Blue Skies Black

Release Date:

February 29, 2012

Buy:

Bandcamp (Digital downloads in many formats including MP3, OGG, and Lossless!)

Listen:

Track Listing:

1. Blue Skies Black
2. Status Quo
3. Nothing Much
4. Fish in the Sea
5. The Words
6. Everything’s Fine
7. Drops
8. Sometimes
9. Florida
10. Drive Me
11. Too Many Reasons
12. Without You

Credits:

All songs written, performed, recorded, and produced by Mike Grosshandler except: track 11 written by Mike Grosshandler and John Armstrong Regan; track 2 guest vocals by Phil Taylor; tracks 1, 4, & 7 drums by Michael Maenza; tracks 2, 10, & 12 drums by Ricky Little; tracks 3 & 11 drums by Tom Sposato; tracks 5 & 6 drums by John Brodeur; track 8 drums by Chris Fisher; track 9 drums by Melanie Krahmer at Sirsy Studios; track 10 horns by Bill Scholl; tracks 1, 3, 4, 7, & 11 drums recorded at Threshold Studios; tracks 2, 5, 6, 8, 10, & 12 drums recorded at Easter Island Studio. Mixed by Tim Lynch and Mike Grosshandler at The Recording Company. Mastered by Masterdisk. Art by Vince DePorter. (p) & © 2012 Mike Grosshandler. All Rights Reserved.

Thank You:

All of the wonderful people listed above who contributed their considerable talents to this album and, Meredith Grosshandler, The VeLMAs, John Armstrong Regan, Michael Mandato, Jessica Marley, Dave Graham and The Blisterz, Mike Guzzo and CRUMBS, Doug Madigan, Jim Annunziato, Meegs Rascon, Ed Lakata, Above The Flood, Call It Quits, Jeff Knight, WEQX, The Clintons, Statues of Liberty, Kyle Garneau, and Gwyddon Z. Peterson.

Lyrics:

Pleased to notice you from afar
How I’d wondered how you are
I’m glad to see that life moves on
Even my fallen star
Even you, my fallen star
I tried to do right by you
But found the benefits did lack
With no help from you, I’ll help myself
I want to see your blue skies black
Thinking back on how it had seemed
Knowing now for what I’d dreamed
Makes me think that a fool was me
For how I’d wanted we
How much I’d wanted we
I had a dream about you last night
And all it did was to make me realize
That I missed you way more than you
Ever deserved

Wondering quietly if I’ve said all there is to say
How many ways can I word the same phrase?
Fresh from the quill
My head is now much less filled
Onto the paper, my thoughts, they all spilled
Should I continue on down this path of status quo?
What good is a life not lived, not allowed to grow?
Turn the page, chapter 2
This story’s still based on you
Some say, “look at what you’ve got.”
I say, “look at what I’ve lost.”
What I’ve lost…
Should I continue on down this path of status quo?
What good is a life not lived, not allowed to grow?
Watch the others shuffle by each day, each day more the same
Leave them to their ennui, I intend to win this game.
While others marvel at the yellow, orange, red
I prefer to see the green that isn’t quite yet dead
Tell me now, what’s left, after all the rest?
Where will I breathe my last breaths?

Cool breeze, won’t you come and breathe me life-like?
Steal my sadness from the spotlight
Feel a little better than I felt last night
Not sure why it seemed like nothing’s gone right
Nothing much has changed, I know
But this night, I am not bathed in woe
Either way I’ll still sustain
And chase my dreams, I want to win this game
I’m running along, a kid with his arms out
Ready to take to the sky
Step after step, I run a little faster
All I need is one more mile

You wish I’d be another fish in the sea
You’d swim with me, and go crazy
In the surf
We won’t dry off
Who can blame me for preferring
my muse’s company
to that of any who might be beside me?
Next to me…
Do you really think you know me
and you understand my mind?
Can you tell me what I’m thinking
when you try to cross that line?

Impress me, I’ll learn
I’ve just gone, it’s your turn
“I’m wrong” – the words you crave
I’m gone
Invective, so strong
But I’ll get mine, in song

Today is a
perfectly good day
there are no clouds
in my sky today
Everything’s fine
Everything’s sane
Everything’s calm
Everything’s safe
Don’t be left out
Don’t be afraid
Some day we’ll be
Nostalgic for today
Won’t you come
Here today?
Won’t you stay?
Ooh, come with me
Ooh, don’t wait
Oh, it’s safe!

I still feel raw
Kind of like you owe me more
And as far as you are concerned
I earned your slamming door
Not quite dirty, not quite clean
Not quite ready for what I’ve seen
I know who is against me
I feel you won’t protect me
And now I listen to your lies
Tell myself I won’t do it one more time
I know you think you own me
When you need me to be there, I won’t be
Behind the veil, I see
what you’d have me see
Only I’m all too aware
of tricks your mind plays on me
When nothing works in this scene
What’s so lovely as a dream?

Sitting where I never thought I’d be
Wond’ring what’s become of me
How is it that I have come this far
Towards being what I say you are
It’s a shame, why do we do what we do
Ooh, sometimes
To feel the way that we want to
Ooh, sometimes
It’s alive, but it is not complete
Imperfect, but aren’t we?
Sort of bubbling there right along
Through this life, through right and wrong
Wrong
It’s a shame we have to do what we do
Ooh, sometimes
To feel the way that we want to
Ooh, sometimes
I’m told these are supposed to be
The best days of my life
But as of right now, I just don’t know how
How to celebrate them right

Here I am, complain again
Where are my good times
with whom and when?
Pitiful me, pitiful I
Alone on my bed, awake as I lie
Time is short and patience wanes
I need some closure promptly
Turn it up and pace the feign
Remember to tread lightly
More complex it grows by the hour
Wither, wilt, and die, like a flower
Journal, journal, on the page
Tell me how come must I age?
Burdens again find me of late
How much more can I fit on my plate?
Slowly balance one upon ten
Fall to the floor, and I start again…

I hope that this light I see tells of things to come
Moving forward, obstacles, each fall one by one
Don’t get caught up in the moment, eyes set straight ahead
For all you know, this could soon go south, come to an end
You can drive me insane
You don’t even know
What will I dwell upon, when I reach the end?
It should only be a starting point, a new beginning then
Every worry’s worthless when the world will be your friend
And yet it might just be Pandora’s box wrought open with my pen
All the things that shaped me, made me who I am today
Are banished to my memories, why can’t they come out and play?

Too many reasons to live alone
Too many chances come and gone
Too many ways I could die before you
Too many sicknesses
Under a street light
Too many last rites
Feeling that I can’t see
Gone with the seasons
Too many reasons
Too many ways to be
Too many storms blown out to sea
Too many times I’m yet to see
Too many tries at something healthy
Too many sicknesses

And so again, tonight I lay
alone in bed, you’ve gone away
I think about the tastes and smells
I miss and wish that I could tell
you one more time that
everything would be fine
if you were lying
right here next to
me in the morning
I’m sure it’s true
As I lie here without you
So I prepare to sleep and dream
of lords and ladies in a stream
of consciousness, or maybe not
The original now forgot
So what is there now left for me?