Hallelujah The Hills

Collective Psychosis Begone

Cover artwork

Details

  • Released on June 5th, 2007 by Misra Records
  • Recorded March - September 2006

Track Listing

  1. Sleeper Agent (Just Waking Up)
  2. Wave Backwards To Massachusetts
  3. Hallelujah The Hills (MP3)
  4. The House Is All Lit Up
  5. Raise The Flag Of Your Sibling's Favorite Daydream
  6. (the crux of the camera man)
  7. Slow Motion Records Broken At Break Neck Speeds
  8. Effie's On The Other Side
  9. The Trap
  10. Teenage Synesthete
  11. It's All Been Downhill Since The Talkies Started To Sing
  12. To All My Scientist Colleagues I Bid You Farewell

Lyrics

  1. Sleeper Agent (Just Waking Up)

    a test train rolls through at three in the morning
    there are no passengers or stops
    my interest level rises and then it drops

    my life laid out in dictionary format
    I've got a lot of entries under the M's
    and they say that Z is not the end

    let's all plug in to the telepathic disco
    hard up for hand me downs no more
    and the Koinos Kosmos gets us through the door

    but the rag in the bottle doesn't understand
    that the well has a bottom in the other land
    brace yourself for some foreign affairs

    you could chalk it up but you haven't got a blackboard
    you could shrug it off but your shoulder's broke
    you could laugh it off but it isn't a joke

    and the funeral reminded me to call you
    and leave the coordinates for the Bayou
    I'm a sleeper agent just waking up

    I should have worn a disguise
    you should've looked more surprised
    you've got me cornered
    in color coordinated lake shore drives
    ramparts and car parts in an enemy hive
    it's intelligence that doesn't come from the mind
    but I've got yours on mine

    good morning comrade this is good coffee
    let's take a walk and peruse the reports
    this will look a lot worse than it'll hurt

  2. Wave Backwards To Massachusetts

    a blizzard
    a mallard
    a stillborn Chinese baby speaking backwards
    my peephole
    in the cabin
    keep an eye on loggers preparing for battle
    and textbooks glow like they know where we're going
    but it's just a guess they planted in the pages
    and flags unfurl like they know why we're sewing
    a certain kind of stars into the fabric

    can't keep topping my count's bestsellers
    pieced together in damp dark cellars
    flipped out fury
    it's a wigged out wish
    so creep creep crawl your way into the heartland
    when the clocks explode
    we'll sing a crooked path back to our home

    there is no context for this progress
    a village epidemic reaches congress
    an idea or a light bulb
    smashed on concrete outside of the nightclub
    a cat with a windchime skeleton
    but it's not like he's in charge of city planning
    greet the deep sea diver as he dives within
    he hides secrets behind all of the paneling

    we will find him before
    the party resumes
    treating cape houses like Egyptian tombs
    tricked out tremors in my nervous system
    don't sink sink sink sink sink into the pavement
    when the clocks explode
    we'll sing a crooked path back to our home

    wave backwards to Massachusetts
    we'll sing a crooked path back to our home

  3. Hallelujah The Hills

    trouble comes, the mail arrives
    I pick apart a broken watch
    I'm on call with astronauts
    here's an acrobatic lot
    Telemundo is for free
    but not something that you could see
    everybody falls asleep when oxygen dies

    hundred horses, hundred wines
    that's a secret, that's a lie
    here's a planetoid connection
    that they caught and tried to hide
    paranoid's a boring game
    jealousy is just the same
    hit me with the hammer when the light turns green

    plaintiff's here, jury's gone
    down at the Dairy Mart
    absolutely no exception
    specially for you
    made inventions, broke conventions
    raised a glass to new pretensions
    meta-meta-meta-and the novel is dead

    no more talk of mathmagicians
    numbers can't be ever tricked
    I propose a superstition
    always mumbling, never sick
    a way to increase your sales
    never question, never fail
    I was born in Vermont
    she was born in Vermont
    and we'll all die in Vermont hallelujah the hills

