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Cooler than You: Young and Early Songs II

by Stephen Berg

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1.
LOOK AT MY CAR, NOW AIN'T IT KEEN WITH IT'S BODY OF SILVER AND STREAKS OF GREEN IT'S GOT A RADIO INSIDE THAT'S SOMETHING ELSE YEAH, I LOVE THIS CAR MORE THAN MYSELF YEAH, IT'S GREAT, IT'S MINE, ALL MINE IT'S GREAT IT'S MINE ALL MINE IT'S GOT AN ENGINE UNDERNEATH THAT HOOD OF MINE AND WHEN I PUSH ON THE GAS IT HITS 79 AND THE BRAKES REALLY STOP IT 'CAUSE THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE FOR IT'S GOT A BONDO-ED EXTERIOR ANDA HOLE IN THE FLOOR i WAS TOOLING DOWN THE HIGHWAY DOING 45 WHEN I MOVED THE OLD SHIFT KNOB I WAS FEELING ALIVE WHEN SOMETHING WENT WRONG - I HEARD A CRUNCHING SOUND AND I DROPPED THE TRANSMISSION ALL OVER THE GROUND
2.
I NEVER REALLY LOVED BEFORE I SAW HER FACE SHE IS SO BEAUTIFUL WITH ABOUNDING GRACE OH I LOVE HER YES I LOVE HER YES I DO SHE'S AN ANGEL WHICH CAME DOWN FROM ABOVE AND SHE HAS YET TO KNOW OF MY LOVE AND I LOVE HER YES I LOVE HER YES I DO MY PROBLEM LIES IN THAT SHE LIVES SO FAR AWAY AND THE ONLY WAY TO TELL HER IS TO WRITE HER EVERY DAY AND I LOVE HER OH I LOVE HER YES I DO
3.
THE TIME HAS COME TO STOP AND DWELL TO CONTEMPLATE ON RUINED TIME WASTED WARS AND FOOLISH PRIDE TO SEEK A CLEANER INNOCENT TIME WASTE NOT YOUR TIME MY FRIEND YOU TRY TO LIVE WHAT USED TO BE YOU CAN'T DO IT, CAN'T YOU SEE? THOUGH YOU FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE DID YOU SEE THE GRAVES TODAY ALL BURIED AWAY IN THE SAND? THEY SEEMED TO PLEAD, SEEM TO DEMAND THAT THERE BE A PROMISED LAND.
4.
DUSTY ROAD AHEAD DUSTY LIFE BEYOND I GLADLY TAKE THE CHAIN AND LAUGH THE REAPER WAITS FOR ME JUST AROUND THE CORNER ONE MISTAKE IS ALL I NEED THEN I WILL BE FREE WAITING IN THE DARK HE STANDS IN FRONT OF ME MANY A DAY AND NIGHT DO WE WAIT WE WAIT FOR THE END TO COME THE WAR'S NEARLY OVER THE TIME NOW DRAWS NEAR ALL THOUGH OCTOBER THEY SAID IT WOULD COME BEATEN, WE HUDDLE DOWN LOW WE WAIT FOR AN END THAT WE KNOW SOON WILL COME I REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME I FOUGHT ON THE LINE IT WAS MAYBE THREE YEARS AGO THINGS WERE SO DIFFERENT WE THOUGHT WE COULD NEVER BE BEATEN SO SILENTLY WE WAIT NOW, JUST SHADOWS OF MEN WE WAIT FOR THE REAPER TO COME NEVER AGAIN WILL WE BE AS WE WERE BEFORE
5.
ME AND MY ANDROID TAKING THE SKYWAYS ALL THROUGH THE GALAXY DOING IT MY WAY DO YOU WANT TO COME ALONG, COME FLY WITH ME ONLY YOU, ME, AND MY 'DROID WE COULD BE HAPPY AS CAN BE SPACE LOVE, YEAH SPACE TRAVEL, YEAH SPACE HAPPY, YEAH YEAH, YEAH, YEAH WE COULD JET TO VENUS AND LEAVE OUR 'DROID BEHIND THE LOVLINESS OF VENUS WILL GROW UPON OUR MINDS WE COULD TRAVEL TO SATURN AND SIT UPON THE RINGS THE WE GO TO MARS AND COLLECT SOME PRETTY THINGS WE COULD SIT AND TALK UNTIL OUR 'DROID CAME UP THEN WE GO FOR A RIDE IN MY ANTIQUE PICKUP TRUCK BUT THIS ALL WILL END FOR I'M DUE AT MY SHIP I'LL NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN FOR I'M OFF ON ANOTHER TRIP
6.
A LITTLE BIT LONGER AND I THINK I'LL LOSE MY MIND i CAN'T TAKE THE PRESSURES OF LIVING THIS TIME THINGS THEY MOVE SO FAST I CANNOT FUNCTION AND I'M LIVING ON THE EDGE ONE MORE PUSH AND I KNOW I'LL FALL I CAN'T GRASP ONTO THE LEDGE FEEL LIKE I'M PRESSURED BUT I DON'T KNOW WHY CHANGES SHOULDN'T HAPPEN TO SOMEONE SUCH AS I I'M LIVING ON THE BRINK OF DISASTER DON'T KNOW WHY I'M RUNNING AWAY CAN'T DEAL WITH THESE CHANGES ANYMORE I SHOULD BUT I PUSH THEM ASIDE TODAY I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING AND I DON'T WHAT i'M SAYING BUT I THINK I'M GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME RUNNING AWAY NEVER SOLVED A THING BUT ALL I KNOW IS THAT I'M RUNNING ALL THE TIME
