Official Mumps Website: Lyrics

ALL SONGS © Music and Lyrics by Kristian Hoffman, Gothic Novelty Music ASCAP, administered by Wixen Music

Any One But You
The Awkward Age
Bad Boy
Before the Accident
Brain Massage
Could This Be Art?
Crocodile Tears
The Decision
Did You Get the Girl?
Dutch Boy
Fatal Charm
Forget-Me-Not
Gimme Gimme
I Like To Be Clean
Just Look, Don't Touch
More Human Than Not
Rock & Roll This, Rock & Roll That
Scream and Scream Again
S.O.S.
Stake In My Heart
Strange Seed
Stupid
That's All Right With Me
Waiting For the World (To Catch Up)
We Will Bury You
We're American
You're Ideal


Any One But You

You can blow the world away, me too, me too.
You would rather not today, me too, me too.
But I know it's true - you know it too:
I'd believe in anyone but you.
You can make the mountains bow; me too, me too.
You're too bored to do it now, me too, me too.
But I know it's true - you know it too:
I'd believe in anyone but you.

They can say that you're a lazy king without the nerve to abdicate,
and I know it's true because I'm just like you.
They can say that you'll do anything, but you do it just a little late
and I know it's true, because I'm just like you.

They say that you created everything, and what you made you can destroy -
and I know it's true, because I'm just like you.
A playpen baby crying bitter tears of spite because you threw away your toys -
and I know it's true because I'm just like you.
You can bring the end about; me too, me too.
You would rather wait it out; me too, me too.
But I know it's true - you know it too:
I'd believe in anyone but you.

Sure, I'd like to try and make that leap, but I always end up in a heap.
If you caught me walking in my sleep, still I'd swear the chasm was too deep.
anybody but you ...

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The Awkward Age

Inadequate hands, inadequate means, inadequate little go-betweens, so what?
You grovel and grope - so what?
And cling to the hope, and so you keep building, building, building
with the toothpicks and the glue.
But buildings can fall - you haven't learned.

In tempera and egg and papier mache, the temperament is led astray, so what?
You step to the floor - so what?
And stumble once more, and so you keep trying, trying, trying
to be bored and bitter too.
And someday you will - but you haven't learned.

Oh, I love you best at the awkward age.
You know I love you best at the awkward age.

Every time I call you've found a new way, new way to commit suicide unsuccessfully.
Impatiently you grab at any throughway, throughway
The future fills you head, you poke it till it's dead,
and smile a silly pardon me.

Oh, I love you best at the awkward age.
You know I love you best at the awkward age.

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Bad Boy

Featured on the "Mumps Live Videos" portion of the DVD How I Saved the World; previously unreleased

I’ve chosen to bypass the system you’ve got
If that’s a crime
I guess I’ve been a bad bad boy
If I need amnesia, I’ll take it in shots
If that’s a crime
I guess I’ve been a bad bad boy

I guess I’ve been a bad boy
I really don’t know why
I’ve had enough of nothing
There’s nothing to do
I’ve just gotta do it or die

I don’t want to cure the disease that I’ve got
If that’s a crime
I guess I’ve been a bad boy

I can’t stand the air I take in with each breath
If that’s a crime
I guess I’ve been a bad bad boy
I’d rather be dead than to be bored to death
If that’s a crime
I guess I’ve been a bad bad boy

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Before the Accident

Well I always used to wonder what he did at night
but nobody would give me a clue.
And it made me kind of wonder if he hid at night
It seemed the only thing left to do.

But just think how much he meant (a la-la-la-la long time ago)
I guess he ran out of rent (a la-la-la-la long time ago)
And now I don't know where he went
but I wish you could have seen his face
before the accident.

When we were so much younger he had something pure
and thought that everybody ought to know.
And if smug was not the word, I guess it was demure.
That's how it was when he would start to show.

That full of gracious intent (a la-la-la-la long time ago)
he'd made his face to be spent (a la-la-la-la long time ago)
and now I don't know where he went.
But I wish you could have seen his face
before the accident.

