Lyrics
from our debut album, What Are You Prepared to Do?
All music
and lyrics by Tim Neuburger, Brad Stewart and James Stewart. ©2012,
Rhythmic Privateering, LLC.
Dolphin Trainer
I met her at a manatee rescue / She drove me home in her hybrid car
I heard a lot of Sarah McLachlan / (She sang along with an Australian accent)
She says she’s got a job as an intern / Knee deep in cetalogical
research
Everyday I go to the aquarium / Catch both of her
shows at 10:30 and 3
CHORUS:
I’m in love with the intern dolphin trainer / I volunteered so my chances would
improve
Now that I find I want to impress her / I spend all my time practicing her
moves
I’m in love with the intern dolphin trainer / I dig the new wet suit that she’s
been wearing
Now that I find I want to get closer / I don’t even mind she always smells like
herring
She’s training sea lions to play trumpet / I’m cleaning up after the harbor
seals
We made sand angels by moonlight / (She pulled me out when I nearly drowned)
I’m starting to contribute to Greenpeace / Recycle my plastic six-pack rings
I learned a lot about echolocation / Bought Free Willy 3 on DVD
CHORUS
Her best friend’s the grandson of Flipper / He was just getting the hang of the
tailwalk
It was getting toward the end of summer / (It was her time to move on, she was
so sad to leave)
I guess I have no choice but to follow / Hitchhike my way on a fish truck
Now I’m learning how to win at poker / She's got a job teaching at UNLV
CHORUS
The city
drowns out the stars, shining up in neon lights / Sleep disturbed by passing
cars, connections played out one more time
Blind so long I think I’ve regained my sight / I’m thinking I can’t get you out
of my mind
CHORUS:
Astrid, you’re the book I can’t put down / You’re the hook that I swallow
Astrid, you’re the song I can’t get out of my head / Lead me on and I’ll follow
Thunder crashes never last, lightning surely won’t strike twice / My future
can’t escape my past, the time has come for me to choose
Destiny is just a roll of the dice / You’re the one thing I am afraid to lose
CHORUS
The spotlight floods down on the rest as I turn my back on its rays / I may not
know what’s for the best but I’d make the same choice again
There’s no need to count my numbered days / I will never wonder what might have
been
Self-Referential
I keep telling myself not to talk to myself... but I don't seem to listen / I
start scratching my head 'cause I can't figure out
what exactly I'm missing
This song's really about something / Something that I just found out / Why do I
have to be so self-referential?
This was going to be it but, I have to admit, it was promptly deleted / I hold
the camera up to the TV screen, the image was repeated
Never had a song with "yeah" in it or the word "baby", yeah
/ I guess this song has got to have this bridge but I'm having trouble bringing
it back
I keep moving along and singing this song but will anyone listen? / When I
finish the trip, like a mobius strip, I am at the beginning
I just filled in that last verse / While I was learning the bridge / Why do I
have to be so self-referential? / Self-referential, yeah
I’d
hate to say I miss you / ‘Cause those words can’t
justify
How strong I feel about you / As I wait for your reply
Autumn’s falling, skinflint trees / Shedding last year’s leaves
Ulysses S. Grant finishes his glass / And I know the reason why
I guess I have to wait without you / Passing time through the loneliest hours
No diversion can occupy my mind / Can’t define the hollowness in words
It’s not that I can’t live without you / But with you the outside world fades
We stand at the center of the universe / Thriving in our own time in space
November blurs the world in grey / The dirge-filled wind masquerades its song
Marching the leaves like lively soldiers / Paving this grave ground
Somewhere there a picture forms / Sylvia and William on a lover’s stroll
Sharing their thoughts in unspoken words / Their world’s a purple glow
I guess I have to wait without you / Passing time through the coldest hours
No diversion can occupy my mind / Can’t define the hollowness in words
It’s not that I can’t live without you / But with you we watch the world
diffuse
Standing at the center of the universe / There’s nothing left in Troy to burn
Ramming Speed
There's only one way down the mountain / He will find his way off the island
Sailing through a sea of sharks is self-sacrifice
If he can find his way across the sea / He’ll find the answer to life's mystery
It's the last desperate attempt of the righteous
CHORUS:
He's got to pay the ultimate price / It's the only way they will survive
If anyone will ever get out alive
There will come a time / When a hero is what they need
The only choice is ramming speed
He'll always know where to draw the line / He only sees the world in black and
white
Every word he speaks has the meaning of justice
There's nothing here to see / He's a model of efficiency
Doing what it takes to get the job done
CHORUS
It's the most important thing / He can take on anything they can bring
It's the last desperate attempt of the righteous
He’s on a mission for altruism / Sweeping aside the opposition
He may even have to sacrifice his girl to save the world
CHORUS
Please
wait to be seated / It’ll be close to 5 or 10 minutes
You can have a seat at the bar / We have several drink specials today
Are you ready to order? / Can I get you anything else?
