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Loners, Stoners and Prison Brides

by Penelope Houston

/
1.
Somebody tell somebody else lies Like an avalanche they're going to make you cry Everybody knows when you've been wrong I remember our love was born hanging laundry in a lightening storm Hid in the cellar as long as we could Well, the corn ran out and the water ran out and we had to come out when the honey ran out Out of the forest and into the woods Sweetheart, they're going to talk about us Well, I say live and let die Sweetheart, they're going to talk about us Well, I say live and let die Will my lucky star shine down tonight on a sleeping town in a northern light Shut my eyes, I can see their words fall down I lay my head on a pillow of stone wrap myself in a sinners robe Sticks and stones, I'm going to build myself a home With their sticks and stones I'm going to build my home Sweetheart, they're going to talk about us Well, I say live and let die Sweetheart, they're going to talk about us Well, I say live and let die Somebody tell somebody else lies Like an avalanche they're going to make you cry Everybody knows when you've been wrong Will my lucky star shine down tonight on a sleeping town in a northern light Shut my eyes, I can see their words fall down And their sticks and stones are going to build my home With their sticks and stones I'm going to build myself a home Sweetheart, they're going to talk about us Well, I say live and let die Sweetheart, they're going to talk about us Well, I say live and let die
2.
3.
She's a pale green girl sometime she's going to fly away She's a pale green girl but she might come back any day And you cant look her in the eye she knows a few too many things You never look her in the eye but wait 'til night, and then she sings She going to burn down someone's house you know your eyes are going to sting She going to burn down someone's house just to dry her wings She's a pale green girl sometime she's going to float away She's a pale green girl but she might come back any day She going to burn down someone's house you know your eyes are going to sting she going to burn down someone's house just to dry her wings She's a pale green girl sometime she's going to fly away She's a pale green girl but she might come back any day She knows the way you pace the floor she knows the way you fucked her dry She knows you're tapping on her door you never heard a baby cry She going to burn down someone's house you know your eyes are going to sting she going to burn down someone's house just to dry her wings
4.
Out past Wardenshill, past Guy's Run Armory where you can shoot guns all the live long day there's a spot where Tiger Woods and his love Happy Friday would hide from the orderlies sneaking away They would roll on the grass in the bosom of ecstasy trample the green, they would swallow the tees They showed no discretion nor thought for their families freed by a passion, they did as they pleased. His body was perfect His body was perfect the strong and the terrible, young Tiger Woods And Happy was happiest with eyes clamped shut to keep out the coldness of voices with pills to keep out the sight of heads stapled tight and smiles that said, "We know you can do it" to pry her eyes open with blinding sunlight to steal her away from her sentient lover Whose body was perfect Whose body was perfect the strong and the terrible, young Tiger Woods If Happy don't move, we would shout then and shake her If Happy won't eat, we would turn up her tube We begged and we pleaded, we teased and cajoled her But Happy had no plans to ever be moved from the place deep inside where she met with her future She spent all her time in the arms of her lover Whose body was perfect Whose body was perfect the strong and the terrible, young Tiger Woods I was fine, I was happy, she thought once or twice My husband, my grandkids, yes, all that was nice, before they had taken my arms and legs from me stolen so quickly and now they all beg me to walk and to lift things; a fork to my mouth. But my mouth's full of Tiger, a passion for Tiger Whose body was perfect Whose body was perfect the strong and the terrible, young Tiger Woods...
5.
Now my heart is a small black hard shrivelled rotten little walnut Should I crack it and chop it and roll it with nougat into a nut log? Would you eat it? Forgiveness, that's my deficiency Kindness, sounds pretty good to me Frustration, you wrote the recipe Resentment, the special today All my life I've been waiting to break out of the kitchen into the ether So take my hand pull me up, wake me up out of this fever, into the dreamer Forgiveness, that's my deficiency Kindness, sounds pretty good to me Frustration, you wrote the recipe Resentment, the special today Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby You sure can dish it up Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby You sure can dish it up Put it on the table, I'm hungry What's for lunch? Now my heart is a small black hard shrivelled rotten little walnut Should I crack it and chop it and roll it with nougat into a nut log? Would you eat it? Forgiveness, that's my deficiency Kindness, sounds pretty good to me Frustration, you wrote the recipe Resentment, the special today Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby You sure can dish it up Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby You sure can dish it up Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby You sure can dish it up Put it on the table, I'm hungry What's for lunch? Put it on the table I'm hungry, What's for lunch?
6.
As I fly away from you my rocketship aims at the moon My ears are popping and my head's lost in a swoon I'm so far above you I look down at what I missed I promised I would love you but, it lasted as long as a kiss Soon they'll come round with refreshments for all and you'll be obscured by a cloud I'm so far above you but I'm never going to fall like I did when you whispered out loud, "You're my angel, light and pure" Baby want a whole lot more. Baby want a whole lot more. Seat me by a window now I'll take an empty row No stranger there to beg me to tell everything I know beneath me is a crazy quilt of fields and plans and dreams I can barely see your passion in the flames along the seams Soon they'll come round with refreshments for all and you'll be exposed by a cloud I'm so far above... You've shrunk down to a tiny speck right before my eyes just a dozen miles between us my giddiness on the rise I'm so far above you I look down at what I missed I promised I would love you but it lasted as long as a kiss Soon they'll come round ...
7.
8.
lyrics by Penelope Houston / music by P. Houston and P. Johnson everybody's little dream tell me who to be I can make you happy everybody's little dream I hear them calling my name but I swear I'm not the same girl everybody's little dream keep trying and trying but my pockets aren't lined with everybody's little dream I only wanted to bring you my best and it's not for lack of trying maybe my best is hidden away awaiting it's precious time everybody's little dream dress me up in white the sun is always shining everybody's little dream there must be somewhere to go where nobody will know me everybody's little dream keep trying and trying but my pockets aren't lined with everybody's little dream and like the tracks of my tears I'm following the path of least resistance when you demanded to see my hands you took away my second chance and I'll never and I'll never and I'll never stand up to everybody's little dream
9.
I won't talk about it any more I won't talk about it any more I know you can bring me love but I know your love's not enough you spilled it and you left it on the floor I won't care about you any more never have to doubt you anymore even as I stand behind you all the sunlight I deprive you in your weakness do you love me more? if that's the sun I'm trading mine in a simple lie you promised to bring me the moon it's all the same I'm waiting for my new day I won't talk about it any more I won't have to shout it any more all the princes and their fathers rush away like dirty waters through the drainpipes you can hear them roar and all at once the sun is shining and my tears are pearls a-rolling away like a jewel I turn and greet the new day all at once the sun is shining and my tears are pearls a-rolling away like a jewel I turn and greet the new day
10.
A man stood by the slaughteryard his eyes were blue and cold he watched his fortune all lined up on trays of steel and gold A smiling wire fence like teeth point up to heaven's door The yard was red with blood that stained and washed the killing floor washed the killing floor washed the killing floor and gold was falling down before his eyes gold was all he saw numbers filled his head and burned his mind and gold was falling down he could not lift his lips and call he could not lift his lips and drink the sky could not lift his lips and drink the sky Three pairs of eyes were blinking on the face of children grown counting countless sheep he calls his own, he calls his own they stunk even in icey silver rooms they stunk of death a little piece of meat was on his breath, (lay down he said) upon the killing floor upon the killing floor he said, lay down upon the floor upon the killing floor and gold was falling down before his eyes... The yard was bloody red and though he never stepped inside it stuck upon his shoes, his clothes his fingernails, his hide His ears filled with a hum of commerce and of gasping breath "surrender unto me" was all he said (was all he said) "surrender unto me" was all he said upon the killing floor upon the killing floor he said, lay down upon the floor upon the killing floor and gold was falling down before his eyes...

