the MUMLERS's Blog
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iTunes Session/Noisepop!
Two exciting things:
#1: A couple months ago we recorded four songs & today we're setting 'em loose. These are re-recordings of two songs from our first record & two songs from our second record. They're very different from the original versions. We play the vibraphone, the Columbian tiple, fuzzy bass guitar & the plate reverb among other things. The whole batch of tunes is only three dollars & ninety-six cents! So help our broke operation buy some peanut butter & jelly! Available only from iTunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewCustomPage?name=pageTheMumlers_iTunesSessions
#2: Noisepop:
http://www.noisepop.com/2010/artist_detail.php?artist_id=84
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Hope we see you soon! -
Auld Lang Syne
We recorded Auld Lang Syne for an itunes holiday compilation. We tried to do something we liked. Hope you like it:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/auld-lang-syne-itunes-exclusive/id337564768
Feliz año nuevo! -
RECORD RELEASE SHOW!
Our new record Don't Throw Me Away is out & tomorrow is our record release party! With the amazing Kelley Stoltz & Family Room (not the Botticellis... too lazy to re-do flyer). Come early so you don't miss any of the fun. Tell your friends!!! See you tomorrow!!! 
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Song Lyrics (both albums)
---DON'T THROW ME AWAY--Galaxia, 2009--- 
On CD & VINYL from Galaxia/iTunes/record stores
1. Raise the Blinds
Real gambling doesn't happen in casinos
Raise the blinds
Raise them up high
Look out your window
The paper's on the porch
They pinned a medal to a corpse
Now he can rest at ease
The earth is always quaking
& the radio speakers shaking
with new catastrophes
You're young and able
Put your gold on the table
Come on down
We've got the loosest slots in town
Your odds are good
Drag your carcass over here
There's cut-rates on the beer
If your legs are wood
Just walk right through the bullets
They'll bounce right off your skull it's
Not real
I have heard
To be as free as a bird
You must go out on a limb
It's good to be free
There's anasthesia on TV
When you get home from work
As long as we both owe each other something
We'll never feel broke
Put your gold on the table
We'll never feel broke
2. St. James St.
I went down to St. James St.
To buy a bottle of beer
I heard the sound of sirens singing
& church bells ringing in my ear
I walked past a man in heels
& a skirt so short & pink
I went down to St. James St.
To buy myself a drink
Dewberry's on the corner
He's wearing a ankle-length leather coat
I thought I heard him mutter
God bless your little boat
I wish I was in New Orleans
I'd go fishing in the flood
I'd drink up that mighty river
& lie in the Mississippi mud.
3. Tangled Up With You
What am I going to do?
I'm so tangled up with you
Everytime I go away from here
You always look so fine in the rear view mirror
But I come home just like a fool
I'm still tangled up with you
I drive away but my engine breaks down
& your tow-truck heart pulls me back into town
I drive away and I get in a wreck
& you drive me back home with a rope around my neck
I get so tired and I roll into bed
But I can't black out what I know in my head
No I can't keep going on
Pulling my own leg
So let the tears run down from both of our eyes
Till we're drained to the dregs
Why does the willow grow so sadly
because the willow tree moves to love's melody
What am I going to do?
