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Watch Your Step
Jack Talked
I Wanna Be A Boss
Mouthful Of Sand
The Roadblock
Snaketrain
Right Through You
The Gumbo Man
Harry Truman
Venus Is Hell
Overlords
O.K.?
Uba's House Of Fashions
Bad News At The Dynamite Ranch
Beyond Tomorrow
Footnotes

(instrumental)

credits

Written by: Stanard Ridgway
Published by: © Copyright 1991 Mondo Spartacus / Illegal Songs (administered by BMI)
Produced by: Stanard Ridgway

performers

Joe Berardi: drums, tympani
Joe Ramirez: bass, background vocals
Stanard Ridgway: vocals, background vocals
Bernard Sauser-Hall: keyboards
Mark Shulz: guitar
Pietra Wexstun: keyboards, background vocals

Chorus:
repeat these three lines three times
Jack talked
Jack talked like
Jack talked like a man on fire
(Man on fire!)

Jack talked like a man on fire and his eyes moved like two shiny steel ball bearings
And when they moved the ground beneath him shook and split open
No one got too close to Jack but Jack never got too close anyway
And when he dreamed, his ears drooled thirty-weight engine oil

He took personality tests
And stapled them to his lower lip
No one ever came out on a visit with Jack
But Jack never visited anybody anyway

Chorus repeat

Jack made false contributions to charity telethons
Jack made crank phone calls to elected officials
His arms shook and his legs twitched and his tongue darted out of his mouth every few seconds
And when it did it touched the tip of his nose

And when it touched the tip of his nose
He yelled out as loud as he could
"I have artistic sensibility,
I am a damn good risk,
I am the messenger and here is the message"

notes

Just at the end of this track, if you turn the volume up really really loud, you can just barely hear a voice say "Here we go––same kind of arrangement, right?"

credits

Written by: Stanard Ridgway
Published by: © Copyright 1991 Mondo Spartacus / Illegal Songs (administered by BMI)
Produced by: Stanard Ridgway

performers

Joe Berardi: drums, tympani
Joe Ramirez: bass, background vocals
Stanard Ridgway: vocals, background vocals
Bernard Sauser-Hall: keyboards
Mark Shulz: guitar
Pietra Wexstun: keyboards, background vocals

Well, I've been doodling on this notepad
And I been taking telephone calls
I can tell this job's at the end of the line
And I'm ready for the fall
But I been watchin' the boss carefully
And he always seems to be havin' a ball
And then I scratch my head and wonder
Why I'm down here and he's up the hall

Now, all of my paychecks aren't worth
The paper they're printed on
I get 'em Friday
But Monday they're all gone
There must be some way to change my situation
It's time that I took up a brand new vocation

I wanna take a two-week vacation
Twenty-six times a year, add 'em up
When I fly to exotic places
My jet will be a Lear
I'll need several secretaries
Just to jot down notes
I'll wear Gucci loafers
And expensive shirts
And blue, executive, exotic coats

Chorus:
'Cause I, I said I wanna be a boss
(I wanna be, I wanna be)
I, I said I wanna be a boss
And I'll have people workin' under me
And this lousy job I'll toss
I, I said I wanna be a boss

Well, I'll drive in fancy cars
Well, no, maybe I'll just cruise
With a limo––and a chauffeur,
TV, telephone, and booze
Tinted windows so the common folk
Can't see me here inside
Maybe every now and then for fun
I'll give some old coot a ride

Then maybe I'll slip him
A thousand dollar bill
Then he'll smile and shake my hand
And I'll put him in my will
I'm gonna count up all my widgets
And digits, and all my stuff
I'll make millions in a day
But it'll never be enough
Nope––not enough!

Chorus:
'Cause I, I said I wanna be a boss
And I just wanna take a four-hour lunch
And eat a steak with A1 Sauce
I, I said I wanna be a boss
And I'll buy up every stock there is
From ITT to Doctor Ross
I, I said I wanna be a boss
(I wanna be, I wanna be)

Now if I find a product I like
I'll buy up the whole company
Shave my face, and grin and smile
And then I'll sell it on TV
And everyone will know me
I'll be more famous than Howard Hughes
I'll grow a long beard and watch
Ice Station Zebra in the nude

And grow my nails like Fu-Manchu
Keep a row of specimen jars
Get other people to work for me––well
Maybe I'll buy the planet Mars, and
Build an amusement park up there
Better than old Walt's place
You'll have to be a millionaire to go
We'll smoke cigars and lounge in lace
Talk the talk of businessmen
And bosses that we are
So here's to me––the drinks are free––
'Cause I just bought this bar

Yeah––yeah, I wanna be a boss
I wanna be a boss, boss, boss!
Some kinda intergalactic boss!

