Friends Have Names

All songs by Nathan Beach and Grant K
© 1998 Bryan’s Cabin Songs, ASCAP

Recorded in Nathan’s Dorm Room, Austin
Recording by Climate
Finished 15 March 1998
Self-released to CD-R and Cassette
Special Friends Records (SFR01)
52:37

Recorded in the corner of a Roberts Hall dorm room at the University of Texas at Austin, mostly directly line in to a Yamaha MT-8x analog cassette eight track recorder. The instruments were limited to an electric guitar, a bass, a 2-octave Casio keyboard, a trumpet, and an old Alesis drum machine. The recordings were first done on a cassette four track and then re-recorded to eight tracks from January 21 to February 20, 1998. It took about 60 hours to record the 57 minutes of music.

fan faire (0:27)
ronald’s diet (5:14)
randy grows (2:55)
happy now (6:13)
peter’s knees (3:39) [listen]
roscoe’s driveway (5:30)
roving marines (2:04)
lady to-night (3:12) [listen]
smoke always (4:07) [listen]
chinese pin (4:26) [listen]
fun boat (4:11)
wooden product (1:40)
peaceful ends (0:30)
will call (3:45)
olden days / dark gone (1:45) [listen]

Lyrics

fan faire

(instrumental)

ronald’s diet

drive time makes me crochety
here in this towns
the laws are there too long
to enforced lightly
why cannot they get the traffic lights
timed like the way ronald drives
stopping at lights is no fun
when there is no-one to hit

eating times makes me crazy
here in this towns
the laws are there too long
to enforced lightly
why cannot they fix the food items
like ronald eats daily
eating is no fun when
you have got no-one to chew it out

and they know
oh yes they know
all the foodstuffs
that make ronald grow

give him carrots for his hairs
give him corn for his health
give him milk for his bones
give him meat for his brain
give him chili for his soul

and if he choose
he mixes food with other things
and if he chews
he masticates all kinds of food
and if he eats
he feels so full from head to feet
and if he please
he digests all these things with ease

making ronald out of meat
making ronald out of milk
making ronald out of bread
making ronald out of fruits and vegetables
and he will always have some thing to eat
but he will missing those things in return
and they know oh they know
all the food groups that make ronald grow

randy grows

randy is dead
she lost her head and said
“save his lungs for me”
though randy is dead
i cannot just fake regret
and fight what had to be

and his being gone to-day
is not the way to be
it is the way to live
and then she said
“oh what would randy say
if he could say now ?”

no-one knows
how our randy grows
no-one knows
how he liked to go
to the library
wearing nothing but a sock
and a silly grin on his face
naked as a horse

“save his lungs for me”
“save his arms for me”
“save his neck for me”
“i will need these things”

happy now

if you are going to die
while i am alive
do not forget to write
to make things go by
end all thinking here
force feed me some beer
then i will have to stay
dancing the time away
how we feared strange things
we lived in the frame
why do i see
you and no me ?
am i really there ?
are those fingers mine ?
i cannot see me here
am i really there ?
i only see the you
your skin has turned blue
why are you blue ?
anything i can do ?
it must be warm inside
we will go for a ride
the car is waiting outside
or we just stay here, let us hide
from all the people outside
they all know that you are mine
we pour out fear with the wine
we used to do this all the time
your body will warm in the fire
hey where is that fine old desire ?
is it growing in the fire ?
or growing in the fire ?
or i can warm you up this how
i am so happy now

peter’s knees

the broken leaves are on the floor
they form um me a semi-royal wreath
the vines reach up for heaven-high
they almost cannot touch st. peter’s knees
he lets not persons in these days
we lost all desires to learn
i am up past the stars right now
i wish i were down on earth with you

roscoe’s driveway

driving fast on sunday morning
things for roscoe in the backseat
i do not i do not i do not
get things for any other

oranges rolling down my wind-
silly looks will make him won-
derful derful der-
full of wonder will be roscoe

greeting friends in the driveway
christmas cards from el paso
i will go i will go i will go
in the door and run home

do he feel sorry for me any-
more is better than the former
i know i know i know
he give me lots of loving

