/22/08.
* * *
OK, here're the lyrics of that brand new song I mentioned:
LOVE'S THE HEAVEN YOU CAN'T REACH
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2008
I made that decision in a better head, so I'm not gonna
go back and change it now
I've never had a relationship that's lasted past what
rivals say about me to her
Hey, they're not looking after your interests; they're
just trying to split us apart
Look, you're not being cool about this at all
Love's the heaven you can't reach
Love's the heaven you can't reach
I can't reach it
It must be love
Love's the heaven you can't reach
Yeah, we were drunk, took turns reciting lines from "Howl"
from memory at that party
She's 30 but tells everyone she's 18 in base eight
She's just bursting with imagery these days; it's like
she's got syph or TB or something
She's living in a hole; the pilot light has gone
from blue to yellow (you can almost see the CO in the air)
Love's the heaven you can't reach
Love's the heaven you can't reach
I can't reach it
It must be love
Love's the heaven you can't reach
I told her to put the broccoli in the frig -- she
wasted some primo broccoli, man
Yeah, I know everybody wants her, but it doesn't
mean I don't want her, too
I'm confident around the women I don't want but
a dork around the women I do
Love's like a cat trying to fly to catch a bird
Love's the heaven you can't reach
Love's the heaven you can't reach
I can't reach it
It must be love
Love's the heaven you can't reach
Love's the heaven you can't reach
Love's the heaven you can't reach
I can't reach it
It must be love
I can't reach it
It must be love
I can't reach it
It must be love
I can't reach it
It must be love
I can't reach it
It must be love
Vocals, guitar, drums: Paul Iorio
to be released later this month (August)
---------------------
Here're the lyrics of "Three Minute Song,"
(which is exactly 3 minutes long!):
THREE MINUTE SONG
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2008
By the end of this 3-minute song I'll be a goner
At least that's what I heard the doctor and the warden say
I'm strapped to a gurney and I really want some water
Dying for a crime I never did, no way
Convicted of a murder that I never even heard of
They phonied up some stuff to make it look like it was me
I wasn't even in the state that bloody night at Nirva
The D.A. rode the case to fame politically
Sailing like a bird inside my mind
Freedom's just a dream away
Ran out of loved ones so long ago
They're graves
They found a vein and now the sodium is getting stronger
I'm fading fast and soon I won't be feeling any pain
Sailing like a bird inside my mind
Freedom's just a dream away
Ran out of loved ones so long ago
They're graves
Sailing like a bird inside my mind
Freedom's just a dream away
Ran out of
I wrote a new song on Friday (7/19/08) and released it today (7/21). It's called "Late October Chimney Smoke," and here are lyrics:
LATE OCTOBER CHIMNEY SMOKE
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2008
I smell late October chimney smoke
I smell late October chimney smoke
Trees look like explosions
It's as brisk as the ocean
I smell late October chimney smoke
I smell late October chimney smoke
The way that you are
The way that you are
When summer turns to fall
The way that you are
When summer turns to fall
The way that you are
Orange leaves in the air
Harvest everywhere
Candlelight should
Light up the burning wood
The way that you are
The way that you are
When summer turns to fall
The way that you are
Slanted sunlight on the cityscape,
just like a Matisse
It's getting darker much earlier than ever
In more ways than you see
I smell late October chimney smoke
I smell late October chimney smoke
The way that you are
The way that you are
When summer turns to fall
The way that you are
Here in Berlin
Evil smell in the wind
Smoke's not like before
It's 1944
The way that you are
When people take a fall
The way that you are
I used to love the smell of autumn, now it makes me gray
The smoke that's coming from the chimney is alarming
And I don't wnat to stay
I smell late October chimney smoke
I smell late October chimney smoke
Trees look like explosions
It's as brisk as the ocean
I smell late October chimnhey smoke
I smell late October chimney smoke
The way that you are
The way that you are
The way that you are
-------------
______________________________
RECENT RADIO AIRPLAY!
[I haven't updated this section since May, 2008,
though there have been several additions to radio
playlists since then.]
On April 27, I wrote a new song, "BESIDES," which I recorded at my home studio in Berkeley, Calif., on April 28. I sent it out and am really pleasantly surprised and grateful that some people are already connecting with it.
Special thanks to KALX in Berkeley for playing "BESIDES" and "BETTER OFF BROKENHEARTED" a couple days ago (May 5).
Also, thanks to John of the String Theory radio show for playing "MEMORY LANE (IS A TWO-WAY STREET)" last month (4/7/08).
Thanks to KALX for playing my recent self-released song, "Sexually Insane," and "I'll Love You Forever (But Not in This Weather)" in March
(3/6/08)!
Check out the review of my new album in the East Bay Express, posted today on the paper's website (2/29/08)!
Thanks to String Theory (a terrific radio show I'm told is associated with NPR) for playing "Combination of the Oceans" in February (2/18/08).
And thanks again to KALX for playing "Mr. Freeze is Taking Over" and "Headin' Down to the Cool Jerk" in January! (By the way, check out Marshall Stax's program on KALX; it's truly one of the most innovative in the country -- he even plays cassette tapes, if the stuff is good enough! An astonishing A&R talent, he is!)
Thanks to String Theory for playing "Combination of the Oceans" (2/18/08).
Check out my songs on London's XFM Radio website (I'm listed
in the "Newest Artists" category). Here's a link: http://www.xfmuploaded.co.uk/pauliorio (it's on their
site but not theirairwaves yet!).
Sincere thanks (again) to KALX for
playing my songs "Armageddon Time" and "The
Holy Country Song" back in November!
And thanks to KALX for airing
my limited-edition non-album single "The Ballad
of Senator Craig" a couple weeks ago and for
playing another of my new singles, "Waterboardin'
U.S.A."
Sincere thanks to WFMU for playing "PRETTY
WOMEN AT THE FUNERAL."
Thanks a lot to KALX in Berkeley, Calif., for
playing "RICH AND DUMB," the first single
from the upcoming "Lime Green Celery."
Thanks to Radio Sotra in Fjell, NORWAY, for playing "YOU BRING THE LOVE."
Many thanks to FM 95.6 in Lengerich, GERMANY, for adding "MEMORY LANE (IS A TWO-WAY STREET)" to its playlists.
Thanks (again) to Rockhouse Radio in GERMANY for playing "YOU BRING THE LOVE."
And thanks a lot to CAR Radio (north of ATLANTA, Georgia) for playing "IF ONE RAINY NIGHT."
Radio playlists that feature my songs also include tracks by such recording artists as Prince, Feist, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Patti Smith, Tracy Chapman, Traffic, Wilco, Johnny Cash, etc.
a few of the radio playlists that've been including songs from "About Myself" and "Lime Green Celery."
_______________________________________________________________
TOURING INFORMATION
Sorry, I don't perform concerts and never have! (In fact,
I've never even played at a private party.)
___________________________________________________________________________
LYRICS AND NOTES ON THE SONGS ON "75 SONGS (PART 1)"
1. "Better off Brokenhearted" -- alt-country-folk. Recorded and posted a new, improved version of it on 3/30/08.(Glad I copyrighted this one in '98, as certain musician friends seem to be eyeing it hungrily!)
A combination of two songs I'd written in the late 1990s ("I asked Jesus Christ for a job on the waterfront" had been a freestanding song). I was trying for a "Grievous Angel" sort of thing, a hard alt-country-rocker.
2. "I'll Love You Forever (But Not in This Weather)"
A humorous song about eternity. "The first billion years of eternity are hardest, they say..." My main influences here were Dean Friedman's "Ariel" and Sylvia Plath's "Ariel," but also the Small Faces's "Lazy Sunday" and the Kinks "Apeman." I wrote this in my apartment in Berkeley in '02/'03 and had a ball doing so!
3. "Warm Alaska Sun" -- The only song I know of about the joys of a sunshower on the way to...whereever -- in the warm Alaska sun! I thoroughly enjoy playing this one. I like how it captures the mood of being in the midst of unplanned travel, the feeling you could end up anywhere by the end of the day.
4. "Secret" -- Singled out by the East Bay Express newspaper as my best song.
I have an old tape -- one of those old-fashioned micro-cassettes -- of me coming up with this one in my apartment in Los Angeles in '96/'97 and laughing aloud as I was writing it. Inspired by both the Beatles' "Do You Want to Know A Secret?" and "A Certain Girl" with the sound of Petty and the Heartbreakers, circa '79, in mind. I finished it in '98, though I actually came up with the idea in New York in '95, after having dinner with an old girlfriend who confessed to me, confidentially, that she was a lesbian and that I could not tell anyone that secret. This version was recorded April 2008.
5. "Headin' Down to the Cool Jerk" -- A fun story song with a neat plot twist. (And that's me on drums!) I wrote this one in January 2008. Some have called it Presleyesque though I see it more in the spirit of something like "The Pina Colada Song."
6. "Time Begins to End" -- I wrote this in Berkeley between late December 2007 and early January 2008. Of all my songs, it's the most personally cathartic in that I felt so much better after writing it. Based on the very sad experience of having seen my father just before he died of cancer.
7. "Combination of the Oceans" -- A sort of psychedelic singalong! Of all my songs, this one has been ripped off in small ways more often than the others. (I'm not flattered by that, by the way.) People seem to love the part that goes, "I could show you maps of stardust and wisps of gray," and so do I.
This one came out of a crazy mood that arose from being harassed by a landlord in the New York-area in the mid-Nineties, and my feelings came out in a surreal way. I finished it in L.A. in around 1997 and put it on my very first demo tape, which I sent out in 1998 (some people still have that '98 tape).
8. "Playing With Balls" -- About the joy of playing with balls (on this round earth). No hidden agenda. I started writing this in '04/'05, but kept thinking that a song about the joys of playing sports shouldn't be as somber as I originally wrote it. So in May, 2008, I re-arranged it as a reggae tune, an arrangement I'd always had in the back of my mind. Recorded May 26, 2008.
9. "Pretty Women at the Funeral" -- One of my best songs, in my opinion. I wrote it in my apartment in Los Angeles in 1997, grabbed my tape recorder and recorded myself as I was coming up with it. Then, as I'd always do back then, I put the tape in a desk drawer and went on to write other songs. In 2003, I re-listened to that tape from 1997 for the first time since '97, and when I heard it for the first time in six years, in '03, I have to confess I just loved it.
10. "Sexually Insane" -- Hard folk, sort of Zeppelinish/Bo Diddleyish. Riff folk. Not quite as sexually explicit as Mozart's "Leck mich im Arsch" but it'll do. I wrote it on February 19, 2008.
11. "Besides" -- I'm really happy this ballad has connected with people. I wrote it on April 27, 2008, and it took only days for it to be added to radio playlists (thanks KALX!).
12. "Little Bird" -- I wrote this in 2000 after a long hike from Los Angeles to Universal City on a very warm spring day. When I climbed over the Santa Monica Mountains, I was dehydrated and saw a very little bird on the branch of a tree. And it looked like it was bursting to say hello to the whole world for the very first time! And that's how I came up with the song.
Later, I saw a flock of birds in a tree and marveled at much the flock looked like a cluster of leaves, and that's how I came up with the part that goes, "Is that a tree or just some birds..."
I first recorded it in early 2004 and then recorded it again in 2005. But I was never satisfied with either version and so re-recorded it on May 26, 2008, in a more buoyant, airborne arrangement (with a brand new bridge).
13. "Armageddon Time" -- I wrote this in October, 2007, though came up with an early version of the chorus in July, 1998. Sort of a protest song but with some neato pop overdubs!
14. "You Won't Be Burying Me Now" -- This one puts my own lyrics to a melody of a traditional Italian folk song (the lyrics are not a translation from the Italian). I know the song from a recording by Roberto Murolo, a brilliant interepreter of trad Italian folk, noted for his understated, austere delivery. (He's sort of like Italy's Tom Ze in terms of vocal approach.) Recorded May 22, 2008.
15. "Standing on the River" -- A two-part song that I wrote in the late 1990s, recorded in 2004, re-recorded in '05 and then recorded definitively (I hope) on Feb. 23, 2008.
16. "Cold Sunshine" -- I could go back to my tapes and notes and find out exactly when I wrote this one, but my best memory right now is the early 1990s (probably '92/'93), when I was living in Hoboken. I like its momentum.
17. "Mr. Freeze Is Taking Over" -- A comic book sci-fi rocker about nuclear war. Bang! Zap! Pow! I wrote it between Dec. 2007 and Jan. 2008.
18. She's Got Everything --Sort of like a Ramones ballad.
19. "Get Tied" -- Like Burt Bacharach meets the Old West. One of the first songs I wrote after moving to Manhattan in 1979 (though this one was finished in 1980). I came up with it on the roof of the Beacon in New York and included it on my earliest demo (of 1998). I recorded this version this on 2/16/08.
20. "Bluer Than You" -- "Bluer Than You" began life as a suite in around 1993, weaving together multiple parts ("She's Having an Affair," "It's Not a Dream Anymore," "25 Again," "I Fall in Love Everyday").
But I also wrote another, shorter version without the multiple parts (and had an alternate treatment called "Sometime Thing"). In 2005, I played both versions to my friend Bill Epps and asked him which he preferred, and he said he preferred the non-suite version. At the time, I agreed with him, but I'm now thinking of reviving the suite, which has an interesting unpredictability, as a bonus track for future editions of "75 Songs."
21. "I Dream By Candlelight" -- I wrote this and "Complicated Flower" on the same inspired night in 2003. Droney, dream-like.
22. "It's Kind of Cool for June" -- I penned this in the spring of 1996 in NYC. About a groom abandoned at the altar. Brill Building-esque.
23. "Better Girl" -- A merger of two songs I'd written in the late 1990s (the chorus is actually a song fragment dating back to the 1980s). People seem to enjoy the lyrics ("I drew a picture of the future in my rear-view mirror..."). Sort of like an indie-rock version of Fleetwood Mac.
24. "About Myself" -- Sort of a Song of Myself. This was on a January 1, 1994, cassette tape I made, so it's at least that old and probably a couple years older. This is a 2008 version.
25. "Death Falls Like a Sunset" -- I wrote this in almost one piece in 2005. About death (in A minor).
26. "If One Rainy Night" -- Another of my earliest songs. Written on the roof of the Beacon in New York in 1980, around a year after I first arrived in NYC.
