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1.
SADDER DAYS 01:57
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Buy me a razor and cut my hair Life’s unfair But let’s not go there We’ll drive to the river and wash my car Find some bar And whine like rock stars do… …you think it’s clear? Through the gin and the wine and the beer That tear running down your spine Decline, deny, and the fear Disappears Cry me a river but not too wide Some of my friends still live on the east side Wish on the heavens but not too far Cold dead stones can look like stars from here Where the pavement shines The shadows disappear And the brides of Frankenstein Howl and whine And totter on their heels Big wheels Little Saturdays, Saturdays, Saturdays Shattered days, Sadder days, Sadder days Hey Quickdraw Scratch and claw Or smile your way out of here Disappear
2.
FIRE ALARM 03:21
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I blame my heavy-handedness on water retention ‘Cause there’s 17 ounces in a pound of prevention I was way out of line at the loners’ convention Nothin’ short of a hurricane could get your attention But did I hit your snooze-button baby when I told you the tale ‘Bout the booze someone poured in my bottle of ale ‘Cause nobody’s ever going to do me harm When I’m all dressed up like a fire alarm Just a split second passes like a year of disclosure It don’t have to be cold for me to die of exposure All the bells and the whistles like a pretty explosion Slap a watch on my wrist just like a lethal promotion But then you plant a kiss on my cheek like a punch in the chest First it’s a slap on the back, then it’s "clean out your desk" And we warm our hands by a campfire of charm But I’m all dressed up like a fire alarm You said,"hey boy where’s the fire? What’s the harm?" ‘Cause you’re all dressed up like a fire alarm Then I feel the fizzle and the sputter when the rain’s coming down I should strut like a king but I feel like a clown
3.
PUBLIC TRANSIT 03:24
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Well it’s not so lonely to be all alone In a city full of kisses and tells While the public transit rattles along And she sings a little song to herself ‘Cause she woke up this morning tired and bewildered Startled by her boyfriend’s alarm So she whispered “good luck” and she waved a salute And she’s not unhappy now that he’s gone There’s twenty-five stairs that she takes unaware From the subway to the battle above All the strangers stare as she plays with her hair And they dream of unconditional love With a heart like a flare they dance like Astaire But they stumble when push comes to shove Well the public reads what the public believes All the lies and the cries and the groans While the t.v. screams And the i-pod bleeds All those Global Teens On a million screens Buzzin’ worker bees But they can’t conceive they’re alone Well it’s 6:02 when she kicks off her shoes Pours a tall, tired tumbler of wine Then she turns on the news and she turns off the news And she reaches for the L.A. times But there’s nothing new so she thumbs her way through And she whistles and stretches and sighs When she picks up the phone it feels like a stone She says “mom can I come home for a while?”
4.
PROPELLERS 04:13
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It’s so lonely dreaming I think we all agree So take your love… Please make your love awaken me The sky needs propellers A shipwreck needs the sea Don’t take your love Don’t take your love away from The hangman needs the gallows A prison needs a key Don’t take my love Don’t take my love so easily The glaciers have receded Our heros are deceased Their suffering’s completed Rest in peace ‘Cause nothing lasts forever Except you and me Don’t take your love Your sacred love away from me A story needs an ending So what’s it gonna be? Don’t take your love Your sacred love away from me Don’t take your love Don’t take your love
5.
NYC v.s. JEFFREY BROWN 03:30
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Although Arlene’s is only fifty feet from Orchard Clipped by “the Condor” while we’re looking for a nice bird We tried to help a straight guy out So Jeff is handing him a joint, size of a thumbtack I guess he didn’t see the letters on the guy’s back N – Y – P – D And there’s a lesson in here somewhere Hey now, now Everyone’s waiting for Jeffrey Brown He’s happy and high but he’s locked up downtown What a way to come down He’s gonna come down hard Our manager is on the phone to an attorney Who told us “Jeff is going nowhere in a hurry” So we… we waved our friend goodbye And while the rest of us are looking for a good time I’m in the corner trying to learn a bunch of bass lines B – C – B – A It’s Monday, I assume the band is now a trio And in the nick of time in walks our favourite Leo Me oh my! where have you been? After the show we’re in a bar because there’s drinks in there Behind the laughter and the jokes I’m kinda thinkin’ There’s a lesson in here somewhere There’s a lesson in here somewhere yeah, yeah, yeah, Hey now, now Everyone’s waiting for Jeffrey Brown He’s happy and high but he’s locked up downtown What a way to come down He’s gonna come down hard Old Downtown Jeffrey Brown So hard he’s coming down Old Downtown Jeffrey Brown Gone downtown Poor old Jeffrey Brown He’s gonna come down hard
