"Berkeley, California," the new album by Paul Iorio, has just been released (6/20/16). This is the online edition. Here are links to the MP3s and lyrics, plus some liner notes about the album. Enjoy!
Here are links to the songs and lyrics:
1) Everybody's Gonna Be Dead Some Day:
1) EVERYBODY'S GONNA BE DEAD SOME DAY.
2) She's Just Like September.
2) SHE'S JUST LIKE SEPTEMBER.
3) WHATCHA
3) WHATCHA
4) THE BERKELEY SONG.
4) THE BERKELEY SONG
5) MAKE YOUR BODY HOME.
5) MAKE YOUR BODY HOME.
6. SKIPPING STONES TODAY.
6) SKIPPING STONES TODAY
7) SAVING GRACE.
7) SAVING GRACE.
8) WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE SOME DAY.
8) WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE SOME DAY.
........................
lyrics
Everybody's Gonna Be Dead Someday
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2016
Everybody's gonna be dead some day
No one's gonna make it out of this century
Everybody's gonna be dead someday
That's what the doctors and the elders say
Everybody's gonna be dead some day, some way
Jenny, she died just a year ago
And Jim passed at Alta Bates
Johnny was healthy but the cancer was stealthy
Doctors caught it way too late
[chorus]
The good news is, you ain't dead yet
And the bad news is, you ain't dead yet
There's still some time to make a glorious mess
And you can make a lot more than just your bed
[chorus]
.....................................................
She's Just Like September
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2016
Laughing
September
You were on my mind
I forgot to remember
I fell from a high climb
Sometimes
With lovers
It all comes down to one
Every other woman
Seems so overdone
[chorus]
She' just like September
Hoping
To elope and
You're more than a sometime thing
Break up in December
Re-unite in spring
Midnight
We were fallin'
Like the walls of Jericho
Moonlight cast a shadow
Like a de Chirico
She's just like September
There're Christmas decorations
As early as Labor Day
But she's not here on New Year's Eve
So, I avoid the drunken fray
The best part
Of any season
Is when the season starts to turn
She's just like September
As far as I'm concerned
.......................................................
Whatcha
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2016
When she died, you know she said, "I won't be long"
That was twenty years ago, so I assume something went wrong
And I don't care whatcha do or what you wanna tell
'Cause the grass ain't green enough in paradise or hell
I know that I don't
Whatcha wanna can
I know
Whatcha wanna can
[chorus]
I know it's a miracle wonder
I know it's a magical dream
I know it's the thing you can't get over
How, I know, whatcha wanna can
I know
Whatcha wanna can
Doncha know that 4:4 ain't the same in Central Time?
[whatcha wanna can]
And I can't come up with another clever line
And I don't care whatcha do or what you wanna can
And everybody knows, the truth is on the lam
I know that I don't
Whatcha wanna can
I know
Whatcha wanna can
If you can't pontificate, then be content to rhyme
I know you're hesitant to speak what's on your mind
But you'd better spit it out before the closing bell
'Cause the darkest place on Earth is inside a wishing well
I know that I don't
Whatcha wanna can
I know
whatcha wanna can
........................................................
The Berkeley Song
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2016
Last night, I met a girl named Sylvia
She said she lived on Milvia
She was heading out to Sproul
In nothing but a towel
She was goin' swimmin'
With other feminist women
So, she took me up to Shattuck
And we watched Kubrick in her attic
Back up on campus
She said she disagreed with AMPAS
That movie shoulda won an Oscar,
She said after getting gassed at Tosca
Was listening to KALX
They were playing some XTC
While I was eatin' Tex-Mex
Went up to Gilman
Had my fill and
Walked to the Greek and
Saw the Weeknd
Walkin' through the 'loin
It felt kinda sleazy
So I went and played pachisi
In Elmwood with my friend
...................................................
Make Your Body Home
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2016
They ask me where I live
I say, I make my body home
You don't need a dollar to
Make your body home
[chorus]
Home
Make your body home
Home
If you got a nickel you can make your body home
Forward everything, where ever I may roam
Roam
Make your body home
Home
Retrofit my body
'Cause I make my body home
Polish all my piping
'Cause I make my body home
[chorus]
Home is where the heart and head and pancreas reside
Home is not defined by an aluminum side
[chorus]
....................................................
Skipping Stones Today
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2016
She says she's 20 in Centigrade
She's much hotter than that, I'd say
She's not in Who's Who, or so they say
She's in the mirror every day
Day
Day
There're two sides to a door, they say
You can see 'em when they're opened away
I'm avoiding doors on the Bay
I'm just skipping stones today
Day
..........................................................
Saving Grace
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2016
Save my youth
Go save my life
Answer my 911 call
If you do, I'll be all right
If you don't, I'll fall too far
Ten floors down is too far down
Understand they're at my door
I can't hold out two minutes more
Save my youth
Go save my life
Writing on the walls in blood
Grace, my name, my saving grace
I must be as smart as I can be
These recorded words may be
The last thing that I say on Earth
Twenty four is too damn young
'specially when I see me dyin'
in the mirror all alone
will someone please pick up the phone?
"Save my youth
Go save my life
This is my 911 call
They didn't get here quite in time
I'm saying this as I lay dyin'"
Save my youth
Go save my life
...................................................
We'te All Gonna Die Some Day
Music and lyrics by Paul Iorio
Copyright 2016
We're all gonna die someday, some way
We're all gonna die some day
Heyy! We're all gonna die some day
......................................
LINER NOTES
My new album, "Berkeley, California," includes eight brand new songs I wrote between February and May of 2016.
All songs were composed, performed, arranged, originated and produced by Paul Iorio. Copyright Paul Iorio 2016.
The tracks are:
"Everybody's Gonna Be Dead Some Day": Somewhere between Neil Young and The Lovin' Spoonful, stylistically. I wrote it after returning from a doctor's appointment last February; as I cooked dinner, I started spontaneously singing "everybody's gonna be dead some day," the song you hear here! (This was aired on KALX last week.)
"She's Just Like September": This started with a circular riff, kind of Badfingerish, but as I added drums and other instruments, it evolved into something R.E.M.-ish. (This, too, was played on KALX.)
"Whatcha": Sort of Alice Cooper, sort of Nirvana, sort of neither. An intense acoustic number that seems electric.
"The Berkeley Song": I was thinking in terms of Dean Friedman's "Ariel." This came to me as I walked from Milvia to Shattuck last March 25th -- and I immediately sang it into my phone to preserve it. (This has been aired on KALX's show The Next Big Thing.)
"Make Your Body Home": Funk-folk. As I wrote it, it felt like I was coming up with an Average White Band song on acoustic guitar.
"Skipping Stones Today": "She says she's twenty in Centigrade/But she's much hotter than that, I'd say," goes the opening couplet. In an indie range between Waxahatchee and "Murmur."
"Saving Grace": This was vaguely modeled on crisis narrative songs like "New York Mining Disaster, 1941" and the Replacements' "The Ledge." Based on my own real-life experience calling 911 when some lunatic tried to break down my apartment door many years ago in San Francisco. (The narrator of this song fared worse than I did!)
"We're All Gonna Die One Day": I'd originally written this as an a cappella prelude to "Everybody's Gonna Be Dead Some Day," but ultimately thought it worked better as the album's final bracket. (This was also aired on KALX.)
-- Paul Iorio, June 20, 2016