credits

Written by: Stanard Ridgway
Published by: © Copyright 1991 Mondo Spartacus / Illegal Songs (administered by BMI)
Produced by: Stanard Ridgway

performers

John Batdorf: background vocals
Joe Berardi: drums
Larry Grennan: background vocals
Stanard Ridgway: vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards
Mark Shulz: electric guitar
David Sutton: bass
Pietra Wexstun: background vocals
Evon Williams: background vocals

(instrumental)

credits

Written by: Stanard Ridgway
Published by: © Copyright 1991 Mondo Spartacus / Illegal Songs (administered by BMI)
Produced by: Stanard Ridgway

performers

Joe Berardi: drums, tympani
Joe Ramirez: bass, background vocals
Stanard Ridgway: vocals, background vocals
Bernard Sauser-Hall: keyboards
Mark Shulz: guitar
Pietra Wexstun: keyboards, background vocals

News travels fast in a small desert town
So it wasn't long at all before the word got around
That a killin' mad car was headed their way
So the sheriff and the boys were gonna stop 'im out on the highway

Right where it intersected Big Black Rock
So it wasn't long at all
Before the whole town was standin' round
Hammerin' a nail and buildin' up a pride in a roadblock
Just hangin' round a roadblock

The mayor's wife sat in the shade
And talked her way through a few good lies
While her husband practiced his acceptance speech
For a medal from the F.B.I.

And Granny rocked back in her chair and said
"Just what did this man do?"
While some idiot kids ate dirty
Sno-cones colored red white and blue
At the roadblock
Just hangin' round a roadblock (x3)

Then the local paper jumped the gun
And printed the big headline
Town is saved from killer car
With roadblock at stateline

Three miles down the highway in a Chevy '69
Were a pair of crazy eyeballs jumpin' left and right in time
To an eight-track tape playin' Foghat and Jethro Tull
And a gasoline-soaked hand shiftin' a little plastic skull

And on the arm, a blue tattoo that read "I'm a son of a bitch!"
A map open on the front seat––leather, black as pitch
One foot slammed on the gas––no shoe, just an argyle sock
And that car was screamin' wild down the highway, like lightning
Toward the roadblock
Right towards the roadblock

Then all eyes turned down the highway towards a big cloud of smoke
And Granny went into a mild state of shock and started to choke
And a boy up in a tree yelled out, "Here it come"
Then twenty men strong aimed and fired point-blank nineteen shotguns

Well, the next day, the sheriff just tried to stall
While they buried the body out behind a wall
The newspaper said "Killer still on the lam––
Seems the boys at the roadblock got the wrong man"

Nobody really knew just who he was
He was drivin' a Camaro with dashboard fuzz
They all burned a car right there in Big Black Rock
And no one ever said a word at all again¹
About a roadblock
Not about a roadblock
Whooo! About a roadblock
Not about a roadblock, yeah....
Not about a roadblock

credits

Written by: Stanard Ridgway
Published by: © Copyright 1991 Mondo Spartacus / Illegal Songs (administered by BMI)
Produced by: Stanard Ridgway

performers

Stanard Ridgway: vocals, guitars, keyboards, harmonica
Elmo Smith: saxophones

Comin' into Southbend, headed towards the graveyard shift
Blockin' off the fallen fences there with my hardware grip
Watchin' out and waitin' for a signal seen
That could level out the quiet side

And if you say you're lonely
I'm the one you'll find there on the side
Your one and only
And you will know when this deed has died

I was chasin' a ghost––pale and white
And hard to see
The boys in blue from peculiar school
Are hangin' out in the dark and they're lookin' for me

And if you say you're lonely
I'm the one you'll find there on the run
Your one and only
And you will know when this deed is done

Chorus:
Somebody is walkin' away
While everybody's ridin' on the snaketrain
Somebody is walkin' away
While everybody's ridin' on the snaketrain
Snaketrain

Remember how the wind would blow
And how warm the sun would feel

If you say you were lonely
And you can't decide what's fair is fair
You're dreaming only
And I will try and catch you there

Chorus repeat x2

credits

Written by: Stanard Ridgway
Published by: © Copyright 1991 Mondo Spartacus / Illegal Songs (administered by BMI)
Produced by: Stanard Ridgway

performers

Stanard Ridgway: vocals, guitars, keyboards
Don Teshner: lap steel guitar

Look them in the eye
To show them you're brave
But no one but me
Knows you're just a slave
To this part in the play
You never mean what you say

You come on so strong
You run with the hunt
Don't know what's behind you
Don't show what's in front²
Sometimes you do it to show
To someone you don't know

Like a bird on a limb
Starin' down at its toes
No song he could sing
No his voice––it just froze
And the fear that you keep
Is bottled up there inside

Chorus:
And I see right through you
Right on through
But I know you see right through me too

