Get all 9 The Academy Blues Project releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Prodigal Sun, Once Again..., Part of Your World b/w Good Hustle, The Neon Grotto, Let's Brunch, Vol. III, Let's Brunch, Vol. II, Let's Brunch, Vol. I, Evil Mubla, and 1 more.
1. |
Telltale Signs
05:19
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My heart almost jumped out of my chest
Late last night when I heard you call
It got me all bothered and upset
The house I’d built up about to fall
Your words always felt sharp as a knife
They turned me pale white as a ghost
I always thought we were on the same plane
Now I can see that I’m stuck in coach
Since we have been together I can sleep alright (sleep alright)
No more clinging on to the day with a dread of night
And since we have been together I feel like a man (like a man)
Well I’m gonna hold on to you just as long as I can
Until you just can’t stand it...
Or just can’t stand
Your body once felt warm to the touch
How could it suddenly turn so cold
You used to lie there in my arms
Now it appears that you simply fold
I promised you that I could change
I won’t keep you walled behind closed doors
I promise we’ll never fight again
Never darling, nevermore
Since we have been together I can sleep alright (sleep alright)
No more clinging on to the day with a dread of night
And since we have been together I feel like a man (like a man)
Well I’m gonna hold on to you just as long as I can
Until you just can’t stand it...
Or just can’t stand
Our marriage bed wasn’t built from an olive tree (olive tree)
Our love may have turned as cold as the iron on which we sleep
But I swear to you my fair Penelope (Penelope)
I just can’t wait to return from this long, long, long odyssey
Our marriage bed wasn’t forged from an olive tree (olive tree)
Our love may have turned as cold as the iron on which we sleep
But I swear to you my fair Penelope (Penelope)
You’re gonna rue the day that you ever left me
Since we have been together I can sleep alright (sleep alright)
No more clinging on to the day with a dread of night
And since we have been together I feel like a man (like a man)
Well I’m gonna hold on to you just as long as I can
Until you just can’t stand it...
Or just can’t stand
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2. |
Millicent
07:12
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I hope you're feeling better (better now)
Lately your mood has been changing with the weather
(obscured by clouds)
I know all your hopes, and all your dreams
Might seem torn apart at the seams
But just one short climb up Mount Lee
Ought to clear your head and set you free
I'm beginning to remember (better now)
About your pin shot and your letter (obscured by clouds)
So let's take a walk after dark
Through the woods up by Griffith Park
Just one short climb up Mount Lee
Ought to clear your head and set you free
Millicent Lilian
Lately you seem so indifferent
I wish that I could see you smile again
Now, I'm beginning to remember (better now)
Looking at your pin shot and your final letter (obscured by clouds)
So let's take a walk after dark
Through the woods up by Griffith Park
Just one last climb up Mount Lee
Promises to set us free
Millicent Lilian
Lately you seem so indifferent
I wish that I could see you smile again
One more time now
Millicent
Oh, lately you seem so indifferent
I wish that I could see you smile again
[faint murmurs of poetry once recited]
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3. |
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4. |
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Poor little John, Votta-helluva fella
Keeping watch with a few on his arm
First to call out, "10 minutes ‘til classes!"
And if you’re late, to sound the alarm
Always watching the clock and the traffic
So those buried in books would still find their way
For years he lived to give you the hour,
And you wouldn’t give him the time of day
One day John noticed in a watch advertisement
Every time piece had 10:10 on display
Be it coinsidence, masonic symbol
or perhaps just a trick of the trade
Poor little John, down in the village
Went to a watch store to inquire within
Why's every watch I see in the papers
Always set to ten after ten
The store owner was happy to answer his question
“Do you see the V shape formed by the two hands?
It serves to highlight the name of the maker.
Now is that so hard to understand?”
But John asked “Why! If that is the purpose
Is every clock here so far behind?
Each of these watches reads 4:15?”
And the owner said… “Sir, the time is a quarter after four.”
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5. |
Typhoid Mary
03:38
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Typhoid Mary, you're the sickest girl in town
Oh, Typhoid Mary, you're the sickest girl in town
So, Typhoid Mary, quit spreading your disease around
You started slowly, but I watched your sickness spread
You started slowly, soon all my friends would be dead
Oh, Typhoid Mary, now patient zero is in my bed
I can't resist you, your quarantine I must break through
We've reached an epidemic, we'll have a pandemic soon
Oh, Typhoid Mary, like the vaccine I ache for you
When I heard you would serve in isolation
To make you pay with the rest of your days for the things that you've done
Well, I stopped dead in my tracks, and I thought to myself
I'd rather be bedridden with you than have a clean bill of health
I'm almost finished - your contagion's kickin' in
Your red-hot love, babe, sends a fever through my skin
That's right, I've got a fever, and you're the only prescription
So, Typhoid Mary, you're the sickest girl in town
Oh, Typhoid Mary, you're the sickest girl in town
Well, Typhoid Mary, quit spreading your disease around
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6. |
In Other Words
06:01
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I could tell you that I miss you but you’ve heard that song before
I could tell you to come home, but you already closed that door
I could tell you how it feels to be on my own again
I would say it feels the same but this time it’s different
... this time it's different.
I could tell you it was my fault – that you were right and I was wrong
I could tell you how I kick myself for writing you into a song
I could tell you how it feels to be on my own again
I would say I feel the same but this time I’m different
... this time I'm different.
