greg graffin's solo project/album "american lesion"

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IWasBored

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i don't actually expect any replies in this thread, i'm just posting it cos i'm in denial and still think people might be interested.

if you know who greg graffin is, you know him from being the singer of bad religion. if you don't know who bad religion is i highly suggest you do find some of their stuff right now.

it came out in 1997, it's not like bad religion in the sense that it's got piano, acoustic guitars, it's slower, it's more like really good indie pop/rock than a standard bad religion punk record.*

Track Listing


1. Opinion
2. Fate's Cruel Hand
3. Predicament
4. The Fault Line
5. When I Fail
6. Cease
7. Maybe She Will
8. The Elements
9. In the Mirror
10. Back to Earth


*based on reading a review from hand carved magazine and http://www.gregsreligion.homestead.com/solo.html, and hearing half the songs. so far i've only heard "opinion," "cease," "the elements," "when i fail," and "the fault line"



"opinion" is fucking incredible as far as i'm concerned.
 
here's the lyrics (snagged from http://badreligion.metropoliglobal.com/INGLES/american lesion/AMERICAN LESION.htm):

Opinion
The first thing I remember was the friction in the room
And that brown spinet piano that never played in tune
The cruel impatient tyrant, the frustrated malcontent,
The need to find the pieces, and the absence of cement
No one ever told me about the right way to love
And no one ever showed me what we're supposed to be made of
So don't be too forthright about what you think that I should be
And I'll willingly accept your low opinion of me
The last thing I remember was the slamming of the door
And the resonance of my imperfection broke the silence once more
The selfish angry bastard who doesn't want to hear
I tried to learn compassion you turned the other ear
The worn out broken record who doesn't fit the mold
The righteous independent, the mood so harsh and cold
Momma never told me about the right way to love
And daddy never showed me what we're supposed to be made of
So don't be too forthright about what you think that I should be
And I'll willingly accept your low opinion of me


Fate's Cruel Hand
There's a leaf in the sky and it's floating on by
A new season dawns but something is gone
There are days in the past and days waiting for me
I don't need a visionary in order to see
You can do what you want to me
'Cuz I don't have the energy
To retreat or hold ground or barely to stand
But I feel the sting from
Fate's cruel hand

Like a bond true and pure we're never quite sure
Our choice in the play as it erodes away
When you can't compete it ends with total defeat
You just let it go so nobody knows you're suffering
You can do what you want to me
'Cuz I don't have the energy
To retreat or hold ground or barely to stand
But I feel the sting from
Fate's cruel hand

When you're not looking
It takes from you


Predicament
I've got hope but I can't talk about the future
I've got desire but I can't exercise it on my own
Time won't solve this predicament
Time won't solve this predicament
I've got pain but to tell it hurts the one I love
I've got strength but it attenuates every day
Time won't solve this predicament
Time won't solve this predicament
Troubles never go away
They just resurface on another day
I've got heart but now it's weakened by an empty space
I've got soul but it's been soured by the bane of hate
Time won't solve this predicament
Time won't solve this predicament


The Fault Line
The sun comes up with promise and my eyes burn open wide
And the sting compounds the torture from the vacant hole inside
My conscious recollection of the past events all seem
To verify the emotion that now envelops me

Dogged as a drone
Stagnant as the stone
Weathered and alone
Living on the fault line

There's no one here to listen but there's always room for more
They pretend to give you your say before they slam the door
There's very little patience, and very little love
There's just your constant puzzlement for what you're guilty of

Dogged as a drone
Stagnant as the stone
Weathered and alone
Living on the fault line

No one need deliver me from such a familiar place
I've come to terms and work in this ribald downtrodden state
It's subliminal friction under a kind of veneer
And a form of cold injustice that keeps me stationed here

Dogged as a drone
Stagnant as the stone
Weathered and alone
Living on the fault line


When I Fail
One day my life will be a chocolate shake and late night T.V.
But right now I'm afraid of everything that is goin' down
Too many decisions
Too much responsibility
And no one is there to hold me
When I fail

Like the deer who knows he won't survive the winter so he runs in fear
The drifts too deep, the browse too scarce, the able too strong to compete
And I wonder if I was stronger when I didn't care if no one was there to hold me
When I fail


Cease
Blacktop pavement cover me
Like a Chemical Reaction or a steam roller
Spreading randomly
There's a distant buzz, and a low frequency
It tickles my ear, it rumbles under my feet
And it shakes the leaves off of every tree, violently
What pretension!
Everlasting peace
Everything must cease

Institution of the Hill
Like a beacon in the mind of an ancestor
To ignite a people's will
There's a shadowed stain on the west facade
It has spread like decay to enshroud the fraud
And the descendants find it oh so odd
Oh so odd
What pretension!
Everlasting peace
Everything must cease

