JenniferLFO

CREDITS

Produced by Moe Berg and *Paul Myers
Recorded by Peter Hudson, Stephen Traub, and Blair Packham
Mixed by *Michael Phillip Wojewoda and Jeff McMurrich

All words and music by Jennifer Foster (Socan)

Jennifer Foster - vocals, ukuleles, acoustic guitar, violin
Moe Berg - guitar and bass
Paul Myers - electric and acoustic guitars, b/g vocals and hand claps
Joel Anderson - drums
Brad Barker - bass
Melanie Doane - violin
Creighton Doane - percussion
Sarah Slean - piano
Kevin Fox - cello
James Grey - piano
Dragoslav Tanaskovic - piano and accordion
Sarah McElcheron - flugelhorn
Michael Olsen - cello
Alwin Tong - guitar
Damion Dunphy - b/g vocals

LYRICS

UKULELE DROPOUT
You grew up swinging on three chords
variations on a theme - the young teen dream
wanna be this wanna be that
wanna smoke a butt, get kissed at the dance
failing phys-ed with “Oh When the Saints” marching through your head

Ukulele dropout
play the tune, play the game that’s what it’s all about
they let you down so you could understand
you can’t be cool with a ukulele in your hand

Little star oh happy little star, but in the junior high you fell so far
people don’t get you, when it is the funnest thing you thought you ever knew
oh yeah forget about it all
you’d hear something else and think you had to follow down the hall
join the party, make you feel so awkward and stringy

Ukulele dropout
play the tune, play the game that’s what it’s all about
they let you down so you could understand
you can’t be cool with a ukulele in your hand

Now those days they seem so far away
now you could name that tune as plain as day like anyone can
but now you play in a big rock band…

DRIVING
Fields, trees, blue sky
zoom by, technicolor makes me turn to you and smile
sky is moving like a claw, all the clouds a big jigsaw
all this wonderment to thank and your expression is a blank
cause you don’t know where you’re driving do you
you don’t have a clue

Rose red sunset
grab the map as I start to wonder why we’re not there yet
fix and flash little creature eyes, beeping signals from the other side
I see the lights of a distant town
I see the edge of a cliff going down
but you don’t know where you’re driving do you
you don’t have a clue

You wanna drive the car real fast, you want to play a guessing game
you wanna rewind the same song over and over and over again
the skyline gives me that prickly feeling I know where I want to be
shades of deep blue honesty, sincerity and understanding

Dawns on me in the billboard light
one of us has got to stop ignoring all the signs go by
because you don’t know where you’re driving do you
and if all this time I always knew
how come I let you


FLESH AND BONE
I know I disappoint you when I’m drunk
I know it isn’t glamorous
and you win when you make that phone call
I’m always the one more vulnerable
I cannot ignore my flesh and bone
it’s easier for you over the phone
I’m the one, I’m the one who loves you
I’m not some angel flying around
this is me, I’m flesh and bone

The rules of us responsible and clean
croquet wire arches in the green
placed just so - tiny places to go
I’d kick them all up barefoot and knock them behind and scream
I’m flesh and bone
this is me, I’m flesh and bone

We must face our deepest fears in life
I give you yours and you give me mine
to churn through the daily grinder with you
maybe we’ll come out in one piece not two
like flesh and bone
are you my flesh and bone
love me I’m flesh and bone
and I need you back home

DIG A HOLE
What do you do when something wasn’t what you thought
it seems you only got a little out of everything you bought
so you’ve got to try and change it into something that it’s not
nobody tells you that you’re going the wrong way
except that little voice inside and you ignore it every day
and that’s cause you just want love but it don’t work that way

Be careful cause you’ll dig yourself a hole
and the more frantically you’re searching the deeper down you go
and it doesn’t matter that you didn’t know
be careful cause you’ll dig yourself a hole
and you’ll be stranded at the bottom with your empty heart to show
and it doesn’t matter that you didn’t know

Looking for treasure buried under there somewhere
and maybe you don’t know first hand but someone told you it was there
and I won’t say who
you’re beaten up you’re broken down you’re tired out down in the ground
if you should die before you wake you pray would somebody please
forgive your blind faith or is it too late

Happens to me, I never can prevent it
oh could it be, all this I never meant it
going nowhere once again
all the time I had to spend
and all that soil I threw away

But so you figure you’ve gone this far anyway
I mean you’re putting in the work you’ll be in China any day
why do you listen when they say
nothing ventured nothing gained
(be careful not to kid yourself…)

PARALLEL UNIVERSE
We took the longest walk back to my hotel
did you know I didn’t breathe the whole way
there was something about the night
and I was slowly realizing
that you could have been anywhere all this time
but you’ve been watching me from behind
with an eternity of pain in your eyes

