i never will marry
(trad. arranged moth wranglers)

i never will marry, i’ll be no man’s wife
i expect to live single all the days of my life
the shells in the ocean shall be my deathbed
the fish in deep water swim over my head
i never will marry, i’ll be no man’s wife
i expect to live single all the days of my life

ld beghtol & chris xefos: vocals

turnabout (excerpt)
(beghtol-xefos/high functional publishing/bmi)

someone else has played this game
did something awful – though i’m not quite sure how
someone hid behind his name
did things unlawful – and you can’t stop him now

it’s just a lark, a little game
and darling we’ve all felt the same
it’s just a fad, a passing stage
a product of this anxious age

bad boy led the world astray
i can’t explain, but i can show you how
sad boy sighed his life away
he felt no pain – well, not much anyhow

it’s just a phase, perhaps a ruse
it’s nothing bad – he’s just confused
it’s just a shame, it’s just the truth
no, nothing serious – call it youth
and rest assured, it won’t last…

leave this sorry mess behind
and whistle down the wind, then show your winning smile
leave it, and perhaps you’ll find
your special friend – just for a little while
but rest assured, it won’t last
it won’t last
it won’t last…

ld beghtol: lead & backing vocals, handclaps; chris xefos: acoustic & electric guitars, accordion, brush snare, backing vocals, handclaps; victor krummenacher: upright bass; jonathan segel: violin

six-page letter (excerpt)
(beghtol/nice boys music/ascap)

write me a six-page letter
to tell me how impossibly hard it would be
for you to love me –
for you to ever love me

write me a six-page letter
to itemize the ways you realise
our love’s not wise –

we never even kissed
so why all this?

write me a six-page letter
to prove to yourself again and again
our love’s at an end –
before it began

but i deserve more from you –
than postage due

ld beghtol: lead vocal, electric guitar, noises & percussion; chris xefos: keyboards, backing vocals, percussion; alison faith levy: keyboards; doug hilsinger: lap steel

miss fire (excerpt)
(xefos/sword/bmi)

i headed out of la with my head in the clouds
i think i got enough in my tank
to make it over the grapevine
you see i’m taking the long way home, but I sure don’t mind
i think i’ve seen this stretch of road before –
but i’m not so sure –
where am I going? where are you coming from? and how long ’til we get there?

miss fire – dead out on the highway
miss fire – won’t you see it my way?

this road ain’t really so crowded
straight on through to bakersfield
i could get off at the next exit
but i’m sure to lose my way
maybe if I had a compass
then I’d know for sure –
where i’m going? where you’re coming from? and how long ’til we get there?

miss fire – dead out on the highway
miss fire – I hope you’ll see it my way?

cold and lonely out there in the Tuli fog
she just might hold it together
but I’m still not sure –

miss fire – dead out on the highway
miss fire – can’t you see it my way?
miss fire – i’m so sick of trying
miss fire – it’s time we stopped denying

chris xefos: lead vocal, guitar; james jacobs: cello, pennywhistle; claudia gonson: backing vocal

the last request of mr ezra j— (excerpt)
(beghtol-xefos/high functional publishing/bmi)

word of honour, promise me:
let me sleep nameless
let me rest unknown
let my grave be forgotten

ld beghtol: vocal; chris xefos: piano

counts for nothing (excerpt)
(beghtol/nice boys music/ascap)

stay me – oh, comfort me
it’s not the worst thing that could have happened –
save your tears
it’s not the first time this has happened –
save your pride

stay me – oh, comfort me
it’s not the worst thing that could have happened –
save your tears
at every turn you think you’ll find
this matchless world you’ve left behind
still breathless, waiting for the day
when all these cares are borne away
but time will never make amends
for might-have-beens…

no more a prophet or a seer
premonition counts for nothing here

alison faith levy: lead vocal; ld beghtol: electric guitar, keyboard, drum programming; chris xefos: electric bass; ken stringfellow: vocal arrangement & all backing vocals; charles newman: oscillations & distortions

don’t look now (excerpt)
(dumais/stargirl/bmi)

deceit’s the faith that faces truth
and i could never be a man without you
when i’m in your arms mama says it’s wrong
and it’s such a shame that we’re doomed
when I’m in your arms mama says it’s wrong
i can hear her saying:

“oh, don’t look now,
you’re living with your head in the clouds.
and when the weather clears
you’re a million feet up in the air,
and you will plummet down – ”

everything i love
i hold safely above me
and anything we do
is kept strictly between me and you –
when i am a girl in my own red world
i can hear her saying:

