Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State With the Power of Rock and Roll

by Fishboy

Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State With the Power of Rock and Roll Cover Art
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  • Digital Album

    Immediate download of 19-track album in whateva format ya want. This includes all original 11 album tracks, 6 demos, the 2007 CD release performance of the full album and a 2007 hour long radio interview and performance of the entire album!

    Buy Now  $8 USD

    Vinyl Edition

    Pressed in Spring 2011 on Fishstick Records, this vinyl edition includes huge detailed artwork and an inner sleeve that tells the whole rock opera story through an 11 pannel comic and the making of story through an additional comic!

    Also includes immediate download of 19-track album in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.

    Buy Now  $12 USD
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about

A 2007 rock opera about how a young man, his band and the ghost of Buddy Holly attempt to save Texas by
going a tour/crime spree in order to perform all 8030 of the songs he's written in his sleep since he was in the womb.

An 11 page comic book was drawn and printed in a limited run for the release of the CD***CLICK INTO EACH SONG PAGE TO VIEW THE RELATED PAGE OF THE COMIC***

credits

released 16 November 2007

tags

tags: rock buddy holly crime spree denton ghosts indie indie pop indie rock power pop rock opera twee Denton

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Track Name: Minus Two
In 1981 I was minus two
dreaming of the things I was gonna do
when I got up the nerve to exit out the womb
I'd open up my mouth and I'd be singing to the room
la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

and every single day until a day last week
when I closed my eyes I would be singing in my sleep
picture perfect songs for all the world to keep
but when I raised my head I thought I'd never sang a
la-la-la-la-la-la-la

and now the day is over just as it begun
so lets all sing the song for things that we have done
and things we haven't done

in 1991 when I was only eight
my father sat me down and said someday
you will write a song a song so great
it will save the lone star state
so here's a tape recorder
here's a microphone
chronicle the songs
you sing when you're alone
and thank the lord above
for the gift he's bestowed
now open up your mouth
and sing until you're old
la-la-la-la-la-la

but expectations are so high
and so I never go outside
I sit inside my room
I write a song and hit record
on a portastudio 424 it's true
it's all I do

in twenty zero six I am twenty two
dreaming of the things I am gonna do
when I get up the nerve to exit out my room
I'll open up my mouth and I'll be singing to ya

la (x52)
Track Name: Parachute (Using the Ghost of Buddy Holly as a)
falling backwards to the earth
is less impressive than you'd think it'd be

"and if your parachute don't work
I'll be the one who pens your biography"

and I thought I'd lost my mind
cause a friend was harder to find

"but someone's got your back"

that's what the parachute told me

I was half way out the door
when from my phone a voice sang out to me

"your backpacks on the floor
it looks like someone stuffed it full of sheets"

had I lost my head?
could I believe what it said?

"but someones got your back"

thats what the parachute told me

so I didn't even think about it
lept with my head held high
so long everyone who'll never even
miss me when I die

and now I'm floating through the air
it's much less scary than I thought it would be

"and on the ground all your friends cheer"

my parachute is singing straight to me

"watch out where you land
the wrong spot could just kill a man
it's like falling in love"

thats what the parachute told me

thats what the parachute said

he said "it's so easy to fall in love
and it's so easy to sing just how easy it is
it's so easy to fall in love
it's so easy to fall in love"
Track Name: Taqueria Girl
I'm so broke it makes me sick
I used cut up credit cards for guitar picks
so I'm acting quick
to earn some cashflow for the master plan
so I got a job
making tacos for the working slob
now I can't stop
cause there's and angel working next to me

and things are great
nothing really matters
when I'm talking to the taqueria girl

and now within a week
I've told her all about the prophecy
she says to me
"lets not wait another afternoon
lets get a tank lets rob a bank
lets go today before they close
lets get a band lets get a van
and by tomorrow no one knows"

