Get all 27 Eric Blowtorch releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.
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1. |
Enter Password
02:23
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Good G_d, look what we’ve got – look around at all the rot
Can’t stop the rot with a fine fox trot
Bloodclot, what a lonesome lot – not even pisspot
Heaven’s heating up, well hot
Enter Password
Ctrl + Alt + Delete – wake up and hit the street
Hit the beat now and don’t retreat
Springs in your feet, you make your life complete
With every breath death itself defeat
I know it’s not easy but in my head it’s clearly cut,
in my heart and in my gut, from haute down to in hut
A future polyglot giving you a polyglot
Never no more cell doors slamming shut
We could be working, all one family
We could be living how we like
Work it with me, workingmate, every occupation great
Working and living we don’t have to separate
We could do decent deeds at a reasonable rate
instead of working at one job we hate
We’re much too polite – we have the reason and the right,
worldwide allies black, brown, beige, pink, and white
We have the spirit, the muscle and the might
We only need the will and we’ll be straight
We could be working, all one family
We could be living how we like
I’ll grab my coat and tie and hat, join the proletariat
We got one life, this is it – this is no time to quit
Ask the peacenik and the vet, even though it’s shibboleth
No retreat – wake up and hit the street
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2. |
The Powerbrokers
02:41
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Tell me, tell me, tell me
Tell me, did you feel
when you were 17
that you could come up and save all sanity, seize the day?
Did you get drunk and say
your 21st birthday
that everything would be all right and then it wasn’t?
You could never in your wildest nightmares
touch the turbine that drives the brokers
mad with power
and drives the working man to an early death
Did you pass out papers
in the cold winter air?
Did you hand in proceeds with hardly a care? Did you dig
the Republicrat Party
when you got jaded on G_d
You couldn’t care anymore, yes, you accepted your lot
Still you could never in the red rage of youth
discern the horrible truth
that man will do as he is bred
and you were merely bred to be led
The powerful people stare out in disbelief
at a scorched planet surface in zero relief
The powerbrokers take the train to the subterrain
‘cause isotopes take too long to decay
If you ever glom on
to anything in common
with the power-crazed, money-hungry zealot of the Right,
don’t shudder rubbing shoulders
Outside is where it’s coldest
See your light in the dying of someone else’s
See your light in the dying of someone else’s
See your light in the dying of someone else’s light
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3. |
Please Worry Baby
02:16
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What maketh a man, what maketh a woman to worry?
Why wait 25 years after the hurt to cry?
What maketh the busy boy running for the bus to hurry?
Why can’t I dry the teardrop from your eye?
Please to worry, baby
Please to worry now, baby – I’ve done you wrong
Please to worry, baby
Please to worry – my love for you is strong
What profit it a worker to work all day without reason?
What maketh the money to fall down from the sky?
Who gave the gun to the child for the child to seize gun?
Why must we die and why, oh, why ask why?
Please to worry, baby
Please to worry now, baby – I’ve done you wrong
Please to worry, baby
Please to worry now, baby – my love is strong
Worry now, worry now
Worry now, worry now
One to worry, two to worry, three to worry
I tend to worry
What maketh a man, what maketh a woman to worry?
Why wait 25 years after the hurt to cry?
What maketh the busy boy running for the bus to hurry?
Why must we died and why, oh, why ask why?
Please to worry, baby
Please to worry now, baby – I’ve done you wrong
Please to worry, baby
Please to worry – my love for you is strong
Please to worry, baby
Please to worry now, baby – I’ve done you wrong
Please to worry, baby
Please to worry now, baby – my love is strong
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4. |
Nowhere
02:32
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Hello there
I come from nowhere
Don’t even go there
without a mohair
Absolute zero – it’s below there
Nowhere
To get to nowhere
you got to know where
to waste your hours
Don’t smell the flowers ‘cause they’re nowhere
Nowhere
It isn’t hard to find
It isn’t very far
It’s not a state of mind
Put your hands on the hood of the car
and you’re nowhere
Take a deep, deep breath – no breathing nowhere
Just the smell’ll grow hair
Some say it’s no fair
that some are living nowhere
Where’s the landlord? Of course he’s nowhere
Nowhere’s where I’m headed
You might be going too
Who you working for?
You ain’t working for you nowhere
Nowhere
Now you’re nowhere
Don’t kid yourself you’re somewhere
Crawling, not climbing
I seen you five-and-diming
I’ll see you right back nowhere
Nowhere
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5. |
Burn! Burn! Burn!
02:29
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Burn, brother! Burn, sister!
Burn, motherfucker! Burn it up!