--------------------------------------
L Y R I C S
BETTER OFF BROKENHEARTED
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
Got more than when you started
Girl, you're better off brokenhearted
Got more than when you started
Girl, you're better off brokenhearted
Better off
Brokenhearted
Better off
Brokenhearted
I asked Jesus Christ for a job on the waterfront
He said take my advice and say what you really want
I asked Jesus Christ for a job on the waterfront
I asked him nice so I'd get what I really want
And he said,
Got more than you started
Boy, you're better off brokenhearted
Got more than you started
Well, you're better off brokenhearted
Better off
Brokenhearted
Better off
Brokenhearted
I asked Jesus Christ for a Toyota Selica
He said, "Don't be silly and don't let me catch ya
Asking for a Toyota Selica
Asking for a job on the water front"
And he said,
Got more than when you started
Boy, you're better off brokenhearted
Got more than when you started
Well, you're better off brokenhearted
Better off
Brokenhearted
Better off
Brokenhearted
--------------
I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER (BUT NOT IN
THIS WEATHER)
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2004
I'll love you forever, but not in this weather, they say
I'll love you forever, but just not this Thursday
If it's eternity tomorrow then let's live for today
If it's only next Tuesday, get out of the way
Eternity's so overdone
I'd rather be havin' some fun
Eternity's so overdone
Doesn't care if you've lost or won
I'll love you forever but not in this sweater, I say
I'll love you forever whatever pre-nuptials say
If I wait until Tuesday, I'll see you in bed
If I'm waiting till Friday, I'd better off dead
Eternity's so overdone
I'd rather be havin' some fun
Eternity's so overdone
Doesn't care if you've lost or won
I have a friend who was jipped of three decades, they say
The first billion years of eternity are hardest to take
If life is a bother and you don't want to be here
You just have to hold out another forty years
Eternity's so overdone
(etc.)
--------------------
WARM ALASKA SUN
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
We can talk about Anchorage
We could talk about Spain
But we're stuck in silver rain
In the warm Alaska sun
In the warm Alaska sun
Aleutian solutions
We're packing up our sleighs
On the tundra highway
In the warm Alaska sun
In the warm Alaska sun
Ketchican, if you can, to the morning dew
Ketchican, if you can, till the evening, too
I don't know where we're going to
In the warm Alaska sun
In the warm Alaska sun
We can talk about sunshowers
On the way to Glacier Bay
Talkeetna, Skagway
In the warm Alaska sun
In the warm Alaska sun
Ketchican, if you can, to the morning dew
Ketchican, if you can, till the evening, too
I don't know where we're going to
In the warm Alaska sun
In the warm Alaska sun
In the warm Alaska sun
[above, photo by Paul Iorio.]
--------------------
SECRET
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
She told me a secret last night
(Said I can't tell anyone, can't tell anyone)
She told me a secret last night
(Never gonna guess it, can't tell anyone)
She whispered it in my ear
She said it so only I could hear
(Never gonna guess it, can't tell anyone, gotta keep it quiet, can't tell
anyone)
She told me a secret last night
I'll tell you just a little, tell you just a little
She told me a secret 'bout a gun
I'll tell you that much, tell you that much
I've known her for fifteen years
I've known her since my first real tears
(Never gonna guess it, can't tell anyone, never gonna guess it, gotta keep it
quiet)
I'll tell you this much for sure
(I'll tell you just a little, tell you just a little)
I feel I'm gonna have to tell you more
(I can't keep it quiet, never gonna guess it)
She swore me to secrecy
I can't tell anybody but me
(Never gonna guess it, gotta keep it quiet, can't tell anyone, never gonna
guess it)
She told me something confidential
(Can't keep it quiet, can't keep it quiet)
And now I feel like I'm going mental
(Can't keep it quiet, can't tell anyone)
If she wanted such secrecy
Then why'd she have to go and tell me?
(Can't tell anyone, gotta keep it quiet, can't tell anyone, never gonna guess
it)
Well, maybe I'll just blurt it out
Tell everybody what the secret's all about
(Can't tell anyone, never gonna guess it, can't tell anyone, gotta keep it
quiet)
[outro]
Mystery woman gonna never tell anyone
(Never tell anyone, blurt it out , baby)
Mystery woman gonna never tell anyone
(Never tell anyone, blurt it out, baby)
[Repeat last line]
--------------------
HEADING DOWN TO THE COOL JERK
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2008
I'm headin' down to the Cool Jerk, baby
Headin' down to the Cool Jerk
I'm all alone, my wife's at work
I'm feelin' like a sultan Turk
Headin' down to the Cool Jerk, baby
My wife's at work, so I can do my thing
At a place that's sorta like the Bada-Bing
It's got a pole and a stage and it's kind of smoky
And tonight they're doing some nude karaoke
[chorus]
She was curvy and lean and got my attention
And I wanted to search her like a Google engine
She wore a mask covering her eyes and her nose
But nothing else on from her head to her toes
I slipped her a fifty and said there's plenty more
And she took my money and in a familiar voice
She said, "This'll help pay for the ring you gave me"
And then I realized it was my own sweet Sadie
[chorus]
She said, "What the hell are you doin' here?"
I said, "I was just stoppin' by for a beer"
She said, "I've been workin' undercover vice
And I'd bust you now, 'less you take my advice"
She said, "Don't go down to the Cool Jerk, baby
Don't go down to the Cool Jerk, baby
When you're all alone, and I'm at work
Stop feelin' like a sultan Turk
Don't go down to the Cool Jerk, baby
Don't go down to the Cool Jerk, baby
Don't go down to the Cool Jerk, baby
-----------------------
TIME BEGINS TO END
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2008
These things seem to come in twos and threes
You're losing weight and then you're on your knees
It's your time to die
Wave your arms goodbye and tell me
Time begins to end in just a few
You can't understand the lassitude
You wanna put it off a week or two
You can make me cry
Wave your arms and fly away
Time begins to end in just a few
But I warned you
As I warned you now
If I need you
Then I'll miss you and how
Time begins to end in just a few
You're sleeping at the wake, you used to muse
You'd rather have a warmer altitude
It's your time to die
Wave your arms and fly away
Time begins to end in just a few
But I warned you
As I warn you now
If I need you
Then I'll miss you and how
Time begins to end in just a few
Time begins to end in just a few
Time begins to end in just a few
--------------------
COMBINATION OF THE OCEANS
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
Heaven
Heaven's a state
But heaven's kind of hellish, they say
Hell, get outta my way
Hell has got some heavenly grace
I could show you maps of stardust and wisps of gray
I could show you what you want, girl
But that would just be in the way
They changed the combination of the oceans
They changed the doors and doorknobs of the sky
They sailed the clouds and stalled the backward motion
And they pretend to want to tell you why
They boil the clouds
They paint the rain
They leash the air so none of us could stay
They tamed the birds
And burned the sky
And took our time so none of us could die
They changed the combination of the oceans
They changed the doors and doorknobs of the sky
They changed the clouds and stalled the backward motion
And they pretend to want to tell you why
I could show you maps of starudst and wisps of gray
I could show you what you want, girl
But that would just be in the way
Heaven, heaven's a state
Heaven's kind of hellish, they say
Hell, get outta my way
Hell has got some heavenly grace
[repeat]
I could show you maps of stardust and wisps of gray
[above, photo by Paul Iorio.]
---------------------------
PLAYING WITH BALLS
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
Playing with balls
Playing with balls
Playing with balls
Playing wiht balls
Playing football
Playing baseball
Everyone I see is playing with balls, playing with balls
Father and son, I see, are throwing baseballs, throwing baseballs
Playing with balls
Playing with balls
Playing with balls
Playing with balls
Playing baseball
Paying the toll
On this round earth, everybody's playing with balls, playing with balls
There's just something so fun about tossing a ball, tossing ball
Playing with balls
Playing with balls
Playing guitar
Playing with balls
Playing with balls
Playing with balls
--------------------
PRETTY WOMEN AT THE FUNERAL
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
Widow wants to know
Why there are
Pretty women at the funeral
Pretty women at the funeral
Friends already know
Why there are
Pretty women at the funeral
Pretty women at the funeral
Widow wonders quietly
Did you know him enough to care
Is there something you're not saying
Is there a reason why you're here
At the funeral
Pretty women at the funeral
Pretty women at the funeral
Friends won't let her know
Why there are
Pretty women at the funeral
Pretty women at the funeral
Widow wonders quietly
Is there a reason why you're here?
At the funeral
Pretty women at the funeral
At the funeral
------------------------
SEXUALLY INSANE
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2008
She plays spin the bottle with her wedding ring
I like the way she shakes my thing
She's going down, wearing that bling
She's sexually insane
She moves her hand beneath her tan
Shows me the whole master plan
Her husband must be a lucky man
She's sexually insane
Sexually insane!
Sexually insane!
All the time I used to think
That she didn't like to drink
Boy, I guess I had her wrong
She even swallows half the bong
Sexually insane!
Sexually insane!
I never thought she had it in her
Till I had up for dinner
Believe me, she ain't no beginner
She's sexually insane
We started eating 'round half past noon
Didn't finish till a brand new moon
Had dessert without a spoon
She's sexually insane
All the time I used to think
That she'd stop before the brink
Boy, I guess I had her wrong
She had me wailing like a song
Sexually insane!
Sexually insane!
Sexually insane!
Sexually insane!
-----------------------
BESIDES
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2008
Drawn out and wasted
She left me without saying goodbye
But I've already tasted
The meaning of lonesome and high
And besides, I didn't always want her
And besides, a couple drinks and I don't care
And besides, (she was) too pretty for one man
And besides, she's walking away
I knew when I met her
That she could do better without tryin'
But I took my chances
Though I was aiming way too high
And besides, there are days I don't think about her
And besides, she never was there
And besides, I still have my dreamin'
And besides, she's walkin' away
And besides, I didn't always want her
And besides, a couple drinks and I don't care
And besides, I still have my dreamin'
And besides, she's walkin' away
And besides, there are days I don't think about her
And besides, she never was there
And besides, too pretty for one man
And besides, she's walking away
And besides, she's walking away
And besides, she's walking away
And besides, she's walking away
-------------------------------
LITTLE BIRD
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Little bird
Little bird
Fly out from the fir tree
Little bird
Little bird
Fly out, come and see me
Fly out from the fir tree
Is that some birds
Or just a tree?
Still a mystery to me
Is that a tree
Or just some birds?
Tell me, I won't say a word
Fly out from the fir tree
Little bird
Little bird
I'm not quite smart enough for flying
But you just spread your wings, it comes so naturally
Little bird, little bird
Why can't I fly like you?
Little bird, little bird
Imagine what we could do
If I could fly just like uou
Little bird
Little bird
Little bird
[above, photo by Paul Iorio.]
------------------
ARMAGEDDON TIME
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
In Beresford County, only preachers give thanks
The government army is rollin' in with tanks
Everybody's out of work, the teachers out of school
Everybody's sick of being treated like a fool
Armageddon time, armageddon time
Armageddon time
Mama can't afford the medication on the shelves
One of these days we're gonna steal 'em for ourselves
Shut down the chains overchargin' for the rich
Tell them to stop makin' money off the sick
Armageddon time, armageddon time
Armageddon time
It's half past high time
It's half past high time
Time
Armageddon time
Time
Armageddon time
Sometimes I'm lookin' at a beagle on the street
Half of 'em eatin' much better than me
It's half past high time
It's half past high time
Time
Armageddon tme
Time
Armageddon time
------------------
YOU WON'T BE BURYING ME NOW
trad,
with lyrics by Paul Iorio
When death directs you downward
To the cold, cold ground
You won't be burying me now
I won't be dying
If life lasted forever
There'd be nothing rare or beautiful
You won't be burying me now
I won't go down there
You won't be burying me now
I won't be dying
When death arrives from nowhere
Walk the other way
You won't be burying me now
I won't go down there
Nothingness breeds nothing
Caught between eternities
We're dying
You won't be burying me now
I won't go down there
You won't be burying me now
I won't be dying
You won't be burying me now
I won't go down there
You won't be burying me now
I won't be dying
----------------------
STANDING ON THE RIVER
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
I'm standing on the river
(He's just standing on the river)
I'm standing on the mountain
(He's just standing on the mountain)
Why you standing on the river?
Why you standing on the mountain?
I'm standing on the ocean
(He's just standing on the ocean)
I'm standing on the moonbeam
(He's standing on the moonbeam)
Why you standing on the moonbeam?
Why you standing on the ocean?
[transition chording]
Can't love off the ocean
Can't live off the sea, yeah
Can't live off your lovin'
But it sure makes it easier for me
But it sure makes it easier for me
Can't live off the ocean
Can't live off the sea, yeah
Can't live off your lovin'
But it sure makes it easier for me
But it sure makes it easier for me
-------------------------------
COLD SUNSHINE
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
Mama used to tell me 'bout the cold sunshine
On a cold October day
She was standing up against a Humphrey campaign sign
As the ice clouds flew away
She said, "Don't let me hear you talkin' 'bout the cold sunshine,
Don't wanna hear ya talkin' 'boutthe cold sunshine,
Don't let me hear you talkin' 'bout the cold sunshine"
Sometimes you're cold, sometimes you're hot, sometimes I'm yours, you're mine
Girl, you're just like cold sunshine
Cold sunshine
Sometimes I'm hers, sometimes she's mine, sometimes I've lost my mind
Girl, you're just like cold sunshine
Cold sunshine
Sometimes I'm thinking of the day when you'll be mine all mine
Girl, you're just like cold sunshine
Cold sunshine
Cold sunshine
Cold sunshine
-----------------
MR. FREEZE IS TAKING OVER
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2008
Gamma burn nightmare in a nuclear blast
Everybody's glowin' from first to last
Can't get the pills
Can't get the stick
All this radiation is makin' me sick
Mr. Freeze is taking over
In 2022
2022!
2022!
Bang! Zap! Pow!
Bang! Zap! Pow!
Outside there's only ultraviolet rays
Everyone's been wandering for days and days
In this kind of thing
No one's a winner
Everyone's bracing for the nuclear winter
[chorus]
Geiger counter tells me to stay underground
Everyone says there's nothin left of the town
Can't help the rich
Can't help the poor
Nobody was planning for a nuclear war
[chorus]
2022
Bang! Zap! Pow!
2022
Bang! Zap! Pow!
2022
Bang! Zap! Pow!
---------------------
SHE'S GOT EVERYTHING
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
Some girls have nothing
Some girls have it all
Some girls have something
But not what you want
She's got
She's got everything
That I could want
She's got
She's got everything
That I could want
That I could want
Some girls bring flowers
Some girls bring the rain
Some girls stay for hours
Some just till the pain
She's got
She's got everything
That I could want
She's got
She's got everything
That I could want
-------------------------
GET TIED
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
Get tied and get up
Get tied and walk away
Get tied and get up
Before tomorrow makes you go away
I was a settler
Way down in Cheshire, Tennessee
Now I'm just a bettor
From the mountains to the sea
I was alone
(Get tied and get up)
Out on my own
(Get tied and get up)
My only home
(Get tied and get up)
Was the hope of finding home
I say
Get tied and get up
Get tied and walk away
Get tied and get up
Before tomorrow makes you go away
I came to Cheshire
Before the other settlers did
I had ten acres
But lost my claim to a bid
I was let down
(Get tied and get up)
Run out of town
(Get tied and get up)
I lost my ground
(Get tied and get up)
And I hoped of finding home
Get tied and get up
Get tied and walk away
Get tied and get up
Before tomorrow makes you go away
Before tomorrow makes you go away
Get tied
Get tied
[above, photo by Paul Iorio.]
_________________________
BLUER THAN YOU
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
You used to be like the others till the others tried to put you down
And all of the other girls, they tired to find a way to get around that town
But when tomorrow comes my way
I'll set my sails, and they'll be hued
Bluer than bluer than you
Set my sails
Bluer than bluer than you
You used to be like the kind of girl who wants to be a sometime thing
And all of the other guys, they wanted you to wear their wedding rings
But when tomorrow comes my way
I'll set my sails, and they'll be hued
Bluer than bluer than you
Set my sails
Bluer than bluer than you
And I can't make love when I'm
Bluer than bluer than bluer
Can't call it love when I'm
Bluer than bluer than you
If we're both breaking up
Then how come I'm bluer than you?
