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The Bushwick Book Club Volume 1

by The Bushwick Book Club

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Ben Silver
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Ben Silver A stunning and wonderful collection that serves as an insight into the literary minds of some of New York's finest artists. Favorite track: His Dad's Balls.
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1.
IF YOU TOLD HIM HE HAD A BEAUTIFUL BODY WOULD HE HOLD IT AGAINST YOU IF YOU TOLD HIM ABOUT THE KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN WOULD HE TRY TO PICK A FIGHT? OH, FRANCINE, FRANCINE WHEN'D YOUR FELLA GET SO MEAN OH, FRANCINE YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT IF YOU TOLD HIM THAT YOU LOVED HIM WOULD HE QUICKLY TELL YOU NOT TO AND IF YOU TOLD HIM HE WAS ALWAYS YOUR MAN WOULD HE SAY "WELL, NOT TONIGHT" OH, FRANCINE, FRANCINE WHEN'D YOUR FELLA GET SO MEAN OH, FRANCINE FRANCINE YEAH, YOUR DESK IS ALWAYS CLEAN BUT FRANCINE YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT IF YOU TOLD HIM HE WAS KILLING YOU WOULD HE STOP OR KEEP ON GOING IF HE BROKE YOUR RIBS AND BRUISED YOUR FACE WOULD THAT QUENCH IS APPETITE OH, FRANCINE, FRANCINE WHEN'D YOUR FELLA GET SO MEAN OH, FRANCINE, FRANCINE YEAH, YOUR DESK IS ALWAYS CLEAN OH, FRANCINE, FRANCINE YOU'RE A BROKEN HEART MACHINE AND FRANCINE YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT
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As cruel as Heliogabalus, he’ll light the fire to hear us scream. He won’t explain doodleysquat to us, but wants telegraphic messages on everything. It’s not anything they teach you in church. Sometimes I wonder about the creator of the universe Prostitutes surrender to their pimps like they’re surrendering to Jesus while beautifying their insides with bad chemicals causing suicide, theft, murder, insanity or worse. Sometimes I wonder about the creator of the Universe. Production is breaking the earth before it can recharge, and the things that we’re making are lousy by and large. Washday products, cat food and pop. Sometimes I wonder when will it all stop. Someplace where you’d need a rubber vagina for lonesomeness ain’t any place to be but there doesn’t seem much choice for us. It's not very fair. It's a little absurd. Sometimes I wonder about the creator of the universe I don’t know what it means all this suffering collectively. We could be all machines set to love defectively. There ain’t no good answer; that’s just how it works. Sometimes I wonder about the creator of the universe.
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I Love You by Herb Scher ©2011 Herb I love you I honestly love you Yes I do, Yes I do, Yes I do Susan I love you I honestly love you Yes I do, Yes I do, Yes I do Herb I was meant for you You were meant for me Both We were meant to be together for eternity Susan Far across the sun far across the sea Both there’s a place where we can live in perfect harmony Herb I love you when you burn the meal Susan I love you oh, you’re such a heal Both I do, yes I do, yes I do Herb I love you when you spend too much Susan I love you when you’re out of touch Both I do, yes I do, yes I do Susan Living day to day sometimes things seem grey But when I see your smiling face, my troubles fade away Herb When I come home from work with all the stress I’m in I can’t wait to see you standing with my glass of gin Herb I love you when you criticize Susan I love you When you patronize Both I do, yes I do, yes I do Susan I love you, even when you flirt Herb I love you.... What do you mean? When was I flirting? [they argue] Sometimes I wish you would just shut up. Herb Sometimes late at night When we have had a fight I Love You I wonder how my love for you could find its way to spite Susan Far across the sun far across the sea maybe there’s another face that’s meant to rescue me Herb I love you now that the kids are grown Susan I love you we could go on our own Both I do, yes I do, yes I do Herb I love you Is it time to end it Susan I love you or should we try to mend it Both I do, yes I do, yes I do Both Was I meant for you were you meant for me can any couple live together for eternity Both I love you I honestly love you Yes I do, Yes I do Pass the gin.
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You can run until you’re out of breath. You can jump until your face turns red. My head hurts trying to know which way to go. It’s a simple movement in a direction I’ve never been. That’s where I want to go. I want to see insides. Show them to me. I want to see insides of everything. I‘m not the king of pointland, so why try for that kind of bliss. I’m configured to miss the point which is all is connectedness. But I’m not a king, or even a point, so the point is moot. My desire to aspire is acute. What if the movement is no movement at all. What if the trick is to be still until there’s nowhere to go. Then we could see insides. Show them to me. I want to see insides of everything.
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I remember when I didn't have any friends Just insults and abuse from 2 means aunts and my folks were killed by a rhinoceros. Then one day I did what I was told what to do i took magic from a stranger, hell what did I have to lose? He said, "Come right up close." I was too scared to move. I got hold of the magic just like the old man said. Then I tripped and fell and spilled everything that I had. But who says that messes can't be magic too. That spill, it made a peach and it grew and grew. And you'd never guess that because of that mess I'd roll away from misery and kill my aunts to boot. From that I learned, roll with the peach and your life is changed by fruit. Sometimes, it gets weirder before it gets better, that's the truth And the way from A to B it ain't the obvious to route, no. Sometimes you have to talk to strangers and your life is changed by fruit. You've got to roll with the peach and your life is changed by fruit. And the seas are full of sharks and the skies get mean and dark and your friends all agree that we're all doomed. And it's not the promised land like we assumed. Sometimes, it gets weirder before it gets better, that's the truth And the way from A to B it ain't the obvious to route, no. Sometimes you have to talk to strangers and your life is changed by fruit. You've got to roll with the peach and your life is changed by fruit.
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Laurel can't get laid because her boyfriend is all mind even though he's also muscular and blue. He's got a great body. He's just not in it half the time. He send his clones in to have sex when he's got other things to do. That and she's suppressing the knowledge of her father because dealing with the truth is such a hassle especially when your father had tried to rape your mother making her the product of a costumed slut and a costumed ass hole. Ha ah ah.. you don't know how.... to be normal now. Laurel I don't believe you when you say that you're upset by those folks who died for take-out tandoori One minute you're crying the next you're undressed, which could be kind of deep or kind of whorey. Ha ah aha... You never liked the life. What is that in your pipe? She was raised to fight. What is that in your pipe?