7.
SITTING ON A BENCH IN A PARK. YOU KNOW I ALWAYS THINK OF YOU YOUR LIFE HAS LEFT IT'S MARK ALTHOUGH I KNOW WE'RE THROUGH BEING FRIENDS ONLY MAKES ME SAD I THINK OF ALL THE THINGS THAT I COULD HAVE HAD HAD YOU STAYED WITH ME WAITING FOR THE DYING SUN TO SINK OUT OF THE SKY MY LOVE FOR YOU HAS BEEN UNDONE AND I HARDLY KNOW WHY BEING FRIENDS ONLY MAKES ME SAD I THINK OF ALL THE THINGS THAT I COULD HAVE HAD HAD YOU STAYED WITH ME
8.
THE TEST TUBE HAS FALLEN AND BROKEN ON THE FLOOR THE ONCE MIGHTY TEST TUBE IS A TEST TUBE NO MORE FINELY TEMPERED GLASS, QUITE A MARVELOUS THING NO MORE DISCOVERIES SHALL IT AGAIN BRING IT DID A GOOD JOB WHEN IT WAS AROUND BUT NOW IT'S BEEN SWEPT IN TO A LITTLE MOUND IT COULD BE RECYCLED, MELTED AND BENDED BUT IT'S CAREER AS AS A TEST TUBE HAS JUST BEEN ENDED INTO THE TRASH COMPACTOR, THERE IT GOES! WHAT IT COMES OUT AS, NOBODY KNOWS. THE TEST TUBE HAS FALLEN AND BROKEN ON THE FLOOR THE ONCE MIGHTY TEST TUBE IS A TEST TUBE NO MORE
9.
AUGUST 'TWAS THE TWENTY SIXTH TWENTY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY SIX THE ALIENS DID IN AMBUSH LAY SOME VERY VALIENT MEN TO SLAY THE NAMES OF WHOM I'LL NOT LEAVE OUT JOHN ALLEN LIKE A HERO FOUGHT AND THOUGH HE WAS SO BRAVE AND BOLD HIS BODY NO MORE SHALL WE BEHOLD JEFF, THE PILOT, WAS KILLED OUTRIGHT BEFORE HE HAD TIME TO FIGHT THE ALIENS BEFORE HIM HE DID SEE AND WAS RAYED, AND KILLED IMMEDIATELY PHILIP ESTANSON, HE WAS SLAIN WHICH CAUSED HIM MUCH GRIEF AND PAIN PETER ESTANSON THEY FOUND DEAD ABOUT A PARSEC FROM HIS HEAD ALGERNON URSON WE DID HEAR DID LOSE HIS LIFE WHICH WAS SO DEAR ALFRED PARSECOND TREADED TO TEWATER AND SO ESCAPED THE AWFUL SLAUGHTER MARY LONG SAW THE ALIEN RACE AND HOPED TO ESCAPE THROUGH HYPERSPACE BUT HAD NOT A NOVA STOPPED HER THE AWFUL CREATURES WOUDN'T HAVE CAUGHT HER THEY LASERED HER UPON THE HEAD AND LEFT HER IN DEEP SPACE FOR DEAD JOHNNY JONES, OH LACK A DAY! WAS MET WITH A GLOWING RAY AND SO THE ALIENS TOOK THE SYSTEM ONLY A REBELLION NOW COULD HALT THEM
10.
I'VE BEEN FEELING KIND OF LOW ABOUT THE WAY I'VE BEEN PLAYING HAVEN'T BEEN TO HAPPY ABOUT WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING BUT YOU KNOW THAT'S BOUND TO CHANGE SOON WON'T BE TOO LONG BEFORE I SING ANOTHE TUNE I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF I DIDN'T ASK FOR YOU I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING I DON'T NEED YOU ALL YOU EVER DID WAS MAKE ME BLUE I'M TIRED OF RUNNING AWAY AND I'M TIRED OF THE GAME EVERY TIME I SEE YOU IT'S ALWAYS THE SAME I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF I DIDN'T ASK FOR YOU I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING I DON'T NEED YOU ALL YOU EVER DID WAS MAKE ME BLUE I'M TIRED OF RUNNING AWAY I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO YOU MAKE ME NERVOUS EVERYTIME I SEE YOU I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF I DIDN'T ASK FOR YOU
11.
I MISS YOU MY FRIEND AND I FEEL SAD AT YOUR LEAVING A PART OF ME DIES AND I FIND MYSELF HERE GRIEVING I AM GRATEFUL FOR THE TIME I'VE HAD KNOWING YOU BUT NOW YOU ARE GONE AND THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO AS WE PARTED WE SPOKE WORDS HEARTFELT AND STRONG WE MUST GO TO WHERE WE BELONG I SAID THAT I HOPED TO ONE DAY SEE YOU AGAIN YOU SAID THAT WOULD HAPPEN BUT YOU DIDN'T SAY WHEN

