Oakland

A song about the harsh cold winters of northern… California.

Adam Chew – Guitar, vocals, harmonica
Laurent Coene – Drums
Arlen Ginsburg – Keyboards
Jennifer Martin – Bass

OAKLAND BLUES
Words and melody by Andrea del Moral with music by Adam Chew

Cold nights in Oakland and we got no heat
Windy cold nights and the walls be week
Not enough covers to sleep alone here
Hold on to one another, love as much as we dare

Fog mornings cut by late winter’s sun
Whole world looked different in low winter’s sun
Frost melts the yard and we roll out of bed
Got to move on, keep moving ahead

Ain’t no rest in this west coast town
Said nobody knows how to winter slow down
We gon’ keep running ’till we trip on our toes
Hit the ground sleeping and already froze

It’s kinda cold here and we got no heat
Just kinda cold here and tired bodies be weak
Gon’ sleep tomorrow like a blizzard come through here
And love one another as much as we dare

Bush

Written some time later during his first term in office. He’s the Man – not in a good way. There are lots of them in the world, always in positions of power. Let’s hope the Black Man moving into his White House for a change does better (not hard to do better than this but a hell of a mess – guess black folks are still cleaning up after whitey, especially now).

Adam Chew – Guitar, vocals, harmonica
Laurent Coene – Drums
Arlen Ginsburg – Keyboards
Jennifer Martin – Bass
Jean Walsh – Background vocals

MAN IS A COWBOY
Words and music by Adam Chew

Man’s a cowboy,
Tippin his white hat
Unless you wear black

Man’s a coward,
Keeping his belly fat
With his gun to your back

Man’s a cheater
Stackin the card deck
With shots of dead enemies

Man is murder
Sacrificing you
For the good of to few

With his
Electrical noose
Around your
Pretty black goose

Man’s an outlaw
A plutonium badge
Over his gun metal heart

Man’s a movie star
A glint in his eyes
And the gold in his smile

Man’s a head hunter
Finding us jobs
That don’t pay with no benefits

Man’s all hoop-law
The trash in his basket
Is filled with your head

He’ll do anything
To get ahead
He’ll kill Anyone
to get a head

Man the crusader
Oil in his can
Is spilled blood on their sand

Multi-man dictator
Hail to the thief
That stole my belief

That white collar pirate
Insider old boy
With the coke in his nose

Trillion dollar prophet
Only Jesus can save you
When your soul is for sale

He’ll do everything
To buy your soul
Sell you anything
To save your soul

Delicious Cow Product

I wrote this when I was living with a rasta in Toronto who may just be the real King of Kensington Market. I had become the unwilling father of a stray cat who tried her best to drive me crazy via allergies and kitten rambunctiousness.

Adam Chew – Guitar, vocals
Laurent Coene – Drums
Arlen Ginsburg – Keyboards
Jennifer Martin – Bass
Jean Walsh – Background vocals

COW
Words and music by Adam Chew

It gets so hot down on the asphalt
but i’m sitting here freezing my assets
Without my pussycat, don’t know where i’d be at
Just a dog without a master

and the traffic light’s been red for so many stops in a row
that seeing green would be a pasture, and i am a cow

I am a cow eating green green grass
I am a cow a black and white ass
I am a cow just chewing my cud (and making some love)

The prince of pain wears purple
beneath black leather he is hidden
sundry eyes of pale, dark, land gray
hide a head that is on fire

and his third eye’s been red for so many nights in a row
that seeing white would be like heaven, and he is a cloud

He is a cloud up in the sky
he is a cloud flying so high
He is a cloud until he blows of steam (and starts acting real mean)

A little girl wears boy’s blue
beneath black bruises she is pretty
sullen eyes tell a story her mouth will not
for her father’s fury

and her little heart’s been blue for so many beats in a row
that seeing red would be a diamond, and she is a ball

She is a ball bouncing around
she is a ball a nose of a clown
she is a ball just playing in the mud (and having some fun)

*$

A swing sea shanty of sorts. Inspired by my Nova Scotia roots and a bass lick from a friend in Toronto.

Adam Chew – Guitar, vocals, harmonica
Laurent Coene – Drums
Arlen Ginsburg – Keyboards
Jennifer Martin – Bass
Jean Walsh – Background vocals

SIREN’S SONG
Words and music by Adam Chew

A lonely lady lived by the ocean,
Shantytown shack, that’s where she stays.

Every day she reads by her window
And dreams of treasures, far away shores.

Late at night she sings with the foghorns
To lonely sailors out in the bay.

Till someday, her song will be answered
By someone somewhere, searching for her.

And when she finds him they’ll go dancing,
Upon the ocean’s moonlit floor,
Until there bodies are so tired,
They wash upon the shore.

A lonely sailor stirs in his bunk bed
In search of sleep a storm will not bring,

Till silent seas bring sound from the mystic,
Alone this sailor’s song does she sing.

He steers the ship with sound from the song’s light,
Into the fogbank, that’s where he turns,

Till heart’s desire has sailed over ground’s plight,
A sunken heart that forever burns.

And when he finds her she’ll be singing,
Upon his heart’s strings she will play.
And if he tells her that he loves her,
She knows the end’s at bay.

Sexy PC

A song about the absurdity of how we use technology today and the frustrating lack of self expression when confined by life in a cubicle.

Adam Chew – Guitar, vocals
Laurent Coene – Drums
Arlen Ginsburg – Keyboards
Jennifer Martin – Bass
Jean Walsh – Background vocals

PERSONAL COMPUTER
Words and music by Adam Chew

Geeks write poetry in logic
bound by precision.
Building worlds within mirrors
and dreams they envision.

Deconstructing imagination
with a bright idea.
Luddites reprograming
my own brain of fear.

Did you buy or sell
p – e – r – s – o – n – a – l ?
Yes, we’ve come so far
c – o – m – p – u – t – e – r .

Staring down the face
of unblinking progression.
A string of exclamations
unbound by expression.

If I don’t cross my T’s
and dot all my I’s,
Will you still remember me
when my program dies?

Did you kiss and tell
p – e – r – s – o – n – a – l ?
Oh you’ve come so far
c – o – m – p – u – t – e – r .

Life is a code
to complex for killing,
Morals a mold
for only those willing

Write me a love song
drowning with fire.
Unleash from the logic
the truth of a lier.

Write me a love song
procreated with magic.
Unleash from the fire
a humor that’s tragic.

Did he make me come
p – e – r – s – o – n – a – l ?
God, we’ve come so far
c – o – m – p – u – t – e – r .