  4. The House Is All Lit Up

    I prepared a tin hour glass
    simple instructions
    for a man with lion's breath
    my feelings are pre-determined tonight

    a man so often the best man
    he fired a gun
    that shot wedding rings on the fingers
    of his best friends
    of his family
    of his enemies

    the house is all lit up
    all lit up
    all lit up
    the house is all lit up
    all lit up
    all lit up
    all lit up tonight

    are you afraid
    of the unguided mind,
    of free association?
    nonsequitors built this nation
    please understand
    or better yet please take my hand
    and look at the shape I'm in
    I've been drinking the gin
    we found in Evan's mom's basement
    my excuses
    are so useless
    and then the choir sings

    the house is all lit up
    all lit up
    all lit up
    the house is all lit up
    all lit up
    all lit up
    all lit up tonight

    and I am the filibuster it's true
    I'm gonna keep on waiting for you
    and I am the filibuster it's true
    I'm gonna keep on speaking through you
    and I am the filibuster it's true
    I'm gonna keep on waiting for you
    and I am the filibuster it's true
    I'm gonna keep on, keep on

    The house is all lit up
    all lit up
    all lit up
    all lit up tonight

  5. Raise The Flag Of Your Sibling's Favorite Daydream

    hallow down the hall
    have you written?
    I was gone
    wake up my souvenirs
    add three and two I spotted you
    but who could stand to follow through?

    raise the flag
    raise the flag
    raise the flag
    of your sibling's favorite daydream

    stupefied again
    in the autumn of our father's den
    I came to with a canker
    drinking from the faucet
    trying to save some water and a friend
    I knew he'd operate

    raise the flag
    raise the flag
    raise the flag
    of your sibling's favorite daydream

    I'll shine the light
    though it's not flattering
    on your wishes as they are
    telephone mom, she should be next to me
    notify dad, it's common decency

    then wash the dishes while your secrets leave home
    call the news tell 'em to leave us alone
    we all fit on this embarrassing throne
    but anyway
    listen for the sound of subtle atrophy
    while he's tethered to a broken phonograph

    back in school again
    you didn't think I'd abandon you my friend
    here comes a silver bullet
    to skim the leaves of poplar leaves
    and blessed be the minor keys
    I'm so in love with you

    raise the flag
    raise the flag
    raise the flag
    of your sibling's favorite daydream

  1. (crux of the camera man)

  2. Slow Motion Records Broken At Break Neck Speeds

    here's the crux of the cameraman
    buried deep in his master plan
    here's a format becoming defunct
    a bunch of tapes on a ship that sunk
    electric outlet in a public place
    so new rappers get to show their face
    if you're human and you're feeling displaced
    we've got news for you it's the kind
    that makes you shake in your boots
    and crumble down to the floor

    Tommy Beta with his life on pause
    his college thesis stored in his parents garage
    are you into the olive branch? (are you, Tommy?)
    or shooting arrows in an American trance
    list your prescriptions on your resume
    and polish bullets saved for our prey
    add sinking feelings and we'll call it a day
    I wear a mask to sleep and it's old and it's made
    of clay and I have no idea why I do that

    if you're guilty of some heinous crime
    I'll write your defense down in metered rhyme
    we'll make believe we got it right this time
    I've got news for you and me and him and her and us
    and everything's crumbling and rotting away
    but I'm content to sit here and watch it all happen
    with you

  3. Effie's On The Other Side

    we're stealing bodies
    so the doctors can study
    and improve their technique
    they operate next week
    on the girl who's embarrassed
    that she melted the chalice
    with a thought thrown through the air
    but she's only half of a pair

    cuz Effie's on the other side
    she's laughing and sculpting and washing the filth
    off of the devil's hide

    we're replacing their bones
    with pipes, sticks, and stones
    so the grievers don't notice
    that their loved ones helped us grow this
    translucent creature being housed
    by the doubting preacher
    reciting the scripture
    while the creature paints this picture

    of Effie on the other side
    she's laughing and sculpting and washing the filth
    off of the devil's hide

