1. |
Perfection
04:08
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Well I could try to be a football stud
If that’s what you wanted
Work out in the gym all day
My muscles flexing
And, baby, you could come to my games
And wear my letter jacket and look so cute
CHORUS:
But I just can’t be like that
It’s not who I am
But you don’t have to change
You don’t have to change
‘Cause perfection just reeks of you
Well I could try to be a French artiste
If that’s what you wanted
“Bonjur,” I’d say at the door to your apartment
As we’d dine with a glass of wine in a small café
Before dining on the banks of the River Seine
CHORUS
Well I’ve just gotta be me, me, me
Honestly
Me, me, me
Honestly
Me, me, me
Honestly
Well I could try to be a reckless outlaw
If that’s what you wanted
Sweep you away on a motorcycle
Wear my black leather boots
As we’d ride off into the sunset
Your hair flying in the wind
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2. |
You Deserve Better
03:42
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Well you were sitting down with a blank look on your face
‘Trying to shield away any sign of disgrace
When someone told you that your boyfriend lied to you
“I’m sure he has an excuse,” she said
But way back, in the back of my head I know
CHORUS:
You deserve better
You don’t deserve second best
He shouldn’t put you to the test like that, oh no
You deserve better
You don’t deserve second best
You’re too humble to think it but I know it’s true
All the sacrifices you make to keep your teddy bear at home
‘Don’t you know when he finds a new toy that he’ll leave you alone
“But he’s so cute, he’s so gorgeous” (yeah)
Ain’t that what your friends say
And guess who else, yeah that’s right
His other girlfriend
CHORUS
Don’t you know what he does behind your back? (repeat)
Oh I wish it were true
Fine, he’s a nice person
You two look nice together
But we would have looked better, oh yeah
Well I guess I’ve got to let it go
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3. |
Love Letters in Latin
03:11
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I don’t lie awake at night and dream of her
As nice as she is to me
I’m not writing her name in the margins of my notebooks
And her picture isn’t next to my bed
Even though she gave one to me
CHORUS
So why should I want to hold her hand?
God didn’t send her for me up from above
I don’t see you loving girls that you don’t love
Well, beggars can’t be choosers
Well, maybe so
But just who the hell am I begging for?
I don’t take the way that passes by her house
Even though I’m the neighborhood
I don’t waste away class time
Wishing she’d walk in through the classroom door
And I don’t write songs dedicated to her
Saying how much I adore
CHORUS
BRIDGE:
I want someone to write love letters in Latin to
I want someone to laugh at the same things I do
I want someone
I want someone I can write love letters in Latin to
Amo te
Instrumental then repeat bridge
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4. |
The Same Ship
03:10
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We’re on the same ship together
Searching the open seas
Looking through the telescope
Gazing at the shoreline
And although it’s in our sight
The wind with all its might
Won’t let us get closer
CHORUS:
And the land is love
Someone to hold you
And the land is love
Someone to hold you
Like a mother clutches a child
Through the night
I feel a strange camaraderie with you
We’ve been on these waters
But we don’t know what to do
To get us closer to the dry land
And stand on solid ground
CHORUS
REPEAT CHORUS
Maybe someday
I might reach the shore
The shore
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5. |
Something So Simple
05:15
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If you ask me how things are going
I’m pretty confused
I’m just a mixed up kid
In a mixed up world
And I don’t feel like I have it together
As much as I did
No
I don’t know where I’m running to
Or where my direction is
Whoa
Maybe I’m thinking too much
Rationalizing
Tripping over myself inside my head
In my head
Then you came in through the back door
Into my mind
I was so confused, mixed up,
Intellectual, sort of introverted person
And you
CHORUS:
Well I like you
Well it seems so simple but it’s really what I mean and
I like you
That’s so simple
And simply something so simple in this complicated world
Seems so
Strange to me
Oh, pretty simple, pretty simple, not very complicated
Pretty simple, pretty simple, not very complicated
In my time, I can say, I can say:
“Do you believe in love at first sight, or do I have to walk by again?”
