BAKER’S BOY
i was kneading dough in flour, as it were
and looked outside to see a figure in the shower
it was her
i held, secret from my father, a life line
and though she thinks of me as something of a savior
she was mine

VICTORY TOUR
i convinced myself to make a killing
after watching winners on the tv
i found farming life so unfulfilling
i found myself asking, hey why not me?!
and lately you’ve been saying i’ve been winning battles but not the war
that i can’t bring myself to suck it up and see what i’m fighting for
but i ain’t coming home to you unless i’m coming through on my victory tour
now i raise my hand at every reaping
as you notch the nights in the post of your bed
and my little sister is lying at home,
wondering when her big brother will get back his head
betcha that’s why she said
that lately she’s been thinking i’ve been winning battles but not the war
and i can’t bring myself to suck it up and see what I’m fighting for
but i ain’t coming home to you unless i’m coming through on my victory tour
the district sigh as the cannons count to one
the bloody fight keeps carrying on
no sleep tonight, till i see my allies die
till i hear great caesar cry, i have won!
and when your darling son arrives in his capitol cloths
smell of blood on the rose
will you remark to empty rooms
that this isn’t the boy that you’ve always known?
and when the banners disappear
and you are given everything you could imagine
piled high inside your mansion
blessed with every satisfaction
the envy on your peers
will you still stroke his hair?
say that it’s won
say that it’s done
there’s nothing there
will you still say that all that he’s done makes you proud?
what was it for?
wonder no more
look to the crowd

CAREERS
all hail the king!
i break my back to bend to kiss his ring
it wasn’t always so
but winners must adapt into their time
i see no crime
once misbehaved
to think on all the friends i could have saved
i have some deep regrets, as you have yours
it’s in the past now, friend
rebellions end
life, it appears
is nothing more than an excess of years
i could fight, and i could die
or i could learn to turn to the careers
money in hand
slipping through my fingers silvered sand
what goods a holiday?
what goods a break?
buy a silken pillow
sate your pain
all cost, no gain
i will not let you down
i will work hard and true
from 8 to 6, i’ll ply my trade
and do my part to keep your aid
but when the time has come
and what needs done is done
will i cry?
i should atone
for something in me hateful must have grown
i will not say a word
i’ll double down and focus on the facts:
it’s this or the axe

ALL PROPO
you lie, burning under big lights
telecasting all night
weighing out every word
your man, teeth as white as snowbanks
forcing you to fire blanks
like a scared little bird
and inside your heart is still broken
from feeling for your lover
so clutch hard on your little token
and read the teleprompter
cause it’s all propo
ain’t it all propo?
when you don’t want them to know
things ain’t going so good?
and you can always win
by giving him a big grin
and let the people begin
to think hell maybe you’re good
to think hell maybe you’re the
next thing
prepped so pretty and clean
draped in all the nice things
biting hard on your tongue
always wearing your best force field
forced to never let yield
always under the gun
and inside your heart is still broken
from feeling for your lover
so clutch hard on your little token
and read the teleprompter
cause it’s all propo!
ain’t it all propo?
when you don’t want them to know
things ain’t going so good?
and you can always win
by giving them a big grin
and let the people begin
to think hell maybe you’re good
to think hell maybe you’re a
phoenix rising, self sufficient
righteous victim, honest witness
decent creature, fraught with pity
so unhappy
oh so pretty