Wash, wash, washing day, every day is washing day!
He'll make his cheeks so clean, they'll glow!
Wash, wash, wash away, everything will wash away
Everyone will notice it go
Somehow everybody will know
that you're washed up, you're washed out, wishy, washy, whoa!

Hey!

There are always certain people who can gain your trust
if only for a tiny span of time.
But then trusting them will lead them on the road to rust
and nothing can prevent the decline.

We thought you were heaven sent (a la-la-la-la long time ago)
but then you got old and bent (a la-la-la-la long time ago)
and now we don't care where you went.
But I wish I could have seen your face, I wish I could have seen your face,
before the accident.

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Brain Massage

What is this feeling I've got in my head
It's filled up with poison, it's all in the red
What is there left when I'd rather be dead
and I don't know what to do.
Here's the answer - a science that's blessed
It puts the E-S-T into best
It takes off the pressure - I don't wanna be pressed
and then you're just like new.

chorus:
It's the brain massage (it feels so good)
It's the brain massage (there's muzak playing)
It's the bra - a - ain massage (pardon me, what was I saying? oh yeah - )

There's plenty of methods, there's lots of techniques
It won't take a minute - well maybe three weeks
It tightens your lug nuts and patches your leaks
and then you're just like new.

chorus

There's equal opportunity, there's equal opportunity
So help yourself to some self help and that's the way to start
There's equal opportunity, there's equal opportunity
It's the home repair manual for the Volkswagen of your heart.

There'll be no passion, no anger or guilt
Love cannot blossom, so how can it wilt?
Step right this way and get your psyche rebuilt
with a primal scream or two.

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Could This Be Art?

Featured on the "Mumps Live Videos" portion of the DVD How I Saved the World; previously unreleased

Up pop the boils of terminal cancer
Cells start to fall apart
We pray to a God who never will answer
Could this be art?

Famine wipes out a whole generation
Somewhere upon the chart
It’s merely to feed our coy conversation
Could this be art?

No, no, no! Tell me it isn’t so
There must be a plot
That I will someday know

Mind over matter - that’s what I planned on
Trying to protect my heart
It clings to the one I can’t lay a hand on
Could this be art?

Could this be art? Could this be art? Could this be art?
Oh so so-so, Soho - oh no!

I draw a line for logic to walk on
I think I’m pretty smart
But God has an old beret and a smock on
Could this be art?

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Crocodile Tears

You bought the sofa
That I wanted for years
And it makes me cry, but they're crocodile tears.

And when we're hungry
They will slaughter the steers
And it makes me cry, but they're crocodile tears.

And there's a reason why
Concern is cut down to size
There are no eyelids on the crocodile
He can't close his eyes.

The road not taken
To oblivion veers
And it makes me cry, but they're crocodile tears.

There is a moral, but it just disappears
And it makes me cry, but they're crocodile tears.

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The Decision

Featured on How I Saved the World; previously unreleased. The song is a very formative noodling from Mumps' earliest demo tape, before the band ever played live, recorded in Jay Dee Daugherty's fifth floor walk-up bedroom on his 4 track TEAC

Let’s decide what we all want to be
A choice of two or three
Could hamper our decision
the options make a small infinity
And temporarily
We wallow in our vision

It’s hardly ever late enough to force us to reveal our choice

What pleasure to resent authority
Or take up carpentry
Or practise self-improvement
The cabin boys can run away to sea
And fire engines flee
A dancer’s sell their movement

With twiddling thumbs, the tweedle-dums endeavor not to raise their voice

I don’t know, I don’t know
You ask me what I want to be, but I don’t know

In strapping on a new identity
Innate ability
Is measured with a g-string
Just like a jacket you will zip it shut
Oh, it’s a straight one but
You’ve thrown away the key ring

And suddenly it come to be you’re stuck inside it, wrong or right

In picking out the character for me
And choosing cautiously
I might deliberate, or
The putting off of choosing just might be
My choice eventually
Called a procrastinator

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Did You Get the Girl?

