While I continue work on the “studio” version, I am pleased to present for your listening and viewing delight, an acoustic demo of “Shirley, You Must Be Joking”

I’m not sure if the lyrics will change by the time I get to finishing the proper recording. Let me know what you think!

Lyrics
She says borrowing will make her rich
Her goal is to dig and refill this ditch
Credit cards, lottery tickets, and loans
She’s mortgaged her very bones

She goes deadpan, and plays the straight-man
She’ll make you cry ‘til you laugh
She begs the question and I’m begging for answers
She doesn’t know it’s a gaff

Shirley, you must be joking (x2)

She’d drown that puppy if they say she should
She says it is for the greater good
They tease her with hope just for fun
Owned by all and known by none

She doesn’t hate or discriminate
She’s buying Stalin and Bin Laden cokes
She sounds goonish, and she looks cartoonish
Like a pig shouting “That’s all folks!”

Shirley, you must be joking
Shirley, you must be joking
I’m laughing so much I’m choking
Shirley, you must be joking

If the thieves let you steal from everyone too
They’ll let everyone steal from you
You’re not a car in someone else’s train
A cell in someone else’s brain

Shirley, you must be joking
Shirley, you must be joking
I’m laughing so much I’m choking
Shirley, you must be joking

In the Earbuds: Icky Thump by the White Stripes

Occasionally, I like to listen through an artist’s catalog in chronological order, and I just came back to this 11 year old final album by Jack and Meg. I forgot (or maybe never knew) about the charm of it. The production is crisper, cleaner, and bit more polished than their other albums. Like the hardness of some of the rocking songs (title track, “Little Cream Soda”) the lyrical opacity and goofiness are also dialed up to 11. The folk/Americana elements are strong, too on standout tracks like “300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues”, “Prickly Thorn But Sweetly Worn”, and “Effect and Cause”. Jack’s affinity for child-like schmaltz is evident on the fun, bouncing “Rag and Bone” and the over-the-top Latin pomp of “Conquest”. While some of it gets a little zany for my tastes, I do appreciate a little silliness in my music.

Icky Thump may not be the White Strips’ claim to fame, but it was a good way to go out.

Quotable

It’s safe to say somebody out there’s
Got a problem with
Almost anything you’ll do
Well, next time they stab you
Don’t fight back
Just play the victim,
Instead of playing the fool

-300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues, the White Stripes