ONE HEADLIGHT
so long ago, i don’t remember when
that’s when they say i lost my only friend
they said she died easy of a broken heart disease
i listened through the cemetery trees
i’ve seen the sun coming up at the funeral at dawn
the long broken arm of human law
now it always seemed such a waste
she always had a pretty face
i wondered how she hung around this place
hey, come on try a little
nothing is forever
there’s got to be something better than in the middle
but me & Cinderella
can put it all together
we can drive it home with one headlight
she said it’s cold
it feels like Independence Day
and i can’t break away from this parade
there’s got to be an opening somewhere here in front of me
through this maze of ugliness and greed
I’ve seen the sun up ahead at the country line bridge
saying all there’s good and nothingness is dead
we’ll run until she’s out of breath
she ran until there’s nothing left
she hit the end
it’s just her window ledge
this place is old, it feels just like a beat up truck
i turn the engine, but the engine doesn’t turn
well it smells of cheap wine & cigarettes
this place is always such a mess
sometimes i think i’d like to watch it burn
i’m so alone
i feel just like somebody else
man, i ain’t changed, but i know i ain’t the same
but somewhere here inbetween the city walls of dying dreams
i think her death, it must be killing me

LOVE LEFT
i awoke with a hole in my breast
my heart still beating, nowhere close to death
when I opened my eyes to find no bloody mess,
realized a weight had been lifted off of my chest
once familiar moans I’m starting to forget
phantom in my bones has been laid to rest
no voices haunting me at night, lying in my bed
feels like a weight has been lifted off of my chest
that was the morning that love left
i made my coffee strong
(love was gone)
grabbed my keys
(love was gone)
turned the radio off
(love was gone)
got ready to leave
(love was gone)
as I ran for the train in the summer rain
I didn’t even notice that my heart had changed
thought it’d be forever pumping through my veins
but I was wrong and love was gone
something deep inside of me has shifted gears
i’ve been trying to learn to drive a stick for years
’cause automatically I’m speeding up to all my fears
my soul’s growing cold and I won’t shed a single—
tears that once escaped by running down my face
now have moved away to a distant place
i wish I could have said goodbye, but I had no say
ain’t no one to fight and sure as hell no one to blame
hell no one to blame
love left without a trace

IN THE COLOSSEUM
the women all control their men with razors and with wrists
the princess squeezes grape juice on a torrid bloody kiss
what will you be wearing there?
the lion or the raven hair?
the flesh will all be tearing, but the tail will be my own
in the colosseum tonight
this one’s for the balcony and this one’s for the floor
as the senators decapitate the presidential whore
the bald headed senators are splashing in the blood
the dogs are having someone who is screaming in the mud
in the colosseum tonight
now it’s raining and it’s pouring on the pillaging and goring
and the constable is swinging from the chains
for the dead there is no story
no memory
no blame
their families shout blue murder but tomorrow it’s the same
in the colosseum tonight
a slowly acting poison will be given to the favorite one
and the dark horse will bring glory to the jailer and his men
it’s always much more sporting when there’s families in the pit
and the madness of the crowd is an epileptic fit
no justice here, no liberty
no reason, no blame
there’s no cause to taint the sweetest taste of blood
and greetings from the nation as we shake the hands of time
they’re taking their ovations
the vultures stay behind
in the colosseum tonight

THE NUT
all stop
the sirens keep blaring so loud
we’re still on edge
you watched a mountain fall to the ground
i watched you beg
and i heard something then in your voice
i had hoped to god that i would never have to hear again
ah, i must have lost it then
such grace
when i saw you walking through the old town
you know, that old grave
so sweet was the sound of your song
the song replayed
and i heard something then in your voice
i had hoped to god that i would never have to hear again
ah, i must have lost it then

OLD ENOUGH
my boy lost his way
ever since a tiny tot of two
he had no sense of play
another night, an empty bed
just pull the wool over my eyes
my little killer hauled away
i guess that he was old enough
my son takes the stage
standing with his hands behind his back
looking half his age
another night, empty bed
just pull the wool over my eyes
my little killer hauled away
i guess that he was old enough to die
and old friends sit with me
and call out all the callous commentators talking on tv
and i hum soft and slow
the song you used to sing
we used to sing
and wait for them to go
and all rise and raise your hands again
and say the wind is gonna change some day
(but no one’s saying when)
and all’s fair, but nothing’s fair at all
so here i sit amongst constituents and wait for them to call
and now in the games
i watch the only man i’ve ever loved bring his family fame
another night, an empty bed
a closet full of coats to cry
my little killer hauled away
i guess that he was old enough to die
(oh god i dreamt the other day they had come)
i guess that he was old enough to die
it doesn’t matter cause he gave ‘em a run
i guess that he was old enough to die