Here I am, with my accomplishments
If there's an underdog with no defense
I will give it a whirl
But did you get the girl? ... Well

I waved my fist around and joined the cause
and now there's him-acanes and femopause
Gave the swine all my pearls
But did you get the girl?

But did you get the girl? (Can't you see I'm lonely)
But did you get the girl? (Come on, come on)
Anyone can see that I've been trying
But did you get the girl? (I got a million trophies)
But did you get the girl? (Come on, come on)
If there's more to life why am I crying? (I don't know.)

I fed the hungry and I cured disease
and made sure everybody had T.V.'s
That's how I saved the world
But did you get the girl? (Yes and no!)

There isn't anything that I can't do
Except make up a stupid answer to
that old question you hurl:
But did you get the girl? (no)

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Dutch Boy

Dutch boy has the palest skin with teeth so clean and white
The cavities decay within every night (every night)
But dutch boy has a dentist so it all turns out all right
And mommy counts the pennies out everynight (everynight)

But dutch boy, oh dutch boy, are you afraid of the dark?

Duth boy goes to public school while daddy is away
And mommy buys the groceries every day (every day)
And dutch boy fumbles with the girls who let him make them say
A breathy yes to naughty things every day (every day).

But dutch boy, oh dutch boy, are you afraid of the dark?

Dutch boy, just give me one of your perfect smiles
And I'll leave you alone
Dutch boy, just give me one of your smiles
One of your perfect smiles.

Dutch boy is perfection in a freckled sort of way
And all the world awaits for him, every day.

Dutch boy wants to educate the millions all to sing
In his fragile ideals that will fix everything (everything)
For dutch boy all the grass is green and all the church bells ring
But dutch boy, oh dutch boy, are you afraid of the dark?

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Fatal Charm

I have no second thoughts on how I came to be, 'cause only students want to know that.
I must confess that I can't get enough of me, and I am not ashamed to show that.
And why should I be sorry, why should I care, I can't help it if I've got that ...

Fatal charm,
Take a leg, ooh take an arm,
It's that fatal charm,
Take a bite, take a dip, take a lot.

Now just check this cheekbone, examine it with care, you'll find the marrow's more than ample.
Just check my DNA, my profile and my hair, I'm sure you're dying for a sample.
So why should I be sorry, why should I care, I can't help it if I've got that ...

Fatal charm,
Take a leg, take an arm.
It's that fatal charm,
Take a bite, take a tip, take alarm.

Though everyone is living to lose, in patterns that they don't get to choose.
I was born for Darwin to use, the job that man must not abuse.
I was born to reproduce.

As I'm standing here I am my own defense of why they drop like flies around me.
There are no stitches dropped, no creases and no dents, though all these defects may surround me.
Why should I be sorry, and why should I care, I can't help it if I've got that ...

Fatal charm,
Take a leg, take an arm,
It's that fatal charm,
Fatal eyes, fatal nose, fatal lips and fatal toes,
Fatal heart, fatal beat, fatal rhythm, fatal beat,
fatal hair, fatal arms, and fatal toes.

That fatal charm, and then I've got it.
I've got it so bad. I know you want it.
I know just what I have.
I'm sorry if the price is so high.
But those that see my face have to die.
I'm so sorry if the price is so high.
hey but those that see my face have to die.

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Forget-Me-Not

Well the rain poured down in old Manhattan
Made me feel so cold and blue
And when it does, I think about you.

Well I used to sleep in sheets of satin,
Now some old burlap will do.
And when it does, I think about you.

I think about you
And when the times are bad it seems to bring you back to me
I think about you
and all that makes me glad is that you must be remembering me.

Well the hungry cat is bound to fatten
up the way you used to do
And when it does, I think about you.

Well, the radio makes static as it murmurs,
Shoo-be-doo-be-doo
And when it does, I think about you.

Well, the rain pours down in old Manhattan
makes me feel so cold and blue
and when it does, and when it does, and it does, I think about you.

