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GLOBAL CITIZEN

by The Cardboard Crowns

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1.
There’s one thousand things they’ll teach you Just before they turn to leech you of your soul And all your time And they’ll be “so pleased to meet you” And to know if they can treat you to a meal, They’ll pour the wine. Then they’ll tell you that you want it, And they’ll show you how to flaunt it At the same time as you climb When you’re so wowed by all the glamour You can’t even feel the hammer As it shatters through your spine. But I didn’t get the words they said And I never learned to write between the lines Before you read. And they tell you you’re alone. Now you’re drowning in politeness But you start the sense the tightness of the rope you walk or hang. They’ve got eight fingers in your pies And the last two in your eyes To hide the glistening of their fangs. But we could hear the words not said, Slip between their grinning teeth To make their way inside your head Then they tell you you’re so close. Yes, there’s ten thousand things they’ll teach you To facilitate the breach into your head Your heart, your mind. And if you dare not meet projections You find - despite your best objections - They will cast you from their side. But I didn’t get the words they said And I never learned to write between the lines Before you read. And they tell you you’re alone.
2.
Oh, All day long I think about the ways that I have been Brought up to be By my parents by my friends, By that sweeping camera lens, By my own will and by societies Now I know that there are different homes And a billion types of different folks And that for each one there's a different way to be Oh, still I can't escape the feeling that, oh Despite us having different maps That the people need a community (Chorus): But I've been watching that fall away I've been watching that fall and we're still breathing But we'll go belly-up! I've been watching that fall away I've been watching that fall and we're still breathing but we'll go belly-up! [Bah-Dah Dah Bah Bah-Dah 3x… Woah ohhh] Well, if there is one thing that's been known to wedge us back between the walls of hedge in our backyards in the scorching summer scene, Oh, it's the way we treat our brothers' need as an impedance, to what we perceive as necessity, but it ain't that, it's greed. (Chorus) Now it's a simple fact that we react from our egos long before our tact because selfish sells, you're just doing what you've seen! but in that waving flag that all you hold there are millions and millions of little holes where the rest of the human race is meant to be…
3.
Hats Off 02:43
So I guess I must confess I seldom call and often waste my time, around you and yes it's true I'm not the best at singing songs and all the rest, but at least this ones about you. When we started playing shows, backyard parties we had thrown when no one else had come, Yet you're the ones we sing to. Hats off you've made my every day and I can't lie… I know I don't deserve your dedication, Still you serve it with elation in your eyes This one's for mom and dad - you know I love you guys. Next I'm talking on my phone Or I'm on the bus and you're all alone, You pay my way but still you're waiting I still ain't got a real job, I'm a full-time unemployed musician, And the evening light is waning. But when I get to hold your hand I'm the luckiest damn man I get to say "See her, (yeah) she's the one I sing to..." Hats off you've made my every day and I can't lie… I know I don't deserve your dedication, Still you serve it with elation in your eyes This one's for mom and dad you know I love you guys In the early days, all the hell we raised, for parents and our neighbours, Who are they to say, "you'll never see the day.." (at last) the practice beats the paper.
4.
Don’t turn on the stars ‘cause I’m not quite ready yet, I’ll take their bet that we can’t make it through. And when you come to me and tell me all the things you’ve seen I’ll wonder what we could have been, that’s true. But I believe things are better than they seem And when I find you’re beaming, I see their bet and think I’ll raise it too. Now don’t turn off the sun cause I think I’m over that, You’ll take my hand when there’s nothing else to do. And when I think of all the places I’d have rather been, They’re drowning in a sea named after you. But I believe we can find relief And when I find you dreaming, I see their bet and think I’ll raise it too. Yeah I believe we can find relief And when I find you dreaming, I see their bet and think I’ll raise it too. But there’s still so much more for us to do.
5.