Don’t tell me it meant nothing or that you never cared
When neither you nor I can define exactly what we shared
And if we just can’t apply any language that we’ve learned
To help us understand something we never even heard
Then I guess I’ll call it love, though you made me hate that word
Then I guess I’ll call it love, though you made me hate that...
I can tell you weren’t ready to hear me say it first
I can tell I moved too quickly, didn’t prepare for the worst
I can tell I was impatient every step of the way
I can tell that sometimes there is nothing one can say
... nothing one can say.
I can tell the distance cost us everything we earned
I can tell I sabotaged us by insisting you could learn
I can tell you were indifferent every step of the way
I can tell that sometimes there is nothing I can say
... nothing I can say.
Don’t tell me it meant nothing or that you never cared
When neither you nor I can define exactly what we shared
And if we just can’t apply any language that we’ve learned
To help us understand something we never even heard
Then I guess I’ll call it love, though you made me hate that word
Then I guess I’ll call it love, though you made me hate that...
At least there's always hope, we can learn to love that word
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7. |
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A little birdie fluttered down to me the other day
Having nothing better to do, I figured I’d hear what he had to say
He landed on my windowsill, then to my surprise
His beak began to speak and he looked me in the eyes
... and this is what he said
::whistle break::
...allow me to translate, he said:
"Mark Levy, what on earth have you been doing?
Stop pissing away everything we’ve worked so hard for!"
I said hey little birdie, you think you know me all so well
He said "Keep your mouth shut, Mark, I’ve got a story to tell
You see, I flew into a spider’s home just the other day
The beautiful web he was spinning was left in disarray
But I know what it’s like to have trauma in my life
I used to have a beautiful birdhouse, two kids, and a wife
Until one day a human hand came into our nest
I had to abandon my family though they were all I had left"
I said, "Hang on a second, birdy, I do not understand
Why would you fly away just because they were touched by man?"
He said, “Mark, the smell of man is putrid at best,
and I’m gonna tell you why… that's right, I, the little bird, I'm gonna tell you the big human why...
The human stink is unmistakable
It’s the smell of fire and the automobile
It’s the smell of machine guns and the atom bomb
It’s the smell of cages and burning napalm
It smells of greed and hatred and fear
I just can’t escape it, it flies further south every year
It’s a pandora’s box of olfactory hell
and I’m tired of living downwind of that smell!
So, Mark Levy, what on earth have you been doing?
Stop pissing away everything we’ve worked so hard for!
I saw a man lying, dying on the side of the road
spilling his life out on the curb
Such a tragedy for me to see a human life cut off so short
when all he wanted to do was merge
You see, Mark, it isn’t just man’s disrespect for our mother earth
It’s man’s inhumanity to man, that’s what really hurts
but it’s a plague that could be erased with every new birth
so, why are you wasting your time talking to a bird?"
"Come to think of it, why am I wasting my time talking to a bird?"
And with that the little birdy, he just flew away
Leaving Mark Levy alone to gather his thoughts
But I was happy to see him flutter on back later that year
and I called him over and said
"Hey Birdie, how on earth have you been doing
It’s so good to see your smiling face once more"
But at that precise moment, an owl perched up in a tree
came swooping down ever so gracefully
He ate my friend in one large bite right there on the spot
and I just sat there and watched in shock...
Well that was not the ending I expected...
But the moral of the story is that, ultimately,
though you and I know just how cruel nature can seem
We humans should do our best to add a little civility
and make the world the best one it can be!
So, Mark Levy, what on earth have you been doing?
Stop pissing away everything we’ve worked so hard for!
Well, Mark Levy, what on earth have you been doing?
Stop pissing away everything we’ve worked so hard for!
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8. |
Coventry Parade
06:30
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Gather ‘round townspeople
Get the whole kingdom in the street
Our fair lady’s turning heads of everyone she meets
Debutantes, bon vivants, no Lord is immune
She's got hold of the emperor's wardrobe, and is sure to change his tune
The best view to be had is from the child's brigade
And one thing is for certain, despite the royal charade,
All will be revealed at the Coventry Parade!
Tired of being miss pronunciation, Sade changed her name to Sade
she then switched her orientation and soon ran off with Jade
now tail feathers in the hen house will fly hither and tither
as the two salacious sisters sing the shear delights of scissors
Yes, the first cut is the deepest, no matter where you shave
but you won't get very far if you don't unsheathe the blade
When all will be revealed at the Coventry Parade!
The Baker makes his pizza just off the village square
Banging, kneading all the dough, tossing it in the air
as it flattens on his stomach, much to diners' chagrin
it’s time to make the doughnuts... hey, get a load of him!
If the clothes make the man, sometimes he'll be unmade,
and if you have to come without, you best stay in the shade
Because all will be revealed at the Coventry Parade!
So line up! Line up!
What a sight for all to see
Line up, line up!
Single file next to me
Step right up, right up,
Right up to the curb!
Oh, line up, line up!
'Cause the lighting is superb
But the best view in the town, is from the child's brigade
And one thing is for certain, despite the royal charade
All will be revealed
All will be revealed
All will be revealed
At the Coventry Parade!
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The Academy Blues Project New York, New York
The Academy Blues Project (ABP) is a band from New York City. The group’s music—including three albums from 2021—blends electric storytelling with elements of rock, the namesake blues, power pop and classic soul.
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