What We Do Around Here, by Bill Michalski

What We Do Around Here

by Bill Michalski

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Features a fully designed digipak featuring the skillful photography of Matthew Clowney. Bill is a graphic designer and would never let you down in the graphics department. Grab a cocktail and enjoy.

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1.	Just Be Awesome 03:38	lyrics	buy track
I’ll give you thirty tries in thirty nights To break yourself from your daily plight All you have to do is just show up It’s fun for all, if it’s fun for you But do whatever you want to do And if you miss out, well I guess it’s your loss Why you sitting there at home playing possum? Just get your ass out here and just be awesome They used to pick on us But look at us now We’re the gang who runs this town Hell, maybe not, but at least this neighborhood All I want to do is have a blast For anyone and everyone A rotating cast Everyone who’s in on this joke Why you sitting there at home playing possum? Just get your ass out here and just be awesome I’m sorry man I missed the show I really would have liked to go Maybe we could meet up for a beer At a quieter place where I can really hear how you are So how are you, man? I swear to god you’re missing out Get over here man before the time runs out I’m glad to help you break out of your rut The gang’s all here and the drink is on Screw the fact you’ve got to work at dawn Screw anything that knocks me off of this buzz Why you sitting there at home playing possum? What are you doing man moving to Boston Quiet conversation just isn’t an option When you could get your ass out here and just be awesome
2.	Drawing A Blank 03:42	lyrics	buy track
I forgot to bring my lunch today Guess that I’m going to have to pay for a soggy sandwich at a flat and dusty desk Today the clouds have come to earth and I’m dreaming in the upper berth Waiting on an epiphany Epiphany that just won’t come Can you forget how to be happy? Sometimes it’s as easy as drawing a breath But now I’m drawing a blank I forgot to do my work today I still sat there anyway Safe and bound To the order of the day Drifting down the right of way Angel be my guardian Tell me please what could have been 'Cause now I'm adding up the costs The price of never getting lost How can you forget how to be happy? Sometimes it’s as easy as drawing a breath But now I’m drawing a blank You'd have thought I'd know this heart by now But I guess it slipped my mind Happens all the time You'd have thought I'd know this heart by now But I guess it slipped my mind Happens all the time I guess it slipped my mind This time
3.	Backyardin' 04:16	lyrics	buy track
There’s a place where we come together Depending on the weather and a message or two when the day is through When the time has finally come for nothing to do We make a stop at the 7-11 For the wine and the bread of heaven We do this in memory of friends gone by Distance and marriage and the ties that bind They don’t worry about if I’m gonna finish this song They’re not there to judge right and wrong We’re just backyardin’ come around back when you get off of work lay down your burden, untuck your shirt A cigarette or two just seems more true The neighbors’ house glows ‘cross an alley view Won’t you tell me that story again I don’t-know-if-this-makes-us lifelong friends I don’t know if the circle transcends In daylight, everything bends They don’t worry about bout what sort of job I’ve done They’re not there to string me along Taking over the land of the starling A plastic chair in the backporch light No more pressure to make things right So what kind of story can you weave What’s the craziest bullshit we’ll all believe It’s all the meaning that I need It’s all the doctrine I want to believe Won’t you tell me that story again I don’t want to think that this all will end For another season, or another trip home Why do we have to try going it alone? They don’t worry about where I’ve gotta go right now At least I don’t think so, but anyhow We’re just backyardin’ I’m going in, can I bring you something? To your plastic chair In the backporch light No more pressure to make things right.
4.	One With the Grass 03:54	lyrics	buy track
We were one with the grass, we knew the brick We knew the bugs that sucked your blood The smell of a dusty rug, a punk and a dud We shot ‘em off We knew just how the sidewalk tipped We knew a plastic whiffle ball grip the whap of a ball in a glove And how to climb chain link We knew every inch of our yards Spent our money on baseball cards We hit the blacktop pretty hard And scraped em’ up We ate hot dogs with potato chips Lik-m-aid, freeze pops, and pretzel sticks We knew if you mixed 7up and Coke That you’d get alcohol In the gap between the back yard fences A secret path, if you knew the entrance Rode our dirt bikes in between And never be seen We wore out the grass around home plate We picked teams on the sewer grate Play until someone hit the ball up on the roof Ain’t it the truth? On afternoons with a tornado watch We’d watch the sky grow dark on the front porch Wonder what it would be like If a twister blew this all away? You might get a bloody nose Take a drink right from the hose Gladly sweat right through your clothes on a muggy afternoon Dressed all in black, we’d go out at night Playing tag with a flashlight Spray our arms for mosquito bites Fight the good fight
5.	Ordinary 03:58	lyrics	buy track
What’s so trivial about the day to day? (It doesn’t get no songs) What’s so boring about two people Who generally get along Didn’t I learn something Since high school? Something ‘bout history over destiny? We come together Ordinary Casually parked on the couch Overflowing with poisons Poisons we brought home with us So we lick our wounds And sing our old tunes Somewhere the world waits for us What’s so trivial about the day to day? (It doesn’t get no poems) What’s so boring about two people Who generally get along Didn’t I learn something Since high school? Something ‘bout history over destiny? We come together Unassuming And I assume my grandparents taught me this Make yourself useful... and amusing 'Cause no one owes you happiness Fend off temptation Use your imagination No need to feel sorry for yourself What’s so trivial about the day to day? It just doesn’t sell What’s so boring ‘bout two people Who know each other... so well Didn’t I learn something, Lord Since high school? Something ‘bout history over destiny? Just an application Of familiar kindness From the medicine cabinet Of our love
