Get all 87 C.W. Franz releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Face of Crete, Solo Again, Four Generative Quarter Tone Pieces, American Republic in Crisis, A Pond, The Peace We Seek Is Both Far and Near, The Infinite Screams of Accidental Martyrs, 4'33", and 79 more.
1. |
Porcelain Woman
03:48
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Porcelain
Goddess with a cause and new bachelor's degree.
Last time I saw you,you just smiled
And asked about my shirt.
Couldn't answer well because I was blushing.
Your voice flows so smoothly,
Everything blurs.
How long 'till I end this party?
Midnight passed long ago.
Normally I wouldn't wallow in pity,
but dignity was the first to leave, you know.
I think I learned nothing
from that support group we were in,
but it loosed an infatuation,
that left me in bliss and I lost my grip.
Chorus:
Self-care is a difficult concept,
for someone who doesn't have a token or gift.
Nothing special to hold onto,
cut the ropes and let me drift.
All the words and pseudo-novels;
they're just hot air to give me a lift.
I have this flute in my room,
seven holes of apricot wood.
I've been meaning to make it sing,
but for you I surely would.
You've had your struggles,
and I have my burdens as well.
There's something about you.
What I can't exactly tell.
Brown hair in a bun,
those stylish glasses.
I wish I could be like you.
From the people that you meet,
to the hearts that you touch,
Well it just may be corny, but Jordan,
You got me floating up.
Chorus:
Self-care is a difficult concept,
for someone who doesn't have a token or gift.
Nothing special to hold onto,
cut the ropes and let me drift.
All the words and pseudo-novels;
they're just hot air to give me a lift.
Well, they're just hot air to give me a lift.
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2. |
Talcum Song
02:41
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Don’t scratch my talcum heart
A little worse for wear these past few years
In mourning today
At least that’s what tradition says
Memories of her purple dress
When we first met
Quad city buses following the old hallowed line
Steps cutting through time and nature’s worth
Following a woman who healed wounds and now learns all words
I could be someone
The circuit’s not dead, there’s still time to move on
Eat your fill in the capital city
It smells of smoke and festering dust
But wasting any more words on that place
Holds me back
(you’re losing yourself to rust and old fate)
Many friends have come, many friends have gone
So it goes, is that it?
Living inside your head, the mineral’s chipped
When diamond becomes chalk, everything slips
Soul goes cold to the open casket
No there’s still hope
Strings can ring out
Chords can resolve
There’s something in honest words
A small spark telling me….
I could be someone
The circuit’s not dead, there’s still time....
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3. |
(Two) Empty Jugs
03:31
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(Two) Empty Jugs
Like a fool I’m trapped
Inside two eyes that won’t look back
And a mouth that’s begging for a kiss
All her coin she spent on me
Liberty, Indian Head and Jefferson make three
My friends are both right and wrong
Good nature can’t fit into a three minute song
Chorus 1:
Now, I’ve been nowhere for five years
Pining for love, luck, or both
Everyone tells me to trust my strength and my heart
But my arms are frail
And my feelings fade right after the start
Well our embraces are fierce
And our nights far from chaste
As she breathes beside me I wonder
Am I worth all her pain?
Her burdens are in the backseat
While mine are in the front line
We’ll bear them together
You see, that’s how lovers lie
Chorus 2:
Now, I’ve been nowhere for five years
Pining for love, luck, or both
Everyone tells me to value my strength and my heart
But my arms are frail
And my feelings fade after the start
You can’t just fill two empty jugs with love
You just can’t
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4. |
Reagan National
04:11
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Reagan National
How've you been?
The car dropped us off at six
Don’t think I've seen you since then
Last conversation we ever had
(More than four syllables anyway)
You were headed back to Connecticut
It was a chilly December night
You said you hated going home because of your mother's new husband
Met her once, seemed like a kind woman
Though she didn't really know the first thing about your life
I wished you happy Hanukkah twice
The second time I whispered softly, sincerely, nicely
Maybe it'd make for a cute Hallmark moment
How silly I was
At the gate
I got a text from you wishing me a good flight
I know I overplayed my hand
And felt we wouldn't ever be the same again
Sliding into Ben’s Chili Bowl
Digging into a sloppy burger
Next to businessmen in their sharp attire
Inbound waiting for them are their loving families and careers
The demons within
Can’t strangle them now
These men loosed that vice many years ago
Into something more useful than childish fantasy
I could’ve held you close
Kissed you once,
twice,
three times
You never wanted me to
I suppose that’s all right...