And I can't make love when I'm
Bluer than bluer than bluer
Can't call it love when I'm
Bluer than bluer than you
If we're both breaking up
Then how come I'm bluer than you?
You used to be like the kind of diamond everybody thought was a rock
But now that you've come of age, you realize it doesn't matter what they blog
But when tomorrow comes my way
I'll set my sails, and they'll be hued
Bluer than bluer than you
Set my sails
Bluer than bluer than you
But when tomorrow comes my way
I'll set my sails, and they'll be hued
Bluer than bluer than you
Set my sails
Bluer than bluer than you
You used to be like the others till the others tried to put you down
------------------------
I DREAM BY CANDLELIGHT
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
I dream by candlelight
Of torches in the meadow
Geysers of flame in the lake
(again)
I dream by candlelight
I dream by candlelight
I dream by candlelight
Of torches in the meadow
Geysers of flame in the lake
I dream by candlelight
I dream by candlelight
I dream by candlelight
------------------------
IT'S KIND OF COOL FOR JUNE
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
Gone are the days and nights when we used to remember
All of the ways we tried to forget September
Gone are the days when we used to play
How could they've ended so soon?
It's kind of cool
It's kind of cool for June
The Green's kind of brown, the light's so blue from the lamplight
But the chill outside feels nothing much like you
Gone are the days that we gave away
How could they've ended so soon
It's kind of cool
It's kind of cool for June
Satin dress, still at the tailor
Invitations, girl we made 'em
A warm December when we made our plans
She never quite explained her position
She never told me why this spring turned cool
Gone are the days that we gave away
How could they've ended so soon?
It's kind of cool
It's kind of cool for June
Gone are the days that we threw away
How could they've ended so soon?
It's kind of cool
It's kind of cool for June
---------------------------
BETTER GIRL
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
I drew a picture of the way that I'm feeling today
Tell you 'bout tomorrow whem I've finished my sorrow up
Never thought I'd tell you what I'm gonna say
I drew a picture of the future in my rear-view mirror
Combing my hair and rushing down the stairs all alone
Never got to living like I wanted to
I've been looking for a girl who's changed
I drew a picture of a car that's been driving me far
I've been cruising through the stars and the suns on the way to the bar
Living like a flame with the butane on
I drew a picture of a time when I can change my mind
But the five and dime and signs and wines, they all wind up
Looking 'bout the same as they never did
Well, I'm looking for a girl who's changed
What do you do when you fall in love with someone better than you?
What do you do when you fall in love with someone better than you?
Better girl
Better girl
Darw me a picture of a place that you've never been
Draw me a picture of a friend that you've never seen
Crying like a lion in a desert cage
Well, I'm looking for a girl who's changed
[bridge]
You know she/used to wear/a bargain basement gown
Now she's in/silk and lace/no longer comes around
Well, I'm looking for a girl who's changed
Looking for a girl and looking for a world that's changed
That world aint here anymore
Looking for a girl and looking for a world that's changed
That world ain't here anymore
Well, I'm looking for a girl who's changed
What do you do when you fall in love with someone better than you?
What do you do when you fall in love with someone better than you?
Better girl
Better girl
----------------
ABOUT MYSELF
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
About myself!
I've seen Kosygin out on 81st and 1st and that's about myself
I've seen some trouble when she's walking down the runway, and that's about
myself
I've been to Zagreb, watched the midnight lights of a train that's been left
behind
Now I'm standing here on 46th and 7th and thinking 'bout myself
About myself!
I saw the ambulance outside of the Dakota thinking 'bout myself
I walked a narrow path on top of the volcano thinking 'bout myself
I've been to heaven on a mid-day carriage/couldn't see what I'd hope to find
But now I'm listening to the bells of the cathedral thinking 'bout myself
About myself!
About myself!
Every time I talk about you, girl, I'm really talking 'bout myself
And everytime I talk about the things we had I talk about myself
The world's a mirror that reflects the things about you that I love and I
hold so dear
So when I'm talking 'bout you, girl, I'm really just talking 'bout myself
About myself!
About myself!
[above, photo by Paul Iorio.]
-----------------------
DEATH FALLS LIKE A SUNSET
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2007
Death falls like a sunset
On everybody equally
Death falls like a sunset
On everybody, even me
Did you see it fall forever
On people you'll no longer see
Did you see it fall like timber, in December
Every single month, I tell you
Death falls like a sunset
On everybody equally
Death falls like a sunset
On everybody, even me
Did you see it wilt the flowers
In the penitentary?
Did you see it block the sunlight
It gets unlight
Enjoy it every minute 'cause
Death falls, death falls
Birth comes like a sunshower
It only comes sporadically
Birth comes like a sunshower
It leads to death eventually
Did you see it bloom in deserts
Where nothing is supposed to be?
Did you see it die in springtime
when you think time/will always last forever?
But death falls
Birth comes
Death falls
Death falls
Death falls
[above, photo by Paul Iorio]
----------------
IF ONE RAINY NIGHT
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
If one rainy night
A man comes knocking on your door
Please let him in and ask what for
And if he knows your girl
Set him down for some coffee
And ask him if she's still alright
And don't protest too much
You'll give yourself away
You still love that girl
No matter what you say
If one rainy night
A girl comes knocking on your door
Please let her in and ask what for
And if she is your girl
Set her down for some coffee
And ask her if she's still alright
And don't protest too much
You'll give yourself away
You still love that girl
No matter what they say
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
THE LATEST INFO UPDATES
>June 13, 2008
My new album, "75 Songs (Pt. 1)," is finally finished and is being released on Monday (June 16). See top of site for details.
---------
>June 3, 2008
A few days ago, I released a new 3-song single featuring "You Won't Be Burying Me Now," "Playing With Balls" and "Little Bird."
"You Won't Be Burying Me Now" puts my own lyrics to a melody of a traditional Italian folk song (the lyrics are not a translation from the Italian). I know the song from a recording by Roberto Murolo, a brilliant interepreter of trad Italian folk, noted for his understated, austere delivery. (He's sort of like Italy's Tom Ze in terms of vocal approach.) Recorded May 22, 2008.
I wrote the music and lyrics of "Playing With Balls" a few years ago but could never get it right in the studio. I kept thinking that a song about the joys of playing sports shouldn't be as somber as I originally wrote it, so last month I re-arranged it as a reggae tune, an arrangement I'd always had in the back of my mind. Recorded May 26, 2008.
"Little Bird" is one that I wrote in 2000 and first recorded in early 2004 and then recorded again in 2005. But I was never satisfied with either version and so re-recorded it last month in a more buoyant, airborne arrangement (with a brand new bridge). Recorded May 26, 2008.
________________________________________________
>June 1, 2008
I had posted over 60 of my songs to vibecat.com but, unfortunately, vibecat doesn't exist anymore, so I'm busy re-posting the songs to a new site.
________________________________________________
>May 18 - 23, 2008
For those of you requesting copies of "About
Myself," my first album, released in 2006, and
my second album, 2007's "Lime Green Celery"
(aka "Make a Noise!"), please hold on, because
songs from both of those albums will soon be
re-released, in re-recorded form, on a brand new
double-CD (with a third CD of b-sides) titled
"75 Songs By Paul Iorio." It will available this
summer, and you can hear many of the tracks online
now at www.vibecat.com/pauliorio.
I've already released part of the new album to
several people, and some of the tracks have
already been added to radio playlists. (Thanks to
everyone who has played them!)
With "75 Songs," I'll have absolutely nobody to blame
if it doesn't connect with listeners. All the production,
engineering, mixing and mastering will be done my me.
As has always been the case with my previous work,
I, of course, wrote all the music and lyrics of all
songs. (Not to put too fine a point on it, but not only
did I write every line of every song, I wrote every
word and aside -- and every melody, too (for better and for
worse!), just as I did on my previous albums. All revisions and
additions and subtractions and arrangements to every song are,
as they have always been, my own.) The only
element contributed by someone else is the financing,
made possible by a generous contribution from old pal
Bill Epps.
[Bill produced the "About Myself" sessions of 2005, but those
sessions were too rushed to produce anything usable; at those
'05 sessions, I brought 52 of my own songs to the studio
while Bill manned the soundboard and recorded my performances
of them in two short days. Because we didn't spend enough
time on it in '05, those '05 recordings have now been
demoted to rehearsal tapes. Anyone who sees Bill's videotape
of the '05 sessions will see that he barely had time to
adjust the microphones (and it's obvious now that the
few production suggestions he made, on around
two or three of my songs, were too hasty and ill-considered,
which is why those suggestions of his have been deleted
in the new recordings.]
The only thing delaying the new album is that I keep
coming up with new songs all the time (I wish someone
would write a self-help book on "How to
Stop Yourself From Writing Songs If You're a
Compulsive Songwriter"). My latest, "Besides," has
generated more response than I expected; and today,
I wrote a new one that I'm excited about, "You Won't
Be Burying Me Now."
So all this might take awhile. More updates later.
-----------------------
>March 31, 2008
Yesterday I finally cut a version of "Better Off
Brokenhearted" that I think works. It's already up
at the vibecat site!
------------------
>March 22, 2008
Just a note to those who know who I'm talkin' about:
I have a friend who has a habit of updating his own
old lyrics with bits of my own newly-released lyrics,
while still claiming the old date for his work.
Hence, to the unaware, he wrongly makes
it look like I was inspired by him instead
of vice versa. Not cool.
-----
>March 15, 2008
Yesterday I wrote a new song, "King Penis of Planet Zero,"
and today I recorded and posted it to the Vibecat site. I
had a lot of fun with it -- hope you enjoy it. Here
are the lyrics:
KING PENIS OF PLANET ZERO
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2008
Oh, King Penis!
Oh, King Penis!
Of Planet Zero
Of Planet Zero
King Penis is such a drag
He makes me shine his shoes with his rag
Since he took over I have no worth
Now he's ruling all of planet Earth
Oh, King Penis
Oh, King Penis
Of Planet Zero
Of Planet Zero
King Penis makes me work for food
King Penis makes me sing the blues
One day I'm gonna put him in his place
But he's protected by his man Ghostface
Ohhhhhhhhh Ahhhh Ahhhh
Ohhhh Ahhhhhhhh Ahhh
King Penis and Baron Chop
They stuff their faces and feed us slop
He puts Polonium on his steak
Back on Zero, he's the biggest fave
Oh, King Penis
Oh, King Penis
Of Planet Zero
Of Planet Zerooooo
On Planet Zerooooo
On Planet Zerooooo
On Planet Zerooooo
-- --- --
>March 14, 2008
Yesterday I came up with a couple new songs,
"Chasing a Rainbow" and "King Penis of Planet
Zero," and have just posted the former to the
Vibecat site. It's a brief song -- here're
the lyrics:
CHASING A RAINBOW
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2008
Hey!
Where ya goin'?
I'm chasin' a rainbow
Hey!
Where ya goin'?
I'm chasin' a rainbow
Closer that you get, it gets harder to find
Pretty soon you're thinking that you're losing your goddamned mind
Hey!
Where ya goin'?
I'm chasin' a rainbow
Closer that you get, it gets harder to find
Pretty soon you're thinking that you're losing your goddamned mind
- - -
>March 11-14, 2008
One reason I'm very glad I included "Combination of the Oceans"
on my 1998 demo -- my very first demo -- is because it publicly
and indisputably dates the song (there are people who still
have that tape after all these years!). And that's sort of
a relief because at least one band and one singer/songwriter
(who both shall remain nameless) have since knicked bits
of "Combination of the Oceans" -- and needless to
say, I'm not very pleased about that. But the good thing is
the California band in question recorded its slightly
derivative song in 2000, two years after my demo was
released. And the unsigned singer-songwriter in question
has just now made his song public (on his website), though
he appears to be suspiciously back-dating his lyrics
(unfortunately for him, he didn't bother to back-date it
far enough, because his date still makes my song a year
older than his; perhaps he didn't know about my '98
demo). Same situation with "Better Off Brokenhearted,"
for which I also have a '98 copyright (which makes it at
least two years older than the lyric-bits by the
aforementioned singer-songwriter that are somewhat
derivative of my song). There are a few
people out there who know exactly who I'm talking
about, and you are doing that person absolutely no
favor by allowing him to lie (particularly when
all I'd need are my last few computer hard drives,
which I have, to prove incontrovertibly he's a liar).
- - -
>February 20, 2008
Finally, everybody is going to get clean versions of
the 52 songs I wrote for my debut album, "About
Myself." Since 2006, it's been bothering me that
several of the major songs on "About Myself" had
technical errors or were hastily recorded. (It
wasn't producer William Epp's fault; it was the
result of trying to record 52 songs in a mere
two days at Paramount Studios in L.A.) Now I'm
personally re-recording my songs for that album,
this time without the technical glitches or missed
chords that were on the Paramount tapes!
Also absent is William's background bass playing,
which he added as an after-thought months after
the sessions. William himself admits that he
cannot and does not play the bass guitar, so I think
it's best that the bass (which was too high in
the mix in some cases) is now gone from the album.
As I've told him, I never thought it was a good
idea to put an electric bass on an acoustic
album that was essentially a songwriter showcase.
- - -
>February 19, 2008
I've just now posted my latest song, "Sexually Insane," to
www.vibecat.com/pauliorio. I wrote and recorded it this morning
at my home studio in Berkeley.
____________________________
>February 10, 2008
There seems to be renewed interest lately in
"Warm Docking at the Shrine," which I wrote and
released last fall as part of a 3-song
single. Yes, I did write a previous song
in 1998 called "Warm Docking at the Shrine,"
but the new "Warm Docking" has nothing
to do with the old version. They share only
the same title. I came up with the line
"Warm Docking at the Shrine" in a story that
I wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle
newspaper, and as soon as I came up with the
title, I knew that it implied a terrific song.
My first try to create a song around it
was in '98; a few months ago, I threw out
that song and wrote a suite-like multi-part
thing, and that's the only version in release
right now.
>February 5 - 7, 2008
Thanks again to the radio stations that have
played my new songs "Headin' Down to the Cool
Jerk" and "Mr. Freeze is Taking Over" last week.
Both songs, along with 19 others, are now online as MP3s at:
www.vibecat.com/pauliorio.
Enjoy!
-----
FOR THE RECORD (to correct bad info): My first
album was not a collaboration in any
substantive sense -- unless (to use an analogy) you
also consider, say, Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are
a-Changin''" album to be a collaboration between
Tom Wilson and Dylan. I mean, is "Mr. Tambourine
Man" a Wilson/Dylan collaboration? I don't think
anyone would say that. I mean, I'm certainly not
comparing myself to Wilson/Dylan but, analogously,
the structure of that first album was the same:
straightforward acoustic songs that required very
little production.
Thankfully, I've had a habit since 1997 of emailing
my songs to myself as soon as I've written them; hence,
almost all my songs are electronically dated by the AOL
email of my last three computers (which I've kept!).