6.	Split Level 03:04	lyrics	buy track
We went down in to the basement of that split level With the TV in the wall Our parents upstairs drink away their cares They’re miles and miles away That basement had a ping pong table And a computer with a screen glowing green We were in between The lawn and the sweet brown earth We’d go down into the basement of that split level Got a TV in the wall It had the big game, the excuse we came there’s still forty channels to change Down the stairs with our plates full of grub Decorated like a country club We were in between The garage and the sweet brown earth We’d go deep into the closets of that dark cellar They went on and on and on Our parents upstairs toss them back As we go deeper in the underground We grow a little bit older Each step into the night As the mists of middle school burn off What could happen? What might? We’ll go down into the basement of that split level On the day the bombs all fall Our parents outside, drink away their lives As the sky glows red with fire But us kids are more than able We hide under the pool table We are in between Our lives and the cold dark earth
7.	Callow Days 03:07	lyrics	buy track
Sweet cigarettes in the chill tonight Underneath the harsh and holy light Here in the little town that you come from So you brought me here to see the ways You lived your young and callow days And they don’t seem much different than mine So just for fun, let’s say it was you and Mr. Cowboy over there Who married at nineteen, at the Elks Lodge canteen And never left this town And just for fun, let’s say it wasn’t you but Lady-come-before Who I didn’t show the door, like all of them before I learned a thing or two CHORUS So just for fun, let’s say that you were not the one To guide my ache, Til’ it would finally break When I was laid out and broken in the dark And just for fun, let’s say we were not there for the play-by-play Of an Autumn football game, and the daily day to day And hon, I think it’s getting late CHORUS
8.	The Depression 02:50	lyrics	buy track
Your parents lived through the war And the depression Went to church Sunday morning Communion and confession And they raised you up To work a good profession Keep your chin up And make a good impression So the depression Would never come back again So why does it always Always sneak back in? You raised your kids up To stay out of danger No razor in the apple No candy from strangers When they came to you With blues and melancholy Tell 'em to keep their head down And just keep busy So the depression Would never come back again So why does it always somehow sneak back in? And when you're gone, they'll say At least she didn't suffer When you're gone, they'll say He sure was a tough one Before you're gone, at least Can you let down the buffer and breathe? We lived through 9-11 And the Great Recession We've got kids of our own Give them our full attention You might think it a selfish obsession To burden everyone With our self-expression So the depression Would never come back again So why does it always somehow sneak back in? And when you're gone, they'll say At least she didn't suffer When you're gone, they'll say He sure was a tough one When you're gone, I'll say You were some kind of bluffer
9.	Blessed Mother 03:50	lyrics	buy track
Blessed mother At your service, at your need Sovereign sister Always there with a good deed All that she wants Is what’s best for everyone And you my friend can be her daughter or her son Just trust in her and you’ll work as one Over your shoulder Always there with her advice Over your shoulder Hard to complain when she’s so damn nice She’s always KNOWN that she has a special knack She’s right behind you to pick up your slack Join her clan and you’re never going back Never going back Blessed mother There to help you make your choice Humble servant Loves the sound of her own voice All that she asks is to have the final say What’s the point because she’ll get it anyway? You can’t argue with the family way Flit and flutter Toss about til we crash land Tell me you trust me Then take the spoon right out of my hand Blessed mother No thanks, I’ll show myself the door You kill ‘em with kindness Til we’re all wiped out on the floor!
10.	Baby Blue 04:43	lyrics	buy track
I don’t remember the night We brought you into this life It’s no concern to you Little boy in the baby blue Now in the summer Now in the light What can I do To make things right? Met her again after all these years My high school girl And we shared a couple beers And fell into each other A familiar fall Entangled our lives Once and for all Oh god, oh god Tell me what is right Every time I think I know I lose it in the headlights So what we do around here Is shoot the shit and drink beer Wake up and off I go But I still don’t know I’ll tell ya what, little boy I love this town ‘Want you to grow up here With love all around I can’t speak for your mother And all her goals We woke up from each other Everybody saw She’s got her twelve And I’ve got my ten But whatever you count to It all comes back to you So what do I do in the crucial hour? admit I am weak seek help from a higher power CHORUS As the months turn into years As the years turn into decades You and me and my father before me There’s only so many hours in a day I pick a song for you And with this song I’ll pray

credits

released December 10, 2013

All songs by Bill Michalski. All sounds made my Bill Michalski except where noted. Recorded in Worcester, MA.
Mixed and mastered by Steve Hoover at Steve Hoover Productions, Edwardsville, IL.
Cover photo by Matthew Clowney, www.matthewclowney.com
Back cover photo by Patrick Boyle

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about

Bill Michalski Saint Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, MO songwriter Bill Michalski exorcises his demons in his new EP, CRANKY. By (almost) entirely eschewing the acoustic guitar in favor of electric and working with a crack live rhythm section, Michalski's songs reach a new level of energy. Mr. Michalski has been recording and performing music since his high school days in 1993. CRANKY is his first non-single release since 2013. ... more