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Madison Square

from Dennis Cleveland by Mikel Rouse

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lyrics

MADISON SQUARE

Audience members:

In fact, in fact
Gimme some fact in
Gimme some fact in
In fact

Audience member #1:

It’s always hard to tell when to listen close.
There must be the real advice and the auto-pilot advice.
It takes a real event for a person to step outside of themselves
and give the real advice and each person can only define
the real event from their own perspective because to look beyond that
would require alot more work than most people can fit in between
the work week,
the family,
the movies,
self awareness,
shopping,
countless forms of recreation.
All these things must define the real event
and in 1995 the real event for most people
is the movies.

Dennis Cleveland:

I’ve been waiting for this: a potential arcade
with a salary twist and a spicy new blade
that I run ’round my wrist kind of capturing calm,
instead of diving for dollars and righting past wrongs.

I could have called for back-up, back-up and leveling time.
Cause a break in the tableau of American crime.
Instead of crossing what lingers in the state of lip balm
And saluting the mentors kind of capturing calm

Guests:

And the line that I walk is just to calibrate
all the time that I spend alone and out of date.
It’s a single in motion, it’s a tidal wave
of the closet containing all the souls I save.

Audience member #3:

Boy do I know this stretch of eighth avenue.
I’ve never set foot in any of these places,
but their neon signs are all familiar.
Their smells are all familiar.
The people who go in and out are all familiar.
I could tell you anything about any of these places
without ever having gone to them.

Take Madison Square Garden.
Only the wildest sort of folks go there.
They go there to see these things called
monster trucks and Billy Joel.
It’s hard to believe that Madison Square Garden
wasn’t always on eighth avenue, but it wasn’t.
I think it was once uptown on the west side.

These things take on the meaning of monuments
and it’s only when you’ve lived long enough to see them move
or be torn down that you can really comprehend
the impermanence of things and I guess it depends alot
on your upbringing how that will effect and shape
your world view.

I’m forever looking for meaning in everything
so the thought of all this building and unbuilding
tends to enforce a certain hopelessness.

I could imagine that a developer is looking for meaning
and most likely the more things move around,
get torn down and put somewhere else,
the more meaning it has for him.
I’m sure it has alot to do with upbringing.

Guest 1, 2 & Audience member #1: Audience members 2, 3, & 4:

They’ll be dreams, they’ll be uneven heals And the line that I walk
Dead charades: they’re bound for cotton fields is just to calibrate
In a way, I’m ’bout to be revealed all the time that I spend alone
As the savior of “the deal” and out of date.

And remorse? I’ve felt remorse for years
And the point? Well, I’m still waiting here. It’s a single in motion,
I believe all things to those who wait it’s a tidal wave
Referees will be placed at the gate of a closet containing
And for dreams the cost will be extreme. all the souls I save.

Guests: Remaining Audience members:

(Safer, Safer, Safer, Safer) In fact, in fact
Gimme some fact in
Gimme some fact in
In fact

Audience members 5 & 6:

They’ll be dreams, they’ll be uneven heals Dennis Cleveland:
Dead charades: they’re bound for cotton fields
In a way I’m ’bout to be revealed I’ve been waiting for this:
As the Savior of “the deal” a potential arcade
And remorse? I’ve felt remorse for years with a salary twist
And the point? Well, I’m still waiting here. and a spicy new blade

I believe all things to those who wait that I run ’round my wrist
Referees will be placed at the gate kind of capturing calm,
And for dreams the cost will be extreme instead of diving for dollars
and righting past wrongs.
I could have called for back-up,
back-up and leveling time.
Cause a break in the tableau
of American crime.
Instead of crossing what lingers
in the state of lip balm
and saluting the mentors
kind of capturing calm.

Audience members 5, 6, & 7:

And the line that I walk is just to calibrate
All the time that I spend alone and out of date
It’s a single in motion, it’s a tidal wave,
of the closet containing all the souls I save.

Audience member #7:

It was just another brownstone
until these two dentists from Queens
decided to make a killing in the
free-wheeling, razzle-dazzle real estate boom
of the New York mid-eighties.
First, they had to move out
all the little old ladies
who were gonna keep their
$120 a month rent controlled apartments
instead of having the supreme satisfaction
of owning their own share
in a building
and paying six or seven hundred dollars in maintenance.
Next in line would be those deadbeats
who always pay their rent on time
and never cause any trouble
but could never afford to buy into a co-op.
I fall into this second category.

I must have been in court the entire spring and summer of 1991
trying to keep my apartment
while trying to keep my girlfriend
while trying to finish these demos
for the manager that was finally going to get me the deal
that was going to make trying
to keep my apartment and girlfriend unnecessary.

I kept the apartment
and the two dentists lost their mortgage to the bank
and now everyone in the building
is sort of out there in space
wondering where they’ll end up after the foreclosure.
I only worry about that once a week or so.

Guests:

(Safer, safer, safer, safer)

Dennis Cleveland:

I’ve been waiting for this: a potential arcade
with a salary twist and a spicy new blade
that I run ’round my wrist kind of capturing calm,
instead of diving for dollars and righting past wrongs.

I could have called for back-up, back-up and leveling time.
Cause a break in the tableau of American crime.
Instead of crossing what lingers in the state of lip balm
And saluting the mentors kind of capturing calm

And the line that I walk is just to calibrate
all the time that I spend alone and out of date.
It’s a single in motion, it’s a tidal wave
of the closet containing all the souls I save.

Guest 3, 4 & Audience member # 8: Audience members 9, 10, & 11:

They’ll be dreams, they’ll be uneven heals And the line that I walk
Dead charades: they’re bound for cotton fields is just to calibrate
In a way, I’m ’bout to be revealed all the time that I spend alone
As the savior of “the deal” and out of date.
And remorse? I’ve felt remorse for years
And the point? Well, I’m still waiting here. It’s a single in motion,
I believe all things to those who wait it’s a tidal wave
Referees will be placed at the gate of a closet containing
And for dreams the cost will be extreme. all the souls I save.

Guests: Remaining Audience members:

(Safer, Safer, Safer, Safer) In fact, in fact
Gimme some fact in
Gimme some fact in
In fact

credits

from Dennis Cleveland, released September 20, 1996

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Mikel Rouse New York, New York

Mikel Rouse is a New York-based composer, director, performer and recording artist hailed as “a composer many believe to be the best of his generation.” (NY Times 2002) His works include 25 records, 7 films (including Funding and Music For Minorities), and a trilogy of media operas: Failing Kansas, Dennis Cleveland and The End Of Cinematics. ... more

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