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Gimme Gimme

Empty heart on an empty vein
ache for someone to explain
But they never explain
Empty dream in an empty head
Ache for something to be said
But nothing is said
There was no guiding hand but now I
think that I understand what must be done
Instruction number one:

Gimme gimme, gimme gimme, gimme gimme, I want.

I want flesh and I want bones

I want you to to throw your chones
Your little polka-dot chones
Be you alive or be you dead
I'll grind your bones to make my bread
I love Wonder Bread
I will offer you this assistance
Choose the course of the least resistance now
I'm gonna show you how:

Gimme gimme, gimme gimme, gimme gimme, I want.

When you have I have not
Just give me what you have got
Everything that you've got
Fill my pocket, fill my hand
Fill this empty song's demand
It's such a little demand
Why waste time on philosophy
or politics when it's plain to see what you
really ought to do:

Gimme gimme, gimme gimme, gimme gimme, I want.

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I Like To Be Clean

Elbows brush
Secrets couple in the darkness
Cheeks will blush
Semicircles in the dark, nestling close
But the sweat lends an unhealthy sheen
to my brow, and I like to be clean

Hearts will fail
Sentiment is caught deserting
Cheeks will pale
Empty ceremony flirting with disease
and the outcome remains to be seen
Quite sensibly, I like to be clean

That's how grubby experience denies itself a guest
Holy rest comes only to those who have been good
Peace is absence of motion but the white gloves moves to test
if the guest has gathered more mildew than he should

Bored to tears
Now there's no experimenting
Bland careers
Symmetry is unrelenting but it's safe
And within me genetics convene
and dictate that I like to be clean

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Just Look, Don't Touch

Somehow the precious things end up behind the glass
Well, I can read the signs - I won't walk on the grass
Don't want no tunnel vision
Just want a nice collision
No maiden aunt's decision to look - not touch.

The Chinese dwell upon that old half-empty cup
If they'd be quiet I would drink the contents up
Just let me feel abrasion
Perfect for all occasions
I'm not of that persuasion to look - not touch.

I got caught red-handed and got reprimanded
Now my hands are red and proud
Oh that scarlet letter makes me feel much better
Cause I stand out in a crowd.

I'll let my fingers do the walking down the trail
Cause there's so much in life that only comes in Braille
You may be quite a mobster
But if I cut the sob story
And hold hands with a lobster, just look don't touch.

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More Human Than Not

Featured on the "Audio Only Live Tracks" portion of the DVD How I Saved the World; previously unreleased

Sort of alive, of aware
I think my brain might still be there
I think I’m still breathing
I can’t be a chair

Chorus:

More human than not, more human than not
Hey, there’s nothing else to say,
As long as I can stay more human than not

Sort of in love, sort of in pain
Sort of encased in cellophane
Well sure I’m in shrink wrap
But let me explain

Repeat chorus

I think I am, I am I think
I think I am the kitchen sink!

It’s in the food, it’s in the air
Those catalysts are everywhere
Mutation is fun and so easy to do
And some of my best friends are oil-based too
So pardon me while I turn into a shoe
That is more human than not.

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Rock & Roll This, Rock & Roll That

You said "memberships only!"
I said "what can I say?
All I know is I don't want to go home."
You told me that to be a real-kool-kat
I need a rock 'n' roll this and a rock 'n' roll that.

You said I needed the password
I said, call it a day
If I ever want to trade a tit-for-tat
I'll get a rock 'n' roll this and a rock 'n' roll that.

Rock 'n' roll come see, rock 'n' roll come saw
Rock 'n' roll que sera sera Two words preceding the object
Make it admissible fare
press that button and put your mind on hold
If you want to be a teenage technocrat.
You need a rock 'n' roll this and a rock 'n' roll that.
The requirements for correct chit and chat
are a rock 'n' roll this and a rock 'n' roll that.
Since Presley who begat, begat, begat,
it's been a rock 'n' roll this and a rock 'n' roll that.

