Nudes Volume One
02. Young & Relentless
03. Dr. Jack
04. River Rats
05. Real
06. Here We Are With Our Feet On
The Ground
07. Make Love (quartet)
08. I Bought A Headache
09. Flowers For The Lady (intro)
10. Flowers For The Lady
11. I Wish I Had the Nerve
12. Tromeo & Juliet Theme
Wooden Records LA-2010 | released 1998 | CD
Fifteen years of compiled oddities, 1983 to 1998. Includes an early high school and college recordings, board tapes, 4-track experiments, Replacements’& Husker Du covers, Troma Films soundtrack theme song… stuff that defies description.
My Beer Can Collection
Peas Porridge, by Kirsten Cross (?) 1986
As teenagers in the seventies my friend Hughie Zanger and I would ride our bikes to a town dump in Excelsior, MN. We’d be a dozen miles from home, completely unsupervised, scaling mountains of municipal trash, looking for cone-top beer cans. That’s an appropriate metaphor for this album project.
I’ve always had a jag for cataloging and archiving things. Whether it’s beer cans, postage stamps, antique office supplies, airline paraphernalia, coins, vinyl records or vintage sox, the compulsion to hoard and keep track of things has always captivated me.
The Addition at the Breck Middle School Dance, 1982
In 1998, it dawned on me that nearly twenty years prior I had first joined a band, dreamed of writing songs, releasing records and touring. So, to commemorate the occasion, I began trundling through old cassette recordings and other odd representations of work that had accumulated along the way––items that could never land on a conventional album. It was essentially a beer can collection of mostly rusted trash, but not without its peculiar charm and history.
There’s no theme to Nudes Volume One. The array of performances is too broad. Notice how maudlin the song “I Wish I Had The Nerve” is, written when I was 17 years old. Compare that to the absurdity of “Young & Relentless,” written at 21. Compare that to the over-serious “Real”, written at age 33, and perhaps an arc emerges––but I don’t think so.
Two songs here appear on 2012’s TRUE album—both being long overdue for a proper recording. They would’ve certainly been forgotten had there not been an archival project to unearth them. So as much as I bemoan all the time I wasted (and still waste) going through old photos, board tapes, multitrack recordings and papers––I’m glad I didn’t forget about these dear old pals of mine. That’s said, it’s still hard not to scold myself for spending so much time looking backward instead of moving ahead.
Album Credits | Lyrics
Produced by Willie Wisely
Art adapted by Emily Sebasky
All songs by Willie Wisely except 1 Bob Mould & 8 Paul Westerberg
MONDAYS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME (c.1997)
WW: guitar, vocal, James Voss: bass, Peter Anderson: drums
YOUNG & RELENTLESS (c.1996)
WW: bass/guitar/vocal, Mike Leville: drums/perc
DR. JACK (c.1994)
WW: guitar/vocal, Andy Sullivan: banjo
RIVER RATS (v.1) (c.1990)
WW: guitar/vocal, James Voss: bass/backing vocal, Peter Anderson: drums, Greg Wold:trombone
REAL (1998)
WW: piano/bass/vocal, Steve Kent: drums
HERE WE ARE WITH OUR FEET ON THE GROUND (c.1984)
WW: all except unkown drummer/percussionist
MAKE LOVE (QUARTET) (c.1991)
Macalester College Singing Group
I BOUGHT A HEADACHE (c.1994)
WW: all, Peter Anderson: drums
FLOWERS FOR THE LADY (c.1997)
WW: Guitar/vocal
I WISH I HAD THE NERVE (1983)
WW: Guitar/vocal, Paul Grubb: bass/keys, Mike Leville: Drums/percussion
TROMEO & JULIET THEME (c.1996)
The Conquerors: WW:vocal/guitar/keys, Adam Fesenmeier/guitar, Keith Patterson/bass, Steve Kent/drums
Lyrics
Young & Relentless
Giddy up go daddy oh dee oh
I have bit the snow cookie
I have felt the canoe pull
Perrywinkle peapod oh dee oh
I have played the horse breather
I have tasted monkey
Longevity pie oh dee oh
Come in and seedy furniture
I have smelled the Q-Tip
Tyrannosaurus Rex, the eater of cars
My mother is my tow truck
I have alien armpits
I have loved the dance horse
Peas Porridge loves a girl fight
I’ve absorbed the flurp stains
Filafel P. Pancake commonwealth pie
Nick St. Nicholas gives bass lessons, oh dee oh
I was young & relentless
I was young & relentless
I was young & relentless
I was young & relentless
I was young & relentless
I was young & relentless
I was young
River Rats
We hung our clothes on the hickory limb
Our bodies froze out in the river
She’s so fine, mine, all mine, my
River rats in high water
Barren were the boughs of the hickory limb
Some mad joke I ‘spose of my sisters’
We’ll sneak back to town after sundown
River rats, caught out of water
She’s so fine, mine, all mine
We’re river rats, we love the water
She’s so fine, mine all mine
We’re river rats, we love the water
On our tippy-toes through the orchard
But Ida Redd’s big nose from her porch on her rocking chair
“Hey, you kids! I see where you hid.”