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She is loved; she's not dirty anywhere. Just ask Prince William. He's seen her underwear. She's not wearing a dirndl. It's called a skirt. Prince William lifts it up when he feels like flirting. Potato... She'll carry that dream like a full glass of water, carefully not spilling the feeling that someone loves her. She knows you're left climbing through rubble and smog. You can love that potato, but you'll be loving a dead dog. She's done everything right. She's got yarn to spin. Why won't he ask her vagina "let me in." Potato.
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Capetown is flooding
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Don't Read the Bible on the Subway Don't read the Bible on the subway Don't read the Bible on the train Cause when you read the Bible on the subway All the hipsters think you're probably insane Don't read the Bible on the subway Don't read the Bible on the bus Cause when you read the Bible on the subway All the crackpots and the whackjobs think You're one of us
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The virgin of a carpenter was visited in the night, By an angel who told her that a baby was in sight. She had it in a manger and the wise men came with myrrh, And the angel chorus sang about the miracle birth. Miracle birth of the lamb of God, There was no hanky-panky but no one felt odd, Because the misery of life became the miracle of birth, And true or not disciples spread it all around the earth. Origin stories when the planets collide, And the chaos and the curse of the miracle birth. And then the existential quandary and the moral quagmire, Honey, I’m just glad you were born. I’m just glad you were born, So I don’t have to be here alone. A white elephant came to Queen Maya with a lotus, To tell her she was pregnant which I guess she hadn’t noticed. So she told it to her husband but her husband didn’t mind, ‘Cause everybody knew the baby coming was divine. And the villagers rejoiced when the baby sprang forth, And he took seven steps towards the lotuses in the north. The wise men wrote it down and they put it in a book, The story of the Buddha and his miracle birth. Origin stories… Zeus woke up with a horrible migraine, Like someone with a sword was hacking right into his brain. By noon it got so bad ow thud thud thud, That he asked Hephaestus to crack his skill. And out she sprang, a warrior full grown. Athena, Minerva, a goddess was born. Once in mortal fear Zeus had swallowed up her mom, But now everything was cool and everybody got along. Origin stories…
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Listen Darlene, it stinks is what's the matter. You look like a whore and I'm not going to flatter you. The bird is good, but there's no big finale if you look like a drunk nympho passing out in an alley, because stripping is an insult to a woman; it's true, but there's it doesn't work if there's nothing to insult in you. They come for the fall not the fallen, but there's no where to go if you're already at the bottom. So try again, this time you're clean and chaste. You've got to have a base to be debased. If you're gonna make it worth their while, you need something to defile. You can't just start out a drunken floozy; you have to have something to lose, see? Like decency, honor, morals or status. No need to have a fancy aparatus. No whips, no chains or leather to strap in. Just act like you don't want it to happen. So be polite. Be shocked. You're a virgin who's never seen a cock. You don't even know what to do with one. Ack, what is this mystifying protrusion, you get it? It doesn't work if you're already a slut. You've got to be pure to make good smut. Good smut.
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The Humble Bees You know the humble bees They fertilize heartsease And the humble bees they fertilize the clover And the fieldmice need To steal the honey sweet So they chew the honeycomb till it's all over But then the cats they seize The little mice to eat And the little mice they don't get any older So that the humble bees Can fertilize heartsease And the humble bees can fertilize the clover Charles Darwin said Check your head We're bound together in a web There is nothing you can do That doesn't pull another thread It might be better not to move at all And call in sick instead You've got to think of the outcome When you get out of bed Now Darwin's friend Huxley He said that old maids keep The cats that eat the mice that eat the honey holders Without the mice to feed The humble bees succeed And they fertilize the heartsease and the clover The clover feeds the beef That feeds the Queen's army And then England has its hale and hearty soldiers So that an old maid's glee May also guarantee The sway of British rule from Darjeeling to Dover Charles Darwin said Check your head We're bound together in a web There is nothing you can do That doesn't pull another thread It might be better not to move at all And call in sick instead You've got to think of the outcome When you get out of bed You've got to think of the outcome You've got to think of the outcome You've got to think of the outcome When you get out of bed
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I don't have to stay with the asshole that I have always fallen for since I can remember, but it's not only me; it's women from the beginning of time, but it's not the beginning of time, it's kind of later in the game, and the environment's not the same, so it affects sexual selection. That asshole that seemed right back then has sent the environment reeling New times call for new choices making that nice guy more appealing. There will always be assholes, it's true but I won't be rewarding, what good would that do? Who cares if he drives a lexus or a mitsubishi I'm choosing one for the species. Ain't I lucky, that that one, is you.
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Eukaryotes do it. We're not afraid to make mistakes. It's called creation, not masturbation; it's not safe. Eukaryotes do it. You've got to take chances to make something new We're not here to take it easy, We're doing it for the species; yeah it's time consuming too. Eukaryotes do it. We're all creatures in an in between stage unwinding that helix to get that remix, that genetic exchange. You can stay home with your remote if you're dead or boring or a prokaryote. Eukaryotes do it.... If you're horny then you screw it. If you're hungry then you chew it. If it's broken then you glue it. If you're sick then you achoo it If you're dumb you'll misconstrue it. Eukaryotes do it.