  4. The Trap

    the trap can't trap you
    if you take it to pieces
    stop thinking you're somebody else
    stop crying and go get some help
    stop trying to solve it your self
    and you know what else?

    her misfortunes fell upon her
    call and response
    good morning alchemy
    start strumming my super strings
    it's a wilderness of mirrors and kings
    bespectacled devil with wings

    it's hard to imagine
    anything more terrifying
    than dying in someone else's dream
    waking up in a coffin of trees
    and your soul getting hauled off by bees
    and if you think that's too much to believe

    a munitions expert
    while disarming a bomb
    realizes he left the stove on at home
    he imagines his house up in smoke
    while he renders explosives a joke

    I'm a planet, I'm the moon
    I'm barely in this room
    won't somebody please shake me awake?
    put me in the front yard with a rake
    it's the simplest of tasks I can take
    if I don't want to break
    and I don't want to break

    the playwright has stage fright
    the doctor is sick
    the electrician struck down by lightning
    burning candles from more than two ends
    is that me? I guess it depends
    hell, go ask my friends

    I'm a planet, I'm the moon
    I'm barely in this room
    won't somebody please shake me awake

  5. Teenage Synesthete

    I was born
    a teenage synesthete
    feeling colors, hearing tastes
    and catching my breath
    I saw a hawk out by the high school
    fly into your brain
    I wrote it down
    but I won't tell no one
    from that I'll refrain

    and everything will probably be alright
    collective psychosis begone
    and everything will probably be okay
    collective psychosis begone

  6. It's All Been Downhill Since The Talkies Started To Sing

    I break things by walking by
    I accidentally hypnotize
    every single motherfucker
    locked inside the Newton branch
    worst bank robber known to man
    rob the bank, that was my plan
    didn't even check to see
    where the cameras were at
    but I always get away
    as if I planned it that way
    there must be something radiating from me
    and my actions make the money move
    though my sounds can't really soothe
    it's all been downhill since the talkies started to sing

    My grandma was a silent star
    no words emerged from her famous jaw
    at pre-code party
    she brought a pile of printed cards
    she's rather hold them up then speak
    she feared her voice would crack her teeth
    and everybody knows
    just what cracking teeth symbolize
    but she loved the silver screen
    and her face in magazines
    when she lost her fame
    she ran off with a financial analyst
    but her movements made the movies move
    though her voice couldn't really soothe
    it's all been downhill since the talkies started to sing

    odd behavior of poltergeists
    insurance salesman killed by knife
    everything is game
    now that intertitles have bit the dust
    the studio system's come and gone
    the golden age has turned to bronze
    if I could call cut
    I'd leave those poor bankers alone
    because the logic found in words
    quickly becomes absurd
    as soon as a light bulb shines
    through a celluloid strip
    and to equate the two is wrong
    but I do it all night long
    it's all been downhill since the talkies started to sing
    (and then they started singing!)

  7. To All My Scientist Colleagues I Bid You Farewell

    to all my scientist colleagues I bid you farewell
    it's been a long career
    of splitting open atoms with government funds
    I'll never forget transplanting retinas
    and federal agendas that we scorned
    dear like minded friends
    never forget what you've learned

    they've taken my microscope
    and my radiation lab pass
    I've packed up my pictures
    of my dear wife my siblings
    and my scientist dad
    I'm planning to open a newspaper stand
    with a shoe shine chair just for a laugh
    while I'm selling the present
    my mind will drift back to the past

    to all my scientist colleagues I bid you farewell
    some of us are religious
    but most of us think we're just bones, flesh, and cells
    I'll guess we'll find out
    when our hearts stop ticking
    and our brains stop working so well
    can't say I'm looking forward
    to being the first one to tell
    to my scientist colleagues
    I bid you farewell

    to all my
    to all my
    to all my