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Scream and Scream Again

I think I hear a noise, I think it's getting louder
Another thing is going bump bump bump in the night
And now it's not alone, now it's got an army
The only thing that they're afraid of is the light
I got the story from a tell-tale heart
Things are not what they seem
There's no escaping when the dancing starts
I've just got to scream - and scream again.

There's no sign of life, but a crazy doctor
Has got the chemicals to stimulate the heart
I don't know what they do, I know it sure ain't living
But when they get a whiff they sure can play the part
I got the story from a tell-tale heart
Things are not what they seem
There's no escaping when the dancing starts
I've just got to scream - and scream again.

You make me feel like Manson, gonna take your life away.

It always sounds the same, this beat that fills the darkness
They only know one thing but they know it well
And when I look around, I see that I'm surrounded
They've taken over and there's no soul left to sell
So if you're looking for a long lost friend
And he seems lost in a dream
Then it's too late and you just can't pretend
You've just got to scream
and scream and scream and scream again
and scream and scream and scream again.

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S.O.S.

The angels are ringing their little bells
The angels play for me
The heart swells, the secret the ringing tells
is hidden from me, oh I almost can see.

chorus:
S.O.S., and I hardly know that I'm in distress
S.O.S., it'll settle for your skull, nothing less
S.O.S., it's the only cry of hope I possess
S.O.S.

The day breaks, and all of the world awakes,
The day breaks with a yawn
The heart shakes, I haven't got what it takes
I'll walk in my sleep, what they have, they can keep.

chorus

Mr. Sandman waits outside the door
Come right in, you are welcome here
He starts operations and he doesn't take long
And by this time you don't even care what is wrong
An awareness is the only nightmare
that reminds me to say
Help me, help me, help me, help me.

It's easy, it all looks the same to me
It's easy to give in
So leave me to sleep for eternity
No wait while I yawn, are they already gone.

chorus

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Stake In My Heart

Featured on the "Audio Only Live Tracks" portion of the DVD How I Saved the World; previously unreleased

I’ve got the stake in my heart
And the purple night erodes to grey
I’ve got the stake in my heart
And the sun will shine on my decay
And the day has to start with the stake in my heart
And I’m grateful you’re a part of the stake in my heart

I’ve got the stake in my heart
And in the mirror I can see
I’ve got the stake in my heart
But there’s no image there of me
And it looks like a chart of the stake in my heart
And I’m grateful you’re a part of the sstake in my heart

My heart’s in the cellar, thumb-tacked to the floor
And a vision of you in your bridal gown floats in at the door
You know what’s a stake, so you will stake your claim
But my heart keeps pounding
Pounding pounding pounding just the same

I’ve got the stake in my heart
It’s a labor of love you undertake
I’ve got the stake in my heart
And it will bend but never break
In the bull’s eye the dart
Is the stake in my heart
And I’m grateful you’re a part of the stake in my heart

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Strange Seed

Featured on the "Audio Only Live Tracks" portion of the DVD How I Saved the World; previously unreleased

You used to keep it in your treasure chest
But you got rid of it just like the rest
You didn’t lose it, no, you didn’t lose it
I know you threw it away
And when I saw it going down the drain
I took a stitch and sewed it to my brain
I’m gonna use it, yeah I’m gonna use it
Then everybody will say

Chorus

It’s a strange strange seed, it’s a strange strange seed
It’s a strange strange seed that I’m sowing
It’s still growing

I saw the millions going off the track
They didn’t care enough to get it back
They’d just refuse, yeah they’d just refuse it
They’d say it’s really passe
I planted it and then I watched it grow
And learned the things they didn’t want to know
We’re gonna use it, yeah we’re gonna use it
And everybody will say

Chorus

You learned to hate the clutter so you threw away your toys
But your fear of open spaces made you long for some white noise
You never stop complaining; it’s in everything you do
I’ll be your father figure and I’ll figure it out for you You hardly know enough to be afraid
And fear won’t cancel the mistakes you made
We’re gonna help you, yeah we’re gonna help you
So you’ll be better and then
It doesn’t matter what you can’t recall
You’re never gonna have to think at all
We’re gonna help you, Mumps are gonna help you
And we’ll be happy again!

