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Van Gogh on Meds
Vincent Van Gogh never took his meds
He knew that they would mess with his oranges and reds
You may think he was just a painting machine
Because he wasn't medicated he was just obscene
Livin' on paint and pure absinthe
What the hell is wrong with you? HEY VINCE!!
Vincent Van Gogh never took his meds
Because he knew that he’d been even more messed up
in the head
Sunflower, sunflower fade away
Wilting in the grip of deadly nightshade
Peasant woman, peasant woman bend and toil
Let the servant of light catch you in his oil
Vincent Van Gogh wouldn't take his meds
Because they put all the fire out in his head
Vincent Van Gogh would have never cut off his ear
But he just couldn’t stand all the things he’d hear
Vincent Van Gogh was a holy man
Who was hated by the religious in HOLLAND!!
Vincent Van Gogh never took his meds
Because he knew that they would mess with his
yellows and reds
Sunflower, sunflower drooping down
From the weight of the hate in this forlorn town
Hey Paul Gaugin won’t you help him please
His body may be in prison but his paint -
his paint is free
Vincent Van Gogh wouldn’t take his meds
Because he knew that they would mess with his
yellows and reds
They all thought he was just a painting fool
Because he never graduated from art school
Living on paint and poor absinthe
What the hell is wrong with you
HEY VINCE, HEY VINCE, HEY VINCE, HEY VINCE
Vincent Van Gogh never took his meds!
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Settler’s Prayer - Time To Break Camp
This prairie oh so empty
Oh so endless before me
I pray to my saviour
Make my wagon wheel’s turn
This country has no mercy
No tombstones mark the buried
I pray to my saviour
Make my wagon wheel’s turn
Chorus: It’s time to get a move on
It’s time to break camp
It’s time we gotta move on
It’s time - so douse those lamps
It’s time to break camp (one time - oh-oh it’s time)
This journey is his doin’
His angel is my guardian
I pray to my saviour
Make my wagon wheel’s turn
Chorus
His kingdom has no fenceposts
No depression is that bitter
My god is my compass, my comfort
and my shield
Chorus
Head em up, head em up - get a move on
Head em up, head em up - get a move on
Welcome to the last round-up (all 3 X)
Welcome to the last round-up
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3. |
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Grandma’s House (Inundation Day)
Chorus: The greatest engineering feat of our time
Buried my childhood in the St. Lawrence brine
The flood came hard, the flood came fast
Now Grandma’s house is just a memory
A thing of the past.
They moved her from her ancestral ground
To a tiny shack in a nearby town
The house where my family had lived and played
Is now submerged under a watery grave
In order to build their new super dam, the government
decided to flood the land
The people of Mille Roche and 9 other towns
Were forced to leave or drown as…Chorus
The engineers had conceived their goal
but the price of progress took a terrible toll
Entire communities uprooted and lost
With complete disregard for the emotional cost
As if to assuage the complete devastation
They moved a few buildings to a new location
A church, a schoolhouse, a general store
Are all that remain of the times before…. Chorus
Bridge:
The water’s will rise in a perpetual surge
Leaving us bereft and singing our dirge
This is the fate of all who stand in the way
Of the future’s great inundation day (4X)
You can swim to the bottom and gaze at the ghosts
of the homes and the cars and the telephone posts
But I remember the days when my family lived there
Now we’ve no roots and fading memories to share
because…
Chorus (last chorus ends with):
Now Grandma’s house is just a memory, it’s just a memory, a thing of the past.
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4. |
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Fire Away Now
Steady up, pull your belly in
Steady up, don’t worry Gunga Din
We’re in a fix, but we shall overcome
We shall fight till we’re victorious
So beat the battle drum
Arm in arm, we’ll march into the fray
Arm in arm, till we see the mighty day
When justice reigns and all our struggles done
We’ll see the day victorious
When all the world is one
(pre-chorus):
Stand your ground now, raise your muskets
Take aim and discharge
First rank fall back and re-load
Second rank all charge
Rouse your neighbours, raise your sabres
Our flags been unfurled
Dare to shoot the revolution shot
heard round the world so
Chorus:
Fire away now, fire away now
We have not begun to fight
Fire away now, fire away now
We shall not give up the fight
Fire away now, fire away now
Stand your ground in darkest night
Fire away now, fire away now
Fire until we’ve …….. won
Here they come, here they come again
Here they come, when will the struggle end
When peace will come and happiness descend
Until that day we’ll hold the fort
and liberty defend
Pre-chorus.
Chorus.
Bridge:
Hail commander, hail the cannon
Hail the shot and shell
Hail the dead and hail the living
Here come the hounds of hell - so
Chorus.
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5. |
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The Ballad of Star Records
Mike opened a store in Oshawa
and word got around
Then Paul started one in Hamilton
but nearly went down
Mike sent me to ‘The Hammer’
and Steve started Scarborough Star
Vito and Don sold us records
from the back of their car
We stocked a lot of imports
and bands that nobody knew
With our ear to the ground we knew
that the New Wave was due
We started a label in the late 1970’s
We even got a mention in the punk chart
of NME
There’s no label like Star Records
OO-OO Star Records
OO-OO never forget Star Records
OO-OO Star Records
Just look back and there you are
in the halcyon days, the days of Star
Just look back and there we are
in the halcyon days, the days of Star Records
If you didn’t know what kind
of music to buy
Mike would set you straight and
you know that he’d never lie
We were into the music
much more than the cash
We’d provide a public service
and steer you away from the trash
No trash at Star Records
Hey, you think that’s rock and roll?
But have you heard Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent,
Robert Gordon?
So you think Billy Joel and Meatloaf
are hard working men.
Well how about the New York Dolls, Clash
or Television?
What are you buying that stuff for?
You’ll be trading it in - in 6 months
Why don’t you buy a record you
might actually keep?
We got a ship of imports coming in
next week that will blow you away.
Blow you away!
You know Star Records survived all
through the CD age
by hardly ever stocking CD’s.
Nah, we don’t sell CD’s.
Records sound better, look better
feel better, are better.
You know - you don’t have to use
a magnifying glass to read the credits.
Hey shhh! Mike’s on the phone.
He’s talking to the warehouse.
‘Hey Vito. Do you think you could
lower the price on that?
I want to give my customers a better deal.’
Yeah, we started a label.
Star Records - The Label With No Choice.
We signed The Forgotten Rebels,
Durango 95, Benzene Jag
and a bunch of other bands.
We started a live music club too.
The Star Club. No commercial bands aloud.
Mike ‘Star’, Mike Shula he was the main man.
A mover and a shaker. He made things happen
and he kept things exciting at Star Records.
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The 5 song EP was recorded between November 2022 and April 2023. Bob Bryden plays all the electric and acoustic guitars, and does all the vocals - lead and harmony. If features Long Day Journey (AKA Rory Quinn) on drums and Katie Iarocci on bass, piano, flute, mellotron and harpsichord. It contains two songs which are documentary in nature - 'Grandma's House (Inundation Day)' is Bob's recollection and indictment of the flooding of 11 villages (including Mille Roche were Bob's family had resided) in Ontario to expand the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959. The second 'doc' is 'The Ballad of Star Records' which chronicles Bob's experiences as manager of one of the first punk rock/alternative records stores and labels. There is also a song dedicated to the freedom fighters of the Ukraine ('Fire Away Now'); a western ('Settler's Prayer - Time To Break Camp') and one just for fun, 'Van Gogh On Meds' (What would he have been like? Or more importantly, 'What would his art have been like?!'