How does the food taste? / Is everything OK?
No right turn on red / Watch out for the falling rocks
Airbags may cause serious injury / The bicycle had the right of way
How fast were you going? / Were you wearing your seat belt?
Do you have insurance? / Is everything OK?
Don’t go running with scissors / You shouldn’t talk with your mouth full
Wait an hour before swimming / Do your homework before you play
What do you think you are doing with that? / Can you show me where it hurts?
How many times do I have to ask? / Is everything OK?
No such thing as love at first sight / There’s still plenty of fish in the sea
Wait a few days to call back / It doesn’t have to be this way
What was your name again? / Do you feel the same as me?
Was it good for you too? / Is everything OK?
Is everything OK? / Is everything OK?
Kryptos
Though everything I’ve said’s forgotten, that’s not
all I have to say / People with the peapod pool in a picture on the page
Five hundred fifty years ago, out in outer space / I saw a concave mirror with
a star in the shape of a snail
Between subtle shading and the absence of light lies the nuance of illusion /
The information was gathered and transmitted underground to an unknown location
What passes for amontillado from the Andalusian plain / We will labor now
although, alas, it is too late
Unhurt amid the elements, the sun grow dim with age / The wreck of matter and
the crush of worlds, the stars shall fade away
You say it's not only the moon that moves the tides and you don't believe
superstition / I know that you think we've got it figured out but we still
don't know the solution
Between subtle shading and the absence of light lies the nuance of illusion /
The information was gathered and transmitted underground to an unknown location
There
in a sunny place / She’s showing lots of leg / She’s gotta
go that way
She has audacious grace / Take one look at her face
Not really born to this scene / She’s a pawn turned queen / She’s living out
her fantasy
Was it what you wanted? / Flying under the radar
Leer jets whizzing by above / Do you think that’s fair?
Yeah, it’s the only way / If you want to be made / A pyrotechnic display
Another way to get paid / But you still don’t like the stage
Not much left to surprise / The lights burn your eyes / You’re moving
counter-clockwise
Was it what you wanted? / Flying under the radar
Leer jets whizzing by above / Do you think that’s fair?
Don’t want to stray the course / Moved away from the source / And now it’s
sounding forced
So get back on that horse / Always knew the world was yours
2000 miles away / She’s going west to stay / They might even throw a parade
Wasn’t what you wanted / Flying under the radar
Leer jets whizzing by above / Do you think that’s fair?
Do you think that’s fair? / Do you thing that’s fair?
Do you really think that’s fair?
Two Regrets
I need to start what I've finished / And try to look more like my mirror image
I'll continue to pretend that I've got regrets / I'm all tapped out, but I've
got no limit
The serpent rises from the darkness / Someone's going to break tonight
Loosened threads begin the cosmic dance / Too many steps and I will find myself
in the drift
The helix intertwines its coils tight
Ideas migrate in endless flocks / Have to know where it starts to know how it
ends
'Cause nature abhors a paradox / La serpento kauzi de la tenebro
Words spurt out in tangled strands of meaning / The thoughts roll out in
crashing waves of doubt
Knowledge devolves to uncertain understanding / It's not an escape but a
comfortable out
Clinging to the liminal edge / Something's got to give tonight
Loosened threads begin the cosmic dance / Too many steps and I will wind myself
to the drift
The helix intertwines its coils tight
My spirit is empty - dark and deep / But I have this facade to keep
And pieces divide to make me complete / With fragments I mend in waking sleep
Stumbling through this life that we lead / Now and then
there are moments you cherish
You'll find those that you experience are the influence
When the thoughts in your head are all lucid / And your vision is clear as it
has been
You realize the feeling that your feeling now is exuberance
The position you're in is appreciated once in lifetime / And it makes you feel
like you are on top of the world
And that stretch of road that you're traveling / May not be the one way that
you're going
Every path that ends at decadence is one step from epiphany
Now it's time to face the fact that you'll only / Be truly happy infrequently
When the random events in your life become a symphony