I'm so tangled up with you
4. Coffin Factory
I'm tired of working in the coffin factory
I want the boss to give my life back to me
My paycheck's not big enough to wipe my tears
40 hours a week of monotony
My thoughts get caught in the cogs of machinery
droning death songs in my ear
And when I pass two lovers in the hospital
I wonder if selling flowers is not more profitable
I don't want to build coffins no more
I'm tired of working in the coffin factory
Building boxes to bury humanity
With wood cut from the tree of liberty
I'm going to walk backwards out the gate of this dreary plant
You can't pick the pockets of a man who's got no pants
They've taken all they'll get from me
And when I breathe my last breath
I will not breathe it as a merchant of death
I don't want to bulid coffins no more
5. 99 Years Ago
I'm going to write my grandma a letter
& tell her that I love her so
I'm going to write my grandma a letter
& send it off to Ohio
I'm going to tell her that I miss her
Just so that she knows
I'm going to write my grandma a letter
& send it to the old folks home
"Cause when you get old
The world is cold
She's just sitting in a hallway
With a newspaper and a purse
She's just staring at a TV
She's arguing with a nurse
She's consorting with the ghosts
Of the people that she used to know
She was born in Ohio
99 years ago
6. Sunken City
I was sitting on a bench in the park
With smog in my lungs and a song in my heart
& some rum in my dumpling depot
The sky was flashing black & blue
The cars were rumbling down the avenue
My heart was humming soft & low
I was watching the dead leaves
Blowing across the ground
& watching the people
dragging their feet & hanging their heads down
Well they gave me my parole
But I've done my time in the clink
& if this ship is full of holes
You might as well sing while you sink
The trees are filled with little birds
I don't really know but I think that they heard
The song from beyond my rib cage
'Cause all of the sudden
before my very eyes
They took to the air
& they wheeled around & around in the sky
7. Soot-Black Suit
8. Golden Arm & Black Hand
I want you to know
If you knock on my door
I will let you in
Because the night
Has a way of its own
When it comes to dragging you down
& filling you up with gin
Golden Arm & Black Hand
How long have you been my friends?
Up ahead is just a trail of bad cards
On a hard-luck horse hobbling forwards
You know every night in our mansion
Can't be filled with dancing
You know it well
You can throw your loaded dice
Up against the wall
Sometimes you get snake eyes
Sometimes boxcars fall
Golden Arm & Black Hand
I'm telling you again
We'll take all our cards & build a fire in the grass
In a yard full of shards of glass
9. Fugitive & Vagabond
I'm carefree I ain't got no worries now
Honey you know I will treat you well
I'm going to love you, Oh I'm going to treat you right
We Ain't going to tangle, We ain't going to fuss or fight
There's treasure buried down in you yet
I tell you I'm willing to make a bet
I'll bet you money that I'm going to make you smile, you'll see
I ain't talking about the gold fillings in your teeth
Fools try to belong
I want to know if the chains are strong
I'll take the money and stuff it down in my pants
The pennies will be jingling while I dance
Dance through the graveyard, dance through the woe & strife
Nobody's going to put a dark cloud over my life
Fools try to belong
I want to go where the days are long
10. Battlefield Postcard
Wave a white flag every once in a while
Don't hide your teeth in the disguise of a smile
Don't you know she's got a lot on her mind?
Treat that lady kind
Don't just sit there & count all your cash
You think you're the only one who's got to take out the trash?
Well you're the one who got in her in this bind
Treat that lady kind
The sun shimmers up and the sun simmers down
Could make any kind of lady shiver in her gown
You know that girl loves you blindly
So treat her kindly
Rivers flood & rivers freeze
Days grow short & trees lose their leaves
All this cold weather might make her skin crawl
Wrap that lady in a shawl
Don't Throw Me Away
Oh love, don't throw me away
How can you be so unkind?
My whole life
I'm going to try to change your mind
Oh love, stay here with me
Just one more night
Tomorrow the sun is going to rise
& the boat that we rowed through our lives will capsize
You say you don't want me
You're talking to a black hole
Your wicked words will never find my ears
But if you say you want to love me
& ease my soul
I would wipe away all of my salty tears
Oh love, don't throw me away
How can you be so unkind?
My whole life
I'm going to try to change your mind
Won't you change your mind
How could you ever want to be so unkind?
