OUT FOR THE KILLING
Words by Elliott Murphy & Ernie Brooks
Music by Elliott Murphy
Cold New York Eyes so terrific
Weld permanent connections to my soul
She asked what I do I said get specific
In the long run I grow old
Take a look what you’ve been through
Baby take a look at yourself
You’re turning yourself into somebody else
My spirit’s weak but the flesh is willing
Out for the killing
She asked what I know about Nicaragua
I said I read the papers I watch TV
She laughed at my political knowledge
She said you know even less about you and me
Take a look what you’ve been through
CHORUS
I dropped her off in the combat zone in Boston
When I found she worked for undercover police
I sit around – I drink straight from the bottle
I take tiny bites of some very rare meat
Take a look what we’ve been through
CHORUS
CLEAN IT UP
Words by Elliott Murphy
Music by Elliott Murphy & Art Labriola
The ringing of the telephone
Machine says sorry nobody’s home
Her sweet voice cries I’m so alone
When are you coming home
The sound of the dialtone
Clean it up – throw it all away
Clean it up – wash my hands
Clean it up – throw it ll away – Clean it up
The letters of the lawyers they fly by night
He said, you wanted it – now you got a fight
Even the judge agrees nobody’s right
Why can’t they see the light
They got their hearts shut tight
Clean it up – throw it all away
Clean it up – wash my hands
Clean it up – throw it ll away – Clean it up
Once upon a time there was a love affair
Nothing’s ever right when you’re not there
All I wanted to do was care
The letters promised I’ll be there
And now the page is bare
Years later walking down the avenue
Husbands and wives say how do you do
He’s thinking how did I lose you
I had a love so true – She things the same thing too
Clean it up – throw it all away
Clean it up – wash my hands
Clean it up – throw it ll away – Clean it up
TAKING THE SILENCE
Words by Elliott Murphy
Music by Elliott Murphy & Art Labriola
Its so terrifying – lying to myself
I can’t deny it – its you and no one else
Living in the future – standing alone
Weighing all the damage – picking up the phone
Taking the silence – feeling the heat
Taking the silence – I get what I need
I thought I had will power – but I didn’t have enough
To battle with my ego and stay off that heady stuff
The past is behind you no need to look away
Fear said you’re leaving – my prayers said you’ll stay
Taking the silence – feeling the heat
Taking the silence – I get what I need
I was a man of action – my feet stuck in the sand
I got a new way of acting – I know how to make a stand
I don’t need a movie – no need to run away
I’m not into stealing I want to pay
Taking the silence feeling the heat
Taking the silence I get what I need
PEOPLE DON’T LEARN
Words and music by Elliott Murphy
Crawling into my apartment – it must have been ten a.m.
My stomach’s turning my head is spinning
I can’t breathe no oxygen
And I swear it will be the last time
Though I swear it ain’t the first
How come every time I start feeling better
I start acting worse
But people don’t learn – people don’t learn
People don’t learn nothing but a lesson
The lives of the poets – the great painters too
They say most of them were short lives
I wonder is that really true
Didn’t they dream of the children
Running through a green lawn
With the sun shining so brightly up above
Instead of crawling in at dawn
But people don’t learn – people don’t learn
People don’t learn nothing but a lesson
And I remember everything – things that we do to pretend we are king
And as the nights go by – I watch the stars disappear from the sky
Coming home from my travels
Telephoning what’s new
Somebody says Tom Baker died
Oh my God is that really true
He could have been some king of actor
He could have written a book
And all I could ever do is stand back and look
Cause people don’t learn – people don’t learn
People don’t learn nothing but a lesson…
CHANGE WILL COME
We’re so East Coast – So here’s a toast
So here’s to everything that I wanted the most – the most
And baby now – it’s over now
I’m just sitting here though I’ll stand up somehow – stand up somehow
I’ve 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
And Oh Oh – A Change Will Come
Oh Oh – A Change Will Come
We were so New York – a silver spoon a plastic fork
We wanted everything – we wanted a little bit more
Give me some more
Can you see – It’s hard to see
She said I’m looking for a lover
He said don’t take a look at me – Look at me
I’ve got a date with a diamond ring
The tramps in the alley watch her shaking that thing
I say its all right mama – Its all right now
I never really wanted any of it anyhow and
And Oh Oh – A Change Will Come
Oh Oh – A Change Will Come
I say its all right mama – Its all right now
I never really wanted any of it anyhow
I say its all right mama – Its all right now
I just couldn’t stand anymore no how
And Oh Oh – A Change Will Come
Oh Oh – A Change Will Come
THE EYES OF THE CHILDREN OF MARIA
You and I we got our problems – you and I we got hope.