I go along
nothing can go wrong
when I am talking to the taqueria girl

now I'm sitting on the ground downtown at the first national bank
with a sack of money in my right
and in my left a hand grenade
buddy holly told me
just the other day
to take my songs out on the road
but first I gotta get paid

and if things go right
we'll leave this town with pockets full tonight
and it will be
the greatest thing that you have ever seen
and if I fail
I will use my only phone call
to be talking to the taqueria girl
Track Name: Hard Earned Money
we put our hard earned money
in the taco stand
and we ran ran ran
in the marathon
when the cops they came
we were all long gone
cause we had taken
the subway
and the world moves slow
in the evening hours
you cant control
your own heart rate
and I should know
cause I had that friend
who had that friend
whose neighbor died
and some say
he became a ghost that day
and he just floats around
I assume
it's like some invisible balloon
hovering inches from the ground

well it's hard to read
and its hard to write
but I wrote wrote wrote you
a three verse song
when my wrist fell off
a bluebird cried
lets only hope
it was the first time
well they called my house
but I was not home
and my phone machine
is twelve years old
and you should know
cause you had that friend
who had that friend
whose father said
he said "son,
the perfect girl is like a gun
but she's hard to hold
once you've seen
your one and only death machine
never never never never never never
let her go"

we put our hard earned money
in the old trans am
and it burn burn burned
until midnight
if they cops they come
lets both take off
we can tell the boss
we were robbed
Track Name: Race Car
and I will play all my songs
I will play every note
from the day that I was born
eight thousand thirty I wrote
and I will play two thousand towns
a twelve minute set every night
until we save the state
we won't ever give up the fight

we're driving thirty in an armored car
our faces dirty and their smudging the window
I rest my head on an acoustic guitar
save up my energy tonight for the rock show

and all of the things that we've done
cannot prepare us for things we are going to do

now all of the sudden we're a band on the run
we're trying hard not to raise any eyebrows
I'm sure they'll thank us when we're finally done
with a ticker tape parade taking up the whole down town

and all of the friends that we've made
would not be friends if they knew we were out robbing banks
from day to day
but there is no other way

and maybe when we're dead
(maybe when were dead)
all the things we said
(all the things we said)
will stick around a float
like buddy holly's ghost
and they won't ever stop
cause I don't want to be
(I don't want to be)
a fish under the sea
(fish under the ocean)
waiting for the day
my life fades away
and floats up to the top

here's my advice to you
do what you do what you
do what you do what you
have got to do
what you've got to do


this is what it feels like to be a race car
this is what it feel like I'm so tall
this is what it feels like I'm so tired
no not at all
this is what it feel like to be a race car
this is what it feels like I'm so small
this is what it feels like I'm so tired
no not at all
this is what it feels like to be a race car
this is what it feels like I'm so tall
this is what it feels like to be a race car
no not at all
not at all (x15)
Track Name: Blackout Flashback
the night that the power went out
stumbling through drawers for a flashlight
lighting a match for a second or two
burning my finger with wax on my shoe
flying around like a bat in a zoo
it's a view that we won't ever see

and I was the sleeve of your coat
a maraca with out any insides
a silent garden of carrots and peas
listening in to the sound of the breeze
patiently waiting for someone to leave
with the sleeve on the coatrack downstairs

but I'm not there
I am right here
sitting along with the things that I fear
I've made mistakes
but I don't care
they're just an albatross hanging roud my neck

so stick out your tongue in the air
cause you might not be able tomorrow
the change in the weather the shape of the sun
a slight indication that winter is done
so catch all the snowflakes you can with your tongue
cause you only can one day a year
tomorrow the summer is here.
Track Name: Half Time at the Proper Name Spelling Bee
at the proper name spelling bee everyone loses
you can’t spell Vermont you can't spell Massachusetts
Cause that was the name of a gift the judge once received
two dogs when he was three

F-U-R-M-O-N-T

tea it was brewed doughnuts were fried
the refreshment table prepared when we arrived
to find a show for us to play
on an epic saturday
the judge briefly explained

"here's the plan
you can take your tiny band,
intermission is at two
forty five and play till three
at the proper name spelling bee

At the Colleyville library beat downs began
The first five contestants got out almost instantly
and the sixth lost for not spelling james with a g
the tears wiped on his sleeve were well beyond

believe what you want but I saw it that day
the last girl in line dropped down and began to pray
for a way to exit out of the mess
and be spared from the rest
at least that's what I guessed

one by one the children's turns were done
an event that should be fun
was turned to misery
at the proper name spelling bee

