TALKING ABOUT AMERICA
You were just standing there white telephone that long blond hair
And I was out to kill some time
To find you and make you mine
So I could walk with my future in my hands
As I tiptoe through America
And though my friends say I don’t understand
I keep talking about America
She said I’ve got some advantages
And I’ll give them to you well just because
Just because you’re such a sorry sight
And on the outside chance we just might
CHORUS
And how how could they know
They must not criticize while we advertise
And now now that I know
I will not analyze
Just rock ‘n roll all night
She said let’s leave this out
Let’s go home and play twist and shout
Put on our designer clothes
splash around that French cologne
So we can walk with our future in our hands
As we tiptoe through America
And though my friends say I don’t understand
I keep talking about America
EUROTOUR
Some go down to the walking street
Some go Hamburg window-shopping
Hotel bars where the strangers meet
Where the b-girls wear seamed stockings
Some they just sit up in their rooms
With their cassettes playing all night
And some of us we like a drink or two
Cafe Select getting real tight
And its all right – Feeling all right
And I better write it down so I can tell you some more
Talking bout a Euro Tour – One two and four
Now he was lost on some strange street
Some strange city lost in the dark
Feeling lonely Mister US of A
He takes a walk right through the park
And there’s a girl there’s an emotional swirl
There’s eye contact all right
And like the prophet John Lennon once said
Whatever gets you through the night
CHORUS
Some go up and some go down as the bus goes round and round
some stay straight as is their fate
Keep both feet right on the ground
Some the live for the women they see
Some they die for the women they meet
Some of them they never make it home
The lizard king lies in Parisian concrete
Feeling all right
CHORUS
VERONIQUE THE ACTRESS
VERONIQUE the actress plays no part
Breaks my heart to see her
Cause I know I gotta go
Though she says I won’t let you
Six White horses on the wall
And a place in the country
And the future says nothing at all
She will never tell
Veronica says she’s only twenty
Let’s go out and buy some ice cream
Think of a reason for you to stay
Veronica says that should be easy
CHORUS
Veronica says she found three dogs in the garbage
And she says can you believe it
They must be crazy they must believe in nothing at all
Fur coats don’t impress her
CHORUS
DISCO SADNESS
Dancers ablaze in a fiery ocean
Strange lovers eyes look at me
Someone hands me their love potion
Though their eyes I cannot see
Light above and crowds among us
And the dancers reappear
Singing Disco Sadness
Raining down on me
Disco sadness
The future had to be
I could not hide from that power
Its like stereo ESP
]Let us dance one more hour
And then you come home with me
Out side the dawn is breaking
As couples say good night
CHORUS
And its all right we will not fight
And its okay to live for the night
See me now red white and cool
Babies hold onto their dancing fools
CHORUS
THE BALLAD OF SAL PARADISE
Hit the road Jack Do you remember Kerouac
Speed drenched highway Dean Moriarity
Whose that beatnik with that gone chick
As we drive into the wonder of the sad dark American night
Beat generation first in the nation
Dealing with an atom bomb
Still can’t get a handle on
Cats play bongos dig the way the poets blow
As we drive into the wonder of the sad dark American night
he must gotten harder fore he died in Florida
Or maybe just the flame died
That he turned up so high
Say all you college kids
Don’t do what your daddy did
For get business school and pick up on the road
CAUSE I SAW YOU
Giving up is not that easy
I was moving I was free and breezy
Then it all started to turn slow motion
Once again I’m drowning in an ocean of you
I lost my nerve…somewhere and I’m through
Cause I saw you
I saw you
I saw you
walking away
Stay tough – that’s the answer
I’ll get around and be a real good dance
Moving fast – I show no emotion
Then again, I’m drowning in this ocean of you
somewhere
And I’m through
CHORUS
Lying down – I close my eyes
All I could see were those eyes of yours looking down
CHORUS
COOL PANIC
Words & Music by Elliott Murphy
© 1980 Eljamur Music
Fish were jumping only yesterday
I was jumping like a child at play
I heard something…it come from far away
It was a cool panic – coming over you
Cool panic – coming over you
In the garden we were all alone
And when I held you I felt very strong
Than the phone rang – something terribly wrong
It was a cool panic – coming over you
Cool panic – coming over you
Mystic systems coming my way
Don’t need no wheels to ride this highway
When the band stops here what I say
I say…
CHANGE WILL COME
Words & Music by Elliott Murphy
© 1980 Eljamur Music
We’re so East Coast…so here’s a toast
Here’s to everything that I wanted the most…the most
So baby now…its over now
I’m just sitting here though I’ll stand up somehow…somehow
Got a date with a diamond ring
The tramps in the alley watch her shake that thing
I say its all right mama – Its all right now
I never really wanted any of it anyhow
Change will come – Change will come
We’re so New York…silver spoon and plastic fork