And we assume we will be solving them, we got love – and we can cope.
But the lights in the distance – and the fire burning on the shore…
See the eyes of the children of Maria
Look at the eyes of the children of Maria
See the eyes of the children of Maria
Waiting for the coming of a lord.
Everybody wants some saving grace. Lash you back – shave your hair.
But when the angels come to Saint Marks Place
They’re just looking for something hip to wear
And the ships they’re sailing backwards
Full of rags dreams and shades for the
CHORUS
I can’t believe what I heard yesterday
They say the dollar is bound to fall.
But those books they’re written everyday
I say the writing’s on the wall.
Up above there goes a satellite – bouncing TV shows
For good reception man that’s – its what you got
For what you need…heaven knows.
And the pictures of the babies they are frozen forever in my mind. Like the…
CHORUS
MANY CAN READ (FEW CAN REASON)
Amen! What’s wrong with you?
You’re doing things that you know you shouldn’t do.
You got the run around – You got the can’t sit down.
You got the itch that nearly burned you down.
When it starts to feel right – You feel brand new.
You trust your instincts trust your insight
And see what they can do
For you
Hey hey – baby’s in black.
She’s looking at you like you’re never coming back.
Hey hey what’s that addiction you got?
You had the answer once – somehow you forgot cause
CHORUS
There’s a lot of places I haven’t been.
Places you could take me but I’m never going in.
I say I, I don’t know where I’d be,
If I was still what I use to be
I saw you talking to the devil last night.
She said I got you boy – I know what you like.
You like to speed it up – you just don’t want to slow down.
Don’t want to stop take a good look around because…
CHORUS
There’s a lot of places I haven’t been.
Places you could take me but I’m never going in.
I say I, I don’t know where I’d be,
If I was still what I use to be
Hey hey…
CHAIN OF PAIN
This little girl she’s all shook up.
She don’t know why her dad is drunk.
Was she so bad? Did she do something wrong?
Why did he promise he’s coming home?
Chain of pain – coming at you like a train.
Each generation always the same.
Chain of pain coming at you like a train.
Each generation always the same chain of pain.
The morning sun is streaming through the blinds.
His trembling hands chop another line.
He swears someday I’m gonna give this up.
He says someday I’m gonna rise above
Chain of pain – coming at you like a train.
Each generation it’s always the same.
Chain of pain coming at you like a train.
Each generation always the same chain of pain.
Chain of pain – Chain of pain
It’s no matter of coincidence
Things you inherit from your parents.
It’s more than just the color of your eyes.
It’s more than just the way you can’t stop getting high
Chain of pain – coming at you like a train.
Each generation always the same.
Chain of pain coming at you like a train.
Each generation always the same chain of pain.
Chain of pain – Chain of pain
YOU GOT IT MADE
And when the deal was through
She said there’s something left to do
She took him by the hand
She said I understand a man
He faintly remembered that style
And that memory made him smile
You got it made – You got it made
You got it made – In the shade
Down by the dirty canal
The conversation was banal
She said you look like Huck Finn
He said Tom Sawyer is who I’ve been
She said you like Mark Twain
Try Thomas McGuane
CHORUS
And then the deal was done
She put away her knife and gun
She said let’s get something to eat
And there’s some people I gotta meet
He said I guess that’s it
She said It’s all in the fit
CHORUS
THE FALL OF SAIGON
Captain they’re calling they don’t want us falling behind
There’s no use in stalling there’s no use in drawing a line
Let’s get out of this rice paddy before I step onto some god damn mine
And we’ll take a jeep and watch the fall of Saigon
And hey girl its over
Goodbye white cliffs of Dover
Sail onto free lands
The boys all come home
Call girls are crying as helicopters fly their loves away
There’s a panic at the embassy a blood bath is coming they all say
And what’s come between us I try but I just can’t get it on
Love has turned to politics – like the fall of Saigon
CHORUS
And darling I’m lying you’re right I’m just sick of trying
This romance is ending
That feeling is gone
You got your mystery and I got what’s left of this song
And just like southeast Asia I don’t know if I’m right or if I’m wrong
Some things are worth fighting for and some things well they’re just gone
But I remember the night we watched the fall of Saigon
CHORUS
CONTINENTAL KIND GIRL
Have you seen her – dressed in red fur
And she’s walking down a street like Fifth Avenue
She’s got fine shoes – she don’t pay dues
Except for days and days with her psychoanalyst crew
Pink tights at night for the disco – Fall calls her to balls in San Francisco