about

Return to Sender (a side project from Normal Records in Germany) was a mail-order-only label that printed limited numbers of each CDs packaged in nicely designed digipaks. They released 3 collections of obscure material from me. All of them are out-of-print and getting harder and harder to find. Loners is RTS number 34.

10 tracks from 1999 + 2000 recorded absolutely live featuring:

credits

released June 1, 2000

Penelope Houston: vocals, melodica & autoharp.
Michael Papenberg: guitar.
Katherine Chase: bass, guitar & backing vocals.
Dawn Richardson: drums & samples (track 1 + 4).
Chuck Prophet: guitar (track 9 + 10).
Stephanie Finch: keyboards (track 9 + 10).
Steve Bowman: drums (track 9 + 10).

Tracks 1 & 4 recorded live at KPFA Radio, Berkeley, CA June 1999 by Tony Ferro.
Tracks 2, 3 & 8 recorded live at KPFA Radio Feb 2000 by Tony Ferro.
Track 5 – 7 recorded live at Noe Valley Ministry, SF, CA June 2000.
Tracks 9 & 10 recorded live at Slim’s, SF, CA Nov 1998 by Michael Rodriguez.
Mastered at the Wally Sound, Oakland CA.
Photo by George Westcott.

Tracks 3,5 and 9 written by P.Houston, track 1 by Houston/ Nemzer/Strauss tracks 4, 6 and 8 by Houston/P.Johnson, track 10 by Houston/Prophet.

All songs © 2000 Doctor P P Music, except 4 and 6 © 2000 Doctor P P Music/Warner Chappell, GmbH, and 10 © 2000 Doctor P P Music/Funzalo Music.

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