Please change your mind
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12. Consolatrix (Coffin Factory 7" b-side or itunes bonus track)
I came home with dead ants on my back
I've been rolling 'round in the grass
I came home home with a rose thorn in my thigh
Just peeking out from my skull through my eyes
I wish that I could tell you what I saw
But I do not remember much at all
Sometimes my murky mind subsides
& my lonesome liver goes across town on a ghost ride
Maybe you helped me
Or you hurt me
But me memory
Does not serve me
I know I must have slept down in some plants
Otherwise how do you explain all of the ants
I know that an old woman was throwing dishes
They say that in the ocean there's a lot of fishes
Well, I can find the girls I don't need a map
I'll just look for the one from the mud flap
I'll just look for the one that doesn't beat me with a stick
I want an old-fashioned consolatrix
I want an old-fashioned consolatrix
12. Brass Valley (Japan only)
My Grandpa
Followed his own laws
In spite of his profession
When he laughed
His curly mustache
Would banish all depression
He's gone away
& that military bugle played
A sad song in the valley
He wouldn't mind me saying
There should have been a whole band playing
No he wouldn't want no tears at his finale
There goes the night time
It's rolling over those western hills
The top brass
Never could mask
The depth of their corruption
But my grandpa
Was a scofflaw
He lived by his own discretion
---THICKETS & STITCHES--Galaxia, 2008---
On CD & VINYL from Galaxia/itunes/record stores
1. Dice in a Drawer
I came to this town
From beneath a hospital gown
Into this world of mirrors & smoke
In 1980
Two people had a baby
I suppose that their condom must have broke
Oh Suzy
It's not that you're a floozy
It's just the way that life unfolds
Leroy don't fidget
It's not that you're an idiot
I've been told it is the work of God
So roll those dice
But leave on your shoes
Deal out those cards
We'll see how we do
It was the middle of June
When I walked out of that womb
& headed for the open plains
Yeah I jump through rings
But I've always liked to sing
The songs with the joyful refrains
Oh Charlotte
It's not that you're a harlot
The world is just a crooked place
Hey Alvaro
Don't worry about tomorrow
Just look at Charlotte's pretty face
And roll those dice
We'll stay a while
Deal out those cards honey
I like how you smile
2. Hitched to the Sun
What am I doing
With one foot
On the wagon
& one foot in the stream
I should just get on-
To that wagon
& ride
or else dive in and swim
Through plenty of dark days
I've sashayed
Oh I've strayed
Through bleached fields heaped high with bones
& my aching eyes can't see
A trail to creep
I dream of sleep
I don't want to be alone
So share your love with me
Oh please don't be greedy
This shipwrecked
Sunset
Is upsetting
Me
I glued some feathers
To an anchor & set it free
From my window
Above the street
And when it flew away
I knew that you would come around
I knew the sun
Would not stay down
3. Red River Hustle
I live across from the Shell station
But the 'S' burnt out so long ago
In a home at the bottom of a star-filled sky
Out where the red rivers flow
Just half a block from a halfway house
The street's iron entrails are exposed
On the porches the roundheels all paint their nails
And watch the red rivers flow
My woman puckers her lips
They are the horses & she's the apocalypse
My woman moves her hips
She is the shoreline & I'm a ship
When the river runs high up above my head
& leaves garbage in the branches of the trees
Every color in the world of aluminum cans
Sits where there used to be leaves
Hell's boiling over from up under the lid
It's blood under the bridge
I'm not sorry for the things I did
It's blood under the bridge
4. Shake That Medication
We can't blame you if you get depressed
If you've seen the news you know the world's a mess
But we've got a new dance that'll make you smile
It might help you out for a little while
It's called the Shake Your Medication!
Shake Your Medication!
Shake Your Medication!
Shake Your Medication!
We ain't trying to play no tricks
We're just playing some music
& we're not going to stop till the piano's up on bricks
It's not your fault if you feel deranged
If you've got eyes in your head you know these times are strange
So grab those pills from the pocket in your pants
Shake 'em like maracas, oh get up and dance
Do the Shake Your Medication!
Shake Your Medication!
Shake Your Medication!
Shake Your Medication!
Little girl, little girl I ain't playing no games
I'm going to dance with you
Till your skirt catches flames
But the band's not always playing when your bent out of shape
So we're putting this song down on the audio tape
When you feel low down & your by yourself
Throw this record on the platter & grab some pills from the shelf
& do the Shake Your Medication!
Shake Your Medication!
Shake Your Medication!
Shake Your Medication!
You can cry, you can cry
You can fall on your knees
You can scream up to the sky yelling, "Please, Please, Please!"