Mister Boss, Mister Boss, I’m dying, I’m dead in my head
Mister Boss, Mister Boss, over years I keep you well fed
Mister Boss, Mister Boss, no longer I’m gathering moss
Mister Boss, Mister Boss, it’s your loss when your fat ass I to the winds toss
Making a living is coming, is coming like dying
I’ve been giving and giving; now I’m sick to my dying of trying
to please you, please you – got to
burn! Burn! Destroy the impulse to earn!
Turn! Turn! Abandon laws I labored to learn
Ta raas, Mister Boss, I’m taking my torch to the biz, Mister Boss
Good gosh, Mister Boss, I’m dousing in depression in gin fizz – the sauce
Mister Boss, Mister Boss, over years I keep you well fed
Mister Boss, Mister Boss, in five minutes I make you see red
I’ve quit crying and lying to myself that my sorrow you’re buying
You’re pie-in-the-skying with your plans – well, I’ll foul up your flying and
burn! Burn! Destroy the impulse to earn!
Turn! Turn! Abandon laws I labored to learn
Mister Boss, I don’t hate and never could my underclassmate
Mister Boss, I’m afraid you’ve arrived and turned off the gas late
Had to take it to you, had to
burn! Burn! Destroy the impulse to earn!
Turn! Turn! Abandon laws I labored to learn
Burn! Burn! Burn! To the kiddies in the high schools
Burn! Burn! Burn! To the ladies with the crew cuts
Burn! Burn! Burn! To filtration plant operators
Burn! Burn! Burn! To the telephone masturbators
Burn!
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6. |
Sufferation City
02:50
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In the city of sufferation
sufferers find crumbs from a slummer’s vacation
Scows used to drag the garbage to the ocean
Cheap labor still keeps cash in motion
In the city of suffocation
flowers rise up out the cracks in the Ford Foundation
The promised land of old was Goshen
Now peddlers can’t even peddle own lotions
Sufferers climb 10 stories to paint their name
in a city that promises nothing but famine and flame
In the city of such frustration
teen queen dreams of love at underground train station
Young warriors step with aggression
and extend their little friend to fend off the depression
Fortune was never the artist’s and who wants fame?
Not you, not me – who can you blame?
In the city of segregation
families live and die in one square mile for generations
in the heart of the planet, in the bowels, in this iration
in the city of sufferation
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7. |
Boy Meets Angel
01:31
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South Side, North Side
Tried but he couldn’t hide
Iggy’s singing “Gimme Danger”
She’s snide, he’s tongue tied
It’s raining outside
Inside boy meets angel
She looks 21 and lots of fun
and maybe can buy some legal
Haskels are opening
Milwaukee’s hope is hoping and
Playing for the take and big break
They go to their sets not knowing they’d meet again,
their first great love as Ticketron portend
He and his friend are in half-empty heaven
while she’s digging through her friend’s purse writing, “384-5737”
North Side, South Side
Still that great divide
Keeps young hearts apart
Haskels broke up
Iggy still chokes ‘em up,
fixing his broken part
She’s married, he’s carried
memories buried,
she raised a family
Strange? No
He’s got a rental near the Oriental where
boy met angel
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8. |
I Kissed You Twice
01:45
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I kissed you twice before I could tell you voice from your sister’s
I shouted, “Oh-wee-oh,” as day became night
and flicked on the light to find my watch had stopped,
stopped at the exact coordinates of our first communiqué, soiree
Get away, inhibition, my mouth is dishin’ you compliments
so appropriate I can’t believe my ears – my tongue don’t slip
The membranes of the lip have very sensitive stretch receptors
so now we know we’re not bent scepters
and you will always think of me this year – never fear, dear, I’m here
Please do your damndest to make it this year
Dear G_d, give us more days like these
as your smile guides me to the aisle
We’re so happy, so beguiled our hearts have gone away to needy recipients, so
make like a helpful pupil, pass the pencil
I kissed you twice before I could tell you voice from your sister’s
Never dismissed or dissed, still I reminisce:
sitting on the edge of your bed and playing Twister
I lost you before I could tell you how much you gave me
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9. |
Wisconsin Works
02:46
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Motherhood: your first mistake – ooh!
