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

by Fishboy

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  • Streaming + Download

    Immediate download of 11-track album in whateva format ya want.
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      $8 USD

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    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.
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    edition of 450  85 remaining

      $20 USD or more 

     

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  • Albatross... CD
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Listen to the album in it's original intended format!

    Includes unlimited streaming of Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State With the Power of Rock and Roll via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
Minus Two (free) 02:55
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)
2.
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"
3.
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
4.
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
5.
Race Car 03:52
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)
6.
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.
7.
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
8.
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"
9.
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
10.
Minus One 02:10
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
11.
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

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***

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released November 16, 2007

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Fishboy Denton, Texas

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