So anyone can see, for example, that "Doctor Says" was
written by me in final form in 1998. Or that I completed
"Standing on the River" in 2003 (minor production
changes William made to that song have since been
deleted). So there's no doubt about the chronology of
my songs and how they evolved. The hard drive does
not lie! (By the way, keep in mind that the
producer of my first album didn't come onboard
until '05.)
>January 21, 2008
It was around 10 years ago today that I
first sent my songs out to another person,
though I'd been writing songs for
more than 25 years by that time.
The '98 demo started off as a primitive, 8-songer
on a cassette tape, recorded on a 4-string guitar
in my bathtub, and evolved into a 10-song demo.
Here's the original demo (the word "Costello" refers to the fact that I later recorded some songs by Elvis Costello on the tape.
Here's one of the lyric sheets for the '98 demo:
And here's another:
I sent the demo to a few labels in '98
(here's a response I got from one):
The songs on the '98 demo, along with hundreds of
my other songs, would remain in my desk drawer
for another 6 years, until I put out another
cassette tape called "About Myself," featuring 52
of my songs, in 2004. The next year, in '05, a
friend I hadn't seen in decades, Bill Epps, stopped by
and generously agreed to fund a CD version of my
cassette tape album. And that's how that CD
came to be.
Anyway, I have a complete set of emails in my
AOL Filing Cabinet (on my previous computer)
spanning the 1997 to 2005 period that show, step
by step, how I wrote the "About Myself" album (I
always email all my lyrics to myself in order to
keep them stored; that also serves to show, through
electronic dating of the email, when I wrote
the lyrics.) Among those emails are the ones
in which I sent William my songs and song lyrics
for the first time (he didn't receive copies of
my songs until late August 2005, a couple weeks
before the recording sessions in Los Angeles, according
to the emails in my AOL Filing Cabinet, and
by then I had completely finished writing the songs).
And it's plain to see from these emails that
all my songs were in finished, final form
before William ever heard them.
I may post some of those emails next year as part
of an archival/timeline section of this website.
>January 15, 2008
I just wrote my first songs of 2008 and
recorded them last Sunday at my home studio
in Berkeley.
The songs are "Goin' Down to the Cool Jerk,"
"Time Begins to End" and "Mr. Freeze is Taking Over,"
I've put them together on a 3-song single that
I've just started sending out. (They'll also be
included on my third double-album, which I'll
release in the spring.)
Here are the CD's cover graphics and lyrics:
----------------------------------
>January 3, 2008
Happy new year everyone!
>December 2 - 15, 2007
Someone asked me the other day whether I write my
songs with musical notation. The answer to that
is an emphatic, "No!" I have never written any of
my songs using musical notation or sheet music
(in fact, I wouldn't know how to do it and, further,
sometimes I don't even know the names of the notes
I'm playing). And if there were sheet music for
my songs, I wouldn't know how to read it.
Below is a typical example of how I write out
my music; here is my own "sheet music" for my
song "It's Kind of Cool for June" (note how I
indicate bar chords by drawing their locations
on the fretboard; I know the names of some
non-bar chords). This is the only way, by
the way, my songs have ever been written in notation
(all text and changes to text were written by me):
Below is another example of "sheet music" I wrote for
one of my songs, this one for "Better Girl,"
completed in 2004 (copyrighted in '05), a year or so
before William came onboard the "About Myself" sessions.
Here're pages one and two of the song (all text and
changes to text were, again, written by me):
And here's a third example of my sheet music,
this one for "Doctor Says She's Gonna Come Home
Tonight" (when I'm not using bar chords, I can
identify basic chords like C, G and A minor by
their names). I wrote this one in the late 1990s
(all text and changes to text were written by me).
And here's how I wrote down another of
my songs, "Come on Like a Song," which
I wrote in '93 after a bad winter.
[Note: While I'm flattered that people seem to
like my line "poverty's what happens when you live
so honestly," I'm not at all flattered that
a newspaper writer in San Francisco ripped off that
line for some deadline news story he was writing
in late 2005. For the record, the only version
of this song in circulation was recorded (with that
exact line) on September 17, 2005, in Los Angeles,
after having been distributed throughout 2004 on a
discontinued cassette tape edition of "About Myself";
the newspaper story that stole my line appeared
much later.]
And here's yet another one, "You Know It Shows,"
which I wrote in the fall of 1980, when I was working
at Dell Publishing (and I've been singing it ever
since!). The song hasn't changed at all in 27 years,
except for one line -- "right through her dress" -- which
I came up with and added in June 2005 (I thought the
new line would drive home the fact that the lyric
refers to a pregnant woman; as you can see on the page below,
I added the line months later on the lyric sheet in
uncharacteristic block letters). I tended to write my
songs of '79, '80 and '81 on the roof of the Beacon in
New York, which is where I wrote this one, and it was
in some sense about a (non-pregnant) woman who I had
a crush on at the time and about how hard it was to not
show that I felt that way. (All text and changes to
text written by me.)
And another one. Of all the songs I've written,
"Little Bird" is one of the most fun to play, because
of its unadorned simplicity. This one came from
dehydration; after a very long hike through the
Santa Monica mountains to Universal City on a hot
day in the spring of 2000, I saw a very small bird
in a tree that came all the way out on a branch, as if
it were saying hello to the world for the first time.
Later, I saw a flock of birds in a tree, and I
marveled, in my dehydrated state, at how the birds
looked like a structural part of the tree. As soon
as I wrote it in 2000, I emailed the lyrics (the
same lyrics you see below) to myself -- and I
still have that email in the Pesonal Filing Cabinet
of my previous computer!
Anyway, here's my "sheet music" for it (all text and
changes to text written by me):
And yet another Paul song! This one is "Complicated
Flower," which I wrote in 2003 after seeing a flower on
Russell Street in Berkeley that was both fascinating
and contrived-looking. It looked like it had been
designed by committee but it was a real flower, a
complicated flower. Here's a picture I shot of the
actual flower that inspired the song!
And here's my "sheet music" for "Complicated
Flower" (all text and changes to text written
by -- you guessed it! -- me):
OK, here's another. It's called "Get Tied," and I hardly
needed to write down any chords because I've been singing
this one since I wrote it in 1980 in Manhattan (it was one
of the ones I wrote atop the Beacon in New York). When it
came time to record it in 2005, William kept calling it
"Get Tight" for some unknown reason -- I named it "Get Tied"
in '80 and that's been its name ever since!
I always use a tape recorder in
writing my songs and tend to keep the development
tapes so that later I (and you) can hear the evolution
of the song from its earliest incarnation to its final
form. In some cases, I can pin down not only the date
but the minute when I wrote the song because in the
background you can hear "Nightline" or another news
program as I write the song on guitar. My
producer on "About Myself," William Epps, recently told
me in a phone conversation that, after we had already
recorded my songs, he had done a post-recording notation
for some of my songs (hey, I didn't even ask him to do
it, either!). It's apparently fun for him (I bet he'd
do a notation for the Beatles's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band" if he had the time!). But, no, I don't
write using musical notation. Never have.
By the way, Bill videotaped parts of the
"About Myself" sessions of '05, and those who
see it can see the few production suggestions he
made (those suggestions have since been discarded,
by the way!). Only part of video that is a bit
puzzling: at one point in the video, Bill obviously
misspoke, his camera rolling again, when he told
his sound engineer that "Paul wrote
two of the songs" on "About Myself"; Bill obviously
meant to say that "Paul wrote all fifty-two songs" on
"About Myself" (that's how many we were going to
record, initally). I explicitly corrected Bill about
that, on video, a minute later, saying "I wrote all fifty-two
songs, not two songs," but somehow I think my correction
wound up on the videotape cutting room floor while his mistake
ended up in the video. (I'm sure he wasn't trying to
swindle me out of part of my songwriting catalogue, which
took me most of my life to write; I think he just
misspoke. Keep in mind that it was Bill who said
that erroneous bit about "two songs" -- I didn't
say that.)
Also: as a point of contrast, here are the lyrics
of 5 songs written solely by William Epps for one
of his own albums. You can compare and contrast his work
with mine, and anyone can easily see how different our
two separate bodies of work are. Nobody smart would
ever mistake a William Epps song for a Paul Iorio song!
______________________
>November 24, 2007
Well, it's been exactly 2 years since I sent out my
music on CDs for the very first time, and in that
span, at least 9 of my songs have been added to
radio playlists in at least 3 countries. I'm extremely
appreciative of that and very pleasantly surprised,
and I want to thank all the radio people out there
who have been playing my stuff! And I hope
I'm able to come up with new material in the future
that's also right for your shows and stations.
Also: a gigantic thanks to the radio stations that
have been playing my two new songs, "Armageddon Time"
and "The Holy Country Song," in the last several days.
I hear the latter song is even causing a bit of
controversy (and I think that's a good thing!).
>November 15, 2007
Just wrote a new song on Sunday and started
releasing it a couple days ago. It's called
"The Holy Country Song" and its lyrics are
posted below.
---
>November 5, 2007
I've written and recorded several non-album
singles in the past few week, so I'm now
collecting them for a limited-edition
second-disc of "Lime Green Celery."
Yesterday I recorded yet another new song,
"Warm Docking at the Shrine," a multi-parter
that I'm just now sending out.
Last week's single, "Waterboardin' U.S.A.," has
already seen some radio play -- and I couldn't
be more thankful to those who've aired it!
>October 19, 2007
I'm coming up with lots of new songs that
don't have anything to do with the new
album. Must be the jalapenos!
"In the Moodlight" and "Forgotten by Name"
are in gestation. "Warm Docking at the Shrine,"
a multi-part thing, is almost finished.
----------------------
>October 16, 2007
Just released a new single to radio, "Chasin' You,"
from the album. Am surprised people are responding to
this one more than to some of the others, but they are,
and so I'm sending it out seperately.
Here's the cover art:
-------------------------
>September 4, 2007
Over the Labor Day weekend I recorded two
new original songs that aren't on the new
album, and they are: "Drunk Driving Music"
and "Murder on Harmony Lane" (lyrics are
posted in the lyrics section of this website).
P.S. -- I recently heard a rumor that I
was actually the writer behind some of the songs of
my brother, Jay Iorio (who has a music career that
is completely independent of mine). Not true. Jay
writes his own songs, and I write
my own songs, and we don't collaborate
at all or share any material. (In fact, the
last songs of his I've heard are the 12 he
self-released back in 2000.) By the way, if anyone
out there hears that rumor, please fee free to
contact me at pliorio@aol.com to let me know
who the source of it is (so I can have a little
talk with that source!).
---------------------
>August 13, 2007
"Lime Green Celery" has just been released. A
lot of people have already requested copies and
I'm trying to send them out as fast as
possible.
Anyway, here some info about the 22 songs on the CD:
"(The Overwhelming Weight of) the Water Blue Sky" --
The title came to me on the way back from grocery
shopping, and I wrote the lyric on the back of a
Safeway receipt dated October 21, 2006 (see below). As
I carried home my groceries, this line went through
my head: "When the overwhelming weight of the water
blue sky comes crashing down." For months, all
I had was the chorus, and then a chord progression
emerged for the verses, and lyrics emerged from the melody.
"You, Walking Away" -- I've always had fun
playing this one and wrote it with a certain
female vocalist in mind. Reminds me of
the first cool day of fall. I wrote it around 2002.
"Rich and Dumb" -- Originally folk rap that
started "Smart and poor won't open any doors,"
though the chorus has remained the same. Circa 2003.
If I Thought 'bout Getting Around:
For a decade or so, I had the musical phrasing/melody/shape
of the chorus but had no words for it, so (as I always
do) I let the words emerge from the ooze, always favoring
sound over sense. I wrote much of this one in the
1990s, when I first came up with "You Bring the Love"
(from "About Myself"). A roots rocker.
It's Good for the Roses:
I wrote this after being robbed at gunpoint one
afternoon on my way to a Lucinda Williams concert
in San Francisco in June 2005. I like the tension in
this one. Definitely influenced by Bruce Springsteen.
Last Night's Moon:
This is the only song I've heard about a moon that
lingers into the next day (and the relationship that
was attached to that moon the night before). Sort of
CCRish. (And regarding those sound effects in the intro:
I was trying to overdub a wolf howling but it ended up
sounding enigmatic, so I kept it, but might not in future
editions.)
Doncha Sleep
It may sound pretentious to say this but it's factually
true: I woke up one morning with the chorus of this song fully
formed in my head, so I grabbed my cassette recorder
and sang it on tape before it disappeared.
And that's generally how I write; songs come to me and I
immediately grab a tape recorder and record
them on tapes like these:
Make a Noise!
Folk rap. Couldn't find any drums so I used
the fretboard for scratch effect.
This Skull
Inspired by Shakespeare's gravediggers in "Hamlet."
Written in the summer of 2006 when my dad was dying
and I was suddenly reading lots of Shakespeare.
Somebody's Lover
I think this is one of the best melodies I've written.
Because of the chord changes, it's difficult for me
to play this one but somehow I got it right on the
take used for this album.
Long Story Short
Brief.
Just Tell Her You Love Her
"If you really wanna get rid of her, just tell
her you love her" goes the lyrics. "I Don't
Believe You"esque. I wrote this one in 2003
in my apartment and had a lot of fun coming
up with the chorus. I put the rough draft on
tape but came thisclose to losing the tape.
Things Denied in Youth
I wrote the original version of this in 1981 in
New York City, and it was one of the songs I
wrote in my first three years in New York,
from '79 to '81 (among them "If One Rainy Night,"
"You Know It Shows," "Get Tied," "Chasin' You,"
part of "Drowning Man," etc.). I also used the
title phrase in a story I wrote for the East
Village Eye newspaper in 1984 (see below).
I Wanna Die (I Really Wanna Die)
Written in 2006.
Chasin' You
Another one I wrote in my first few years in New York.
I Guess You Heard About the Pain
Originally intended for "About Myself."
Drowning Man
I wrote the chorus at the Beacon in New York in
1980 ("You don't save a drowning man/when he's
reached the shore/'cause when he's reached the
shore/he don't need you anymore") but wasn't able
to attach it to a suitable verse and arrangement
until I was walking down a Berkeley street in 2007
and started spontaneously humming the melody of the verse.
Lime Green Celery
This funk fragment also came to me on a walk through
Berekely in 2007.
Madness (in Room 6J2)
This one sort of rolled off my tongue in one piece.
Cold Sunshine
Another one that was marked for "About Myself"
but didn't make it on the album. I wrote it in the
early 1990s.
Death Falls Like a Sunset
Wrote this in '05.
Up in the Puzzle Tree
Puzzle Trees actually exist and their branches
sort of resemble verticle mazes. It always
puts me in a good mood to sing this one.
Drunk Drivin Music
Released as a 2-song single; may be included
in some future editions of the album. I wrote
the chorus years ago, in 2003, and always
loved the concept, but didn't flesh it out
until Labor Day weekend 2007. A bonus
track on some copies of "Lime Green Celery."
Murder on Harmony Lane
Released as a 2-song single. I wrote
this one in 2004. After several
hours of playing guitar in my apartment, I
started strumming a chord progression that
became what I originally called "Born Clean,"
which then evolved naturally into the "murder
on Harmony Way" chorus. Put it on a tape
in my closet for three years, until Labor Day
weekend 2007, when I prepared it for release.