6.
THE LAST CASANOVA IN TOWN 02:23
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You’re three bricks short Two bucks shy One blind man with the lights in his eyes In a fog, like a god, like a dog Your tail just leads you around Hands down Your the last Casanova in town You’re three flights up Two seconds in One wise man, three sheets to the wind Ah, you fawn And she yawns But the sun’s the only thing to go down In months On the last Casanova in town Ah, you whine And you moan ‘Bout the past , and your gilded throne You were a fine Don Juan But now you can’t get arrested Your crown’s been contested Maligned and molested Ah, that bird has flown Unplugged your phone Hung your head Like those shoes at the end of your bed Sing a long, sad song that haunts A wolf with the tears of a clown Your crown is your cross Good luck livin’ it down Hats off For the last Casanova in town
7.
A SPY IN THE 9 TO 5 03:07
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For every passionate plea or perverse deceit And every beautiful word that the world defeats You sang a heartbroken song through the city streets From the record shops to the subway stations All the malaprops and the meditations Of an urban man’s little degradations In the day to day Did you feel like a spy in the nine to five Or like an angel convinced that he’s still alive Maybe a little of both as the party dives From the steep incline of a Roman profile To the Easter Island of your crooked smile Can they read your mind like a broken sundial On a cloudy day? Grace and light Peace and war Grace and light, the morning after the night before Grace the tried and true Light a candle to replace the light Mourning the night before Grace and light Peace and war Grace and light, the morning after the night before Grace the tried and true Light a candle to replace the light Mourning the night
8.
WRAP YOU UP (AND TAKE YOU HOME) 02:24
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I made my will ’cause I don’t think I will make it I’ve got the chill and I just can’t shake it You’re such a pill but you dance like you’re naked Honey go put something on I wanna wrap you up and take you home I need to know, am I a lover or a brother? You say it’s stupid but it’s one way or the other I’ve always been more of a pusher than a shover No one likes to dance alone Just let me wrap you up and take you home I lose my words on your dangerous curves You shake my brain and you rattle my nerves The diva gets what the diva deserves But how’m I gonna get to heaven without some heavenly body to serve? Crypto-hypnotic with a subtle will to power Savage seduction getting stronger by the hour You took the stage at a delicate age You work the crowd like Evita Peron They wanna wrap you up and take you home Got more followers than Jimmy Jones Yeah, they wanna wrap you up and take you home Let’s do it till the rooster crows Let me wrap you up and take you home All my latest research has shown I wanna wrap you up and take you home
9.
HOME SWEET HOME 03:13
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Steve lived in a furnished cell A flop house called the Gladstone Hotel A public smile, a private hell That was all that was left of his life But I remember ’89 The Cameron House and a bottle of wine David Niven meets Frankenstein Ah, son I miss your murderer’s smile He lived fast and he died alone Come on brother home sweet home Christine, she was a friend of mine Sixteen, pissed off and divine I would’ve married her but she was a dyke So we’d fondle our fates and we’d fly But that sparrow never found a perch Huffing glue behind the Simpson church Her lips were blue, they matched her skirt When they found her at the end of July She lived fast but she died alone Come on sister home sweet home Larry soared then he took a dive Rode the bus from the 905 House full of cops, he was buried alive They said “son, we’re gonna beat your hide” Lou Reed and a codeine trance The Book of Nods like a bible of chants I guess that boy never stood a chance From Symptom Hall to the cold east-side He lived fast and he died alone Come on brother home sweet home It takes a village to raise a child Takes a city to bury it alive
10.
BOBBY WAS THE D.A. 03:09
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You were born of an innocent age Jack was the man and Bobby was the D.A. Haunted by phantoms in the Cuban hills Gangsters and starlets, the booze and the pills Class war in ’74 Your head was in the clouds but your jeans were on the bathroom floor Heroin heros in fluorescent light Jim (check) Patti (hey) Lou (alright) You were haunted like Dylan in the backstreets You stole whatever wasn’t nailed to the floor You held your breath so you could feel like you were dying You embraced this city like a brother Half alive in ’85 Reagan’s in the house So you drive and you drive and you drive But you can’t outrun bloody history son Cause it lives by the sword and the logic of the gun Bullets in the breezeway Lights along the freeway Summer city dog days Bleeding like a d.j. Ah, hey now watcha say? Ah, hey now watcha say?
11.
CAPISTRANO 03:10