Airports and luggage such a nuisance
Mention politics and she throws in her two cents
Continental kind girl – Takes her scissors and she cuts off a curl
Continental kind girl – Puts it in her jewelry box like a pearl
Continental kind girl – She says when this you see you will remember me
I say my God I’ll follow you around the world
I got my faults I don’t need no Gestalt
Don’t need no Twentieth Century insecurity plan
And I confess I’d like to watch you undress
I’ll help you take off your jewelry – Ill help you any way I can
Pulling up in a chauffeur driven Cadillac
To an after-hours club – some say its where its at
But whose that gentlemen with the…I’m asking you whose the old man with the… (CHORUS)
And I think now am I too hard – Its just the sight of those credit cards
Or is it just petty jealousy – But when I’m walking down 57th street
And our eyes just happen to meet I know I need a… (CHORUS)
She gets in motion on either side of the ocean
She can hang out with the dirty rock and rollers – Hang out with the sheiks
Important places, Important faces – She goes through customs carrying psychedelic antiques
Remember madam Claude where the rich men would buy her
anything she wanted as long as she was wanted
As long as she was wanted my dreams they are haunted by a… (CHORUS)
DUSTY ROSES
Trying my best to walk straight in a row
Feeling just like Edgar Allen Poe
And wishing I had someplace good to go
It was election time
Streetlights were out – the bars they were closed
And I’m saying to myself
Elliott , its just not the ending I chose
And the Statue of Liberty
Looks out to sea – says who knows
Maybe tomorrow – maybe tomorrow
And she said: I don’t want your dusty roses
I can’t stand when you mix beauty with tragedy
And she said: I don’t want your Dusty Roses
There’s just no place in the life of a girl like me
We could take courses we could brush up on our French
Move to Paris try and live like artists
I was gonna say more and then I forgot all the rest
Sometimes that’s better
And even I’m betting bored seeing sunrise
Thinking of everything I’d like to buy
And me and my friends got much too high
But I don’t blame them
No, I don’t blame them
CHORUS
Just no place in the life a girl like me
Ain’t no place in the life of that lady
IT FEELS LIKE
As I lay me down, as this world turns red – I’m no communist baby – I believe in a king-size bed – she said let’s sleep when we’re dead
I was rhyming with the timing of Frankie Lyman
And the teenagers crying – the disc jockeys sighing
At the news the king was dying – you know what that feels like
I was down I’d been around – and I was growing sick and tired of this town – the sounds of these clowns – who keep telling me late at night – – they know what it feels like
You were leaving I was grieving all these facts said
I was not achieving I was mistakenly believing
That the smiles on their faces meant they knew
What it feels like – she said how could you ever allow this domesticating plow – this powdered milk cow onto the farm – we grow the things that we feel like
As I lay me down – as this world turns red – I’m no communist baby – I believe in a king-size bed – she said let’s sleep when we’re dead
Even Sigmund Freud would be annoyed at your fanatical joy
When your brand new toy started walking started talking
Started telling you what it feels like – ah hell I can tell this won’t sell – except to Alexander graham bell
the reason is, well, he loves telephone songs
He knows what they feel like
RAZOR LOVE
You slit my heart
So clean like a razor blade
I didn’t feel you cut into me
I just noticed that my shine did fade
Yeah you slit my heart
From the moment you bought my tune
And all the signs in these highway times
Couldn’t get me off your station too soon
I don’t need money
Is like saying I don’t need you
Even a saint gets hungry
I think a blind man could appreciate your view
I got soul on a golden platter
I got Leopold and Loeb on my brain
And once you decide to follow the mad hatter
It won’t ever ever be the same
Yeah you slit my heart
And the infection growing worse everyday
My friends only talk about the weather
And my doctor doesn’t know what to say
Chorus
YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU’RE IN FOR
Getting late they were spaced just a trace
Of the old coming down
Ancient fun one and one he said someday
We’ll leave this town
But magazines glamour scenes in betweens
Had him nailed to the ground
And the sounds still waiting to be found
And we are all junkies, pushers, pimps and hookers
You never know what you’re in to’
And you can shake it, try to forsake it
But you know you’re gonna take it
You never know what you’re in for
By the time he was nine there were signs of an old melody
He tried to list w at he missed just a kiss
Was it real or TV
Find a way make it pay you can say a rehearsed passion play