Being black: bad habit, we’ll have to break you
Bad luck – Wisconsin’s had a spate
Welcome to the corporate welfare state, est. 1848
Drop that deadbeat child wherever you can
Get out of the house with our exciting program
We’ve been waiting too long on prison industry
Wisconsin Works and you’re gonna work for free
Wisconsin Works with a smile, smile, smile, smile
Got your face in file, sold your ass down Menomonee
Wisconsin Works, so get to work, work, work
Do your party for the slave economy
You want to pick up a skill? Here’s a hole, here’s a drill
You want education? We’ve got ditches to fill
You want to raise a family? Well, give ‘em to me
More stable than school or sandbox, I am slavery
Thompson, Hudson, Bradley, Murray
put you in production in a fury
of white plutocrat pomps and pride
The pimps and politicians will not be denied
Wisconsin Works with a smile, smile, smile, smile
Got your face in file, sold your ass down Menomonee
Wisconsin Works, so get to work, work, work
Do your party for the slave economy
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10. |
Plastic Yellow Ribbons
02:23
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From sea to shining sea
yellow ribbons proclaim their sympathy:
Support Our Troops, Mini to SUV
Ribbons made in foreign factory
Ribbons made on private property
Ribbons made by those not free
They tell us, as if we were in the infantry,
Let it be, rubber-stamp the GOP
and do the will of chickenhawk Cheney
Ribbons made by those not free
and they remind you of your own frailty
and they remind you of your own mortality
and they remind you to see nothing but what you see
on ABC and NBC and Fox TV and NYT
and BMG, T-i-m-e, Warner B, the Big Three, the whole damned S&P
The flags we wave, the prayers we’ve prayed,
talking points we’ve said, Memorial Day parades
mean nothing to the dead, even less at the VA
like ribbons made by those unpaid
Ribbons made by those enslaved
Ribbons made to cash in on melee
Even BP and ExxonMobil Company
will tell you that you cannot export liberty
but that don’t stop the spree
Plastic ribbons aren’t free
Put your wheels in P
I beg you to think
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11. |
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Receive the Mandate of Heaven
Recreate the Great Dynasty
of emperors of T’ang and clang go the klaxons
Murder is in your mind, blood is in your eye
Just like Barbarians, just like the Anglo-Saxons
Hear the sound of ethnic pride
Smell the smell of genocide
Here come the guns, the guns of law and order
Here come the conquerors across the Manchurian Border
Remember the Boxers, you
There goes your Empress Wu
Goodbye to Nestor, Mani, Buddha, Christ, and Zoroaster
Just like in ninth century you will bow to theocracy
and on Wall Street take British tea peacefully
Hear the sound of ethnic pride
Smell the smell of genocide
Here come the guns, the guns of law and order
Here come the conquerors across the Manchurian Border
Here comes opium, here comes trade,
Most Favored Nation status and the Jesus brigade,
Emperor Hung well hung with religion
Hold western greed in new esteem
Carnage carried out in a civil servant’s dream
Manchurians died in a mystical vision
Manchus, you was only a test
of the Japanese Army’s best
You’re a client state; the Soviets were willing to wait
Civil war brought an end to the end, Mao marching ‘round the bend
The Mandate of Heaven fell with Tibet
Hear the sound of ethnic pride
Smell the smell of genocide
Here come the guns, the guns of law and order
Here come the conquerors across the Manchurian Border
Here come the conquerors across the Manchurian Border
Here come the conquerors across the Manchurian Border
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12. |
Welcome to Death Row
02:19
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Welcome to Death Row,
express service to G_d only know
Where the private and public sectors prove and show
TQM techniques in behavior control
Welcome to Death Row
where even the wealthiest never get to go
Only the luckiest admitted down below
the highest standards of justice on the globe
Our god demanded sacrifice and so
we found it in our hearts to divert the tax flow
from the guillotine to Sparky to the needle, now you know
Check your cameras and tape decks at the door
Welcome to Death Row,
closure for the families, closure for the poll
that elected angry angels to the High Courts, yo,
you’re a killer diller, killer, so are we, so here we go
Welcome to Death Row
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13. |
Veteran's Day
03:05
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It’s now November
Be in by 5:30, remember
the blue sky goes black, every member
of the neighborhood chains up they doors
Today we remember
soldiers survived and passed away
Bouquets on some lawns
It must be Veteran’s Day
When there were flowers in the trees
you could see the casualties
lounging on their porches
For dead friend they’re packing torches
They can roll, yeah, they can drive
and thank G_d they’re still alive
They can think and talk, my friend,
but they will never walk again
It’s Veteran’s Day
A sad remembrance day
Give the boys from this great way
something worth fighting for
It’s Veteran’s Day
Phone disconnections play
I’m trying to get hold of the soldiers
I’m alone at the end of the line
So come honor the veterans of foreign wars
and all the boys growing old while the bloody rain pours
Bring out your scorchers for the scorching
Leave your cars, cocaine, and your fortune
It’s Veteran’s Day
A sad remembrance day
Give the boys from this great way
something worth dying for
It’s Veteran’s Day
Phone disconnections play
I’m trying to get hold of the soldiers
I’m alone at the end of the line
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14. |
Down to My Last Dollar
02:04
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Landlord banging on the door haranguing me for rent
What rent? I ask – I’m poor – I haven’t got a cent
I’ve joined the bulging ranks of the empty wallets
You might call it destitution but do you know what I call it?