So here I stand infatuated
Or amused to some degree
But can’t we have more meaning
Than just everyday acquaintances
Yeah yeah
But you see now
I’ll always hide in myself
Too scared to risk a newborn friendship
Yeah
Then I’ll have no chance in loving her
‘Cause I’ll keep way in the back of my head
In my head
Then you came in through the back door into my mind
And all I could see were those beautiful eyes
And I wish that I could do something really suave like this:
Narrator: So I was walking down the street. It was a cold and snowy night when I saw this beautiful woman walking towards me. As she walked by, I said to her:
William: Excuse me
Mavis: Yes?
William: Do you have a sister?
Mavis: Uhh…yeah
William: Well if she’s half as beautiful as you, I’d have to ask her out this Friday night
Mavis: Well, my sister’s twelve
Narrator: she said
Mavis: But I’m free this Friday night
William: How about I take you to a show? I’ve got two tickets to Engelbert Humperdink
Mavis: Engelbert Humperdink? My goodness!
Narrator: So I said
William: What’s your name?
Mavis: Mavis
William: Well, Mavis, that’s an interesting name. My name’s William, and I think this could be the start of something special.
CHORUS
“Can I check your tag, ‘cause I swear you were made in heaven.”
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6. |
Keep On Singing
03:02
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She was a friend of mine’s friend
Who I met one night
She said she thought too much
I said that’s alright
It was a different kind of conversation
But an honest one, at that
But what struck me most
Is when she put her hand on my shoulder
And said:
You’ve gotta keep on singing
You have the voice I don’t have
So I guess I will
For that girl
You’ve gotta keep on singing
You have the voice I don’t have
So I will sing higher
You’ve gotta keep on
You’ve gotta keep on
I knew I’d never see her again
That’s not unusual
The way peoples’ lives pass
Through your life so quickly
But what will stick with me
From the person she is
In the person I am
Is what she said
You’ve gotta keep on singing
You have the voice I don’t have
So I guess I will
For the girl I’ll never see again
You’ve gotta keep on singing
You have the voice I don’t have
So I will sing higher
As high as I can
You’ve gotta keep on
You’ve gotta keep on
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7. |
Msgr. O'Connor
07:02
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On the South Side of town
There’s Catholics drinking beer
At the parish fair
And all the kids are here
Msgr. O’Connor
By the statue of Madonna
Gives a handshake
To a member of his flock
Mr. Austerman
Sits in the front row every Sunday
With a different colored blazer every week
And here he is in his black dress socks
And his red shorts
With a Budweiser in his hand
As he says what an honor
To talk to Hank O’Connor
After he’s been a priest for almost
Fifty years
Mr. Austerman’s granddaughter Tina’s in the seventh grade
And here she is on the ferris wheel with some guy named Dave
WHO’S IN THE EIGHTH GRADE
It’s a scandal with her parents
That her boyfriend’s older
But they don’t seem to care with their hands in each others’
Others’
Now Tina and Dave were doing some things that maybe they shouldn’t have been doing
Seeing that Tina was only in the seventh grade and stuff
I mean, they were going back behind the convent and stuff
And doing some things that, well, the nuns wouldn’t like
I mean,
They were hugging and kissing and necking ‘round the corner (repeat)
When ‘round the corner comes Msgr. O’Connor
Oh!
And so he screamed, “Hey!”
As the kids ran away
And wobbled after them
But the only one he recognized
Was Tina Austerman
So the monsignor thought,
“Hey, they’re only kids,
Maybe I’ll let them go.
