Public Domain Rainbow
March 2010
Never before has Alex spent so long working on an album, and indeed, the long hours of sweating and cursing during that time bear fruit on the fizzy pop cascade of Public Domain Rainbow. After over two years of writing and recording, Alex gives birth to his most focused batch of songs yet. This is no crazy dumping ground of ideas, like 2009’s Modernity Leave or 2002’s A Bunch Of Songs or 1968’s The White Album, but rather painstakingly whittled from a piece of driftwood in Greenland, so to speak. It is all at once ambitious and geeky, thoughtful and ridiculous.
Track Listing
(click titles for lyrics)
-
I can’t look back
It’s much too hard
To be the one that’s seeing
I can’t look back
It’s been too long
For me to be that beingThe day after this
Gone before this one’s done
Another day after that
Gone before just this last one’s light went darkA year crawls ahead
Crumbles down like before
Another year limps ahead
Gone before I can see which days I lostI don’t believe
I don’t believe
You’ve got me any closer now
I don’t believe
I don’t believe
You’ve got me in your handsI can’t look back
It’s much too hard
To be the one that’s seeing
I can’t look back
It’s been too long
For me to be that beingI’ve been screaming at the clock all day
With bad vibrations on neon display
When once I felt like I could feel some state
With light long gone before I learned my fateAnother, another
The other
Forever in you undercover
The silent shiverYou build your towers in me
For things I can’t guarantee
You build your towers in me
For things I can’t guarantee -
Sadness and death
Well it’s surely nothing
Mortar and brick
Well that could be something
And there’s something in there
Sitting in my chair
I won’t believe for another second that this is meThough I never mean to lie
I could just tell them I’m fine
But when I’m face-to-face with you
I tell a different story
If I could just punch through the sky
And find a way to make me shine
Then when I’m on my way to you
I’d tell a different storyFree will and chance
Well it’s surely nothing
Railroads and time
Well that could be something
And there’s something in there
Sitting in my chair
I won’t believe for another second that this is me“He tip-toes still but he springs our trap
Got a little too close to the treasure map.”But it’s not any more
Than a self-destructive beat
To go long into the dark lands
Into the lonely stone complexThough I never mean to lie
There’s a thought there deep inside
And if something breaks on through
I’ll sing you something real -
Do you think that I love you?
Well step inside and see
Do you think that I trust you?
Well step inside and see
Step inside and seeDo you think that it’s lasting?
Well step up and find out
If I’m lost will you find me?
Well set me free and find out
Set me free and find outCan’t do anything about it
So might as well just leave it alone
Can’t do anything about it
So might as well just leave it alone
Might as well just leave it aloneDid you think I was thankless?
The answer’s not far away
Did you think I was lifeless?
The answer’s right in your face
The answer’s right in your faceSo do you think that I love you?
Well step inside and see
Do you think that I trust you?
Well step inside and see
Step inside and seeCan’t do anything about it
So might as well just leave it alone
Can’t do anything about it
So might as well just leave it alone
Might as well just leave it aloneDo you think that I love you?
Well step inside and see
Step inside and see
Step inside and see -
I’m saving up the world
I’m saving up the lands
Saving up for everything I’ll put off till another day
I’m saving up the world
I’m saving up for you
Until the I day I get my parole or till I just break outUntil I get out
Until I get out
Until I get out
I’ll save my gumdrops away for youI’m saving up for bikes
I’m saving up for wives
Hide away myself and put me on a shelf until then
I’m saving up the world
I’m saving up for you
Until the I day I get my parole or till I just break outBecause it’s not just for fun
Because it’s not just to win
Because it’s not just for fun -
I am not Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie isn’t me
I am not of Indian heritage
You can check my family tree
I am not Salman Rushdie
But I understand why
You would think me and Salman
Were one and the same guyI am not Salman Rushdie
I am not a genius writer
I am not transcending time
I am not a freedom fighter
I am not Salman Rushdie
But I understand why
You would think me and Salman
Were one and the same guyI’m in line with Sharia law
And I gots no fatwa on my headI am not Salman Rushdie
I did not piss off Islam
The Ayatollah’s cool with me
But I don’t know ‘bout his mom
I am not Salman Rushdie
But I understand why
You would think me and Salman
Were one and the same guy -
You see me
I don’t bleed, I don’t leak far
I see you
I see through your glass crow bar
You seem free
You seem light, you seem distracted
The difference lasts so much as I can feel subtractedYou painted over me
You painted over me
You painted over me
You made me clean but not freeI’m on fire
I require your name in black ink
Put me out
It’s a drought of sound out of sync
You seem high
You seem fried, you seem conniving
Now I’m tied
I see why you’re not surviving -
Any more of this
Any more of this and I’m buggin
You’re afraid I’ll miss
You’re afraid I’ll miss being highI’m afraid of the day
I’m afraid of the day
I’m afraid of the day I’m happy hereHaving hung your clothes
Having hung your clothes to keep busy
Being on my own
Being on my own made me crazyI’m afraid of the day
I’m afraid of the day
I’m afraid of the day I’m happy here -
I’m losing all my senses over you
Any second now I know you’ll fade to black
I have to keep you safely in my view
But eventually, you’ll have to walk away
And slowly stop to breathe in the airYou billow out while my back is turned away
But when I pivot ‘round, you melt into the gray
I followed you down the road to keep you real
If I stay awake, your footsteps never end
And so you’ll always breathe in the airMy observation made you
Brought you to my empire
Your wave function collapsed by consciousness
Keep my eye on you
Every superposition true
Your wave function collapsed by consciousnessIf I can find a waaaaaay
Waaaaaayyy
If you walk away
If you walk away
Is there another way? -
Yeah, now you’ve really gone and done it now
I saw the 4.7 on my screen with a furrowed brow
20 kilotons of fun to put them on the run
Now I have to slap your wrist and write you off my listYoo hoo!