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She said believe me Your heart is in the wrong key It’s sad to see you play that thing with broken strings Cause it ain’t gonna ring true No matter what the strings do Until you find a brand new true-blue song to sing That you haven’t sung Discordant and a bit high strung A blue harmony A ragged little symphony I said Caledonia Let’s go to California A swallow couldn’t croon for you in northern climes But down in Capistrano He’ll sing like a soprano So I’ll just let him do his thing and I’ll do mine Way down in the south I’ll kiss your little seaside mouth And out on the coast I’ll move you like the holy ghost She said, "sweet thing I don’t mean to clip your wings But I’ve been sung and serenaded blind" I said, "oo-ee Baby, believe me I ain’t sung this way in a long, long time Take my hand now girl let’s fly" Down by the shore I’ll love you till our knees get sore And out in the sand I’ll hold you like I’m twice the man Out on the sea Some salty little privacy And over the waves All the seconds and the hours and the days Under the sun We’ll sing until the day is done Oh, by the moon I’ll build a little nest with you
12.
TOO FAR 02:48
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Fat tear drops of rain cry surrender to the city The both of us, hearts enslaved by guitars and committees But you’ll go broke this way in a town without pity We’ll meet again some day in Hong Kong or New York City ‘Cause I know You went Too far Way down that road To ever come home Ain’t no wiser, just another year older Pouring rain, three a.m., College and Dover Said we gotta cut this shit out… gotta turn that leaf over The ballad of a metaphor, the dear-departed troubadour And I know We went Too far With sticks and stones And broken bones Addicted to hope Alive but alone A winter’s dream, awakens spring Then summer shines on everything Autumn breathes a hint of the sting That winter’s harsh hallucination brings Let the sunshine push the shadows to the far end of your kitchen Let the coffee vanquishing all those ghosts and apparitions Let the present bury the past The blindness lead the vision You strike the rebel chord And I’ll sing the new religion ‘Cause I know We’ve come Too far Down the alleys and the roads Through the blessings and the blows Too busy being born Too skip another stone When every single, self-defeating highway leads to Rome
13.
SWING LOW 04:08
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Being young was wasted in my youth I got a job on a wrecking crew Took the wages from my first pay I got laid and I drank it all away Years on in a tailspin world I fell in love with a jailhouse girl I cut her rails, I brought her the sun I stood her bail but I couldn’t buy her love Some men have all the luck Some folks can’t help gettin’ fucked Some people get thrown the book By a crooked cop with a cold left-hook You start out trying to make your way Trying to live like the good books say Pretty soon it’s a change of plan Peeking through the drapes Fingerin’ a loaded gun in your hand And like the ash in my old tea cup I’m burned down, I’m all used up Swing low sweet chariot Comin’ for to raise me up And take me home
14.
IN THE CHEST OF THE LAND 03:13
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I’m just a boy I’m just a boy With my bubble intact and my sense of joy I’m just a boy I’m just a child I’m just a child I’m just a child my condition is less than mild I’m just a child I tuck the sun beneath the horizon With the moon as my night light The world will hold my hand As I fall asleep with my head in the chest of the land I’m just a baby I’m just a baby With my bubble intact and my sense of maybe I’m just a baby I was just a man I was just a man It’s just that I had a terrible plan I tuck the sun beneath the horizon With the moon as my night light The world will hold my hand As I fall asleep with my head in the chest of the land With my shovel in my hand I bury the past in the sand The future’s held together with a rubber band As I fall asleep with my head i n the chest of the land
15.
SPOTLIGHT 06:03
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I spent some time in the spotlight Killing time… glitter blind Cold, high, paranoid and uptight Taking sides And faking smiles But then our dreams don’t die from a lack of conviction They’re bleached bone dry in the lights and addiction Ah, you’re doin’ time In a spotlit cell of your own creation You sing like hell for a prozac nation And all their eyes are wide Get set for the good life baby ‘Cause these are the golden days Blow jobs in cars and alleys And nights of eternal haze And you’ve earned every sweet, sick second Sad, soul suckin’ Salome Black nights and darker days Some men see spots in the bright light Fated roles… rabbit holes No pain, shock and awe, just Lite-Brite Find their goals Lose their souls They say that guns don’t kill it’s the fault of the people The rum and the oil and the state and the steeple Gavels and guitars It’s the same sad plan from the cab to the pulpit The airwaves jammed with a million mea culpas Everyone’s a star But get ready for a real rude reckoning ‘Cause these are the end of days Old men with fingers on triggers Build bubbles in a Bourbon haze Sad sons of de Sade sit cynically Selling seats at centre stage Dark knights of the new crusades So, don’t stare too long in the spotlight ‘Cause you may find You go blind And it pales compared to the sunlight We fell behind But there’s still time Kiss your child
