Entropy

Our 5th album. Released in April of 1996, on Touch and Go Records. 14 songs. Originally available on CD and LP - yes, actual vinyl!

Recorded at the Chicago Recording Company and mixed at "Somewhere else in Chicago", Inc. by Shellac bassist and all-around swell guy Robert Weston, IV.

1996 | CD | Touch & Go Records

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Lyrics

  • Hey - And did you want to help me out?
    And help this fear and help this doubt
    For what it's worth I have my doubts

    So - when all is good and all is right
    And you make day from what is night
    I found this balance nature's right

    [chorus]
    Take this down and put it somewhere safe
    And when it dies you'll call it rape
    If thoughts are life then I don't think
    So tell me who it was this time

    Now - now climb the side of Marburg cliff
    With blood red moss instead of dirt
    It's filled with every fear that's lurked

    Well - well if you're counting, count on us
    We'll help you find what you have loss
    Well if it counts you've lost my trust

    [chorus]

    So this right I have my doubts
    So this is something I have my doubts
    So nothing is something I have my doubts

    W. Graber

  • I've stepped out I'm free
    Now it's time to peddle my own wares
    What's alright with me
    Has never been a priority of theirs

    I was so sick of it all
    No way to be

    [chorus]
    Free me, let me out
    Release me, from this doubt
    And I know that I don't ever want to pass this way again

    So glad to be gone
    Living my life at a slower pace
    I'm off with a yawn
    Taking time off from the rat race

    I'll have no regrets
    When all's said and done

    [chorus]

    It was all I could take
    It was all I could fake
    It was all I could forsake
    At the time

    You go ahead
    Screw yourself into the ground
    I'll take it easy instead
    Enjoy some life while I'm around
    At the end of my time
    It's me who'll be proud

    [chorus]

    It was all I could take
    It was all I could fake
    It was all I could forsake
    I'm alive

    S. Macdonald

  • The pit of fear and the roots of fools
    I took the lies and made them rules
    If it is over why do I doubt
    If you don't feel then let me out

    You can't become a different you
    Why did I think instead of do
    With all there is to lose or gain
    Why do I only see the pain

    'Cause I feel. . . feel. . . I feel. . . feel. . . Unknown. . . Unknown

    I have no pride for what's been done
    I fought the war that no one won
    I'm guilty of the guilt unclear
    I only wish that you were here

    A fenceless sky for the first time
    I could not recognize the sign
    It's how it feels like getting old
    I hope the universe ain't cold

    'Cause I feel. . . feel. . . I feel. . . feel. . . Unknown. . . Unknown

    W. Graber

  • I've an appointment today with a cultural slave to the snakepit called the music biz
    So I'm hanging around just to meet this clown who lies and says the pleasure is his
    He seems to think I'll be impressed by the hair upon his chest
    'Cause his shirt's unbuttoned down to his navel
    He begins to decree that the problem is me
    I want out of here as soon as I'm able

    [chorus]
    Snake oil man
    He draws a line in the sand
    And he dares you to cross it
    'Cause he knows that you won't
    Take it all away
    Sell it for gain
    Take away everything
    And you can never have it again

    He praises to excess the current success of a new band past the million mark
    That was two years ago and he should have known that today nobody knows who they are
    His ideals revolve around how we should kneel down
    And give service to his symbol of power
    I've got myself in a jam 'cause I don't know where I am
    I've had enough of this waste of an hour

    [chorus]

    The uphill climb
    Is not worth the time
    How can he sleep at night
    Power is a crime

    [chorus]


    S. Macdonald

  • Pulled all the answers from the air
    Believed in beliefs but didn't care
    Visionaries lost without a clue
    And all the lost will look for what to do

    He's just blowin' smoke but still you're here
    He's just blowin' smoke but still you're here

    Taught and told so felt that this is true
    So thought and fought to figure it all out
    And see they made it up to end their fear
    And never think about it 'till it's near

    He's just blowin' smoke but still I'm here
    He's just blowin' smoke but still I'm here

    And those who see just seem more blind
    Nicer to know than undefined
    The more I think the more it seems unclear
    Many thousands gone but still I'm here

    W. Graber

  • History repeats itself ad infinitum
    If the plans come off the shelf he hopes he was invited
    And the world's hard on the kid
    For something he never did
    And the weight is square on his shoulder
    And for trying he's only getting older
    But the priest is the least of his problem

    History repeats again ad infinitum
    If you should be caught my friend the wrong cannot be righted
    As the night falls he tries to be brave
    It's his future he's trying to save
    Once again he says it doesn't matter
    As the coach calls up another batter
    But his leash is the least of his problem

    S. Macdonald

  • Hold me to something besides this 'I don't mind'
    'Cause I'll line the streets without you and your kind
    If you feel like lying you'll fit in after all
    But nothing's as clear as the crystal of clueless

    There's nothing so clear
    And you want to see through the fear
    And it seems to mean what it seems to mean
    But it dies no matter what
    No matter what
    And somehow you know it will
    Like Captain Allen says
    It feels like less than it is

    Stop me before I say too much again
    'Cause I'd like to think that there's something in nothing
    If you feel like dying just hang around awhile
    'Cause nothing's worth less than the less of what you know

    And you have no rules
    'Cause you wanted to be so cool
    And it seems to mean what it seems to mean
    But it dies no matter what
    No matter what
    And somehow you know it will
    Like Captain Allen says
    It feels like less than it is

    voice 1:
    I wanna feel just like Captain Allen feels
    And I wanna live just like Captain Allen lives
    I wanna see just like Captain Allen sees
    And I wanna be just like Captain Allen is

    voice 2:
    How many times have I heard that one before
    How many times how many times how many times

    voice 3:
    Don't feel less anymore

    W. Graber

  • No I won't be saying goodbye any time soon and I
    I promise not to be an asshole
    I could give my all for our good if you can then I would
    Promise not to be an asshole