P-R-O-P-E-R-N-A-M-E-S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G-B-E-E
P-R-O-P-E-R-N-A-M-E-S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G-B-E-E

and as the band began to play
I knew that things were not okay
the looks upon the childrens' face
Were emptier than outer space

and as the band began to play
I knew that things were not okay
the looks upon the childrens' face
were emptier than outer space

the proper name spelling bee was only a scam
The cops busted in and they shouted "up with your hands
tonight it ends, your crime spree"
we had been deceived
so we began to scream
the worst obscenities
at the proper name spelling bee
Track Name: The Details of Our Trip
a hundred thousand set for bail
so I sit in county jail
taking all the news that I am given
letters wanting autographs
tv interview requests
questions about the time I face in prison

our fame it spreads across the land
everybody knows the band
who talks to ghosts and holds up banks for money
taco stands and spelling bees
everybody can't believe
the details of our trip
and all I do is sit

and I'm not alone
though it may seem
I've got a voice of comfort
there's a voice that talks to me
an insane defense
they want me to plea
but I don't know if I can

and do patiently I wait
and think of things they'd take away
if I gotta serve a life sentence
carleen jean the death machine
with eyes as blue as lazer beams
my taqueria girl
to me she means the world

and buddy explains
"I've felt it to
when I was once alive
there was a girl named peggy sue
she was my all
that much is true
but now she's gone for good
and I'd change it all only if I could"
Track Name: Thought Balloon
when the trial
started monday
I decided
to represent myself

they called it on tv the trial of the century
it was covered endlessly for months
and months on end I tried to defend
all the actions I had made

when the jury
found me guilty
they said "lock him up
and throw away the key
his songs are out of tune
and ghosts are only thought balloons
and never talking parachutes at all"

and all the while
all I could do is smile
cause I knew things would
never be the same

cause the best part
is knowing that I finally fixed my broke heart
knowing that I get to make a new start
even if it's in jail
it wasn't easy
but no one ever told me that it would
now I gotta say that I am relieved
relieved even though I failed
oh yeah I failed

so I said goodbye
to my family
the friends I
made on the way
I said "don't cry
oh believe me
I am in a
better place"

they laughed in disbelief
and asked what did I mean
I told them that the best was yet to come

cause the best part
is knowing that I finally fixed my broke heart
knowing that I get to make a new start
even if it's in jail
it wasn't easy
but no one ever told me that it would
now I gotta say that I am relieved
relieved even though I failed
oh yeah I failed

Buddy showed up and apologized he said
"maybe saving Texas was a little over hyped
but don't worry we'll meet again someday"

and the best part
is knowing that I finally fixed my broke heart
knowing that I get to make a new start
even if it's in jail
it wasn't easy
but no one ever told me that it would
now I gotta say that I am relieved
relieved even though I failed
oh yeah I failed
Track Name: Minus One
so I was sent for weeks on end
to spend my life in the state pen
and think of all the things I did
and wait

but right away it was clear
a song rang in my ear
it was the first
song I ever sang
Track Name: Farewell Albatross
albatross you don't even know me
walk around as if you're the only
show up to a party with a broken tie
playing roller hockey at the northeast y
sink a ship and then float on by

skeletor you ate all my candy
drew your sword and then drew your had we
called upon our powers when the times got tough
take a frozen shower but it weren't enough
make a soup and then soup it up

it's just the same as it was a hundred years ago
it's just the same as it was a thousand years ago
it's just the same as it was two thousand years ago
I'm just the same as I was a year ago

polyanna and the bearnstein bears
they told me stories of a christmas werewolf
I didn't believe them but I had no choice
they stole my guitar and they stole my voice
now I'm driving around in a brown roles royce

I did my job and I did my duty
playing cards with a friend named rudy
he still gets pissed about the cosby show
he says "its a dudes name" I said "I know
but you can't change which way the wind will blow"

so we sang

farewell albatross
fly away home