Get all 13 the matthew show releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Rewired - a radio play {podcast}, singles {ep album}, Mystery Man {single}, Swear Jar EP {ep album}, Variations {album}, The Band That Never Was EPISODES {podcast}, Songs for Legacy - Volume II {ep album}, Songs for Legacy - Volume I {album}, and 5 more.
1. |
(invocation)
01:38
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
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2. |
Half the Man
06:41
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
Shades of lying everywhere
Shades of lying everywhere
Shades of lying everywhere I go
Though I'm trying everywhere
Though I'm trying everywhere
There's too much light to withhold
And you don't fathom who we are
We're next to no one, twice as far
The walls around us, they show the scars
Of who we were and what we are
CHORUS 1:
Were we ever made of stone
I know that you won't deny it
I am only half the man
That I was long ago
Shades of my life everywhere
Shades of my life everywhere
The doors are open everywhere I go
See inside it everywhere
See inside it everywhere
The vulgar economics taking hold
The song I sing to you today
May not be what you thought I'd say
The memory of who I thought I was
Grows dim in my own hands because
(CHORUS 1)
CHORUS 2:
Will we ever be so bold
I know that you won't deny it
I am only half the man
That I was long ago
Long ago
I look into arresting eyes
The compromise, it claimed me
Sold my soul for a thousand pieces of gold
And now it shames me
And now it shames me
And now it shames me
(CHORUS)
And are you watching from above
(feeding time, animal time, the compromise it claimed me)
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3. |
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
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4. |
Innocence
03:00
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
I won't be offering grace for the fallen
Grace for the living's much more hard to find
And I won't be offering prayers for the virgins
I'll save my protection for those with the need
I won't be offering legs for the lapdog
Or flowers for the "so long, good riddance, goodbye"
And I won't be offering candy for the babies
They'll need it much more when they open their eyes
CHORUS:
And I walk deeper in trenches
And I keep a match out for bridges behind
Every time I hear innocence die
And I walk deeper in shadow
And I keep an eye out for you in my mind
Every time I hear innocence die
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5. |
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
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6. |
The Impotent Rage
02:00
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
I’m in the cube, not on the stage
I’m 31, I’ve got the impotent rage
I play the lotto, I gotta win
So I don’t have to do this shit again
I eat the nougat, it’s my reward
For waking up and coming here and being bored
I coach the Yankees, from New Accounts
I make the money so my wife’ll let me whip my pee-pee out
I have a dream, it’s mine alone
That me and her and the mortgage company own
I know why the bird sings in the cage
I’m 31, I’ve got the impotent rage
Bought Krispy Kreme, went down real good
Just like the monkey on my monkey said it would
Turned on the news, it was Iraq
My wife’s been in here changing stations, where my Jesus at?
Well, here I am, on the road again
Just like that piggytailed old hippie said
And here I am, not on the stage
I’m 31, I’ve got the impotent rage
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7. |
(fifteen hundred bucks)
00:41
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
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8. |
King of the Bastards
05:30
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
West 4th Street ends badly
Hits the promise head-on
Ten years too late I come
And I find the world's moved on
And they use such a different ruler
The one that tells you how to be cooler
Than the ones you left behind
You've measured your dreams, now you'll measure mine
CHORUS 1:
Don't ask me why I'm the king of the bastards
And why my epitaph is plastered
Right over my bed, as if someone had said,
"This man once mattered"
West Berry ends badly
Hits the right note just wrong
And you can wait all day for the train
That the promise says will come
And it sits and it sits like a kiss on the lips
Of a fat, lying son of a bitch
And it looks pretty good at night
Till they turn on the ugly lights
(CHORUS 1)
CHORUS 2:
And I've heard all the tunes and read all the letters
But does it make it any better
To be standing right here at the birth of a nearby
Star in the sky
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9. |
(august)
01:19
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
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10. |
February
04:56
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
February's hard to recover from
It takes the most from me each time
It took both grandfathers, and nearly more
It stole my body for a time
CHORUS:
So come on by, spend your time
Writing songs about the warmer climes
The fingers claw outside the door
They don't worry me anymore
I'm killing time, killing time for the sun
February fucks it up for everyone
Puts you on your guard against the year
Gives the hope of snow and brings you hail again
And the hospital's white with frozen tears