River rats caught out of water
“Didn’t mean no hastles, well I swear we weren’t pluckin’ your apples”
River rats we love the water
River rats we love the water
River rats we love the water
Dr. Jack
Well I’m Dr. Jack in a tin-foil suit
Bring on the spectators
Wax me up and it fits like skin
Warm the incubators
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Well I’m Dr. Jack on the precipice
Bring on my investors
Bring to me their riches
Taste the fruits of my endeavors
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Well, cells collide and again divide
One of me now two of I
Well I’m Dr. Jack and the crowd cheers on
Hail to God and science
Oh, my sweet girl Friday
Said she must leave my employ… right now
Well I’m Dr. Jack in a custom can
Bring on my detractors
I’ll eat them all for their vitamins
Belch the voice of traitors
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Well cells collide and multiply
Two of me times lambda pi
Well I’m Dr. Jack in the millennium
I have seen the view
And science is for the few
Real
When famine flies land in the face of people
And hungry eyes, tell you fate is sealed
This might smart a bit
No avoiding it
It’s not counterfeit… it’s real
The ambassador had failed to gain appeal
At the backstage door where she finessed the deal
No more alibis
Broadcast to justify
The years we all denied… what’s real
Whatcha doing about tomorrow?
Nations wiggle out, curmudgeons grudging steel
And they whistle a tune of drought, bodies are revealed
It’s no TV show
To hell with rock and roll
It’s not a vaudeville joke
Or extra terrestrial… it’s real
You can’t wiggle out
With your frown or pout
Why don’t you cut it out
‘Cuz this here it’s all about… real
Real
Here We Are With Our Feet On The Ground
I won’t steel your children
I won’t steel your cows
I won’t knock your fence
‘Cuz I know that’s your personal walls
Send me to your rivers
Send me to your farms
Lead me down the path boy
Where the sun beats nice and warm
Meadows green with no sunlight
Bacon in the pan with no pigs in the sty
Cars wizzing by at the speed of sound
Here we are with our feet on the ground
Meadows green with no sunlight
Bacon in the pan with no pigs in the sty
Cars wizzing by at the speed of sound
Here we are with our feet on the ground
I won’t steel your children
I won’t steel your cows
I won’t knock your fence boy
Make Love
I’ll make love to you
Slow if you want me to
I’ll kiss you
When we’re through
All but just this once
I promise not to rush
I’ll give it a
Gentle push
‘Cuz I believe, I believe that mistakes have been made
I regret what I’ve done, taking and taking away
I can’t believe what you done, you should’ve known it was wrong
You don’t have to forget
Say I’m forgiven, because I…
I apologize
“Baby I’m sorry”
You know it’s hard to find
A body and soul all so fine
In one gentleman
All combined
Say what you have to say
A lashing should be my due
But I’ll learn
And you’ll learn too
‘Cuz I believe, I believe that mistakes have been made
I regret what I’ve done, taking and taking away
I can’t believe what I done, you should’ve known it was wrong
You don’t have to forget
Say I’m forgiven, because I…
I apologize
Oh I apologize
I apologize
Say what you will
I’ll swallow the bitter pill
I ain’t treated you
Very well
So give me your lowest blow
Square right between the nose
But tonight this house is mine
And that’s a good sign
‘Cuz I believe, I believe that mistakes have been made
I regret what I’ve done, taking and taking away
I can’t believe what I done, you should’ve known it was wrong
You don’t have to forget
Say I’m forgiven, because I…
I apologize
Oh I apologize
I apologize
I apologize
I’ll make love to you
Slow if you want me to
I ain’t been so very good to you
I Bought A Headache
Standing in the snow sucking my soda pop
Hoping for a glimpse of ZZ Top
Come on St. Paul Civic Center
$8.50 I bought a headache
I bought me a headache
Smokin’ Jim till it’s coming out my ears
Long-haired girls shakin’ way past her years
Come on St. Paul Civic Center
$8.50 I bought a headache
I bought me a headache
I bought me a headache
Flowers For The Lady
Say waiter, well can I have a flower for my lady?
It’s not her birthday or anniversary
Say waiter well can I have a flower for my baby?
Cause she’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen
I want a limo that runs on hot toddies
‘Cause I’m blowing my last dime right
And there better be room for something kind of naughty
‘Cause the girl done love how this poor boy provides
Say waiter can I have a flower for my lady?
Hey, pluck one off of that old Maitre d’
Say waiter well can I have a flower for my baby?
‘Cause she’s the sweetest girl I’ve ever seen.
I want a limo that runs on hot toddies
‘Cause I’m blowing my last dime right
And there better be leg room for something kind of naughty
‘Cause the girl done love how this poor boy provides
Say waiter well can I have a flower for my lady?
It ain’t the 14th of no February
Say waiter well can I have one flower for my baby?
‘Cause she’s the sweetest thing a man done, one man done, one man’s seen.
I Wish I Had the Nerve
It’s nice to know
When we get so close
That my body shows it
But I wish I had the nerve to tell you
When we’re all alone
And passions grow
I think you should know it
But I wish I had the nerve to tell you
I wish I had the nerve to tell you
Well they say what she don’t know cannot hurt her
But I have to get this off me chest
Tonight tonight’s just the right night to let it all go
It’s been hung up inside for so long
The fire glows
You skin is gold
My voice is low
But I wish I had the nerve to tell you
I wish I had the nerve to tell you
I wish I had the nerve to tell you
I never know how to…
Tonight I think I have to…
I always really wanted to…
Chris you know I love you
That’s all I ever wanted to tell you
Well Chris you know I love you
Chris you know I do
The Tromeo & Juliet Theme
Sacred love the world they show
Juliet and Tromeo
Palm to palm and lips to lips
Heart to heart in cosmic kiss
Shootings stars & comets all collide
Baby, baby, babe
I’m forever yours and you’ll be mine
Bodies locked in bold embrace
Hearts that soar through time and space
Rising, swirling harmony
Souls entwined in ecstasy
Shootings stars & comets all collide
Baby, baby, babe
I’m forever yours and you’ll be mine
(Bridge) woah
Shootings stars & comets all collide
Baby, baby, babe
I’m forever yours
I’m forever yours and you’ll be mine