about

58 songs from January-November 2009, inspired by the following books:
"Breakfast of Champions" by Kurt Vonnegut
"What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" by Raymond Carver
"Flatland" by Edwin A. Abbott
"James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl
"The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera
"Watchmen" by Alan Moore
"No One Belongs HEre More THan You" by Miranda July
"The Bible"
Short Stories by Bushwick Book Club members
"A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
"On The Origin of Species" by Charles DArwin

credits

released April 6, 2010

Songs recorded by Matt Roth at Olive Juice Music and by Brian Speaker for SpeakerSonic @ Brooklyn Tea Party. Tracks 10, 30, 36, 44 produced and engineered by Franz Nicolay and James Frazee at Water Music, Hoboken, NJ, 2009; copyright 2009 Franz Nicolay (Eggshell Armor Music, ASCAP). Track 17 was recorded and mixed by Josh Fox at Royal Drag Studios in Brooklyn. Track 25 was recorded and mixed by Dan Costello at Crane Wolfson. Tracks 9, 11, 12, 14-16, 13-20, 21-13, 31, 48-50, 55 and 56 were recorded and mixed by the artists who performed them.
Album art by Tom Bayne (tombayne.com)
Inked by Jeff Lewis (thejeffreylewissite.com)

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The Bushwick Book Club Brooklyn, New York

We started in January 2009 playing songs written in response to Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions. We haven't stopped since. We've written & performed songs inspired by everything from "On The Origin of Species" to Dr. Seuss to Raymond Carver. There are BBCs popping up nationwide now. Bushwick Book Club Seattle started in 2010 & is run by Geoff Larson. Our nerdy dare-devilry knows no bounds. ... more

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