(CHORUS)
And I won't be killing time for long
When February says I'm done
And I won't be killing time for long
When February takes my tongue
The winter makes a pact with everyone
If you let me through, you'll get the Spring
But you never find out till the game is up
February offers no such thing
(CHORUS)
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11. |
Anyway
05:18
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(written by the matthew show and Micheal Preble, BMI)
Don’t you try to go away
It’s enough to make you stay
Don’t you try to feel the sway
It’s enough to make you say
The things that you really want to say
That no one really wants to hear anyway
Don’t you try to really live
It’s enough to make you die
Don’t you try to make it fit
It’s enough to make you lie
In bed, and think of things you said
That no one really wants to hear you say
Anyway
Don’t you try to tell the truth
It’s enough to steal your youth
Don’t you come to me like this
It’s enough to make you wish
You hid the things you never did
When no one really would believe you anyway
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12. |
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(written by Carl Finch and Little Jack Melody, No Class Music, BMI)
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13. |
(at eighteen)
01:02
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
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14. |
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
You are lovely, though you don't know it
And you probably never will
I feel sorry, though I shouldn't be
I only speak my mind, what can I do but speak my mind
You don't want me, and you probably shouldn't
But you saw things, the same things I see
In the murky, misty darkness, bumping into someone's always
Such a nice surprise, you don't want to let it go
But I won't, not quite
Because I think you need me right now
If just to know that things aren't always as they seem
And it's cold out here in this moonlight
Of the world of one percenters every night
You're the weird kid, & you never thought it
Because of camoflauge that infrared can't crack
But you're the weird kid, & I'm your guidebook, because your friends no longer understand
Why you can't just just dream their dreams and stay the same
But you won't, not quite
And I hope you think of me
When you find that things aren't always what they seem
Because it's cold, so cold in this moonlight
Of the world of one percenters every night
Straighten up your room, "Always Vienna" fills the air
Give it time, but not too much, you can't wait
Everybody knows what they want, but no one will admit it
I scream
But I won't, not quite
Because I can't live your life
As if I was somehow given 21 again
But it's cold, so cold in this moonlight
That I hope that you'll remember me
In times when no one else can see
The world of one percenters every night
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15. |
(dignity)
01:33
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
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16. |
The Skyline Hotel
05:01
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
The Skyline Hotel
Lets out its luggage
Waistbands and shopping bags
Split at both ends
They're boarding the big bus
Takes 'em all somewhere
Somewhere that doesn't look like hell
Or Hell's Kitchen
The Skyline Hotel
Sits over the train tracks
And next to the place where all
The stroller-pushers live
They've got a friend
In old Wood-Cane Charlie
Who stands in the middle of traffic
And flags the M50 bus in
The Empire State is red and green and gold tonight
Something about a cause that someone thought was right
The Empire State, it casts a glow upon 10th Avenue as if it's part of
"Sleepless In Seattle" after all
But the Skyline Hotel
It watches the schoolkids
The gangsta wanna-be's
Their ho's, and Whitey, too
But he's boarding the big bus
Takes him off somewhere
Somewhere that doesn't look like hell
Or Hell's kitchen
Yeah, Whitey's boarding the big bus
Gonna take him off somewhere
Somewhere that doesn't look like hell
Or Hell's Kitchen
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17. |
(benediction)
04:37
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(written by the matthew show, BMI)
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the matthew show Fort Worth, Texas
the matthew show's songs, books, and podcasts are acclaimed widely, and have been featured on NPR & PBS. He has worked with Grammy-winning producers Matt Ross-Spang and John Hampton. He is also half of Ah Pook the Destroyer.
the matthew show recommends:
The King in Yellow
by Ah Pook the Destroyer
A collaboration between myself and Paul Shapera. Two concept albums thus far, The King in Yellow and The Silver Key.
go to album
Safely Down: The Songs of Jason Jackson
by Various Artists
Produced by myself and the late Grammy winner John Hampton, this is a fine collection of songs written by a largely unknown songwriter, performed by a wide array of talented artists.
go to album
Top-notch songwriting and heartfelt delivery from a matthew show associate. I co-produced this album, and it easily stands alongside my own work.
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Giddy and ramshackle bedroom indie pop bursting with buoyant guitars and summery vocal hooks.
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