Chorus

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Stupid

Friends - you said we'd always be friends
You said we'd solve all our problems
And work it all out platonically

chorus:
But that's no fun, that's no fun
because you've gotta be stupid, if you wanna love me.

Why - you're always asking me why
You gotta have all the answers
and categorize definitively.

chorus

If you think this code we're making
is like mental undertaking
What you gonna do to survive?
I guess you must have disregarded
that you have to be retarded
if you wanna keep it alive.

So - you're always telling me so
You're always shaking your finger, and wagging your tail
emphatically.

chorus

I'm frozen in self consciousness
But you can thaw me out
As long as you're naive enough
And really can't conceive enough
As long as you're too stupid
To know what I'm talking about.

Spell - you're asking me to spell
You said it's I before E
So F-R-I before E-N-D.

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That's All Right With Me

Featured on How I Saved the World; previously unreleased. The song is a very formative noodling from Mumps' earliest demo tape, before the band ever played live, recorded in Jay Dee Daugherty's fifth floor walk-up bedroom on his 4 track TEAC

People come and people go, but never go away
And spend their time complaining
That their complaint was hardly worth the time it took to do it
But they seem to do it anyway
And when it’s done they say they want to run and hide their face
There’s nothing to it!

Chorus:

That’s all right with me - I just sit and mumble “please”
That’s all with me - I look at them they look at me
All we can say is, “Cheese!”

People waste their time regretting how they spent their youth
It wasn’t theirs to spend but in the end
They say “I think I’ve seen the truth!”
And thinking makes me tired, oh really what’s the use
It’s just too much, let’s got to bed and get a snack
It’s such a headache

Chorus

Lots of times I’ve looked around and thought I saw a face I recognized
But I was wrong I just excuse myself and leave.
But still it makes me think that maybe they’ve a special part to play
But then I push that thought away because it’s much too complicated.
I frame a thought of Dickens towns with characters so unaware
Of each other’s influence on each other’s lives
The butcher raised his price today, so Tiny Tim may have to starve a little
But that just gives the humble clerk the chance to sing the hero’s song.
And it doesn’t really matter if I think about it
Cause even if I don’t it will happen anyway!

That’s all right with me - I just sit and mumble, “please”
That’s all right with me - I look at them, they look at me
We can both stare, but don’t care to see
The birdie held high, so we both agree
To say, “Cheese!”

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Waiting For the World (To Catch Up)

B-side of 2005 pink vinyl single "Crocodile Tears"; previously unreleased.

Kristian Hoffman says:

WAITING FOR THE WORLD is an exclusive previously unreleased live track that is the B-side of the new "Crocodile Tears" (hot pink!) Sympathy For The Record Industry Vinyl 45, released in 2005 in conjunction with the "How I Saved the World" package.

It is a relatively late period Mumps composition, and was recorded live at Irving Plaza, with Mumps final line-up:

Lance Loud, Rob DuPrey, Paul Rutner, Joe Katz, and Kristian Hoffman

Flatteringly enough, Tish and Snooky of Manic Panic liked this song so much that they requested permission to sing it in their band Sic Fux. They were the wild friendly rock and roll girls who founded the seminal East Village punk rock clothing store and bizarre trashy collectibles boutique, and invented all the Manic Panic hair dyes that I believe are still available today. Their legendary back-of-the-store parties included actual real live wood alcohol bath tub gin - served out of a bath tub! They were founding members of Blondie as well - but were dismissed to keep the number of people in the band more manageable - and it's also rumored in more cynical circles that they were 'let go' because their personalities and voices were too strong, and their intonation too sure, sometimes overshadowing Debbie's sultry sex bomb purr. They were hostesses and taste-makers extraordinaire - you really had to beat them to the thrift shop if you wanted the pointy shoes! I got much of my Swinging Madisons finery from them - if I ever needed a purple lurex tuxedo tail coat, that was the place to go! No punk rock party was complete without their loud mouthed good natured sass and hilarity. I gladly gave them the permission to sing this - their voices rang harmonically with each other like the Shirelles, and I would have paid them to sing it had I known it was even a possibility! I believe it was performed live by them a few times, but our schedules conflicted so much that I never got to see it. I think it's ripe for a Spector Girl Group treatment, and would love to have heard that - since it is such a naked lift from Sonny Bono's "Bang Bang".