A bonus track on some copies of "Lime Green
Celery."
All music and lyrics by Paul Iorio. Copyright 2007.
Guitar, vocals, sound effects: Paul Iorio. Produced
by Paul Iorio. Recorded at Paul's home studio in
Berkeley, Calif., August 11 and 12, 2007. (Thanks
to Bill Epps for invaluable advice and support!)
__________________________________________________
August 4, 2007
I'm now sending around the new album's
first CD single -- a three-song single
that includes "Rich and Dumb," "You,
Walking Away" and "(The Overwhelming
Weight of) the Water Blue Sky." ("Rich
and Dumb" is already getting radio airplay!)
The rest of the album, a 22-songer, will
be released by mid-August.
___________________________________________
August 11, 2007
I'm holed up in the home studio recording the new
album, "Lime Green Celery" -- eight songs
finished, around dozen to go. Self-producing this
time. The album will be out in days.
___________________________
>July 19, 2007
Well, my upcoming second album, "Lime Green Celery,"
is already off to a promising start, even though
only a handful of advance copies have been released
on cassette tape so far.
Its first single, "Rich and Dumb," has already been
aired on top college radio station KALX in Berkeley,
California (many thanks to Marshall Stax for playing
it!).
--------------------------
>july 17, 2007
Much to my surprise, my debut album, "About Myself,"
released around a year-and-a-half ago, seems to be
reigniting, even though I stopped sending it out a
few months ago.
In recent weeks, songs from the album have been
getting airplay, most notably on WFMU in New
Jersey (my favorite radio station on the planet,
by the way!). Sincere thanks to Steve Krinsky
for playing "Pretty Women at the Funeral" -- and to all the
others for adding songs from the album to their
playlists!
Because of the new interest in the album, I'm going
to start releasing "About Myself" again for a
limited time, this time in its complete, 43-song,
two-disc edition.
________________________________
"Lime Green Celery"
the next album by Paul Iorio
will be released later this month.
All songs by Paul Iorio
Produced by Paul Iorio
Vocals, guitar: Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
LIME GREEN CELERY (Side A)
1. You, Walking Away
2. Doncha Sleep
3. Make a Noise!
4. This Skull
5. Last Night's Moon
6. Somebody's Lover
7. Just Tell Her You Love Her
8. It's Good for the Roses
9. If I Thought 'bout Getting Around
10. The Things Denied in Youth
11. I Wanna Die (I Really Wanna Die)
12. Rich and Dumb
13. The Overwhelming Weight (of the Water-Blue Sky)
14. Long Story Short
15. Lime Green Celery
16. Chasing You
17. I Guess You Heard About the Pain
18. You Don't Save a Drowning Man
19. Madness (In Room 6J2)
20. Cold Sunshine
21. Death Falls Like a Sunset
22. Up in the Puzzle Tree
LIME GREEN CELERY (SIDE B)
23. Murder on Harmony Way
24. Armageddon Time
25. Warm Docking at the Shrine
26. Waterboardin' U.S.A. (based on
Chuck Berry/Brian Wilson's "Surfin' USA")
27. I Shot Osama bin Laden
28. The Ballad of Senator Craig
29. Drunk Drivin' Music
I intended to include four of these songs (tracks 16, 17, 20 and 21) on my first album, "About Myself," but didn't have room for them.]
________________________________
Lyrics of the "Lime Green Celery" CD (plus non-album singles)
THE HOLY COUNTRY SONG
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
Don't you hate all of those country songs
Saying, "I am the way and the light"
That "Jesus Christ is comin'
And everything'll be alright"
They say, "The Lord is my savior/
Won't you do me a favor, and get me into heaven tonight"
I heard them thankin' Jesus
On the CMAs last night
I heard them thankin' Jesus
On the CMAs last night
They talk about resurrection like it was an erection
Natural selection ain't right
"Don't talk that evolution/
Creation just took one night
The Ten Commandments make you a helluva man/
And I believe the ones I like
Though shall not go a killin'
Except when you're havin' a fight"
I heard them thankin' Jesus
At the CMAs last night
They can't have some nook
Because some boring book with badly translated text
Says you can't commit adultery
Or have recreational sex
Well, Jesus Christ put up a helluva fight
Takin' heat for what I done
Enabling bad behavior
So I'm forgiven for my fun
I heard them thankin' Jesus
At the CMAs last night
I heard them thankin' Jesus
At the CMAs last night
* * * *
THIS SKULL
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2007
Walking through the graveyard
The way I sometimes do
Thinking 'bout life and when it's through
Kicking a rock and found it was part of
A skull
It used to make a noise
This skull
It used to have a voice
This skull
It used to have a tongue
I wanna be the last one to turn out the lights
This skull
Walking 'neath the trees and falling leaves
Appreciating things I'd never seen
Shouting while I can before I become
This skull
It used to make a noise
This skull
It used have a voice
I wanna be the last one to turn out the lights
This skull
It used to make a noise
This skull
It used have a voice
I wanna be the last one to turn out the lights
This skull
This skull
This skull
__________________________________
LAST NIGHT'S MOON
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2007
Last night's moon still lingers today
But that still makes it last night's moon
Last night's moon still lingers today
But that still makes it last night's moon
We broke up last night
In the light of that moon
The crescent's still up in the sky today
But that don't make it anything but
Last night's moon still lingers today
But that still makes it last night's moon
Your lies were so clear
In the light of that moon
The moon's still up in the sky today
But that don't make it anything but
Last night's moon still lingers today
But that still makes it last night's moon
________________________________________
RICH AND DUMB
(music and lyrics by Paul Iorio)
copyright 2007
Well, my job's a bore
It gives me hypnotism
And he's just the boss
Because of nepotism
He got his job by working for his dad
But that's not half of what's making me mad
(What you say?)
Rich and dumb
(you gotta work work work work)
For the rich and dumb
(you gotta work work work work)
Rich and dumb
(you gotta work work work work)
You gotta work for the rich and dumb
Right out of school
I had to work as a clerk
'Cause I didn't have the money
not to work for that jerk
He's on vacation now
But when he gets back
I'm gonna sing him this song and that's a fact
(what you say?!)
Rich and dumb
(you gotta work work work work)
For the rich and dumb
(you gotta work work work work)
Rich and dumb
(you gotta work work work work)
You gotta work for the rich and dumb
I'm gonna quit my job and start my own business
I've got myself a blog and with you as a witness
I'm gonna turn the tide and right some wrongs
So I can find a way to stop singing this song
(Everybody's sayin')
Rich and dumb
(you gotta work work work work)
For the rich and dumb
(you gotta work work work work)
Rich and dumb
(you gotta work work work work)
You gotta work for the rich and dumb
__________________________________________
JUST TELL HER YOU LOVE HER
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
Saw my love just the other day
Tried to find a way to break up with her
Couldn't bear to break her heart
Had to find just the right words
I told my love a lovely lie
Something so she'd walk out that door
And then I looked her in the eye
Said these magic words
If you really wanna get rid of her
If you don't wanna see her no more
Just tell her you love her
Just tell her you care
Just tell her you love her
If you don't wanna see her no more
It works better than fare-the-well
Take it from me, I know
It works better than go to hell
Kill 'em with kindness and snow
She hasn't phoned since I told her so
Looks at me funny and sweet
She figures she's got me in the bag
Doesn't have to try things on me
If you really wanna get rid of her
If you don't wanna see her no more
Just tell her you love her
Just tell her you care
Just tell her you love her
If you don't wanna see her no more
Just tell her
Just tell her
(If you don't wanna see her no more)
Just tell her
Just tell her
(If you don't wanna see her no more)
_______________________________________
YOU, WALKING AWAY
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2007
You, walking away
Walking like I can't see the way you feel
You're feeling today
But if you want to stay, I say ok
You, walking away
Walking like I can't see the way mascara runs down your face
But if you just don't place, I say ok
You, walking away
Walking like I can't read the way you feel
You can't tell me thatg it's real
If your love is like a wheel
She said ok
You, walking to me
Walking like I can see you finally see what you mean to me
And if you want to play with me today
Walking away
Walking like I can't see the way you feel
You're feeling today
And if you want to stay I'll say ok
Walking away
Walking away
Walking away
Walking away
________________________________________________
(THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE) WATER BLUE SKY
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2007
Stars shine bright in the middle of the afternoon
Stars cast light in a halo all over you
I've been looking for monochrome nights
I've been looking for gold
But even gold don't look that much like gold
(It don't look like gold when you get up to it)
Stars shine bright in the middle of a mushroom
Stars shine bright, they're the only things shinin' through
I've been looking for light in the night
I've been looking for days
I've been looking for all the wrong things, so they say
(They say they're the wrong things)
The overwhelming weight
Of the water blue sky
The overwhelming weight
Of that look in your eye (eye)
Stars are dying, I'm still not getting all of you
Stars won't last nearly half as long as light they threw
Thought I'd last a little longer than this
Thought I'd have all day
Thought I'd know what to do when the light went away
(Thought I'd know what to do)
The overwhelming weight
Of the water blue sky
The overwhelming weight
Of that look in your eye
The overwhelming weight
Of the water blue sky
The overwhelming weight
Of that look in your eye
_______________________________________________________________
DONCHA SLEEP
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
I'll bring the salt
You bring the earth
You bring the circle that comes back from death to birth
Take your chance
Go roll the dice
Don't give up now, you've only tried it once or twice
Don't you sleep with anyone but me
Doncjha sleep with anyone but me
With anyone but me
Whoa oh oh oh oh oh oh
I've been to Spain
Inside my wine
But ain't seen terrain like the kind that you unwind
You junk the car for a flat tire
You throw me ice when I'm on fire
Don't you sleep with anyone but me
Doncha sleep with anyone but me
Girl, with anyone but me
Whoa oh oh oh oh oh oh
You sell the car with a flat tire
You throw me, girl, when I'm on fire
Don't you sleep with anyone but me
Doncha sleep with anyone but me
Girl, with anyone but me
Whoa oh oh oh oh oh oh
Whoa oh oh oh oh oh oh
Whoa oh oh oh oh oh oh
With anyone but me
With anyone but me
With anyone but me
-----------------------------------------------
I WANNA DIE (I REALLY WANNA DIE)
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
I wanna die, I really wanna die
I wanna die, I really wanna die
I can't live my life this way
It's just pain and bills I gotta pay
I wanna die, I really wanna die
I wanna die, I really wanna die
I wanna die, I really wanna die
Life just ain't goin' my way
I don't think that I'm a gonna stay
I wanna die, I really wanna die
I wanna live, I really wanna live
I wanna live, I really wanna live
But I don't wanna live this way
That's all there is, that's what they say
I wanna live, I really wanna live
I wanna die, I really wanna die
I wanna die, I really wanna die
But I keep on, I take what they give
Guess I don't like the alternative
I wanna die, I really wanna die
I wanna die, I really wanna die
I wanna die, I really wanna die
-------------------------------------
IT'S GOOD FOR THE ROSES
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
Blood red roses are growing from the spot
Where a man and his wife were taken down and shot
Blood red roses are growing in a knot
From a break in the ground outside the parking lot
It's good for the roses
It's good for the roses
It's good for the roses
Blood red roses are lying on a grave where
Where a man and his wife were unable to be saved
Blood red roses are soaking in a vase
Where survivor's minds are caught up in a maze
It's good for the roses
It's good for the roses
It's good for the roses
He lies in a permanent way
She lies up beside him in rain
He won't wonder what happened that night
She won't remember the last of the fight
It's good for the roses
It's good for the roses
It's good for the roses
Blood red roses are growing from the spot
Blood red roses are growing from the spot
Blood red roses are growing from the spot
-------------------------------------------------
MADNESS (IN ROOM 6J2)
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
Madness
In room 6J2
Madness
In room 6J2
I held a broken crystal ball right up to your wrist
You tell me all your truths but some you might have missed
Madness
In room 6J2
Madness
In room 6J2
I spent a fortune on you, unfortunately
Now I can't quite afford you, so I'll let you leave
Madness
In room 6J2
Madness
In room 6J2
Madness
Madness
Madness
-----------------------------------------
MAKE A NOISE!
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
When I was living on 86th, there was a bank in the back and a hack in a Mack and a phone on the wall and call from the ball, saying don't be late for your own first date
If you don't know what to do
If you don't know what to do
If you don't know what to do
Make a noise!
Make a noise!
Then I moved to 105th to a place near a drone with a mind of its own and a fax with a wax that'll glow like the sun on a day when you pay for an alternate way
If you don't know what to do
If you don't know what to do
If you don't know what to do
Make a noise!
Make a noise!
If you don't know what to do
If you don't know what to do
If you don't know what to do
Make a noise!
Make a noise!
Now I'm back on the vine and my mind's doing time with a bowl and a lime and a whole lot of crime with a rack and a track and I don't look back to a time when I pined for a piece of your mind
If you don't know what to do
If you don't know what to do
If you don't know what to do
Make a noise!
Make a noise!
If you don't know what to do
If you don't know what to do
If you don't know what to do
Make a noise!
Make a noise!
If you don't know what to do
If you don't know what to do
If you don't know what to do
Make a noise!
Make a noise!
--------------------------
SOMEBODY'S LOVER
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
How can you stand
I don't know
She gets whatever she wants
How can you stand
I don't know
She's got the love in her heart
And she wants
And she wants to travel south
And she wants
And she wants to follow north
And she wants
How can you stand without tears in your eyes
When you know she's been somebody's lover?
How can you stand without tears in your eyes
When you know she's been somebody's lover?
Somebody's girl
You know you gotta stop her
From lovin' someone she don't want
How can you stare
You don't know
She's got an ache in her heart
How can you love
Someone who
Tells you she's ready to part?
And she wants
And she wants to travel best
And she wants
But she likes the old northwest
And she wants
How can you stand without tears in your eyes
When you know she's been somebody's lover?
How can you stand without tears in your eyes
When you know she's been somebody's lover?