Everyday, everyday
And we’re all junkies pushers, pimps and hookers
You never know what you’re in for
And you can shake it, try to forsake it
But you know you’re gonna take it
You never know what you’re in for
But anyway he said hey I’m gonna stay Baby Please don’t cry
It’s just rough to stay tough full of lust and Be a walking hi fi
I see you and I’m through with that god
Who demands such a lie
But you gotta get by
And we’ll get by
And we are all junkies, pushers, pimps and pushers
You never know what you’re in for
And you can shake it, try to forsake it
But you know you’re gonna take it
You never know what you’re in for
LAST OF THE ROCK STARS
Naked telephone poles can’t describe
The way I’m feeling about you tonight
And a feeling on my back like an old brown jacket
Like to stay in school but I just can’t hack it
And I’m out on the street feeling like dirt
I’m afraid to get married because I know its gonna hurt
And I say
Oh oh oh – there’s the last of the rock stars
And me and you
Oh oh oh – rock ‘n roll is here to stay
But who will be left to play
Well I dreamed I saw the king in a fifty three chevy
Had a band on his mind and his hands looked heavy
And he rolled down his window I guess to say hi
I couldn’t see his face ’cause of the purple haze inside
And he was born to be the king – he was born to be the man
And he died though he was holy – although I doubt he’d understand
When I say
(chorus)
Adolescent predrug habit – if it means guitar you gotta have it
And you got your axe and you got your group
And your old man thinks its a waste of loot
And you wait all week for a Sullivan show
And you know that’s just where you wanna go
And you homework now is never complete
You don’t care – cause you have got that beat
So a highdy hi and a heydy hey
And a girls that home on Friday night and a boy that’s out to play
And some of us are masters and some or us are slaves
And than there’s that boy who knows he’s gotta play
And a messy desk drawer full of broken strings
You know these kids and you know of those things
(chorus)
Come on mama please don’t cry
Don’t you know how I feel inside
ROCK BALLAD
When the moon was just right
We could turn off the light and just listen
And we’d pray to the night
And we’d hold on so tight
You could hear crystal stars as they’d glisten
Lovers in vain
Like to walk in the rain
Like to hear distant trains emotion
And the late radio
We would play it so low
No one must know this devotion
Rock ballad – Rock ballad
You know baby and I used to listen all night long
To the real slow song -Till the tears were gone
And these jobs and these schools
Teach romance is for fools
And the dream always ends upon waking
And we all kept our cool like a hustler shoot pool
And soon your whole life is spent faking
Cause to try is to fail
And as the wind left your sails
All you heard was the sound of their laughter
But I was running so fast
With the wind racing past
All I heard was a voice say “go after her”
CHORUS
And these soul clarinets
And the feelings we get
It’s the songs of regret I remember
And we placed our last bet
On loves long shot request
As they spun the roulette that September
Now let’s all raise our glass
For a drink to the past
And a drink to the last chance taken
And let’s drink once again to our long lost friends
No, we can’t let it end the surf’s breaking
Rock ballad
Rock ballad
DIAMONDS BY THE YARD
As I lay down with my lady
The sounds of the night keep me warm
I’m living a city life – I’m living maybe
But tonight there’s no reason to be strong
Romantic poets guard the darkness
My my all at such an early age
An old man sheds a tear
He opens a little gold locket
He thought his little girl was lost in an Indian raid
Somewhere in these night lights lies the answer
And you can get diamonds by the yard
A tiffany dream – A porcelain dancer
An old man playing blues guitar
(Chorus:)
Midnight I surrender
I live beneath your ancient spell
You’ve been my lover since I can’t remember
You save my life with the stories you tell
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
SICILY
Words and Music by Elliott Murphy
I was in Sicily reading Henry Miller
You were in New York City you were getting thinner
I was in discos I was listening to Madonna
You were in sweat clothes looking like Jane Fonda
One day I called you because I couldn’t resist
It cost me eighty bucks I don’t think it was worth it
This is the last thing I expected to be
A broken hearted troubadour in sunny Sicily
The night was raining and my window was stuck
My driver took the shore roads to avoid the heavy trucks
While he was telling me about the Mafia
I was thinking ‘bout our wedding what the marriage done to you
Feeling so lonely my esteem so low
Find myself in Italy I’m singing in a disco
This is the last thing I wanted to be
A broken hearted troubadour in sunny Sicily
Looking out my window I see the stars above