You put on a good show
Act so in control
But you're laughin' too loud
At a joke no one told
You're not what you appear
You're just a ghost in the mirror

Sometimes what you say––
Yeah, you do for effect
You wanna show someone power
You wanna get some respect
But most times you don't know
Nothin' about it all

Chorus repeat

I'm chippin' the rock
But it's dark in the mine
Don't look away now
You drive me outta my mind
But I try to act sure
I try to endure

The things that I wanted
So much outta you
A feelin' to share
A love that was true
Or maybe I just made it up

Chorus repeat x2

credits

Written by: Stanard Ridgway
Published by: © Copyright 1991 Mondo Spartacus / Illegal Songs (administered by BMI)
Produced by: Stanard Ridgway

performers

Jeff Boynton: piano
Stanard Ridgway: vocals, guitars, keyboards
David Sutton: fretless bass
Pietra Wexstun: background vocals

Water is crashin'
On the rocks down below
A side window rolls down
On an El Dorado

Hear the hush of the voices
There's a flash from inside
And nobody bothers to conceal
What they cannot hide

Chorus:
So if you see the gumbo man
Tell him now he's gotta change his plan
Stir it left and stir it right
Eat it up until it's gone from sight

From the top of a lighthouse
A beacon shone out
I draw a map to remember
What nobody found out

I woke up in the morning
Stared in the glass
I took a walk down the street
And saw you comin' past

Chorus repeat x2

There's a worry on the burner
A cold wind rushin' in
And nobody did get out
But somebody did get in

I hear a creak on the stairway
Outside the door
Blue metal voices
Are beggin' for more

Chorus repeat x2

credits

Written by: Stanard Ridgway
Published by: © Copyright 1991 Mondo Spartacus / Illegal Songs (administered by BMI)
Produced by: Stanard Ridgway

performers

Joseph Berardi: drums and percussion
Joe Ramirez: bass
Stanard Ridgway: vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards
Bernard Sauser-Hall: organ

John Wayne was always bald
And he had a woman's name
Valentino was a momma's boy
He cried in his tent all night long
And Harry Truman finally dropped the bomb
So they could go to sleep at night
So they could go to sleep at night

I got a plaque up on the wall
And an office in the sky
I give birth to major deals
Lookin' down on the passersby
I pass the torch, I follow the code
I'm steerin' straight ahead, I don't stray from the road
To be a warrior with a king
To put your hand in the flame without burning
And go to sleep at night
And go to sleep at night
And go to sleep at night

John Wayne was always bald
And he had a woman's name
Valentino was a momma's boy
I cried in my tent all night long
And Harry Truman finally dropped the bomb³
So I could go to sleep at night
So I could go to sleep at night
Now, go to sleep...

credits

Written by: Stanard Ridgway and Bill Nolan
Published by: © Copyright 1991 Illegal Songs / Mondo Spartacus / And Caboodle Music (administered by BMI)
Produced by: Stanard Ridgway

performers

Joseph Berardi: drums
Joe Ramirez: bass
Stanard Ridgway: vocals, acoustic guitar
Bernard Sauser-Hall: keyboards
Mark Schultz: electric guitar
Pietra Wexstun: keyboards

(instrumental)

credits

Written by: Stanard Ridgway
Published by: © Copyright 1991 Mondo Spartacus / Illegal Songs (administered by BMI)
Produced by: Stanard Ridgway

performers

Joe Berardi: drums, tympani
Joe Ramirez: bass, background vocals
Stanard Ridgway: vocals, background vocals
Bernard Sauser-Hall: keyboards
Mark Shulz: guitar
Pietra Wexstun: keyboards, background vocals

Well, I been breakin' rocks
Up on coolie number three
I know it's been forever
Thought you'd never hear from me
The weather here is rotten
Rainin' granite all the time
And both moons are glowin' purple
And there is no sun to shine

I keep diggin' deep down in a tunnel that goes
Twenty miles down
And I know my life is cheap
When I hear that rumblin' sound

Oh, the overlords
Got me workin' overtime
Oh, the overlords
No, they never make it rhyme

And there is somethin' in the air
That is burnin' in my throat
A big black cloud is passin'
Droppin' acid on my coat
Oh, the overlords
Got me workin' overtime

It's been ten years and a day
After World War Nine
They pushed us to make meaning
And from the meaning was our crime
Last night I had a dream––
When the guards all fell asleep
Oh, I jumped a fence outside this pen
And then I hot wired up the warden's jeep
And then I took a walk...