Somebody's girl
You know you gotta stop her
From lovin' someone she don't want
________________________________
IF I THOUGHT 'BOUT GETTING AROUND
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
IF I THOUGHT 'BOUT GETTING AROUND
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
I fought the law and it was a draw
On 15th and 5th, where I made the call
Well, if I thought 'bout gettin' around
If I thought 'bout getting around
It's a big scandal, it's the talk of the town
If I thought 'bout getting around
If I thought 'bout getting around
You dodged a bullet but can't dodge the ball
You dodge my letters but can't dodge my calls
Well, if I thought 'bout gettin' around
If I thought 'bout getting around
It's a big scandal, it's the talk of the town
If I thought 'bout getting around
If I thought 'bout getting around
I'd come on over but trout's on the grill
People comin' over, no time to kill
Well, if I thought 'bout gettin' around
If I thought 'bout getting around
It's a big scandal, it's the talk of the town
If I thought 'bout getting around
If I thought 'bout getting around
____________________________________
LIME GREEN CELERY
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
Tell her, please
It ain't what you think it'd be
Tell her, please
It's lime green celery
Tell her, please
It ain't what you think it'd be
Tell her, please
It's lime green celery
Lime green celery
Lime green celery
Lime green celery
---------------------------------------------
I GUESS YOU HEARD ABOUT THE PAIN
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
I guess you heard about the pain
I guess you heard about the pain
I can tell by the look in your eyes
Then she said, to my surprise
I guess you heard about the pain
I guess you heard about the pain
You're wrong, so go
You're wrong, so go
Everytime I love you it just goes so slow
I guess you heard about the pain
I guess you heard about the pain
I can tell byh the way that you cry
It came to me as no surprise
I guess you heard about the pain
I guess you heard about the pain
I guess you heard about the pain
---------------------------------------
LONG STORY SHORT
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
Too many nos, too many times, too many hurts
Too many nos, too many times, too many hurst
I'll make a long story short this time
I'll make a long story short
Too many nos, too many times, too many hurts
Too many nos, too many times, too many hurts
I'll make a long story short this time
I'll make a long story short
I'll make a long story short
------------------------------------------
CHASING YOU
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
Chasin' you
Through Spanish forests
Chasin' you
On Long Island
Chasin' you
Without an inkling
Chasin' you
In Santiago
But I could never quite explain
To you that I meant you no harm
I could never quite explain
To you that I meant you no harm
No harm
Chasin' you across the border
Chasin' you on the high seas
Chasin' you without you knowing
Chasin' you till I'd forgotten
But I could never quite explain
To you that I meant you no harm
I could never quite explain
To you that I meant you no harm
No harm
No harm
But fortunate for me
Good luck dances naked in broken windows
Fortunate for me
Good luck dances naked in broken windows
No harm
No harm
No harm
-------------------------------------------
THINGS DENIED IN YOUTH
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
Every year about this time she wakes up
'Cause she feels it's just too real for her
To ever let you go
Darlin', ain't there just too much to feel?
And darlin', ain't your heart just like a reel?
And you know it
'Cause the things denied in youth are really never satisfied
Every year it's high time that she wakes up
'Cause she knows that youth gets old so fast
It never lets you know
Darlin', ain't your youth just like a field?
And darlin', did you plant enough to yield?
Because you know that
The things denied in youth are really never satisfied
The things denied in youth are really never satisfied
The things denied in youth are really never satisfied
[coda]
Things denied
In youth are really never satisifed
Things denied
In youth are really never satisfied
--------------------------------------
DROWNING MAN
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
You don't save a drowning man
When he's reached the shore
'Cause when he's reached the shore
He don't need you anymore
dee da da da etc...
I must confess
I was the worst
I was best man at her divorce
She took my head
I took her heart
I had to wait to play the part
dee da da da etc.
You don't save a drowning man
When he's reached the shore
'Cause when he's reached the shore
He don't need you anymore
You don't save a drowning man
When he's reached the shore
'Cause when he's reached the shore
He don't need you anymore
-----------------------------------------------
UP IN THE PUZZLE TREE
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2007
Up in the Puzzle Tree
Can't complain! Can't complain!
Up in the Puzzle Tree
I'm insane! I'm insane!
Up in the Puzzle Tree
That's where I'm a-gonna be
Up in the Puzzle Tree
I'm insane!
_________________________________________________
MURDER ON HARMONY WAY
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2007
[released as 2-song single]
Born clean
Nobody's born clean
Born clean
Nobody's clean
There's a murder
On Harmony Way
Born clean
Nobody's born clean
Born clean
Nobody's clean
There's a murder
On Harmony Way
There's a murder
On Harmony Way
I got a dirty education
You told me
Everyone was innocent
You told me
No one was involved
in the murder
On Harmony Way
Big lawns
Poplar hedges
I moved here
'cause everyone said there's no murder
On Harmony Way
There's a murder
On Harmony Way
Time was
I could go strolling
Time was
I could go rolling
Without worrying
About Harmony Way
There's a murder
on Harmony Lane
I got dirty education
Born clean
Nobody's born clean
Born clean
Nobody's clean
There's a murder
On Harmony Way
There's a murder
on Harmony Way
Born clean
Born clean
Born clean
___________________________________________
WARM DOCKING AT THE SHRINE
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
In a shitty little sub-division outside of San Antone
There's a man with a mast and a boat and a cast
With the hope of rowing home
Rowing home
Rowing home
He was hit by the car of his dreams yet he lived to tell the story
His heart beats like a clock that you'd have to take back to the store
He sits back in his captain's chair and lights up a thing or two
He's got forty minds of his own but he only uses a few
Velvet Crush
Sailing on the Velvet Crush
Velvet Crush
Don't tell me I don't know the part of her that's best
Don't tell me I don't know the velvet from the rest
Velvet Crush
Sailing on the Velvet Crush
Velvet Crush
The sails are set but tides are pulling us back
You gave us weapons when we needed a map
Velvet Crush
Sailing on the Velvet Crush
Velvet Crush
It's a wonder I used to know her
She's a wonder I used to know
Walking the streets, wandering
Used to be a beacon for following
Get your hands off my front door
Get your hands off knocking more
Get your hands off my own song
Get your hands where they belong (they don't belong here)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah -- no, no, no
Warm dockin' at the shrine
Get your hands off my ten rights
Get your hands off, 'less you want a fight
Get your hands out of prayer mode
Get your hands bailing out this boat (it needs some bailing out)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah -- no, no, no
Warm dockin' at the shrine
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah -- no, no, no
Warm dockin' at the shrine
They're at the shore with wine and smiles
They're greeting us for a solid mile
Dancing at the port of Ocatel
Singing their songs and a-ringin' all their bells
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah -- no, no, no
Warm dockin' at the shrine
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah -- no, no, no
Warm dockin' at the shrine
Yeah yeah yeah -- no no no
Warm dockin' at the shrine
Yeah yeah yeah -- no no no
Warm dockin' at the shrine
Get your hands
Get your hands
______________________________________
WATERBOARDIN' U.S.A.
parody song based on the music and lyrics
of Chuck Berry/Brian Wilson's
"Surfin U.S.A"
If everybody had oceans
Like the U.S.A.
Then everybody be boardin'
Like the C.I.A.
You see them wearin' their raggies
With water drippin', too
And Bush is pushing them to do
Boardin' U.S.A.
You'll catch them boardin' in Riyahd [feet up/head down/breath in and out
Along the Saudi line [feet up/head down/breath in and out]
Khalid Sheik Mohammed
Squealed on Hambali
All over Manhattan and down Doheny Way
Everybody's gone boardin' -- boardin' U.S.A.
We all be planning out our torture
We're gonna take real soon
We're waxin' down our waterboards
We've got renditions to do
We'll all be gone for the summer
Where waterboarding's ok
Tell the judge we're boardin'
Boardin' U.S.A.
Everybody's water boardin' -- Boardin' U.S.A.
Feet up, head down, breath in and out
Feet up, head down, breath in and out
Feet up, head down, breath in and out
You'll catch them boardin' in Riyahd
Along the Saudi line
Everybody's water boardin' -- Boardin' U.S.A.
Everybody's water boardin' -- Boardin' U.S.A.
Everybody's water boardin' -- Boardin' U.S.A.
___________________________
THE BALLAD OF SENATOR CRAIG
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Walking to the bathroom in the afternoon
The smell inside just put me in a lovin' mood
I put my hand beneath the stall to find a toy
But I was really after that toilet boy
Toilet boy
The Senator is looking for a
Toilet boy
Someone to do
Toilet boy
The Senator is looking for a
Toilet boy
And boy you'll do
I'm Senator Craig and I just touched your leg
I'm in the U.S. Congress, ain't no bad egg
I'm at work I uphold morality
But in my downtime, I'm on my knees in pee
Toilet boy
The Senator is looking for a
Toilet boy
Someone to do
Toilet boy
The Senator is looking for a
Toilet boy
And boy you'll do
Love Field
Is called that for real
The stalls in D.C.
Might charge you a fee
But that's all right with me
Toilet boy
The Senator is looking for a
Toilet boy
Someone to do
Toilet boy
The Senator is looking for a
Toilet boy
And boy you'll do
Urinal, my dream
Urinal, my dream
Urinal, my dream
___________________________
I SHOT OSAMA BIN LADEN
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
I shot Osama bin Laden
He was throwing bombs on me
I shot Osama bin Laden
And every time I think about it, girl
I just wanna say
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
I caught a glimpse
Of him with al-Zawahiri and his other pimps
Fired away
I shot his beard straight off, it was an AeroShave (AeroShave)
I shot Osama bin Laden
He was throwing bombs on me
I shot Osama bin Laden
And every time I think about it, girl
I just wanna say
Osama bin Laden
Bombs on me
Osama bin Laden
Bombs on me
Ashes away
I threw his ashes down the toilet drain
Ate some sorbet
To celebrate what I did that day (that day)
I shot Osama bin Laden
He was throwing bombs on me
I shot Osama bin Laden
And every time I think about it, girl
I just wanna say
Osama bin Laden
Bombs on me
Osama bin Laden
Bombs on me
He was throwing bombs on me
He was throwing bombs on me
He was throwing bombs on me
____________________________
DRUNK DRIVING MUSIC
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2007
Drunk driving music
I know that I shouldn't do it
Drunk driving music
You know that it helps me through it
With my hair in the air
And the music blarin'
That drunk drivin' music
Drunk drivin' music
I'm sitting at home
I'm drinking alone
I wanna drive around somehwere
But I've had more than a few
She's calls on the phone
She starts comin' on
I tell her that I'd come on by-a
But I've had too much Stolichniya
I know I shouldn't do it
But it helps me get right through it
Hearing that
Drunk driving music
I know that I shouldn't do it
Drunk driving music
You know that it helps me through it
With my hair in the air
And the music blarin'
That drunk drivin' music
Drunk drivin' music
I see a cop pass
I think it's my ass
But then I see he's got a brew
And he's been drinkin', too
And as he flies on by
I hear it comin' from his side
Hearin' that
Drunk driving music
I know that I shouldn't do it
Drunk driving music
You know that it helps me through it
With my hair in the air
And the music blarin'
That drunk drivin' music
Drunk drivin' music
Drunk drivin' music
Drunk drivin' music
>July 22, 2007
Looks like "Rich and Dumb" will
definitely be the first single
from "Lime Green Celery," after all,
as it's already garnering airplay -- from
the always amazing KALX in Berkeley! --
even though the song has only been released
to a few people on audiocassete so far.
--------------------
>July 17, 2007
Now that a few people have
heard the new stuff, the song
people seem to be responding
to the most is "(The Overwhelming
Weight of) the Water Blue Sky" -- so
that may be the first single
(instead of "Rich and Dumb").
Meanwhile, as I mentioned at the
top of this website, my previous
album, "About Myself," is re-gaining
steam on the airwaves, so I'm taking
time out to release that album again
in its 43-song incarnation!
>july 7, 2007
The sequence and selection of
tracks has been finalized: 22
songs (all music and lyrics
by me).
In advance of the album's
release, I've been sending
around a 7-song EP on cassette
tape, which is essentially
the first 7 songs of the album,
though I've mailed it to only
a few people so far.
"Rich and Dumb"'ll probably be
the first single, though "You,
Walking Away," "This Skull"
and "Doncha Sleep" are being surprisingly
well-received by some who have
heard 'em.
>june 19, 2007
i've changed the album
title back to "Lime Green
Celery" -- it just fits,
somehow.
june 6, 2007...
OK, my new album is called "Make a Noise!" and will be
available on CD this summer! 20 original songs at least.
More to come.
(Incidentally, I recently heard a rumor that I
was actually the writer behind some of the songs of
my brother, Jay Iorio (who has a music career that
is completely independent of mine). Not true. Jay
writes his own songs, and I write
my own songs, and we don't collaborate
at all or share any material.)
---
june 4, 2007...
Well, my own next album is coming together much faster than
I thought it would and should be out on CD this summer. As
with my previous CD, I've written over 50 original songs but
this time I'm including only around 20 of 'em for a single
disc that'll be called either "Make a Noise!" or "Lime
Green Celery."
To be honest, I thought my previous album, "About Myself,"
self-released in '06, was going to be completely ignored
(after all, I had worked most of my life as a journalist, not
as a musician).
So what a surprise to see three of my songs hit the radio
airwaves in three countries last year, despite the
fact that my budget for the album was approximately zilch.
Anyway, I'm real excited about the new material, but trying to
narrow the songlist down to just 20 is a chore.
New lyrics will be posted soon.
* * *
may 2007...
Well, I haven't been sending out "About Myself" to anyone for the past month or so, and that's because I'm now hard at work rehearsing my new album, "Make a Noise!," which I'm really excited about.