about

Where to start? Many of these songs are very old. Do they have merit? I don't really know. I am probably the worst judge of my own work. I tend to think nearly all of it is great. I also sometimes am too obvious with my influences making me hopelessly stuck in the mid seventies genres of heavy rock or confessional singer/songwriter. At least in my early "work."

As I am get older I am finding it much harder to write new stuff. I remember being as prolific as I could be from about 1996-2002. I would go up to my little room upstairs, turn on the 4 track cassette, and start writing backing tracks and riffs that would eventually work themselves into songs. I recorded about 47 original songs during that time, and have several that are still kind of "out there." Songs like "Angry White Man," "The Giving Game," "What Comes Around," "The Easy Ride," "He Did It To Himself," and many more that should be worked on again, and may be.

However, for this CD I have chosen to again mine my distant past, and with one exception, these are all written between 1978-1984. A couple of these I co-wrote with Robert Hanson, a school friend since the 7th grade. The themes range from space, androids, unrequited love, test tubes, cars, and unrealized self-reliance. "New Beginnings" was written in the early 90s and appeared on my second CD INDEPENDENCE AV, though in a vastly different form.

I believe I have about 100 or so original songs recorded in some form from between 1978-1984. Many of them were done on a small Panasonic cassette recorder and later on two stereo cassette decks I would use to create some crude double tracking. I had no real outlet, so I obsessively recorded, and obsessively archived. Very few of these will ever see the light of day in their original forms. "Space Love" is absolutely painful, yet still has its charms.

On the individual song desciptions I will also go over some of the guitars used. The only other thing you should know is that the drums are a Roland TD1K electronic kit and the bass is an Ibanez I've had for years. I don't talk a lot about the bass because, well, it's a bass. It's a tool of necessity. I don't enjoy playing it that much, but I have too. It's from the HD series and has a thin neck like at Fender Jazz and two active humbucking pickups. The drums, on the other hand, I love playing and this is a really nice budget kit with 15 different kits. It works for me and it sounds pretty good.

credits

released August 19, 2022

All songs written by Stephen Berg except "Space Love" and "The Galactic Takeover" which were written by Stephen Berg and Robert Hanson.

Produced and performed by Stephen Berg

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about

Stephen Berg Minneapolis, Minnesota

Stephen is a singer, songwriter, and recording artist from Minnesota, He has been active since the early 1990's as a solo artist. Stephen's acoustically driven songs explore the themes of toil, mortality, loss, politics, greed, nature, regrets, faith, and love. He's also a pretty swell guy! ... more

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