We’ve got a Tae Po Dong to boot for the business suits
Yoo hoo!
I’ve got a Tae Po Dong to boot and I’m in my suit
Yoo hoo!
I’ve got a Tae Po Dong to boot and I’m in my birthday suitThey say it’s just a test, but we’re not impressed
It’s a drop in the bucket of the power possessed by the West
And there’s Japan’s old man with an open-ended plan
No mystery man, no ban, no attention spanBlow in my direction
You know I don’t kiss and tell
But there’s a rainbow down in the oil well
There’s a shadow on the DMZ
Outshined by the radiation spree -
If I’m the mason, if you’re the brick wall
Then who’s the one who knows the well goes deeper?
It’s all that I can eat
It’s all that I can eat
It’s all that I can eat
It’s all that I can feed
I’m thinking every day
I’m thinking every day
I’m thinking every day is clam chowder FridayIt’s like cinnamon
Mortar to the bat bite
It’s my minimum
It’s like cinnamon
Leave it by the front door
It’s my minimumIf I’m the refugee, if you’re the sandbag
Then I’m the one who goes beyond yon cul de sac
It’s all that I can take
It’s all that I can take
It’s all that I can take
It’s all that I can fake
I’m thinking every day
I’m thinking every day
I’m thinking every day is clam chowder Friday -
The sun fell down but it came up wrong
Something in the sky that I thought was gone
See we lost the dawn
While I mowed the lawn
The crescent Moon still there like a scorpion
The red turned pink and the green turned lime
This light that turned the grave minds inside
Mass exodus from the ghetto to the meadow
And even Jared Leto, who’s singing falsetto
For buildings always grow
While the clocks refuse to goI was in the Christmas mood until the long day came
No Christmas lights in the sky tonight
I was in the winter mode until the long day came
Until I woke up to the dawn long goneThe hour hand stopped
Then second hand got the minute hand sick
And it stopped the clock
But the new star shines in the common mind
Not the least bit kind to the mundane design
The purple turned puce and the brown turned tan
And Man taken back to where he began
Magnetic force to get back to the source
Some divine divorce to correct the wrong course
For vermin always breed
Where the hearts and refuse to bleedUntil I woke up to the dawn long gone
Until I woke up to the dawn long goneI came back to haunt you here because I felt no change
But change is change, right?
The same, within, without
I know you wanted Christmas, but now it’s Boxing Day
Day after day -
Uncle got your nose
We’ve got your red nose
We’ve got you by the nose, it don’t mean a thing
But that won’t hold you from drowning and sinking
Let’s all abide
Let’s all abide by what we can see
Let’s all abide
Let’s all abide this timeWe’ve got every little thing your mind can’t see
We got your penis creams and get rich quick schemes
We’ve got every little thing your mind don’t need
We got your penis creams and get rich quick schemesCougar got your back
You’ve got to stand back
I’m watching your back for all arrows and slings
But one of these days you’ll be getting your own thing
Let’s all abide
Let’s all abide by what we can see
Let’s all abide
Let’s all abide this time -
They say you’re lost in the city
They say it’s too dark to be out alone
Your sass does impress me much
And this taxi driver’s got that certain touch
Your sass does impress me much
And this taxi driver’s got that certain touchCome on up inside my sexual taxi
You’re coming all over inside my sexual taxiThey say you’re down in the wrong hood
They say their minions are coming for you
Your sass does impress me much
And this taxi driver’s got that certain touch
Your sass does impress me much
And this taxi driver’s got that certain touchGonna bring you home
Gonna bake you bread
Gonna make you toast
Gonna make you oinkYou never have to trail me
Don’t even have to hail me
Step inside and assail me
Don’t even have to hail me
I never have to greet her
Never mind the meter
Don’t need your taxi fare
Cause we ain’t going nowhere -
As a child you fell down
You feel upon frowns
All you wanted to, wanted to, wanted to do
Was eat pie
And you wondered what if you die
Will I meet that weird guy?
Is it the same for a fly?Now all you need is love
All you need is loveAs a man you fell down
In an alley downtown
As you drowned in, you drowned in, you drowned in your blood
Your own blood
You thought what if this guy
Who killed and made me die
Would get all of the pie?Love love love
As you come down
Love love love
Life full of frowns
Love love love
Only thing left