And you say the space between us
there’s a parallel universe
another life to feed us
from a parallel universe

Time wants to deceive, it’s like a bouncing ball
we sat on your couch and wondered at it
all I could do was cry
about you and I and you and I and where
and what are we doing
all this departure, arrival
a lost ball bouncing into a corner

And you say the space between us
there’s a parallel universe
another life to feed us from a parallel universe
where are you, I’m looking for you…

And you say the space between us
there’s a parallel universe
another life to feed us
from a parallel universe

You walked me back to the other side and I disappeared
through this pain


CHARLIE
Well I was just next door and my neighbor said to me
you were coming to the school around the corner half past three
all the people crowding there and the bodyguards to spare
Charlie

And I couldn’t help but wonder at the strangeness of it all
how could you be so close by, a world-figure and all
in the clammy little park that I walk through after dark
Charlie

Well it might be quite unorthodox or fairytailish some may say
but tell the truth who doesn’t need a break in their big day
or a break in their big life?

Cause then I got imagining now wouldn’t it be crazy
if you jumped into a nearby house quiet into safety
from the flashes and the smiles, the propriety for miles
Charlie

Well we might talk about the rain or we just might not talk at all
sure you’re old enough to be my dad, the conversation might be bad
but worth it for the trip

Well basically it all comes down that I’d get such a kick
that you were sitting in my living room as small as it
is and dusty as the floor, and quirky as the kitchen’s blue
well I could say I’d seen it all if I’d seen the likes of you
you spend your life defying space
the gravity of commonplace
Charlie

LOPSIDED
Different colours have a different weight
I’m quartered up in different shades
I’m blue all down one side
I’m only looking out one eye
the uneven parts of me can’t walk straight
gotta sit down, head wanna hang
arms out for support leaning on nothing

Part of me without you in it
I could fall down any minute
lopsided

The uneven parts of me, uneven undone
balance me with love
hole you see through it’s a tattoo
I’m favouring my right, my left side is feeling light

Part of me without you in it
I could fall down any minute
lopsided

I’m a different person when you’re not here
doesn’t matter if I’m making myself clear
I’m a different person when you’re around
I don’t know what kind of feeling this is
you try and tell me now that it’s just loneliness
well this is my heart and this is heavy

Make me feel like a Picasso
all bent out of shape
cause different colours have a different weight

Part of me without you in it
I could fall down any minute
lopsided

Lopsided

BRILLIANT BLUE
Look I said to her, look around you
who are you hanging around with these few
a few brilliant people it’s true, but you don’t know yourself
shining from inside a crack in the rock
deep in the freezer where you keep it all locked in a state of cold paralysis
and only if the right climate occurred, could it ever thaw and burn
little blue light, little pilot light waiting to ignite
waiting to ignite your brilliant blue

Blue as the waves of forgiveness you miss
blue as the tears that you cry in front of me
blue as the sky as far as you can see
and would it please take you away

It’s a mask you hold in front of your face
we build them in drama class
mold them from imagination, not what you see in the glass
keeps you from having to be wrong
from having to be strong
there it is to take the blame
it’s just nobody’s blaming you anyway
it’s the role that you play
and I know you crave the stage
little blue light, little pilot light waiting to ignite
waiting to ignite your brilliant blue

Blue as the waves of forgiveness you miss
blue as the tears that you cry in front of me
blue as the sky as far as you can see
and would it please take you away

Don’t you know you’ve always been fixing a hole where the rain gets in
you know yourself, you’re brilliant blue

SECRET HEART
A pencil-rubbing of your heart
the one you carry round with you
take out of your pockets wherever you stay and set on the table
it’s the one I’d give a psychic if she had to track you down
or uncover deeper secrets
it’s a cheap metal heart with a cord that's wrapped around
and it does hold lots of secrets, but is that where they belong

Home on the range, lying in a pile of change to stake out a safe place
cause no one’s gonna make your cheap metal heart break
but here I am holding it in my hand
I’m so sorry if I couldn’t understand
I’m sorry if I couldn’t find the real place where your secret heart lay
its not the one you leave on the table
your secret heart


MORE JOY IN HEAVEN
John always sends you a rose
he always goes too far
you always find a vase
and play while your guitar gently weeps
gently weeping
your heart crashes in a car
but there is more joy in heaven for you

Staring at his secret heart
blue eyes are lost in space
only he can figure why
his world’s a lonely place
his sweet premature heart beating at a frantic pace
but there is more joy in heaven for him

You, you can’t lose, you can’t ever lose your way

You just can’t believe the way
you made your bed again
blankets lying twisted
depending on the day
can look like comfort or they can look like pain
but there is more joy in heaven for you
More Joy in Heaven