PaulIorio
__________________________________________________________
EASTERN WESTERN
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
Forty miles outside of Cheyenne
Drinking grain and shooting cans
Make a wish and he's your man
Speaks a language you don't understand
Eastern western
I don't know which way I'm going
Eastern western
I don't know
From the dune, there're just buttes and cliffs
Prairie land where no one lives
Wasted mesa and a geiger hit
No one's lived here since Rosso split
Eastern western
I don't know which way I'm going
Eastern western
I don't know
Oh, the open plains were big enough for two
You took the sky and I laid claim to you
Eastern western
I don't know
Now I'm back in ol' Montana
44 magnum in my hand
Shot the bailiff, not a popular man
Everybody thinks I had it planned
Eastern western
I don't know which way I'm going
Eastern western
I don't know
Eastern western
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
___________________________
TEN YEARS AGO
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
Everytime I think about you, girl
I think about how far you went downhill
I think about a simple yellow pill
But girl, it's over now
If it ever was before
Ten years ago
I could've loved you, babe
I could've won you, babe
Ten years ago
I could've wowed you, babe
I could've saved you, babe
She was mugged on Ritchie Valens's star
Late one night on Hollywood Boulevard
Never was the same much after that
Started poppin' stuff and lashing at
All those who loved her most
If they ever did before
Ten years ago
I could've loved you, babe
I could've won you, babe
Ten years ago
I could've wowed you, babe
I could've saved you, babe
I think about you night and day
On the wing, on the way
I think about the way you went
And all the time we could've spent
Ten years ago
I could've loved you, babe
I could've won you, babe
Ten years ago
I cjould've wowed you, babe
I could've saved you, babe
I could've died in your place
I could've died in your place
I could've
I should've
_________________________________
THE WORLD BLEW UP
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
I'm glad I saw the world before the world blew up
The world blew up
The world blew up
I'm glad I saw the world before the world blew up
I've been all over this world
I'm glad I saw my lover 'fore she walked away
She walked away
One sad sad day
Yeah, I'm glad I saw my lover 'fore she walked away
She walked away from my world
I'm glad I saw the towers 'fore they tumbled down
They tumbled down
Right to the ground
I'm glad I saw the towers 'fore they tumbled down
They tumbled all over my world
I'm glad I saw the world before the world blew up
The world blew up
The world blew up
I'm glad I saw the world before the world blew up
I've been all over this world
(The world blew up)
I've been all over this world
(The world blew up, yeah, the world blew up)
--------------------------------------
FOREVER GOT AWAY LAST NIGHT
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
Forever got away last night
Forever up and left this morning
However we got in a fight
She didn't give me any warning
Took a subway
And a boxcar
Caught the last flight
Forever got away last night
Forever got away last night
Whatever you say about last night
Remember you're alone this morning
In the 'frigerator light
I bet you regret all your moaning
Packed a suitcase
And your memories
Left the heartache
Forever got away last night
Forever got away last night
Forever got away last night
___________________________
YOU KNOW IT SHOWS
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
Bottlecap road on a summer's day
In that cafe where the Nikolodeon plays
When the balalaika plays on Brogan Street
You get crazy with your poison, you get quick on your feet
If I could have just one more day
I'd find some way, girl, to make you stay
And if I could have just one more try
I'd make you stay, I'd show you why
Do you remember
Drinking down Tequila money
Everybody watch you sashay
And you know it shows
And you know it shows
Summer cottage loving fishing
Pinocle on Central Bay
And you know it shows
Right through her dress it shows
If I could have just one more day
I'd find some way, girl, to make you stay
And if I could have just one more try
I'd make you stay, I'd show you why
Do you remember
Drinking down Tequila money
Everybody watch you sashay
And you know it shows
And you know it shows
Summer cottage loving fishing
Pinocle on Central Bay
And you know it shows
And you know it shows
Right through her dress it shows
You know it shows
_________________________
YESTERDAY, I HEARD WE NEVER TOUCHED
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
I -- can't believe a word they say
You -- doesn't matter anyway
Yesterday, I heard we never touched
No matter what you say
They say it's just a crush
And after all those days
And nights
I heard we never touched
It's strange to hear we never touched
I -- still remember what we did
You -- spend your life denying it
Yesterday, I heard we never touched
You know that nothing stays
I heard I wasn't much
And after all those days
And nights
I heard we never touched
It's strange to hear we never touched
Sounds like you're describing someone else
Sounds like you don't even believe it yourself
I -- guess I imagined everything
You and all the love you used to bring
Yesterday, I heard we never touched
No matter what you say
They say it's just a crush
And after all those days
And nights, I heard we never touched
It's strange to hear we never ---
Yesterday, I heard we never touched
You know that nothing stays
I heard I wasn't much
And after all those days
And nights
I heard we never touched
It's strange to hear we never touched
Last night, I heard we never touched
________________________________
STREETLIGHT
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
Down at the end of the streetlight
I can see my lover clear
I can see my lover here
Like before
Down at the end of the streetlight
I can see my neighborhood
I can see you like I should
Like before
La la la la la la
Like before
Down at the end of the streetlight
I can see my lover clear
I can see my lover here
Like before
Down at the end of the streetlight
I can see my neighborhood
I can see you like I should
Like before
La la la la la la
La la la la la la
Like before
Down at the end of the streetlight
La la la
La la la
Like before
Down at the end of the streetlight
La La la
La la la
Like before
(variations on this to end)
__________________________
LIFE IS A WINNOWING
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
She left with the car, she left me dry
She didn't leave a reason why
"Two loves don't make a wrong," she wrote
She left me with this goodbye note
(It said)
Life is a winnowing, a winnowing away
Life is a winnowing away
What you don't lose they try to take away
Life is a winnowing away
I met her on the Internet
Shoulda known just what I'd get
Hooked her up with my best friend
That's when things began to end
Life is a winnowing, a winnowing away
Life is a winnowing away
What you don't lose they try to take away
Life is a winnowing away
I built a wall of sand
The tide came in
It washed away the wall
I watched; you went away
I tracked her down, I found my car
But haven't found our love so far
She was sleeping when I left note
You can guess just what I wrote
Life is a winnowing, a winnowing away
Life is a winnowing away
What you don't lose they try to take away
Life is a winnowing away
Winnowing, a winnowing, a winnowing away
Winnowing, a winnowing, a winnowing away
Winnowing, a winnowing, a winnowing away
________________________
WORST BEST THING
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
I once was lost but now I'm bound
I couldn't find my around
I couldn't find my around
I once was lost but now I'm bound
You're the worst best thing to happen to me
The worst best thing for me
The worst best thing to happen to me
The worst best thing for me
I used to have a lot friends
But all those friends they had to end
They had to end because my friends
Were not my friends when we began
You're the worst best thing to happen to me
The worst best thing for me
The worst best thing to happen to me
The worst best thing for me
I think about my single years
And I was single there for years
They made me laugh, they made me fear
But now they're gone because you're here
_______________________
DOCTOR SAYS SHE'S COMING HOME TONIGHT
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
If you turn from a love like her
If you turn back and don't say a word
I just say, ohhh
If you turn on a love like her
If you turn back on all that you were
I just say, ohhhh
Doctor says she's gonna come home tonight
Doctor says she's gonna be alright
And I've been waiting forty days and forty nights
Hoping you're ok and you're alright
Doctor says she's gonna come home to stay
Doctor says she's getting stronger everyday
And I've been hoping it would turn out just this way
We'll pick her up later on today
Doctor says she's gonna come home tonight
Doctor says she's gonna be alright
And I say, ohhh
Doctor says she's gonna come home to stay
Doctor says she's gonna be ok
And I say, ohhh
Doctor says she's gonna come home tonight
And she's home
____________________________
FORTY POUNDS OF PAIN
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
[played tentatively at first]
You've got to live it like you die it, girl
Or else it won't be right (right)
'Cause if you die it like you live it
You'll procrastinate all night
And after hours at the club and bar, one of those star-crossed nights
You told me everything would turn out just the way it still might
You've got to live or else you'll die just like you almost did that night
'Cause nothing's saving you except your cerebellum in a dizzy fight
I've got forty pounds of pain
I've got forty pounds of pain
Forty pounds of pain
I've got forty pounds of pain
The El Camino was sailing down the Four in the brackish light
Passing toll booths on the way to Caledonia on a midnight flight
Couldn't stop you, no one could, and no wanted to, except your ex-life
You told me everything would turn out just the way it still might not
I shoulda told you what I told you after waiting ten years time
I've got forty pounds of pain
I've got forty pounds of pain
Back on planet earth the highway's disappearing like money might
And in the morning do you think about returning but it don't seem right
You wanna look across the desert and say, "That's worth my whole
damned life"
But then you have a cup of coffee and a soda and say, "Not quite" (quite)
Forty pounds of pain
I've got forty pounds of pain
Forty pounds of pain
I've got forty pounds of pain
_______________________________
YOU BRING THE LOVE
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
You bring the love and I'll bring the moment
You bring the rain and I'll bring the storm
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba baaaaa
I've got the love and you've got the want
You've got the want but I betcha don't
You say you won't but I say you might
I say come over here for a sight or two
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba (etc.)
I got the notion and you got the motion
We've got the power to cause some commotion
I've got the love and you got the need
You can come over and have some weed
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba (etc.)
You've got the time but I've got the moment
Here comes the wine and it's almost goin'
You've got the bat and I've got the balls
We're gonna break right over this wall
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba (etc.)
__________________________
THE 405
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
Talking on the cellphone
Driving out to Westwood
Talking with my baby
Who called me on the cellphone
She said, "Aint it a surprise to see you on 405"
Well, I hit and ran down hope on the 405
I hit and ran down hope on the 405
Hit by a head-on love
Hit by a head-on love my friend
Hit by a head-on love
You gotta look around, I said, "Get on down,
Here she comes on the 405, my friend"
You gotta shake it loose, you gotta double deuce
I got hit by a head on love, my friend
Hit by a head-on love
Going out to Westwood
Trouble in the next car
She couldn't take her eyes off
What she saw in my car
She said, "Aint it a surprise
To see you on the 405"
Well, I hit and ran down hope
On the 405 [again]
Hit by a head on love
Hit by a head on love my friend again
_____________________________
COMPLICATED FLOWER
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
I've been down with the brokenhearted
And she sounds like a mockingbird
I've been down with the brokenhearted
And she sounds like a
She's a complicated flower
She's a complicated flower
I've been the losers, too
All my life I've been living without you
She's a complicated flower
She's a complicated flower
And I wanna attend to you
All my life I've been dying for all you do
She's a complicated flower
She's a complicated flower
I've down with the broken hearted
And she sounds like a mockingbird
I've been down with the brokenhearted
And she sounds like a --
She's a complicated flower
She's a complicated flower
And I wanna go mend with you
All my life I've been dying for all you do
_____________________________________________________________
my former workplace neighborhood, which no longer exists
MEMORY LANE (IS A TWO-WAY STREET)
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
When I was a caterpillar, girl
You know, I never could fly, I never could fly
Now I'm a butterfly and I fly
I've got that crawling thing all beat
Memory Lane is a two-way street
Memory Lane's not a thruway street
Well, you've got some things you talk about
I remember them differently
Other things you can't recall
Well, I recall them vividly
Memory Lane is a two-way street
Memory Lane's not a thruway street
Where is Memory Lane, dear?
Where is Memory Lane
You take left at Forget Me Not,
You take a right at I Forgot
Where is Memory Lane, dear?
I think I've gone down that road too long
Where is Memory Lane, dear?
I think I've gone down that road too long
Where is Memory Lane, dear?
Where is Memory Lane, dear?
You take a left where the dead have lain
You shake your fist at who's to blame
Where is Memory Lane, dear?
Where is Memory Lane?
-------------------------------------------------------
I GET YOU, BABE
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
When you're alone
It follows you home
The melody drifts
And then it returns
Climbing the hills and into the clouds
I said what I'd never said aloud
Everyone's got you but no one quite gets you
But I get you, babe
I get you, babe
When you come home
You're right on the phone
To all your old friends
You're mostly unknown
Climbing the hills in a total eclipse
You'd never heard these words from my lips
Everyone's got you but no one quite gets you
But I get you, babe
I get you, babe
For the last time I just want you to see
What you gave up when you gave up on me
Everyone's got you but no one quite gets you
But I get you, babe
I get you, babe
I get you, babe
Everyone's got you but no one quite gets you
But I get you, babe
I get you, babe
I get you, babe
______________________________________
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
The bayonet sky is raining bayonets
It's raining apples and oranges and the alphabet
It's raining bad advice and that's the best you're gonna get
It's the bayonet sky
You go to work and they send you off to school
But the teacher's not so bright, and at the risk of being cruel
They're gonna put you in your place, they're gonna sit you on a stool
It's the bayonet sky
Nobody's gonna give you a break
Nobody's gonna give you a break
Unless your daddy's rich and your uncle owns
The place of work and where you're working from
Okay?
It's not okay
You join the army and you want the front lines
But they put you in the barracks, and at the risk of being blind
Then they tell you not to honor all the things you left behind
It's the bayonet sky
You get a job and you've got your big ideas
And they say they're gonna raise you but you know it's just a tease
But they send your job to Delhi while you're busy on your knees
It's the bayonet sky
Nobody's gonna give you a break [etc.]
Bayonet sky is raining bayonets
It's raining flaming birds and a burning jet
It's raining memories you're gonna never forget
It's the bayonet sky
The bayonet sky
-------------------------------------------------
COME ON LIKE A SONG
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
Only shuttered windows
Chilling Broadway rain
Feels like another winter
Starting again in May
Remember how you told me that to lose somebody wins
And ending's just the way we begin again
But if you leave today, I missed the early warning signs
Girl, you know the way
The door aint hard to find
But don't you come on like a song
Don't you come on like a song
Only shattered windows
Bad November storm
Thought I had you figured
Though you had be warned
We parked the car and walked awhile
And watched the frozen trees
You said, "Poverty's what happens
When you live so honestly"
But if you leave today
I missed the early warning signs
Girl, you know the way
The door aint hard to find
But don't you come on like a song
Don't you come on like a song
I can't even miss you if you won't walk out that door
The past is seeping through the cracks
But the light won't last, the door won't stop the noise
But don't you come on like a song
Don't you come on like a song
-----------------------------------
DO-WHATCHA-WANNA-CAN-DO
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
How you change a river when the river won't turn?
How you change a fire when the fire won't burn?
I know it's up to you
And I'll do whatcha-wanna-can-do
Yes, I'll do whatcha-wanna-can-do
I'll do-whatcha-wanna-can-do
I want you
Wah wah what you want what you wanna do anyway
Wah wah what you want what you wanna do anyway
How you change a tire with a brokedown jack?
How you train a monkey when he's on your back?
I know it's up to you
I know that he's hurting you everywhere
Wah wah what you want what you wanna do anyway
Wah Wah what you want what you wanna do anyway
How you change a twenty when you've got a ten?
How you change a lover when she's just a friend?
I know it's up to you
And I'll do whatcha-wanna-can-do
Yes, I'll do whatcha-wanna-can-do
I'll do-whatcha-wanna-can-do
I want you
Wah wah whatcha want what you wanna do anyway
Wah wah wahtcha want what you wanna do anyway
---------------------------------------------------
HELLO, BAD EXPLANATION
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2004
Hello, bad explanation
I think I've met you before
Once at the bottom of a bottle of whiskey
Another time on the floor
Hello, bad explanation
I'm sure I'll see you again
You've been with me so long
Sometimes you're my only friend
You come around
I see you when I've been cheating
You come around
I see you when I'm in court
You come around
Whenever I say
Hello, bad explanation
I think I've met you before
Once at the bottom of a bottle of whiskey
Another time on the floor
You come around
I see you when it's the game point
You come around
I see when you when I'm in love
You come around
Whenever I say
Hello bad explanation
I'm sure I'll see you again
You've been with me so long
Sometimes you're my only friend
Hello, bad explanation
Hello, bad explanation
-------------------------------------------------
SPLIT THE GRAY
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
Split the gray
Split the gray
Split the gray
With the blue
Divide it all by red
I don't think any gray day's permanent
I don't think blue skies are the point of it
We can't see all the light that's 'round our head
There aint no color without light and color's heaven sent
Split the gray
Split the gray
Split the gray
With the blue
Divide it all by red
I've been out looking for the brightest blue
I caught a glimpse but it was only you
Didn't know that gray was blue until this day
All those things you put away are put away to stay
Split the gray
Split the gray
Split the gray
With the blue
Divide it all by red
(repeat)
NOT THE REAL THING
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
copyright 2005
I'm loving your memory these days
I'm loving all the pictures that I've saved
But not the real thing, baby
But not the real thing
But not the real thing, baby
But not the real thing
I never like the present, it's too tense
I'd like to put the past behind a fence
Not the real thing, baby
Anything but the real thing
Not the real thing, baby
Anything but the real thing
Whatever the future brings, it brings along the past
I like the future but they say it doesn't last
I'm loving all the memories we've changed
I'm loving that the pictures don't complain
Not the real thing, baby
Anything but the real thing
Not the real thing, baby
Anything but the real thing
-----------------------------------------------
GUMSHOE TONIGHT
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
Gumshoe tonight
Gumshoe tonight
I was tracking Castro when he wasn't so big
Che Guevara told me where he's really been hid
I was told that Hoffa was thrown off a boat
I've always known the person who is really Deep Throat
So put me in a trenchcoat, I'm a gumshoe tonight
I know all the things that people try hard to hide
Gimme a trenchcoat and a bottle of booze
I can tell you things you don't know about you
Gumshoe tonight
Gumshoe tonight
Now don't get me wrong, I'm no conspiracy buff
I don't think that Oswald worked with anyone else
I could tell you secrets but I've sworn not to tell
The people out in Langley would give me such hell
So put me in a trenchcoat, I'm a gumshoe tonight
I know all the things that people try hard to hide
Gimme a trenchcoat and a bottle of booze
I can tell you things you don't know about you
Gumshoe tonight
Gumshoe tonight
Gumshoe tonight
--------------------------------------------------------
WRONG DRESS TONIGHT
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
Baby, you're wearing the wrong dress tonight
Baby, you're wearing the wrong dress tonight
Wrong dress, wrong dress
Baby, it's the wrong dress tonight
Wrong dress, wrong dress
Baby, it's the wrong dress tonight
Baby, you're wearing the wrong dress tonight
Baby, you're wearing the wrong dress tonight
Wrong dress, wrong dress
Baby, it's the wrong dress tonight
Wrong dress, wrong dress
Baby, it's the wrong dress tonight
-------------------------------------------------------
WAIT FOR GIRLS
Music and Lyrics by Paul us
copyright 2005
In a world where you've gotta wait for girls
In a world where you've gotta wait for girls
(And they're well worth waiting for)
Wait for girls
As they put on their Air and they put on their pearls
Wait for girls
Wait for girls
In a world where you've got to wait for girls
In a world where you've got to wait for girls
Sometimes you wait nine months time
She's on your mind all the time
You've got to wait for girls
Wait for girls
As they put on their airs and they put on their boys
Wait for girls
Wait for girls
Wait for girls
Wait for --
In a world where you've gotta wait for girls
In a world where you've gotta wait for girls
Sometimes you wait nine months time
She's on your mind all the time
-----------------------------------------------
----------
OLD FASHIONED MAFIA TOWN
Music and Lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2005
Love that graft
Put 'im on staff
Take that bribe
Join our side
Wearin' that false carin' like a crown
It's just an old-fashioned mafia town
Hates the pill
Thou shalt not kill
Friday aggression
Sunday confession
It's omerta so don't no one make a sound
It's just an old-fashioned mafia town
He thinks "Sopranos" is the way you make a call
He keeps his powder clean
'Cause you can't fight city hall
Don't curse in front of the ladies
Smoke cigars and sit in the shadie
It's hard work carrying that booday
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Throw it in the bay
Look the other way
Drive a Towncar
Pass the state bar
(with a little help)
chorus
-------------------------------------------------
LOOSE NOTES ABOUT SOME OF THE SONGS ON
"75 SONGS (PART 2)" AND "75 SONGS (PART 3)."