I never knew my father when I grew up as a child after ten years in the wilderness he never shook the wild I took the chalice from the arc and I threw away the harp filled my overflowing grin with a toast to myself again. Well maybe if I shut my mouth... Maybe if I SCREAMED ALOUD Maybe if I let you love me Maybe you could break me down But for now... On my best behaviour and in the best of days I'm beating down these demons but I can't escape their cage it's not so much the piety in answering the call but the bittersweet humility that I was never king at all Well maybe if I shut my mouth... Maybe if I SCREAMED ALOUD Maybe if I let you love me Maybe you could break me down On the brink of my extinction could you spare a prayer for all the space I've put between us and every pace across the floor. Could you spare a second glance from the soldiers at my door. Or at least a second chance to be the man I was before Well maybe if I shut my mouth... Maybe if I SCREAMED ALOUD Maybe if I let you love me Maybe I could make you proud
6.
Olé 03:28
Olé! Olé! Comment ça va ce soir? Je sais Je sais, qu’il se fait tard. J’en ai marre j’en ai marre, de te voir assis là. Dans le noir. Allez! Allez! Je pense qu’il est temps qu’on redémarre! Tu sais, tu sais, qu’il n’a pas tort! Faut le croire, faut me croire, Pour que tu cesses de boire Écoute ton cœur sans mensonges Tes frères, tes sœurs et tes anges Écoute le vent qui change et il te changera Assez! Assez! Ce n’est pas un hasard! T’a laissé, laissé ta peur et tes dollars. Je pense qu’il est temps, je pense qu’il est temps Pour un nouveau départ. Olé! Olé! T’é encore dans les bars?! À trinquer, trinquer, ta bouteille de fort, Pour avoir, pour avoir, juste un autre Cauchemar Olé! Olé! Comment ira demain soir? Je sais Je sais qu’il n’est pas trop tard. C’est la mort, c’est la mort, de te voir assis là. Dans le noir Allez! Allez! Yé temps qu’on redémarre, Tu sais, tu sais que je n’ai pas tort Faut me croire, faut me croire Pour que tu cesses de boire
7.
Your Son 02:51
You weren’t around to see the kind of man I’d grow to be No you weren’t around to see your son. I knew I’d scrape my knees along the road you paved for me, But I never asked to be your son. I know the game was fixed, and I know the factors in the mix Yeah I know the game was fixed, but not who won. I’m sure you did you best with the tools that you possessed Yeah I’m sure you did you best with your gun. But now I’ve come to see that in this two-tiered tragedy We play our parts in blindness ‘till the curtain call’s complete. And if the tension gets relieved, all the patrons who’ve come to grieve Will learn the feeling trumps the plot.
8.
In all the time that I’ve been here I never dreamt I’d see The millions of people live so casually And the airwave’s voice bids that we rejoice Because the answers are in our tests And the T.V. screens (at least the one’s I’ve seen) Will demand a pound of flesh… a pound of flesh. In the short time that I’ve been here I never dreamt I’d see The millions of people die so causally. And the contract between life and death Seems stained into our skin So the contact point of our first steps Will confine us to our kin… to our kin. And the bomb-safe’s gate swings way too late As the killing blow is dealt And when the lips of men from their beds repent It’s not really how they felt. Because the keen ones know that the rich ones owe Their fortunes to the dead. And that the cash that flows from the dead mans bones Is twice the bounty on his head The bounty on his head.
9.
Generations 02:57
Her son was raised by sitcoms, Her daughter brought up in a Disney fantasy world Father’s on to a new one, Mothers secrets they pound at the back of her lips. Her daughter’s getting lonely, No time to think of the reasons we act in spite Down for generations, She’s finding the secrets they pound at the back of… Her dreams were so much better. She could pretend to be anything, We can’t be all but empty faces, Pretending we’re anything but What our parents have been He’s prone to advertising Despite the fact that he hasn’t bought anything. He’ll man up with a pitcher, He’s coming back home now His hands tightly balled up as… Fists are so much better He can pretend to be anything But he can’t be all but empty cases, Pretending he’s anything but What his parents have been. Mothers nest has depleted, That’s not to say she was raising them anyway. None-the-less she feels empty, She’s screaming her secrets They’ve blown out the back of her lips.

credits

released October 17, 2014

Lyrics: Mostly Joel "Rat" Kuehn, Mystery Frank (Olé), David "Tokyo" Speirs (Shut My Mouth)
Production: Rat Kuehn & Tokyo Speirs
Recording & Mixing: Rat Kuehn & Tokyo Speirs
Performance: The Cardboard Crowns. Extra gang vocals by Carly Proulx, Meredith Speirs, and Andrea Chiney.
Mastering: Tokyo Speirs
Artwork & Design: Matthew "Googles" Megannety

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The Cardboard Crowns Toronto, Ontario

The Cardboard Crowns, a band creating a mischievous maelstrom of adventure from the raw tenacity of punk, the majestic swagger of ska and not forgetting a very healthy dose of pop. High-energy entertainment is what they deliver and they're not afraid to show it!

Joel "The Rat" Kuehn, Matt "Googs" Megannety, Francois "Mystery Skunk" Cuningham, and David "Dubs" Winstanley
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