    You are always worried that I'll be leaving in a hurry
    If you speak it as the truth, then how can I refute
    I believe in working on it, I will pour my heart upon it
    I will do my best, you know I will do my best

    So why is this so hard to write if you will then I might
    Promise not to be an asshole
    Deneen all my life where've you been make a move cause a scene
    I promise not to be an asshole

    This is something different for me I'm no longer lonely
    And all that's passed before was just a mindless chore
    Open up yourself to me and let me make you happy
    If you'd take it on blind faith, have to take it on blind faith

    That I won't be saying goodbye any time soon and I
    I promise not to be an asshole
    I'm a sap you've got me writing such crap by falling into my lap
    I promise not to be an asshole

    Usually when I'm writing I am writing something biting
    As emotions start to seethe, the words pour right out of me
    This is hard for me to give, just writing something positive
    This is my gift to you, now here's my gift to you my Deneen

    S. Macdonald

  • So stay to myself and how's this door been opened
    And all these superstitions won't help now
    And now is the time 'cause now I've been forgotten (It's the sadness of the year)
    And now I try to fix this hole in the sky

    The road to here was paved with the best intentions (In the browness and the sear)
    Like the hope to understand it most of all

    And now you wanna help
    'Cause now you've got yourself
    And now you know what's best
    'Cause now you blame the rest

    And now and now I know
    And now and now I know
    And now and now I know
    And now and now AND NOW

    This came to me here 'cause I'm weary from the surface (It's the silence of the year)
    The rarest common untold from the sun
    The simplest thought through a fog that's near and truest (In the silence for the fear)
    And a miracle darkest hope comes from this none

    And now you wanna help
    'Cause now you've got yourself
    And now you know what's best
    'Cause now you blame the rest

    And now I see the less of everything
    And the dream is over
    And now I've learned its got the best of me
    And the dream is over NOW

    too soon (So stay to myself now)
    to see for less (So stay to myself now)
    to go And now (So stay to myself now)
    I know And now And now

    Know (s macdonald) Is it the same old, is it the same again
    Or will I find something new
    Throw on a blindfold, throw out my name at them
    Throw out my pride with it too
    Why do I do it, nobody wants to starve
    Don't want to bury myself
    I'm a conduit, and that's my heart you carve
    Into the base for your wealth

    [chorus]
    What do I want, I want to know
    What do I want, I want to know
    What do I want, I want to know
    What do I want, I want to know

    Please let me stay free, sit on my butt all day
    Just throw the cash right on in
    I'll make you happy, I'll stay the hell away
    You think I lose but I win
    Don't brush me off now, you think you don't need me
    There's probably no time to think
    I am your cash cow, moronic fantasy
    I am the whole kitchen sink

    [chorus]
    [break]

    [chorus]

    W. Graber

  • And she's been fishing for compliments
    Makes her cast over the water
    She is still weak but growing stronger
    Like a web you don't attend to

    And it's always good to see you
    But don't use me for your vengeance

    Her heart's been peeled like a grape
    She's looking for someone to cling to
    And if I throw her out a life line
    Will I be sucked into the whirlpool

    And it's always good to see you
    But don't use me for your vengeance

    One never knows
    She let her guard down
    I could say too much
    The day you don't look twice is the day the train comes by

    He just pretends he doesn't see her
    She sees too much to pretend
    Her disappointment his indifference
    Is something she can keep forever

    And it's always good to see you
    Just don't use me for your vengeance


    S. Macdonald

  • Your plans to be king
    You're the edge of the world's smallest Ocean
    If you had to concede
    Concede that truth is just a belief now
    I was hoping to lie around and wait
    For one more chance at conjecture
    Just by happenstance
    I never lied like I'm lying about it now

    [chorus]
    And I don't know who to turn to
    Is there something that I should know
    Crossed for free when no one was looking
    Never paid so you never really know

    How far back can it go
    How far back in anyone's logic
    How mortal to be
    How tragic. . . should life be tragic
    I was hoping to lie around and wait
    For one more chance at confession
    Just by happenstance
    I lied like I never lied before

    [chorus]


    W. Graber

  • instrumental

    W. Graber

  • They borrow words for thoughts and steal what they feel from fools who choose to feel
    For every black and white for every ash to ash shades of grey will clash

    For every dream there's a fool to back it up where every word has been sized up
    And maybe feels like everything
    Every line that falls and every crack an empty fear keeps coming back
    And maybe feels like everything

    And every vacant hope a spring to this winter's night from hands of man of mine
    The heart of hearts will fade I'm haunted here by this loss of what I dreamed it was

    But for every dream there's a fool to back it up where every word has been sized up
    And maybe feels like everything
    Every line that falls and every crack an empty fear keeps coming back
    And maybe feels like everything

    And how's it supposed to be right now
    My mind's betrayed my heart again
    And how's it supposed to be right now
    My mind's betrayed my heart again

    Some are yours and some are lost
    Ash to ash But lost is lost
    Some of the words are known I guess
    Hope for sign beyond what's clear
    But every truth will disappear
    Some of the words are yours alone
    Some are yours and some are lost
    Ash to ash But lost is lost
    Some of the words are known I guess
    Hope for sign beyond what's clear
    But every truth will disappear
    Some of the words are yours alone

    And I tried to say that some of what this is. . . isn't everything


    W. Graber

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