Grave memorial hewn white stone
Like the comforting caress of a mother
Or a friend you've always known
It evokes such pain and significance
What was once is reduced to remembrance
And the generations pass without recompense
What pretension!
Everlasting peace
Everything must cease


Maybe She Will
Laws of gravity fight uncertainty
But I sit here without a clue
Life had different meaning and I was only dreaming
Someone else came to her rescue
Now she's gone and I am too
Maybe she will
Want to have me near enough to feel unparted
Maybe she will
Ask me for some help to get her new place started
Maybe she will
See me 'round and want to take a mid-day walk
Maybe just feel lonely and will want to talk
With me

In cold and darkest weather, the times we had together
Come to me and I smile to sleep
Then clouds dissipate and I soon re-awake
To such a living tragedy
I'm resolved to pondering
Maybe she will
Call me up to see if I am doing alright
Maybe she will
Remember the times when I would hold her so tight
Maybe she will
Think about the letters that I used to send
Someday change her mind and want to find me again

They all say
I'm wasting my whole life away
But I don't care because I have this candle from our courting days
And it's almost gone
But dim hope flickers anyway
Maybe she will
Look at those old pictures and get teary-eyed
Maybe she will
Feel my lonely heartbeat and hear me cry
Maybe she will
Help me shovel out of this misery
One day say she's sorry for giving up on me
Maybe she will


The Elements
You have always lived like this
The ice blue chill
The dark gray sky
The frozen ground
And the helpless feeling of insignificance
You have always lived like this
The day's routine
The day's unsure
The day is done
And the dreams of being somewhere you can't be
You have always fought the elements
They take on different forms
There has always been a struggle
With the things you can't perform
You will always fight the elements
They are not in your hands
You will always fight the elements
Unless you understand
Unless you understand
Unless you understand that
You have always lived like this


In the Mirror
Your arrogance!
It will surely bring you down
Is there a judgement appropriate for you
That you spit at others?
Look hard in the mirror then in ten years look again
There will be lines, sags, and rashes
But you'll have come no further than where you are today

Still helpless, all the while protracting
Your imminent demise, and feigning superiority
There will be a trail of those you have injured
And made worse by your vicious acts of greed
Without regard
You piece of shit! (repeatedly)
Look in the mirror
There you'll see the truth of your ways


Back to Earth
He wakes with the glow of adventure and hope
The morning smells sweet and replete with opportunity
He dressed into another day feeling lucky to be alive
Though nobody follows him he's sure his future is bright
Bring him back
Someone's going to have to bring him back to earth
He's getting out of hand
His alacrity for life is more than people stand
Oooohhhhh
Bring him back to earth

Discipline and toil, well lit made her blood boil
The finer things were impatient waiting discovery
Like a bird in spring the sun made her sing
With seeming inattention she was on to other things
Bring her back
Someone's going to have to bring her back to land
She's way too high
Her alacrity for life ain't going to help her get by
Ooohhhh
Bring her back to earth
Who's it going to be?
I can assure you
It ain't gonna be me!
Bring them back
Someone's gonna try and bring them back to land
And I'll be there
To catch them when they fall and send them up again
Ooooohhhhh
Bring 'em back to earth
 
Maybe She Will
Laws of gravity fight uncertainty
But I sit here without a clue
Life had different meaning and I was only dreaming
Someone else came to her rescue
Now she's gone and I am too
Maybe she will
Want to have me near enough to feel unparted
Maybe she will
Ask me for some help to get her new place started
Maybe she will
See me 'round and want to take a mid-day walk
Maybe just feel lonely and will want to talk
With me

In cold and darkest weather, the times we had together
Come to me and I smile to sleep
Then clouds dissipate and I soon re-awake
To such a living tragedy
I'm resolved to pondering
Maybe she will
Call me up to see if I am doing alright
Maybe she will
Remember the times when I would hold her so tight
Maybe she will
Think about the letters that I used to send
Someday change her mind and want to find me again
They all say
I'm wasting my whole life away

But I don't care because I have this candle from our courting days

And it's almost gone
But dim hope flickers anyway
Maybe she will
Look at those old pictures and get teary-eyed
Maybe she will
Feel my lonely heartbeat and hear me cry
Maybe she will
Help me shovel out of this misery
One day say she's sorry for giving up on me
Maybe she will



:lol: i thought it was "cos i have no schedule for recording this"

:shifty:
 
the site got the lyrics wrong at the end for "in the mirror"

here's the correct ones

In the Mirror
Your arrogance!
It will surely bring you down
Is there a judgement appropriate for you
That you spit at others?
Look hard in the mirror then in ten years look again
There will be lines, sags, and rashes
But you'll have come no further than where you are today

Still helpless, all the while protracting
Your imminent demise, and feigning superiority
There will be a trail of those you have injured
And made worse by your vicious acts of greed
Without regard (3 or so times)
You piece of shit! (repeatedly)
Look in the mirror
there you'll see the light
there will come a day
there will be the truth of your ways
 
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