Mumps gave it a more heated speedy punk-lite treatment - but still a nifty little number, even if it is yet more thinly disguised carping about being too pop to be popular - the familiar and not particularly charming whine that made X's "The World Won't Listen" posturing so unpalatable. But in our case, the world really wouldn't...until now, that is!

You know how hard it is to say good-bye
And when I think of you, I want to cry
But I’m not coming back - I can’t tell a lie, I’m
Waiting for the world to catch up

Don’t know who pushed the button on the time machine
But I don’t really care; I love what I’ve seen
Too bad you can’t be here to see what I mean by
Waiting for the world to catch up

It’s lonely to be before your time
If only you could see that I’m

So eager to be sharing - to spread the word
Oh, you just can’t imagine things that I’ve heard
And as I savor things that haven’t occurred, I’m
Waiting for the world to catch up

It’s lonely to be before your time
If only you could see that I’m

A little sad to have them right in my hand
All of the answers that you can’t understand
But you don’t seem to want to; I never planned to be
Waiting for the world to catch up

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We Will Bury You

Featured on the "Audio Only Live Tracks" portion of the DVD How I Saved the World; previously unreleased

If it’s all the same to you, I will teach myself a lesson
If it’s all the same same, I’ll save my poor technique
If it’s all the same to you, I’ll hit the podium with my shoe!
Oh, oh, We will bury you - We will bury you!

If it’s all the same to you, I can find my own incentive
If it’s all the same, I’ll find my own way out
If it’s all the same to you, I’ll hit the podium with my shoe
Oh, oh, We will bury you - We will bury you!

Angry young men with something to say
Oh oh how I wish I could be that way
They get so successful, with name-label hats
And then, they get arrogant or fat - or both
Why does it always have to end like that?

If it’s all the same to you, we can leave in separate taxis
If it’s all the same it’s too the same for me
If it’s all the same to you, I’ll hit the podium with my shoe!
Oh, oh, We will bury you - We will bury you!

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We're American

Featured on the "Audio Only Live Tracks" portion of the DVD How I Saved the World; previously unreleased

We’re American - Why should I deny it?
What do you expect excuses for?
All I want is just a little ketchup on my noodles
To work much less, and get a whole lot more

Chorus:

Come On, Come On, Come On - Come Off It!
Come On, Come On, Come On - Come Off It!
Come On, Come On, Come On - Come Off It!
Come On, Come On - We’re American!

So we eat fast food - we eat what we’re told to
I can see my conscience on T.V.
Others think there may be principles that we should hold to
But then we’d have to give up M.S.G.!

Repeat Chorus

I just want the right to want what I’ve been told to want
I was never very good with clay
Even those that make the rules
Can turn their dreams of power upside down
And see they’re made in U.S.A.

I can’t hear a thing - not unless it’s louder
If it isn’t faster I can’t feel
And I don’t want anything unless I get it first
On second thought, why can’t we make a deal?

Repeat Chorus

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You're Ideal

Featured on the "Audio Only Live Tracks" portion of the DVD How I Saved the World; previously unreleased

Home life was just a dictatorship
Where mother reigned supreme
Then came the edict: time to mature
And now it seems like a dream

Chorus:

Oh my, there’s something that I
Won’t say good-bye to - that’s how I feel
This boy has only one toy and you’re ideal

Good taste is timeless, so I
Had calla lilies to spare
When I arranged the funeral rites
For my old teddy bear

Chorus

Childhood’s attic, dusty and static
Is locked away from me
I wouldn’t mind that, if I could find that
You’re underneath my Christmas tree

Your hair can grow, and better yet
The style can always be changed
You can walk, and if you don’t wet
Well that can be arranged

Chorus

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