I’m closer to Tunisia than to anyone I love
I’ve seen the ruins of the Romans and the Greeks
Compared to my own empire they really look so neat
Some say my songs are long and over complicated
But they’re very personal I say they’re underrated
This is the last thing I expected to be
A broken hearted troubadour in sunny Sicily
ON ELVIS PRESLEY’S BIRTHDAY
Words and music by Elliott Murphy
I can’t say that I love this place where I live
This particular geographic location
But I’ve grown use to it and now I miss it when I’m away
Of course, when I was a child my father would take me with him
Down to the bowery where the bums were
And in the restaurant supply stores
He would buy shiny steel refrigerators and deadly looking stoves
While I begged him to take me to the army navy surplus stores on canal street
To buy some big dead bullets
He wore a short corduroy jacket, an informal hat with a puff of feather
And he talked with his hands in his pants pockets jangling change
Driving in his Cadillac it was Elvis Presley’s birthday
They said it on the radio and my father liked Elvis
And it was wonderful – it was wonderful
We drove through the black neighborhoods on Long Island’s north shore when Elvis was alive
My father was from Brooklyn and the depression left its mark
From picking up coal on the railroad tracks
He didn’t have a good word to say about Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Later, I liked elegant hotel bars
Where I could drink under F. Scott Fitzgerald skies
The coolest of the cool
Never a child on Elvis Presley’s birthday
My dead father jangling change
This is an unreal city
You can be anybody you want to be
When you’re alone
IF POETS WERE KING
In the midst of a midsummers dreaming
A dog is barking ‘cause he thinks he smells a thief
Inside the gates of the garden of Hamlet’s ghost
But underneath the gown of the queen lies the host who’s
Drunk out of his mind on princely pleasure passions
When its time to duel he merely
Throws his hat into a
Ring of Fire – of a ritual ceremony
Designed to curse the living for blessing what they knew was phony
All the time
But all these words are merely cleverly orchestrated
To hide my pain and so I don’t overstate it
To avoid you embarrassment or squirming in your seats
Help you to say thank you to all the people that you meet
While swimming or dating or looking in the mirror
We’ll go on forever we’ll be dead
Before the fear gets in
Oops there goes that dog again and the release of children’s voice
Playing in their fantasies
When Hide and seek are choices
We seem to make while picking a sound mate
Someone to participate in this experiment of love and hate
But lying with you
That’s what I would rather do
‘Cause rhyming words won’t save the kurds
‘Though I guess they ought to
If poets were king
This world would change its marching tune
And nothing would get done until very, very very, very late
In the afternoon
All Songs by Elliott Murphy © Elliott Murphy- Lyrics Reprinted by Permission
New York/Paris
Fan Club Records
1993
From Milwaukee:
“Out For The Killing,” “Clean It Up,” “Taking The Silence,” “People Don’t Learn”
From Change Will Come:
“Change Will Come,” “The Eyes Of The Children Of Maria,” “Many Can Read,” “Chain Of Pain”
From Murph The Surf:
“You Got It Made,” “The Fall Of Saigon,” “Continental Kinda Girl”, “Dusty Roses”
From Après le Déluge:
“It Feels Like,” “Razor Love”
From Live Hot Point:
“You Never Know What You’re In For,” “Last Of The Rock Stars,” “Rock Ballad,” “Diamonds By The Yard”
From Affairs:
“Talkin’ About America,” “Euro-Tour”
From 12:
“Sicily,” “On Elvis Presley’s Birthday”
From If Poets Were King:
“If Poets Were King”
Previous Unreleased:
“Niagra Falls (New Version),” “In A Minute,” “Time Flies,” “Let It Rain (Live),” “Sacrifice (Live),” “I Couldn’t Touch You (Live),” “Party Girls & Broken Poets (Live)”
Record By Record, Murphy By Murphy: New York/Paris
This is a “best of” with some interesting live and rare tracks. My last album for New Rose – we had a great run together. Some good live performances with Brian Ritchie and drummer Jesse Chamberlain who sadly passed away a few years ago. I still miss him.
Taken from Crossroads magazine.
About The Cover – “Before The Euro”
This was the first album designed by Chloé, a wonderful French graphic artist and painter, who was head of the art department at New Rose Records. Chloé and I have worked together on many books and albums since that time. She always comes up with something original and artistic and I’m lucky to have found her. Because the title New York/Paris was supposed to be indicative of my ex-pat status she put a mélange of a dollar bill and French franc note together. Before the Euro of course!
CDs
France:
Fan Club Records 422401
Japan:
Century Records CECC-00512
Please note: If you have additions or corrections to this discography, please send them to the webmaster.