16.
RUSTY CHAIN 02:39
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My head is a hammer and my heart is a rusty chain I hit one with the other time and time again Ah, but when I’m done it feels so good It may seem dumb but it’s understood If I’m steel then darlin’ you’re the rain On this rusty chain I may never shake this ball and this rusty chain I may die trying or I may live to see that day Ah, but locks and keys don’t make no jail You can still hear the sea from inside that whale Freedom cheers while my tears work away On this rusty chain Seasons change as seasons do I’m in chains but our Lord was too Ain’t no change that don’t leave some stain on you There’s stones in your heart But there’s clothes on your bedroom floor And there’s no one home when I call at your kitchen door But his car’s parked in your gravel drive I’m sure that shit’s lying at your side His windshield sings a shattered new refrain To my rusty chain And with pride’s price paid and justice done I’ll kick the stones till the sirens come My hands are bound, our hero’s dragged away In rusty chains
17.
A LITTLE RAIN 05:01
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This story’s old People dance into your soul And then they go They leave us to walk these roads And when a little rain falls on your house Ain’t nothing you can do sometimes but wait it out Ah, Cleveland street Your hollow eyes and restless feet I was one of you For a terrible hour or two And when a little rain fell on my house You sent a little ray of sunshine from way down south And when a million stars fell from my eyes You sent a constellation of protective light You’re weeping now My little dark storm cloud But I know some day soon A light’s gonna fill your room So don’t go on Singing that same dead song Just take my arm And let me pull you on And when a little rain falls on your house I’ll send a little ray of sunshine way down south And when a million stars fall from your eyes I’ll send a constellation of protective light
18.
US EAT THEM 02:55
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Hand to mouth Toe to toe Tooth and nail (nail you to the wheel) Back to back Heart to heart Eye to eye (I know how you feel) Slumlords and dead end jobs Pitbulls and five to ten Rat traps and vacant lots It’s either us or them Feet of clay Heart of gold Nerves of steel (steal what you can’t earn) Hand to hand Side to side Arm in arm (arming the poor) Forget the dog eat dog The palace or the pen’ Cause that’s all over kid Tonight it’s us eat them Lima, London, Katmandu Hong Kong, Marrakesh In Bombay, L.A. and Khartoum Property is theft A hundred hearts A thousand tears A million feet marching to war A thousand miles A million dead A single voice asking "what for?" There’s nothing over there Scarecrows and hollowmen So bring it all back home Tonight it’s us eat them Pick up that humble sword Put down that mighty pen The ink has all run dry Tonight it’s us eat them
19.
LITTLE VOLCANO 04:46
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You are a mountain But you are surrounded by an angry sea When the sun goes down on you You’re dark and you’re lonely But you burn beautiful Though all you ignite just turns to dust You keep it bottled up You seethe and then you erupt Like a little volcano Heat is a pendulum Too much you burn Too little you freeze In Lisbon you held me warm In Paris I walked the streets Helen with eyes of coal Neither a saint or a devil I doubt I don’t wanna set you off But I don’t want to put you out Little volcano And it’s hard to stay And it’s hard to go And it’s hard to live this way Night and day You simmer then you blow Little volcano And it’s hard to leave And it’s hard to stay It’s a hundred-ten degrees But nothing seems to flower in this place Little volcano Little Volcano You know I love you But sometimes just sayin’ it ain’t enough I guess those other guys must’ve been made of harder stuff You are a fire And I’m an old dog , but a dog can learn At times we were both in flames But I got my fingers burned Little volcano Little Volcano
20.
ROME 03:19
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I’m walking through the station But I can’t find your face Past the daughters of Sheba And the puppets and parades Under skies that have witnessed countless conquerors and slaves Just another bloodless Monday mornin’ in Rome Every bar’s a benediction Every hiss rings like a phone Every kiss a crucifixion Every streetlight chaperone And it’s biblically raining Like a folk song on the stones Singin’ all our thoughts these days lead to Rome Vows of engagement And dreams and amazement But pigeons and pavement Is all you really mean Through the long nights of ruin To the mornings made of gold We rise and we fall that way in Rome Every monolith that crumbles Every empty glass of wine Every smirking Sistine cupid Every punctured valentine Is a living breathing monument to the days of our decline Winter, spring and summer, and fall in Rome Hands in your pockets Like plugs in their sockets Roses and rockets That world is dead and gone I hit the sack at 3 a.m. when your key hit the door Your sweet eye wanders, my heart roams I don’t know why we still call this place home When we rose, our love fell in Rome