Happiness
Peace of mind
Tranquility
Poverty
I’m down to my very last dollar
Counting out pennies, simplifying recipes
Are you down with me? We lead, we follow
I’ve lost the lot but I’ve taken back the rest of me
Friends I thought were friends have fallen off the earth
The ground they were standing on opened up and gave new birth
To friends who want me, not my things or my appliances
Goodbye to the old, hello to new alliances and…
Happiness
Peace of mind
Tranquility
Poverty
I’m down to my very last dollar
Counting out pennies, simplifying recipes
Are you down with me? We lead, we follow
I’ve lost the lot but I’ve taken back the rest of me
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15. |
Riding in His Car
02:15
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You’re riding in his car now
I’m trying to get back from the bad side of town to you
I always wondered how
the poor folks crossed over that dirty old river
You’re looking a mite housebound
It’s a pain to the heart just running into you
and running into the ground
the few proud moments, the boomin’ components,
pointless vacations, aberrations, loving rations
No solace you have found
I control the concept, I control the console
The memory is safe and sound
on the back of a dirty matchbook – lot of inspiration that took,
bus station photo strips and my letters stained with teardrips
You’re riding in his car now
I’m trying to get back from the bad side of town to you
You’re finding your friends out and how
You’re riding in his car now
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16. |
Albion Begat Columbia?
02:54
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Albion begat Columbia?
Irish boys in the lumber yard
Strong stock – many, many Angle,
many Saxon made lightbulbs dangle
America built by Christian?
Good houses put here by Puritan
In Arizona there’s a chasm,
in stout English hearts a spasm
Albion begat Columbia
or was it Asian, Apache? African, Arawak? We
struck a match, we started something swinging
Ring in the new, brown, yellow, red, white, and blue
Communist, caveman, conservative
Constitution – cool, now we have to live
After the biggest clash
we threw the most expensive bash
African delivered freedom from the last
Now, for sustenance, citizens sift through our trash
Alien bloodlines congregated
and laid down railway from state to state,
defended our right to agitate
Before ballgames we hum hymns we love to hate
All Benjamin’s children’s children
learn the lies of histories
composed in Pluto’s reverie
Love thy neighbor – will ever we?
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17. |
Faith, Hope and Love
04:13
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You stepped upon the planet surface
like something from Mad Max
Parents feared you, the big boys jeered you
You never could relax
Standing still was for suckers, sister,
old men and heartless hags
Barely serene on the barstool, queen,
you had hangups and I had bags
Pride goes before a weight drop
Truck drivers drive until the last stop
Punk rockers pogo ‘til the last blast
Faith and hope and love are virtues
The greatest of these is love
Have you gone to a place that will suit you
in the heavens highest above
or have you gone to the place for little girls
never satisfied
to come back blazing with a vengeance?
You could have stayed, you could have tried
Your angry heart kept us apart
Your sweet, sweet soul had precious little control
You chose some friends unwisely, your smile hypnotized me
You strode with so much soul
Pride goes before a weight drop
Truck drivers drive until the last stop
Punk rockers pogo ‘til the last blast
Faith and hope and love are virtues
The greatest of these is love
Have you gone to a place that will suit you
in the heavens highest above?
You strode right off the planet surface
with little or no fanfare
Only tears from the boys, no more jeers,
no more dancing in your underwear
I haven’t got words for your mother
I haven’t snapshots saved,
but, for the laugher you gave and because you were brave
I place this flower on your grave
Pride goes before a weight drop
Truck drivers drive until the last stop
Punk rockers pogo ‘til the last blast
Glamor girls pose in hand-me-down hose
Diving bombers take it on the nose
and, by nightfall, they’re free at last
Faith and hope and love are virtues
The greatest of these is love
Have you gone to a place that will suit you
in the heavens highest above?
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Eric Blowtorch Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Singer/guitarist/songwriter Eric Blowtorch sings, plays, and writes reggae, ska, rocksteady, soul, rock 'n' roll, funk, Latin, disco, hip-hop, Anglo-Afropop, and jazz songs with rhythm, melody, passion, and original comic timing. E. B. plays solo, in small combos, and with a band, Eric Blowtorch and the Bodyguards. ... more
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