Anyway, I’m so tired of being
A disciplinarian”
And he walked and he thought and as he thought some more
His ways just couldn’t change
From the way they’d always been
And so he told
Sister Maureen, the principal
About every single detail
And she was so very quizzical
And so they told Tina’s mom and dad
Who were very very very very mad
When they were told at the bingo table
So they found her by the bike rack
They pulled up the car
They opened the door
And they threw her in the back
You’re grounded forever they said
And you’re never seeing Dave again
Never never never
Well, Tina cried and cried
In her room til’ late that night
She hated being grounded
But mostly she was thinking about her Dave
Til’ she heard a knock on the bedroom window
And she opened It up
And Dave was there on the limb of a tree
Saying, “Won’t you come outside with me?”
And they walked together down the alley
And they looked up at the stars
In the South City sky
They held each others’ hand
Said, “Ain’t it good to be alive?”
Ain’t it good to be alive?
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8. |
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I wish that I were in heaven
Then I know I’d see you there
I wish that I were in heaven
‘Cause everybody’d know who the dB’s are
Yeah!
I wish that I were in heaven
A circle of chairs around a campfire
I wish that I were in heaven
Dim lit rooms and coffee cups
Yeah!
That’s right.
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9. |
She's An Angel
02:52
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I met someone at the dog show
She was holding my left arm
But everyone was acting normal
So I tried to look nonchalant
We both said, “I really love you.”
The Shriners loaned us cars
We raced up and down the sidewalk
Twenty-thousand-million times
PRE-CHORUS
Why did they send her?
Over anyone else?
How should I react?
These things happen to other people
They don’t happen at all, in fact
CHORUS
When you’re following an angel
Doesn’t mean you have to
Throw your body off a building
Somewhere they’re meeting on a pinhead
Calling you an angel
Calling you the nicest things
I heard they had a space program
Where they sing you can’t hear
There’s no air
Sometimes I think I kind of like that and
Other times I think I’m already there
Gonna ask for my admission
Gonna speak to the man in charge
The secretary says he’s on another line
Can I hold for a long long time
I found out she’s an angel
I don’t think she knows I know
I’m worried that something might happen to me
If anyone ever finds out.
REPEAT PRE-CHORUS
REPEAT CHORUS
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10. |
Every Once In A While
03:31
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Every once in a while
A picture of you
Will appear in my head
Though I can’t really help it
And I’ll start to think about
What might have been
Which is always the worst thing to do
In the end
And I miss her
Oh
CHORUS:
Maybe if I could just be in the same room as her
Maybe I would notice what I used to see
Maybe if I saw…
But It’d still hurt
It’d still hurt
Every once in a while
Jealousy comes through
The awful thought of someone else
Loving you
Oh, but that’s a scourge on my mind
I try to get it out
It’s an awful way to think of you
Without a doubt
You don’t deserve that
Oh
CHORUS
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11. |
It All Works Out
03:08
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I was pacing around
So nervously
In my one track mind
So many worries
Of what you thought of me
Oh whoa
Did I scare you?
Or was so stupid I didn’t know what to do?
And then it all works out
And I’m sitting in the morning sun
And wondering how I believed you were so judgmental
It all works out
With you’re smiling face in front of me
There’s really no way it could be coincidental
NOW
Then I’m thinking about
Your personality
And it seems so strange
‘Cause you think just like me
But sometimes you act so weird
Whoa oh
I can’t figure you out
You’re such a mystery
And then it all works out
And there’s no need to describe you
‘Cause everyone’s a mystery in some way
It all works out
The only words to describe you are “You are…
You’re special,” Mr. Rogers would say,
“Just the way you are.”
(Billy said that too)
You’re not like the other girls
You’re not even like the other other girls
I don’t need to worry ‘bout what you think of me.
I’m straight with who you are
And baby you’re straight with me
And then it all works out
And I’m staring at the setting sun
And thinking it’d be tough
For this to be much more fun
It all works out
It all works out somehow
In the evening I can go to sleep peacefully
NOW
You’re special just because you’re you
There’s no one else in the world just like you
Don’t go changing to try to please me
No
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12. |
The Mixer Song
05:36
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Here’s a little ditty
‘Bout Dave and Joann
Two Catholic kids doing
Best they can
Davey’s gonna be a soccer star
Joann’s gonna follow Phish
On their next world tour
DJ: Hey everybody are you ready to rock St. Louis U. High?