ABERNATHY
thought i saw another devil at my door
thought i saw another face i’d seen before
and the ghost i see is of a friend
number 23 i see again and again
i woke myself still alive
not sure how i’d made it
not sure how i’d played it
there’d been a blast and a dive
and the hand i was holding, i’d never been holding
to my recollection
some sort of protection
two bandits beating the odds
to the brutes go the takings
we outsmarted their makings
and focused on those careers flaws
and then combined our bases in the best hiding places
and practiced never sleeping
long nights of silent breathing
every evening
we came to a crux in time
all alone in our dealings
all stooped in our feelings
and crossed some invisible line
and as she was leaving
and as i was seething
i could hear the drumming
of the careers coming
but i think i’m done running
i was given such a boon when i survived
but i never slept another sober night
and this glass i pour is for a friend
number 23 i see again and again

AVOX
and when she’s alone i’ll be there, watching silently
a small silhouette of the man that i used to be
at one with the wall, stumbling out of the scenery
at her beck and call, nodding yes so voraciously
i’ll never look back on the way that i used to be
a thorn in her side, all alone, my own enemy
i was on the mend
walking through woods, under fence, to the rivers end
and i had said some things
my aim was to arm but my words only clipped her wings
would i be a better friend with no tongue in my head?

IGNITE
now I’m bursting at the seams,
where my skin meets the air
barriers torn down as if they were never there
how can I describe what you ignite?
i’m awake and I’m alive
i’m alive
i promise you I will fight
anything to keep you safe
when every breath is a test of life
and each step a test of faith
how can I describe what you ignite?
i’m awake and I’m alive
i’m alive
we struck a match and started a fire that night
i told you to run, ’cause I couldn’t watch you-
we fostered the flame
we fostered the flame
we fostered the flame
and let it burn inside

Written and recorded by Chamber Band in 2014 and 2015, in equal parts capitol and country.

Music by Anthony Cerretani, Chris Littler, Sam Monaco, A.Sarr, and Ellen Winter, with additional parts below. Mike Flannery workshopped and arranged all of the songs and did the remix of “Old Enough.” Ellen & A.Sarr arranged the horns on ”Victory Tour”, “All Propo”, “Careers”, “In the Colosseum” & “Avox.” Lyrics by Chris Littler & Ellen Winter, with the exception of “In the Colosseum”, which was written by Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan, and “One Headlight”, which was written by Jakob Dylan. Kelly Tieger gave us a lyrical assist on “Old Enough.”

Anthony Cerretani performed the bass guitar and the Grendel Drone Commander; Chris Littler sang vocals, played acoustic and electric guitar; Sam Monaco performed the drums and other various percussive devices; A.Sarr performed electric guitar, acoustic guitar, Rhodes, & piano; Ellen Winter sang vocals and played piano; Mike Flannery performed violin, addtl. guitars, synths, bells, tambourine, clapped, added noise, and sang backup vox. Eric “the Tait” Tait performed that wack-nasty trumpet, with Pete Creekmore on the flute and saxophone, and Rafael Davila on tuba.

Tracked by Eric Tait and Mike Flannery at The Farm Studio in rural Pennsylvania. Essential guitar advice came from Stephen Maxwell. Solid vibes and long nights of M:tG provided exclusively by The Tait. Additional tracking by Mike Flannery at Bass Hit Studio, in NYC.

Mixed by Mike Flannery. Mastered by Michelle Mancini at The Mastering Palace, in NYC. Original cover image is by Jason Alexander Byers, with a few tweaks by Sam Monaco & Chris Littler.

Produced by Chris Littler & Mike Flannery. Co-produced by A.Sarr, w/ Chamber Band.