Never meant anything anyway.
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5. |
Sophie
02:39
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(instrumental)
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6. |
Baltimore, Texas
03:38
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Baltimore, Texas
If I had the heart
She’d be safe
And you’d pay for what you did
Hey
I’m alright
I just have nothing going on tonight
$2 in my wallet
And fading stoicism
When I’m drunk
All the doubt melts
Panhandling off the freeway
May not be far off for me
If I don’t see the value in living
Why love?
I’m nothing without my brain
So shoot me and let me die
I can’t forget it can’t I?
Temporary high
Let it ride
Two phrases
I love you
Understanding
The system won’t protect you
It always breaks down
Rotting from the inside
Corruption
No justice no lead
If I rode to Baltimore
Dig in my spurs like Texas
They’d all be destroyed
Nobody to save them
The river doesn’t forget
The plains don’t fade
If I were in some power
I’d restore the spirit that’s kind
It matters
Just not enough
For people to care
Everyone is taking their things
and leaving from there
Everyone from Baltimore to Los Angeles
God has forgotten us
We aren’t the children
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7. |
These Old Blues
03:25
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This Old Blues
Pour this whiskey on my finger
A thimbleful or the whole bottle
Won’t matter when it all disappears
Invisible hand, rusty throttle
I’ll save the tears for thundering anger
At you, myself or I
After all
I’m a hermit crab,
an oyster with no pearl
She promised me the galaxy
but couldn’t give me her world
My low bar
Hit me on the head
Hitching a limo for one
to Pig Alley or a cornfield strip club
Does anyone hear my news?
Does anyone listen when its old blues?
Some say this wound, it’s self-inflicted
Paid for with feelings and their corruption
If that’s true, I still have rights to this production
Still, Everyone has got their special prediction
When you’re cut up and alone you’ll die
and in passing you’ll be mentioned
Someone I’m after
A poet seeing the world in free verse
But her smile is so serious
I’d like to be there for her
That is, if I had the nerve
The Connecticut girl is smiling from her wooden perch
Silently succeeding
There’s no skeleton key inside love
or anyone that lives and breathes
You connect with someone they’ll sweep you away
Quick like the rake or slow like the autumn breeze
Does anyone hear my news?
Does anyone listen when its old blues?
Can anyone hum a tune
When I’m singing this old blues?
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8. |
Rapture
03:13
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Rapture
When all is said and done
Just tell me one thing
Was I a good friend?
Time has frozen stiff
I think of you on that field with your hockey stick
and I wish I'd felt your feet in the sand
Toes touching
Intimate, gentle, and free
Speaking of the times we knew what we wanted to be
I don't know what's settled anymore
But for you I could never tell the score
You glide in and out of my mind
Like people fly in and out of my life
I miss my acquaintances
Feel like I don't know them
They’re friendly to me but only to the side I show them
Would you block me out if I told you the truth?
That’s the thing that I would expect you to do.
There's a question inside
Clawing at my heart
Am I all I thought I'd be?
Walk through the past
Holding my hand
And together, we'll make sure what's broken
Never gets fixed again
What’s broken can never get fixed
Again
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9. |
Kansas in Summertime
03:04
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Kansas In Summertime
Shining crystals
Slivers of light that you give
Do the stalks feel it washing over
Like a deluge in mid May?
What is it like to feel full?
Not devoid of everything
An unabridged chasm
No path can connect
I always say this
An old refrain for a slightly new tune
I love everyone more
But the closer I get
I retreat
Thinking to protect
Something I don’t know
There’s a lot of things I could have done
And many things I’ve said
I hate my desire
For touching, yielding and holding
Nights pass
I lay in bed
Thinking about possibilities now long dead
Coax the fire a little more
I’m a good friend then
Always misjudging
Finally
It arrives
Morning dear
In all its bounty
The husks strong
The oaks tall
Green all around
When that day dawns
I need to know
Will love be with me
To see our home grow?
Please love, come with me
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10. |
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(instrumental)
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C.W. Franz Chicago, Illinois
Enterprising poet with a strange taste in music. Butchering everything from folk to musique concrete or something.
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