(please excuse the numbering!)
1. MEMORY LANE (IS A TWO-WAY STREET)
Already being played on alternative radio in Germany, "Memory Lane" is a two-part pop song I wrote in 2002 and 2003. The last half came to me during a late-night visit to the World Trade Center site in late 2003, when I saw for the first time the devastation of the area first-hand. Before moving to California, I had worked in the twin towers and across the street from them at One Liberty Plaza for years, so it was, for a time, my workplace neighborhood, where I toiled and played and pulled all-nighters and dated girlfriends, etc. And I was truly horrified to see it so utterly destroyed. As I looked at the ruined area, I began thinking "where is Memory Lane?" and started humming a melody that became the line "You take a left where the dead have lain/You shake your fist at who's to blame." Sort of like "Rubber Soul" meets Doc Watson meets Glenn Tilbrook meets Radiohead.
2. DOCTOR SAYS SHE'S GONNA COME HOME TONIGHT
I wrote this in the late Nineties and was going to leave this off the album, but producer William Epps voted to keep it on the album -- and I think William was proved right about leaving this one one the CD. Yeah, it's a bit of a tear-jerker (I don't think William liked my non-verbal "woh-woh"s initially), but I like how it captures the hopeful feeling of anticipating the release of a loved one from the hospital after a long period of recovery. "We'll pick her up later on today..." goes the lyric. A bit James Taylorish. Hmm. Maybe we should've left it off the CD after all!
3. YOU BRING THE LOVE
A guilty pleasure. A sort of it's-a-Friday-night-come-on-over tune, like a Roger Miller single of the mid-1960s, or a Buffett song of the Seventies. I've always thought it was too dorky to record, though I've always enjoyed playing it. When I brought it to the studio, I was all ready to discard it until William (again!) insisted I record it, and he was (again) right; it recently was added to playlists on a German radio station.
4. I GET YOU, BABE
This one reminds me of hiking the hills near my apartment in Berkeley, and I wrote it there in 2003. The title was half a play on the Sonny and Cher song and half thinking about a former girlfriend who nobody seemed to really understand.
7. TEN YEARS AGO
I wrote this one on the way back from a Kate Winslet movie on Fairfax Ave. in Los Angeles in 1998. It was around 11pm, the weather was crisp, and I was taking a 45-minute walk back to my apartment near La Brea Ave. The chorus began churning in me, along with the hook "If they ever did before," and I had to keep it going in my head all the way home because I didn't have a tape recorder on me. When I got home, near midnight, it came tumbling out, bridge and all. By 1AM, it was completely written, and I remember playing it over and over again into the early hours.
9. LIFE IS A WINNOWING
I wrote it in one fell swoop one night in 1998 in L.A. and liked the way the word "winnowing" became so elastic in the chorus. (And by the way, the lyric "I watched; you went away" is often mistaken for "I watched you went away" -- though the latter fits the country voice I was aiming for.)
that and also wrote a new middle eight. But I'm still not quite sure whether I prefer this pared down version over the suite.
12. EASTERN WESTERN
One of the key songs on the album, but the version here is sloppy (two wrong chords). Still, I like its atmosphere and its central guitar riff and that vocal hook ("I don't knowww!!").
13. YOU KNOW IT SHOWS
I wrote this in the Fall of 1980 in my apartment in Manhattan, and it's one of the best songs I wrote between 1973 and 1982 (along with "Do-Whatcha-Wanna-Can-Do" and "Get Tied").
16. COMPLICATED FLOWER
In 2003, I saw a flower on Russell Street in Berkeley that was both fascinating and contrived-looking. It looked like it had been designed by committee but it was a real flower, a complicated flower. Some see a sly hidden meaning. I like the way the melody of the verse varies each time out.
18. DO-WHATCHA-WANNA-CAN-DO
The earliest song on this album, written in Manhattan in 1979 when I was 21. Inspired a bit by Steve Forbert's "Alive on Arrival." I think it would have airplay potential if the last 20 seconds of "wha wha whatcha wants" had been edited out or faded out. Still a fun bit of pop.
19. SPLIT THE GRAY
A lyric about color. Gray. Blue. Red. Sort of Stevie Wonderish. "There is no color without light..." "I went out looking for the brightest blue..."
23. WRONG DRESS TONIGHT
More of a fragment than a song. The only lyric in the world that says, "Baby, you're wearing the wrong dress tonight."
25. FORTY POUNDS OF PAIN
To me, this one feels a bit like a cross-country trip. In retrospect, I probably should've called it "Forty Tons of Pain" but I liked the sound of "Forty Pounds" better. Written in 1995 and 2003.
26. STREETLIGHT
Every time I play this, it's almost like an aerobic work-out. And it changes with each performance.
29. HELLO, BAD EXPLANATION
Alt-country/folk that starts low and ends high.
31. BAYONET SKY
Whoishly angry rock, on acoustic guitar. I wrote this in L.A. in '98.
32. WORST BEST THING
A married man looks back at his single days. (Not from experience; never been married, though
33. THE 405
A guy runs into his girlfriend on the 405 freeway at an inopportune moment. Also written in L.A. in '98.
34. COME ON LIKE A SONG
I wrote this in 1993 in Hoboken and still enjoy playing it. "We parked the car and walked awhile and watched the frozen trees/You said, 'poverty's what happens when you live so honestly.'"
35. FOREVER GOT AWAY LAST NIGHT
In the style of R.E.M. circa "Document."
36. GUMSHOE TONIGHT
A light cloak-and-dagger rocker.
39. WAIT FOR GIRLS
Pop-rock. Written in L.A. in 2000.
40. OLD-FASHIONED MAFIA TOWN
I wrote this in N.J. in 1995 as a sort of humorous tune about a subject nobody writes songs about, and it's amazing how many people thing it's about their own hometown! Updated it in 2005.
41. YESTERDAY, I HEARD WE NEVER TOUCHED
Pop ballad, L.A., late-1990s. "I Don't Believe You"-esque.
42. NOT THE REAL THING
I wrote this at a time when it seemed that performers were singing so many songs -- some of them excellent -- about "the real thing" or "the real one" or "keepin' it real" that the "real" concept had become a bit of a cliche in pop music. So I went in the other direction and penned a tune about a guy who enjoyed photos and memories of people and places more than the actual people and places.
43. THE WORLD BLEW UP
Nice rhythm and concept. Written in Berkeley in 2005.
___________________________________________________________________________________
5. "Up in the Puzzle Tree" -- quirky pop song.
10. "You Know It Shows" -- I wrote this many years ago and still play it a lot.
11. "Doctor Says She's Gonna Come Home Tonight" -- a sort of tear-jerker.
13. "Ten Years Ago" -- A lot of people seem to like this one. I've just posted a new version recorded this morning (2/26/08).
14. "This Skull" -- based on the gravediggers's part of "King Lear."
15. "If I Thought 'bout Gettin' Around" -- roots pop.
16. "The Overwhelming Weight of the Water Blue Sky" -- I like the way it takes a whole different direction around two minutes in.
17. "Forty Pounds of Pain" -- starts with a whisper, ends with a roar.
18. "You Bring the Love" -- has already had some airplay in Norway and Germany.
20. "Life is a Winnowing" -- alt-folk country.
21. "Complicated Flower" -- everyone seems to like this one.
22. "The Ballad of Senator Craig" -- a song about the aroma of toilets and how that puts the Senator in a lovin' mood.
23. "Warm Docking At the Shrine" -- in '98, I wrote the title phrase in an article for a newspaper and knew it implied a terific song; in the fall of 2007, I wrote this song, a multi-part suite (I also wrote a very different "Warm Docking" in '98). Not my best song, but it has its parts. (By the way, the newspaper article I wrote was about an event at the Shrine Auditorium in L.A., hence the title; my song is about something else altogether.)
24. "I Shot Osama bin Laden" -- surprisingly upbeat and catchy pop for such a theme.
27. "Do-Whatcha-Wanna-Can-Do" -- Pure pop. And, yes, that's me on drums (and on guitar and vocals). I wrote this in the early 1980s, but didn't record it until 2004 (on cassette) and 2005 (on CD). The only time the producer of my first album, Bill Epps, ever suggested a line for any of my songs was when he suggested I change the last line of this song to "How you change a rubber when she's just a friend" (my lyric was and is "How you change a lover when she's just a friend"). Needless to say, I declined Bill's suggestion! I recorded this version at my studio (2/12/08).
29. "Memory Lane (Is a Two-Way Street)" -- I wrote this after seeing the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and wondering, as I walked around the World Trade Center area, where I had worked for years, where memory lane had gone.
30. "Come on Like a Song" -- I wrote this in the early Nineties, released it on cassette tape in '98, released it for the first time on CD in '06 and am just now putting out the MP3 version!
31. "Split the Gray" -- I like this one. The lyrics are simply a description of an abstract painting: "split the gray with the blue, divide it all by red."
33. "Eastern Western" -- I wrote it years ago but didn't record it until 2004 (on cassette tape) and then again in 2005 (on CD). I must say it felt like a triumphant moment when I finished the final take at Paramount Studios in L.A. in '05; I walked out of the iso booth after I'd finished recording it and everyone was all smiles and my producer William was playing my guitar riff on his keyboards even though the session was already over (his keyboards were not on the recording). I distinctly remember wondering why William was playing my guitar riff on the keyboards even though the session was over (I think he had his camera running and was photographing himself at the keyboards). Unfortunately, the final take had a couple glaring tech errors, making it unusable. To be honest, I've pretty much demoted most of the '05 masters of the Paramount sessions to rehearsal tapes, due to tech errors. I've re-recorded almost all of those songs and recorded this version of "Eastern Western" this morning in Berkeley (2/17/08).
36. "Hello, Bad Explanation" -- sort of Willie Nelsonish. starts low, ends high.
38. "Rich and Dumb" -- I wrote this in 2007. "You've gotta work work work for the rich and dumb."
39. "Somebody's Lover" -- I like the melody of this one a lot.
40. "Just Tell Her You Love Her" -- "if you really want to get rid of her," goes the lyric.
42. "Streetlight" -- If performed well, it can get aerobic. This version was recorded this morning (2/25).
47. "Bayonet Sky" -- Whosihly angry tune!
48. "Old Fashioned Mafia Town" -- Finally, a version that captures exactly the way I originally wrote it (my producer mistakenly left out the song fragment that opens the song in the version he produced in '05). When I first performed this for my friend Bill Epps, at my apartment in early '05, he laughed at the line "with a little help" and otherwise enjoyed it, so I knew it might connect with some listeners. This is the version I performed for him. (I originally had a brief voice-over bit at the end, which I deleted in '05, and then put back in in '08, and then took out again a couple days ago.)
49. "I Get You, Babe" -- I wrote this one after a vigorous hike in the nearby east bay hills and mountains, and the lyric came out whole (I pictured the melody as drifting smoke, which is how I came up with the first verse). Title a play on the Sonny and Cher tune.
51. "The Holy Country Song" -- very irreverent alt-country;
inspired by "The Vatican Rag."
52. "Make a Noise!" -- folk rap.
53. "Chasin' You" -- acoustica about obsessive love. The producer of my first album disliked this one, but I've enjoyed playing it for decades. (By the way, throughout pop history, there have been a lot of hits with titles like "Missin' You" (John Waite), "Lovin' You" (Minnie Ripperton), "Leavin' You" (both Bad Company and Stevie Ray Vaughan), etc., but I don't think there's ever been a "Chasin' You" yet!)
54. "Dontcha Sleep" -- the chorus came to me fully formed just
as I woke up from a dream one morning.
55. "The Things Denied in Youth" -- "are really never satisfied,"
goes the lyric.
56. "Last Night's Moon" -- CCRish roots pop. I recorded and posted a brand new version on 3/16/08.
57. "You, Walking Away" -- pure pop.
58. "Waterboardin' USA" -- based on Chuck Berry/Brian Wilson's
"Surfin' USA."
59. "Murder on Harmony Way" -- this one starts quiet but picks up nice velocity.
60. "Chasing a Rainbow" -- I just wrote and recorded this one several hours ago; a somewhat slight song. Not quite satisfied with my vocal, so I might not release it on CD until I fix it. (3/14/08)
62. "King Penis of Planet Zero" -- I wrote this song yesterday and recorded it earlier today (3/15/08). It's futuristic campy folk-rock with sci-fi sound effects and is lots of fun. (I'll be replacing the drum track in the next couple days.) Lyrics posted below. (As usual, I produced, performed and wrote it!)
63. "I Don't Know If I Know You No More" -- This song is less than an hour old, and I did a quick recording of it so everyone can enjoy it. (3/22/08)
[all music and lyrics by Paul Iorio, except "Waterboardin' USA," which
is based on Chuck Berry/Brian Wilson's "Surfin' USA."]
[photo by Paul Iorio]
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