Get all 14 Shandy Lawson releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Pancho & Lefty, Crown Street Kings, Hellbound '21, Solid State, I'm Still Here, Shandy Lawson, Light Me Up, Our Sunny Days, and 6 more.
1. |
Really Something
02:50
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I had mischief in my eye
I had weight to throw around
I had the perfect line
For every point in space and time
Nowhere to go but down, down, down
I was Napoleon
I was Captain Bligh
I was really something
I was strong
But I was always wrong
I was really something
I was the apple of Mama’s eye
Always the brightest light in town
Now even I can see
The epitaph they’ll write for me
Nowhere to go but down, down, down
I was Napoleon
I was Dr. Frankenstein
I was really something
I was strong
Until it all went wrong
I was really something
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2. |
The Dark Side of Red
03:22
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The first thing I heard was the hum of the lights overhead
And in the next bed was a girl
With hair on the dark side of red
She said, “Buddy, you ought to be dead—
Buddy, you ought to be dead.”
I felt around and I found a tube in my arm
And the beat of my heart sounded out
An insistent, hypnotic chirp
And I couldn’t speak a word
I couldn’t speak a word
I reached back deep in my brain on how I got there
And way back there somewhere was the answer
Afraid to come out of the dark
And I couldn’t draw a spark
I couldn’t draw a spark
But oh—I remember love in her eyes
But that was before,
Back in some other life
Some other life
I fell in love with the girl in the next bed
Her hair on the dark side of red, she reached out
To me and offered her hand
She said, “Baby, you know who I am.
“Baby, you know who I am.”
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3. |
Sisyphus
01:58
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Where were you when the clouds broke open
Where were you when we shouted your name
Where were you when the water rose
On up the sidewalk
And into the kitchen
And took everything we owned
And in the light of a Delta sunset
The silhouette of a city unchanged
Dawn comes to crush the illusion
Over and over
Like Sisyphus rolls his boulder up the hill
I’ll be stronger for my troubles
I’ll see my way without your light
Where were you—you said you’d be there
We looked to the sky
And combed through the mud
Waiting for you to come
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4. |
King Shandy the Great
03:03
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When I’m king
I’ll make friends with everybody when I’m king
I won’t throw bombs on everyone
When I’m king
I’ll have all the biggest parties
My guests will be impressed by the artwork on my walls
And all the trophies I have won
When I’m king
All my records will go platinum when I’m king
I’ll win Grammys don’t you know
When I’m king
I’ll be a sellout at the garden
Every song in my catalog
In mandatory rotation on everybody’s radio
When I’m king
I’ll eat gold-plated Snickers when I’m king
Off a gold plated plate
When I’m king
It’ll be a crime against humanity
And a capital offense
To show anything but love for king Shandy the Great
Bow down
All you peasants in my shadow
Feel the power and the mercy of your king
Lest I strike you with my power
And smite you with my mercy
Let my kindness shine on everyone and everything
When I’m king
I’ll be a soothing voice of reason when I’m king
In this world of doubt and disarray
When I’m king
You’ll look to me as a father
Dispensing wise words of wisdom
With significance and charisma in everything I say
When I’m king
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5. |
As It Began
01:37
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If I sit here long enough
Like a tractor in the mud
The rust will cover me up
And in the end, as in the start
I won’t be more than just a spot of ink
On some hospital chart
Days that shine, days that rain
Days that bust and days that bang
All begin the same
And in the end, as it began
I am no more or less
Than what she believes I am
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6. |
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It’s quietest just before curtain
The house lights soften to black
A guy in the last row stifles a cough
The director gives me a wink
And I give a wink back
And this moment is mine
As if caught in a jar
While I find the heart
While I find the heart of Tom Wingfield
My eyes, fixed on the footlights
My feet carry me off to my mark
As I alight from the shelter of the wings
My lines slither and soar
Into the dark
And this moment is mine
As if caught in a jar
While I find the heart
While I find the heart of Tom Wingfield
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7. |
Detroit
02:43
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For a while, I was a boxer
Back when I got around
I once fought Joe Louis
Joe Louis knocked me down
And I learned that it’s not how your battles are won
It’s who’s on the mat when the fighting is done
I spent a lifetime
In Assembly at Ford
Putting gaskets ‘round windshields
And latches on doors
And I learned how to put your whole life in a car
And an honest day’s pay only gets you so far
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8. |
Aces & Kings
03:28
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I sit on the steps, looking out at the street
There’s clouds overhead and a beer at my feet
And there’s too much time to think
Got too much time to think
What will be left of me—
When the poetry’s gone and the story is weak
When the first line is dumb, and the second just stinks
Will I know when to call it a day?
Will I sit there at home with my devils and my crows
And hum to the drum in my head?
Will I follow the muses down to the bitter end?
There’s always a way to dodge a cliché
But you play the hand you’re dealt
So far it seems it’s been aces and kings
Aces and kings for me
I’ll write lots of letters, and talk about fishing
Read paperback westerns in the large print edition
Play chess in the park with icy precision
And retire with a cup of Earl Grey
And I know that someday I’ll become the cliché
But you play the hand you’re dealt
So far it seems it’s been aces and kings
Aces and kings for me
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9. |
Why I Love Mary
03:31
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Mary casts a smile
Out the kitchen window
With cheerful, aimless singing
She whiles away here time
She finishes the night’s dishes
And rinses out the sink
“That’s clean enough, I think—” she says
Mary throws aside
The beaded white lace curtain
And shoos away the cat
She’s certain scares away her birds
She smiles at Danny’s picture
On the refrigerator
“I will call him later,” she says
Mary calls me simple
But says it in a sweet way
She just means to say
I’m easy to amuse
She calls me from the garden
When the first raindrops are felt
“You don’t want to melt,” she laughs
Mary likes to say
I’m the lightning to her thunder
Still I often wonder
Why she keeps me around
I must be such a burden
For one woman to carry
But that’s why I love Mary
That’s why I love my Mary so
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10. |
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When the ending is impending
When the angel’s at my door
I will answer without question
What I have to answer for
Every choice I’ve made,
Right and wrong
A thousand times and more
I will answer without question
What I have to answer for
‘Cause I’m happy just to be here
In the company of friends
Got no time to worry where it ends
When the days tumble from the sky like hail
And fall too fast to count
I will stand in silent wonder
And watch ‘em hit the ground
Each day’s another drop of rain
In a monsoon coming down
I will stand in silent wonder
And watch ‘em hit the ground
‘Cause I’m happy just to be here
Where now and then connect
Got no time to worry what comes next
So when the ending is impending
When the angel’s at my door
I will answer without question
What I have to answer for
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Shandy Lawson New Haven, Connecticut
Formerly of Los Angeles, Tampa, and NYC, Shandy is a New Haven, CT-based performing songwriter. But really, he'll play pretty much anywhere.
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