We wanted everything and we wanted a little bit more
Give me some more
And can you see…Its hard to see
You say you’re looking for a lover
I say don’t take a look at me…look at me
Got a date with a diamond ring
The tramps in the alley watch her shake that thing
I say its all right mama – Its all right now
I never really wanted any of it anyhow
Change will come – Change will come
DROWNING
See my baby she’s on the floor
She’s got religion in her eyes
And see my baby now she’s down on her knees
her savior needs no disguise
And she’s drowning
And she’s drowning
And she’s drowning
drowning in my love
See a moth fly by city lights
Can’t you see god in bright skies
And you see my baby now she knows just what she’s got
Her wounded lips hold no lies
And she’s drowning
And she’s drowning
And she’s Drowning in my love
All songs by Elliott Murphy © 1980 – Lyrics Reprinted by Permission
Affairs
Courtisane Records MUR 101
1980
“Talkin’ About America,” “Cool Panic,” “‘Cause I Saw You”
Elliott Murphy: guitar, vocals
Rob Alter: guitar
Larry Russell: bass
Tom Mandel: organ
Tony Machine: drums
“Euro-Tour”
Elliott Murphy: guitar, vocals
Ernie Brooks: bass
Richard Sohl: keyboards
Tony Machine: drums
“Veronique the Actress,” “Change Will Come,” “Drowning”
Elliott Murphy: J-200 acoustic guitar, harmonica, vocals
“Disco Sadness”
Elliott Murphy: guitar, harmonica, vocals
Ernie Brooks: bass
Kenny Laguna: drums
“The Ballad Of Sal Paradise”
Elliott Murphy: guitar, harmonica, vocals, drums
Ernie Brooks: bass
“Talkin’ About America” (original)
Elliott Murphy: guitar, vocals
Ralph Schuckett: piano
Ellen Shipley: vocals
Ernie Brooks: bass
Tony Machine: drums
Record By Record, Murphy By Murphy: Affairs
In the early eighties my brother Matthew and I decided to start our own label but we didn’t have much money so this was just an EP – six songs – but we were off to a good start. I would deliver the albums myself to astonished record stores. Affairs was my first album that “Change Will Come” appeared on and that song was my anthem for myself. The cover was shot on my bed in Gramercy Park and I was just waking up and grabbed the big harmonica I kept by the bed. The girl on the cover is another story…
About The Cover – “I Was Out To Kill Some Time”
I was living in Gramercy Park in New York City in a converted hotel and this cover was taken while I sat on my own bed with my girlfriend Cathy Smith. It was my idea that she should undress for the occasion and I chose the biggest harmonica I could find to hold in my hand. Cathy knew Richard E. Aaron and hired him to do the session. He showed up early one Saturday morning and I just woke up put on my boots and grabbed the harmonica. It was a tiny apartment – just two small rooms – and full of guitars and amps and my usual stuff. Cathy put on some of her favorite underwear from her favorite store – Trashy Lingerie in L.A. – and although it was a little difficult for everyone to concentrate with her holding my toy piano we managed to get something very provocative I think. I was mad at the music industry and I wanted to shock everyone although now this cover seems quite tame compared with most videos. When Richard and his crew left we went back to sleep.
Original Liner Notes
“Affairs!” she interrupted. “That was the word I was looking for before the telephone rang.”
“And who had the nerve to call at this hour?” He asked while searching for a piece of time that had been lost between the sheets.
“Why of all people, it was Jimmy again. His voice has changed a great deal since that night in lower Manhattan. At first I didn’t even recognize him but luckily his hearing was the same. You can’t change that.” She spoke as she undressed, pausing to light a cigarette and than just pausing again.
“And what was he looking for?” he asked with arched eyebrows.
“Oh you know. The same old thing.”
“And what might that be?”
“Why…innocence of course! You know, he never got over the loss.” she said and combed her hair and combed her hair and combed her hair…
Much later they would lie in bed and watch television. It was a black and white movie featuring a detective caught in the rain while following a dirty blonde heading for dubious affairs.
Three years after releasing his fourth and last major-label album, Elliott Murphy returned on his own independent label with this six-song, 24-minute EP. But using producer Thom Panunzio and working at The Record Plant among other studios, Murphy got a major-label sound on a typical set of melodic, uptempo rock songs containing his witty lyrics, notably on “Talkin’ About America,” “Euro-Tour,” and “‘Cause I Saw You.”
William Ruhlmann – AllMusic
Vinyl LPs
US:
Courtisane Records MUR 101 (1980)
*Note: There are green and silver label versions.
France:
Fan Club Records FC 066 (1990)
*Note: Released with bonus tracks as Affairs, etc…
Spain:
Impossible Records 012
*Note: Released with bonus tracks as Extended Affairs.
CDs
France:
Fan Club Records FC066 (1990)
*Note: Released with bonus tracks as Affairs, etc…
Musicdisc 120422 (1996)
Japan:
Teichiku Records TECP-25651
*Note: Released with bonus tracks as Affairs, etc…
Please note: If you have additions or corrections to this discography, please send them to the webmaster.
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