credits

released November 5, 2012

The Do Good Assassins are Derrick Brady, Jesse Capon, Ron Hawkins, Alex McMaster and Steve Singh

Additional Musicians: Bryden Baird (trumpet), John Dinsmore (double bass), Allison Dunnings (vocals), Kevin Neal (pedal steel), Christian Overton (trombone) and Jeremy Strachan (baritone saxophone)

Produced and mixed by Ron Hawkins and Steve Singh

All songs by Ron Hawkins (Beer, Graffiti Songs) except NYC v.s. Jeffrey Brown / In The Chest Of The Land by Steve Singh (Letters From Swindia Inc.) and Fire Alarm (Singh/Hawkins)

Recorded at Hutch and 55 Below
Bed tracks recorded at Revolution by Joe Dunphy, with 2nd engineer Stephen Koszler.
Mixed at Hutch

Mastered by Noah Mintz at Lacquer Channel

Cover art by David Ray Alexander (motelthirty.com)
Photography and art design by Ron Hawkins (ronhawkins.com)
Band photos (at Revolution) by Tammi Taylor
Alex photo (live at the Dakota) by Bob Ciolfi (quietlifephotgraphy.ca)

Manufactured at MMS, September 2012

Recorded April 14-September 10th, 2012.

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Ron Hawkins and the Do Good Assassins image

Ron Hawkins and the Do Good Assassins Toronto, Ontario

In 2000 and 2015, Hawkins was voted Songwriter of the Year by NOW Magazine. He has received Toronto station 102.1 The Edge's Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2008 was inducted into the Canadian Indie Rock Hall of Fame.

The Do Good Assassins are a stealth rock/punk/ soul outfit consisting of Lee Rose (bass), Jody Brumell (drums) and Stuart Cameron (guitar) ... more

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