Chorus repeat

I still remember all the nights
We had together up on Mars
We both stood in line to get some new tattoos
While the kids got cut some scars
When they check the beds tonight
I'll leave a note scratched in the pine:
"You now can seek me underground
Where I'll be monkey-wrenchin' all the time"

Chorus repeat

From a planet out in space
A signal you could trace
Controlling what you feel
But you never see their face
Oh, the overlords
Got me workin' overtime
Oh, the overlords
Oh, the overlords
Oh, the overlords
Oh, the overlords
Yeah, the overlords
Yeah, the overlords

credits

Written by: Stanard Ridgway
Published by: © Copyright 1991 Mondo Spartacus / Illegal Songs (administered by BMI)
Produced by: Stanard Ridgway

performers

Joseph Berardi: percussion
Jim Hill: anvil, tunnel machine
Stanard Ridgway: vocals, guitar, keyboards
Elmo Smith: saxophone

(instrumental)

credits

Written by: Stanard Ridgway
Published by: © Copyright 1991 Mondo Spartacus / Illegal Songs (administered by BMI)
Produced by: Stanard Ridgway

performers

Joe Berardi: drums, tympani
Joe Ramirez: bass, background vocals
Stanard Ridgway: vocals, background vocals
Bernard Sauser-Hall: keyboards
Mark Shulz: guitar
Pietra Wexstun: keyboards, background vocals

The door swung wide, I walked right in
I was a long way off from where I'd been
From behind a desk, inside a cool green cloud
A strange low voice told me then to join the crowd

Chorus:
At Uba's
Uba's
Uba's
Fashions
Fashions

Uba said to Jumbo "Won't you take my child––
I have a walked a million miles
Changin' my clothes, changin' what I wear
Used to worry about things, now I just don't care"

Chorus repeat

A long line formed at the door to the back
Everybody wanted a dress off the rack
They wanted somethin' from her that made her shake
She screamed "Everybody gotta pay for what they take"

Chorus repeat

I'm leavin' town now, and changin' my name
I'm never going to be the same
Jumbo had a baby, lives on Blueberry Hill
And everybody got a mama, 'cause she's hangin' out there still

Chorus repeat x2

Uba's House Of Fashions (x12)
snoihsaF ,s'abU s'abU ,s'abU tA
llits ereht tuo 'nignah s'ehs esuaC'

credits

Lyrics by: Stanard Ridgway
Music by: Joseph Berardi / Joe Ramirez / Stanard Ridgway / Bernard Sauser-Hall / Mark Schultz / Pietra Wexstun
Published by: International Record Syndicate / Saint Becky Music / Swamp Duck Music / Jalsaghar Music (BMI)

performers

Joseph Berardi: Drums
Joe Ramirez: bass, background vocals
Stanard Ridgway: vocals and background vocals
Bernard Sauser-Hall: keyboards
Mark Schultz: guitar
Pietra Wexstun: keyboards, background vocals

(instrumental)

credits

Written by: Stanard Ridgway
Published by: © Copyright 1991 Mondo Spartacus / Illegal Songs (administered by BMI)
Produced by: Stanard Ridgway

performers

Joe Berardi: drums, tympani
Joe Ramirez: bass, background vocals
Stanard Ridgway: vocals, background vocals
Bernard Sauser-Hall: keyboards
Mark Shulz: guitar
Pietra Wexstun: keyboards, background vocals

Chorus:
Beyond tomorrow
Beyond tomorrow
Beyond tomorrow
Beyond tomorrow

We will be driving in
Little time bombs everywhere
On a street in a skyscraper
With aluminum hair
There'll be someone downstairs
Collecting all our names
Numbers all in a file somewhere
Everyone will be saved

Chorus repeat

Someone will be in the air
In a plane by the sea
I could be anywhere at all
If I could just be
I'll eat candied policemen
You'll eat farmers from hell
Everyone will be very modern
Can't you tell?

Chorus repeat

There could be another one
Come from the East
With a mark on his head
The sign of the beast
Then we will all extinguish
From this thing we call yeast
Did we come from yeast?

Chorus repeat

Way back when––in a petri dish
We were mated with some weird kind of fish
Then we grew arms and legs
Now we have 'em alive, no eggs

In a room far away near the capitol
There's a box that sits on someone's skull
We'll all be waitin' for the word comin' down
Meantime... let's blow this town

Chorus repeat x6 or 7

credits

Written by: Stanard Ridgway
Published by: © Copyright 1991 Mondo Spartacus / Illegal Songs (administered by BMI)
Produced by: Stanard Ridgway

performers

Joseph Berardi: drums, percussion
Larry Grennan: background vocals
Joe Ramirez: bass
Stanard Ridgway: vocals and background vocals
Bernard Sauser-Hall: keyboards
Mark Schultz: guitar
Pietra Wexstun: keyboards, background vocals

1. or even thought?

2. The lyrics sheet says these two lines are "You don't show what's behind / You don't show what's in front"... I like the sung version better.

3. Bomb! Bomb! Bomb! Bomb! (Echo! Echo!)