[backup]
it is coming back home
starting to break
nothing is fake
nothing alone

roving marines

(lyrics censored for stupidity)

lady to-night

let me be your lady to-night
you show me how to dance right
can you please bring me some drink
i am thirsty for city lights

it is okay when you bring me some gin
can you believe the city we are in ?
cannot we leave austin bald soon ?
back to Dallas and my room

where can we get gravy for us ?
this night it is too cold to taste
cowboys and indians make friends
i will give you beads for a smoke

let me be your lady to-night
you show me how to dance right
can you please bring me some drink
i am so thirsty for city lights

[backup]
walzting time to other rhymes
that lay before me

smoke always

i am sorry that the smoke always rises
from the bonfire in your house
there are so many rooms to grow
so i do not get in the way
of the things you have to do to-day

this beer has solidified
on the chair in your living room
and i wonder why there is so much to do
why cannot you make me some tea
or give me a smile

for all the things today that you must do
all the things you

chinese pin

all i see
the same old girls
i wrote about
this time last year
that same chinese pin
through that same
nevermind hair
if you cross
the street today
do not bother
to look back
this way
all the diseases
desperate grown
do not match the way
it is on your own

fun boat

temper intuition
shadow follow sidewalk
radio believer
quintessential kickstand
politicking new friend
occupy and ration
ne’er-do-well religion
middle of the tug boat
luminescent rain falls
kerosene umbrella
jack of many asses
independent passport
halloween pretender
gallow swinging deadman
freshly-flowered lilacs
even running elbow
dashing young receiver
cinder blocking party
brand-new spanking lever
alimony fist fight
zebra-painted slumlord
yellow-bellied cowpoke
xerox colour paled face
western isolation
velvet-coated sunscape
underwater tortoise
television rescue
slavery tuition
renovated wish well
queen in crumbled castle
positively painted
over easy landmine
nashville lovers beauty
music draining solo
lacquer-coated fun boat
kissing darker corners

efficacious is your hair
building soap cars out of fun
twenty oars on my fun boat
misneglected miles away
lots of making of new friend
but there is something not said there
howdy partner be my girl
good nutrition is so fun
sounds of flowers make me free
not withholding from the zoo
rhino running shakes my tea
elbows shoving me to you
if you have questions for me
cooked them until lightly crispy
delicious chips with golden goodness
please remove all items from
community bathrooms are cleaned
on every monday wednesday thursday
and on week-ends when they are dirty
will you be here when we are thirty
and attend my birthday party
give me friends to not be tardy
give a ride the fun boat is starting
give it to my new friend marty

wooden product

et ils ne casseront probablement pas
je mange seul mais avec toi
elle peut pas s’embrasser moi
en criant ? haute voix
il voulait devenir la loi

und sie werden wahrscheinlich nicht fallen
wir gniessen den himmlischen freud
und wir finden hunden nicht mehr
komm alle katzen bald hier
eure schiffen stehen am meer
die matrosen gehen aufs land
die soldaten schwimmen im see
ich moechte mein holzproduct

peaceful ends

but just kept there a-laying
she was saying quietly in my ear:
get-ye-up, cowboy
get-ye-up, cowboy
or ride on out of town
before the sun goes down
get-ye-up, cowboy

will call

and when will you call me out there ?
oh and this fun times we bear
with my black eye
my black eye oh my

no more in the house here are you
and when will you give me a new
my black eye
my black eye oh my

there is beer in the cooling machine
no need to eat them to-day
for my black eye
my black eye oh my

when we are in dallas again
i hope you will be my special friend
with my black eye
my black eye oh my

olden days / dark gone

i ask myself how
rode home on those green streets
on a bicycle built for one
which he could not take to home
did he carry this book
which has his notations ?
whom did he christen ?
and what was he thinking ?
was it of Texas or the
long ride home ?
the long ride home

the room has gone dark
except one christmas light
it is cold on the ocean to-night
when if ever come to me
and we will go away to the sea
there is no-one will miss us here
if you walk down there with me
i will show you the morning sun
if you push me out into the sea