Davey’s wearing his Nike hiking boots,
His jean shorts, and a No Fear shirt
He’s a good Catholic from Our Lady of Providence
He says, “It’s all good”
And he’s ready to start macking on the chicks
Meanwhile, in West County:
Joann’s wearing her Birkenstocks,
Her khaki shorts, and a Grateful Dead shirt
She dumped her grade school boyfriend
“He was such a jerk.”
Now she’s looking for a guy
On the football team
So they ended up walking down the hallways of the U High
At the Back to School Mixer on a Friday night
Davey wanted a goddess
He asked a bunch of girls to dance
“No thanks”
“Sorry jerk, gotta boyfriend.”
*slap*
Ouch!
Radio Announcer: Well Davey O’Toole, a rookie just up from the minor leagues, steps up the plate as the pitcher winds up for the delivery and the throw. What!? He’s bunting on the first pitch. Out at first easy. My god, this kid does not know what he’s doing.
CHORUS:
We are the freshmen
Send us in the direction
Of getting some
DJ: Alright you funky U. High guys, are you ready to go for it?
Okay everybody, let’s get those hands in the air now. We’re going back to 1983 for this one, a little Michael Jackson for you, “Billie Jean”
Well nothing could bring Davey down
As his grade school friends came around
And with them a cute girl named Joann
In a Grateful Dead shirt
Dave: So, do you like AC/DC?
Joann: Um, not really
Dave: Oh, neither do I
Joann: Oh, do you like the Grateful Dead?
Dave: Was that that guy who died?
Joann: ohh!
Okay, okay, it’s time to make my move
There’d better be a slow dance soon
Maybe she’ll kiss me back
Maybe she’ll kiss me back
DJ: We want every guy out there to find a special someone that he wants to have a special last dance with.
Dave: So, you wanna dance?
Joann: Um, alright.
Dave: Say, could I get your phone number?
Joann: Uh, yeah.
CHORUS
You shook me all night long…
(Don’t get so funky baby)
Joann: Well it was really nice to meet you
*kiss*
Wow, where did that come from?
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13. |
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14. |
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15. |
It All Works Out 2021
03:26
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I was pacing around
So nervously
In my one track mind
So many worries
Of what you thought of me
Oh whoa
Did I scare you?
Or act so stupid I didn’t know what to do?
And then it all works out
And I’m sitting in the morning sun
And wondering how I believed you were so judgmental
It all works out
With you’re smiling face in front of me
There’s really no way it could be coincidental
NOW
Then I’m thinking about
Your personality
And it seems so strange
‘Cause you think just like me
But sometimes you act so weird
Whoa oh
I can’t figure you out
You’re such a mystery
And then it all works out
And there’s no need to describe you
‘Cause everyone’s a mystery in some way
It all works out
The only words to describe you are “You are…
You’re special,” Mr. Rogers would say,
“Just the way you are.”
You’re not like the other girls
You’re not even like the other other girls
I don’t need to worry ‘bout what you think of me.
I’m straight with who you are
And baby you’re straight with me
And then it all works out
And I’m staring at the setting sun
And thinking it’d be tough
For this to be much more fun
It all works out
It all works out somehow
In the evening I can go to sleep peacefully
NOW
You’re special just because you’re you
There’s no one else in the world just like you
Don’t go changing to try to please me
No
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Bill Michalski Saint Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, MO songwriter Bill Michalski exorcises his demons in his new EP, CRANKY. By (almost) entirely eschewing the acoustic guitar in favor of electric and working with a crack live rhythm section, Michalski's songs reach a new level of energy. Mr. Michalski has been recording and performing music since his high school days in 1993. CRANKY is his first non-single release since 2013. ... more
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