“oh, don’t look now,
you’re living with your head in the clouds.
and when the weather clears
you’re a million feet up in the air,
and you will plummet down –
you will plummet down –”

ld beghtol: vocal, acoustic guitar; chris xefos: harmonium, piano, synths, backing vocal; bill tutton: upright bass; john moremen: lead guitar; hadley kahn: drums

figure-ground (excerpt)
(beghtol-xefos/high functional publishing/bmi)

the queen’s heart’s bleeding over false line-readings
of sighs and long goodbyes
the scribe is yearning for the enemies he’s earning
but he’ll take them all on the sly

ask yourself three questions – who? and what? and why?
ask yourself these questions – answer on the fly

is the cowboy still smiling at the soldier, so beguiling
and his half-forgotten wife?
as it was in the beginning, still the dancers go on spinning
ever closer to the knives

ask yourself three questions – when? and where? and why?
ask yourself these questions – answer me, boy! don’t be shy

england’s dreaming while the pope is screaming
that the white knight told a lie
and michael’s turning while paris is burning –
but the revolution will not be televised

ask yourself three questions – from whence? with whom? and why?
ask yourself this question – why does she even try?
ask yourself three questions – when? and where? and why?
ask yourself these question – answer me, boy! don’t be shy

chris xefos: tuba, lead & backing vocals; ld beghtol: lead vocal; dave licht: drums; stephin merritt: ukulele, washboard, spring, backing vocal; lorin sklamberg: accordion, lead & backing vocals; frank london: peck horn, cornet, horn arrangement; claudia gonson: lead & backing vocals; joey defilipps: lead vocal; kim rancourt: lead vocal backing vocals & atmospherics provided by the 26th street civic light opera chorus: john ashfield, aldervan daly, chuck fiorello, andrew friedman, daniel handler, james jacobs, allison faith levy, lisa levy & melissa newman

let go, let me
(beghtol/nice boys music/ascap)

if you feel moved to move –
well, you shouldn’t
if you feel moved to move –
well, I wouldn’t
if the ”will to power“
fills your every waking hour
but responsibility takes its toll
hush, child – I know just the thing
to soothe your soul

if you feel led to lead –
well you shouldn’t
if you feel led to lead –
well, i bet you couldn’t
if the "will to power"
fills your every waking hour
but the need to follow
swallows you whole
hush, child – i know just the thing
to soothe your soul

let go, let go, let go –
and let me

if the ”will to power“
fills your every waking hour
but a pressing need
leads you to Rome
hush, child – i know just the thing
to bring you home

let go, let go, let go –
and let me

let me take control

stephin merritt: lead vocal; ld beghtol: acoustic guitar, backing vocal; chris xefos: organ, drum programming, percussion, backing vocal; bill tutton: upright bass; claudia gonson: bongos & conga

souvenir
(paul humphreys-martin cooper/dinsong music (prs)/virgin)

it’s my direction, it’s my proposal
it’s so heard it’s leading me astray
my obsession, it’s my creation
you’ll understand – it’s not important now

my situation – it’s imagination
there’s no excuse – it’s instantly again
the conversation, the combination
i tell the truth – my feelings still remain

all I need is coordination
i can’t imagine my destination
my intention – ask my opinion
but no excuse – my feelings still remain
my feelings still remain

chris xefos: lead vocal, piano, electric bass, melodica, drum programming, electric guitar, vocal arrangement; ld beghtol: acoustic guitar, backing vocals; james jacobs: cello; jonathan segel: violin

record
(beghtol/nice boys music/ascap)

she’s saving a page in her book of blue
a place for everything you say and do
the good, the bad, the old and new,
the fair and wise, the false and untrue

she’s keeping a list of all your days of love
and the wreckless, restless nights you’ll rue –
she’s saving a page…

she’s taking the names of all the stars above
and you never know what she might do –
oh, i’d be careful if I were you

ld beghtol: vocals, guitars, percussion; chris xefos: drum programming, keyboards; alison faith levy: keyboards; james jacobs: cello; bertie marshall: scandal

yet again
(beghtol/nice boys music/ascap)

released from blame and bother
from toil and care set free
of bartered times with borrowed men no memory
no memory –
no memory –

i made a vow, held it fast
promised to forget the past
and find someone that i can call my own
but, lost in love, i fall again
and hurt the one i call my friend
and lose the truest love i’ve ever known

tell me what i wanted was real
and tell me how i’m supposed to feel –

nothing ventured, nothing gained
nothing left to kill this pain
i shelter in the hollow of my heart
alone again, it’s plain to see
love’s a thing not meant for me
the promise vexed with sorrow from the start…

tell me what I wanted was real
and tell me how I’m supposed to feel –

oh, i won’t go through this again –
(no ”by your leave,“ no ”if you please,“ and no upsets)
no, i won’t go through this again –
(no swift reprieve, no kind heart’s ease and no regrets)
not again…

ld beghtol: lead vocal, baritone ukulele, marxophone; chris xefos: harmonium, backing vocal; bill tutton: upright bass; stephin merritt: autoharp, backing vocal; jonathan segel: violin; claudia gonson: backing vocal

over & out
(beghtol/nice boys music/ascap)

i hate my life and i want to die
in this world of strife why even try?

it’s a wicked game i cannot win
and you’re to blame… so i’ll say again:

i hate my life and i gotta go –
(if you find an easy way, please let me know)

ld beghtol: vocal, baritone ukulele, aqualin; chris xefos: feedback