5. Two Cowbells
6. Whale Song
If I paint a whale on a semi truck
& drive it out into sea
From time to time I will come back up
For everybody must breath
For so many years I have been a pup
But now I'm fully grown
& if going away is a part of growing up
Then it's now my time to roam
When I miss my home I'll find a pay phone
& I'll drop a hundred quarters in the can
We'll talk till three or four or maybe even more
& I'll drive my truck upon the sand
I wrote you a letter but I tore it up
For it rendered my intentions all wrong
Because honey I just want to cheer you up
So instead I wrote you this song
In my hometown their is a girl
& I've loved her for all of my life
& the pain that I feel when I'm around the world
Is like she's stabbing my heart with a knife
There will come a time when I make that woman mine
& she'll hold me like a baby in her arms
I'll come in sopping wet & she'll rub me like a pet
Until I'm cozy & warm
But I can never stay forever angel
& I don't say this to try to make you cry
But there are some things you just can't change girl
& a whale on a beach must die
7. Untie My Knots
I always got in trouble
It didn't matter how many times I was told
If you gathered all of my mug shots together
You could make a flip book of a boy growing old
I've tried to be good
& to live my life without sin
But the chains trained around this town
Always rattle my brains again
Then I start stumbling
& get twisted & tangled & caught
The trouble in my head has worn me down to a thread
Oh Lord! untie my knots
The police have been unfriendly
Since I burnt that firehouse down
Well if they don't like me
I wish they'd leave me alone
It's raining here
The rain's falling on my hair
Ever since I was born it's been brambles & thorns
& vultures in the air
& I've been wondering
If my prayers have been forgotten
The trouble in my brain has got me praying & praying
Oh Lord! untie my knots
8. ...
9. Hush
Hush, hush, hush
My little darling
Quit all of your screaming
You make the devil blush, blush
You awful woman
I'm tired of all of your scheming
You can't hold me with your tears
They washed away our troubles before
But not anymore
No not anymore
So don't lie, lie
My little sweetheart
Don't you tell me that you love me
You know I'd rather die
Then let shame hold me
& anyways you always old me
That you won't pull me down with guilt
But I've been through this flood before
Now I'm swimming for the shore
Swimming for the shore
So I'll be long gone
My baleful baby
On a bike or in a ship hold
Because I was born wrong
& full of confusion
My loving has always been crippled
Birds are flying up above
To a far away bed
& that's where I'll lay my head
Where I'll lay my head
10. The Hinge's Lament
If this house could talk
It'd wheeze & cough
It'd shudder & sigh
& keep its mouth shut
With its clubfooted beds
& the living room that's dead
I came to this place
Through a side door
The dogs did not chase me
They did not stir
So I crawled up the rope
With these solemn words of hope:
Pull the cobwebs from your eyes
The sun is shining outside
But the clock does tock
It makes demands
The clock does tick
With blood on its hands
Like a weary metronome
To a long & lonesome song
If this house could talk
& its jaws were unlocked
It'd breathe & smile
& tell you softly
Pull the cobwebs from your eyes
The sun is shining outside
11. So Long
So long, loved one, so long
The god-damned ambulance is gone
The bird seed is in the trunk of the Ford
So long, give my regards to the lord
Headlong out into the sea
Landlocked at home without any teeth
Thick skin can't hide the way you feel
Happiness is God above's to steal
Back in 1942
wearing high-heel shoes
Your husband's gone to the world war
On a far away shore
Left your poor heart sore
Fur coat hanging on a hook
Above photographs of bodies in a book
Postcards piled in a drawer
That your husband sent to you from the war
Sitting on the stairs at night
Sipping on a cherry phosphate
Your husband's gone forevermore
To that golden shore
Left your poor heart sore
9:20 AM-
Post a comment...
- Samantha Wilson3 years ago
Ok, so let me explain why I love the Mumlers so much...First I thought Shake that Medication was catchy, then I thought that Red River Hustle was hot, then I thought that Dice in a Drawer made me feel better about life, and that Hinge's Lament made me feel like I could leave the house and be happy when my depression ran rampant. Then, I saw you at the Starry Plough and you had these weird freeze pauses where the whole gyrating band froze and started, switched up their instruments, and looked like they loved the music they made, and the lead singer could actually carry a long, high, deep, whatever note, you guys were all personally, seriously funny, and it was was love---ALL 7 of ya!!!!!! : )
- Samantha Wilson4 years ago
I sang the wrong words to some songs about 599x!!!! In Shake that Medication, I could NEVER figure out until what was up on bricks....PIANO! duh
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