Our Friend the Fascist

The first single by Watertown Carps (me and Ross Palmer) will be released on Friday 30 October. It’s called “Our Friend the Fascist”, and it’s taken from the forthcoming album Mermaids. The lyrics go like this:

Our Friend the Fascist

He had ice-blue eyes and plenty of cash
Burned all of his enemies until they were ash
Sent in the clowns with knives in their backs
Carrying a bundle of wood and the head of an axe

“Now there’s no use running, there’s no use crying
Come on, don’t you want to live one day as a lion?
Who needs friends anyway at a time like this?
Aren’t you tired of your burden? Since when was liberty bliss?

“We’ll weather the weather whatever the weather
What else can we do? At least we’ll do it together
There’s a violence that frees, a violence that enslaves,
A kind that leads you to the slaughter and a kind that saves

“So take this blade between your teeth and a bomb in your hand
The truth isn’t truth – just someone else’s plan
We’re up to here with know-it-alls who tell us what to do
Don’t make me have to say I’ve had enough of you, too!”

He wrapped himself in a flag and picked up a cross,
Saying, “Move over Springsteen! Here comes a new kind of boss!”
His ratings were good and so the window closed
On the mansion on the hill and the red, red rose   

– Yo Zushi

Liner notes for Unconditional Love

These liner notes by the great Jerry David Decicca are in the digital booklet you get when you download my album Unconditional Love (at iTunes? Amazon? I don’t remember). They’ll find a proper home on a physical format release… eventually. But for now, I’ll post them here because they’re nice and Jerry’s a hero of mine.

I haven’t spoken to Yo in about, um, almost 6 years now. That kind of time can pass in a flash and feel like a couple lifetimes. Gives you enough room to build mountains, swim oceans, dig trenches or just sit around like a bump on a log and think about things until you swing back to where you started. Makes it hard to catch up with a friend- where do you start? I guess that’s why Yo sent me this new album of songs that measure moments in his own melody and lived language. I can pick up my guitar here in Texas and join him, or I can just sit back and hear where he’s been. I hope to see him again, soon, and when I give my goodbyes, I’ll say, “don’t be a stranger” and hope that means he’ll make another record as good as this one to help stay in touch.