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Franklin Bruno - Kiss Without Makeup (2000) [Absolutely Kosher Records, AK005, CD]

Tracklist:

1. A Radial
2. Just Because It's Dying
3. Nurse
4. Beautiful Right Now
5. Thin, Weak Smile
6. Clean Needle
7. Charlottesville
8. Nickname Stuck
9. Shapeless Things
10. Save A Piece For Me
11. Idiots
12. Narrow Shoulders
13. Dia Lara
14. [untitled]

The recording of "Clean Needle" here is new and distinct from its original acoustic guitar version from the early 90's. You can hear the original on Winky Dog if you can track it down, but you'll have an easier time finding that version (and in higher-fi to boot) on CD compilation-of-compilations Abridged Perversion (1993 Brinkman/reissue Shrimper) if you want to compare. 

Daniel Brodo was not yet Refrigerator's bassist when he played on this record, but would join them the following year and become inextricable from their lineup. Dan Clucas played on Nothing Painted Blue's 1998 record The Monte Carlo Method. 

Los Angeles rock band Idaho features both a Dan Seta on guitar and a Mark Lewis on drums, so I assume that's the two guys by those names in those roles on this record? 

From the insert, verbatim:

Franklin Bruno: guitar, keyboards, songs, vocals, xylophone
Daniel Brodo: acoustic bass, electric bass (7)
Ted Apel: recording and treatments (1,13) at CEMA, San Diego
Dan Clucas: trumpet (4)
Bob Durkee: engineering, mixing (5, 12) at fBe, San Dimas and Pomona
Lyle Hysen: drumkit (5, 12)
John Golden: mastering
J.J. Golden: digital editing
Peter Katis: engineering, mixing (14) at Tarquin Studios, Connecticut
Bob Kaufman: engineering, mixing (2-4,6-11) at Ben Hur Studios, Hollywood
Mark Lewis: drumkit (4,7,10)
Bill Magdziarz: design and typography
Karen Pincus: triangle(1), engineering assistance
Guy Rohrbaugh: compact photos
Dan Seta: lead guitar, slide guitar (4,7)
Cassandra Spunbarg: piano photo
Thanks to Cory Brown, Dennis Callaci, Kristi Engle, Janice Neri, Nothing Painted Blue, and Tarquin Records. Special thanks to Bree Benton. 
All songs © Stopgap Measures (BMI)
Email b r u n o @ h u m n e t . u c l a . e d u
Mail 652 S. Cloverdale Ave. #1, Los Angeles CA 90036.

A note on those album credits: I don't believe the numbers line up to the track listing as it went to print. It's not like it's just shifted one, there's a few discrepancies. For example, Karen Pincus is credited on triangle in a song without one, but you can hear one at 00:37 on track 2, "Just Because It's Dying"; no one is credited on drums for track 8 which has percussion so sharp that I went to check if Kyle from NPB had sneaked onto a session; and there's trumpet on track 4, and nowhere else, so that does seem correct. So I'll offer what I think is the correct attribution of the additional performers: 

Booklet "track 1": CD Track 2, "Just Because It's Dying" 

Booklet "track 4": CD Track 4, "Beautiful Right Now"

Booklet "track 4": CD Track 5, "Thin, Weak Smile" 

Booklet "track 7": CD Track 8, "Nickname Stuck"

There are tracks crediting Lyle Hysen or Mark Lewis on drumkit that I can't be sure of.

Lyrics (by ear):

1. A Radial

(instrumental)

2. Just Because It's Dying

you don't stop loving something just because it's dying, do you?
you keep on hoping it will live
as when you first discover that your lover's lying to you
and look for reasons to forgive

when you see the fireworks fizzle
hit the lake and start to sizzle
don't you wish for one last missile
to illuminate the sky?

so do i

some people lead a crippled dream out back to shoot it
at the very first suspicion that it's lame
others let theirs limp along, although their legs aren't very strong
while there's a single shaky step left in their frame

you don't stop loving something simply out of shame

although the laws of motion don't just stop applying to you
and every body comes to rest
you don't stop loving something just because it's dying, do you?
you press the clappers to its chest

turn the knobs and flick the switches
swear you'd give up untold riches
for a fuselade of twitches
to uncannily occur

now watch it stir



3. Nurse 

i wake up sometimes past midnight
my breathing's shallow and my chest is tight
and i doubt 
i could blow out
a birthday candle

you say we're young but you're never too young
to put a cash deposit on an iron lung
but the payments might be more than i can handle

but would you believe me
would you be fool enough to believe me
if i told you i'd be satisfied
with a weekend visit from a patient guide
to make the steps i take a little firmer

you say you're proud but i wasn't too proud
to wander the lobby in a cotton shroud
as you calmed me down with just a gentle murmur

but would you relieve me
would you be cool enough to relieve me
if you found me in a fever in my bed
or would you deceive me
would you be cruel enough to deceive me
would you lie about my temperature
as i hallucinate this talking cure
and i hear the words you swear you'd never said

4. Beautiful Right Now

she says that beauty is a curse
i always answer, i could think of much worse

she tells me glamour is a bore
i always tell her i could bore her much more

you're beautiful right now
but if you'd care to change that
i think time can find a way to arrange that

he says his talent's his to waste
how will he feel to find that it's been misplaced
it comes so easily to some
what will you do upon the day it won't come

you may be brilliant now
perhaps you're unaware that
time is sure to find a way to repair that

if you're tired of being young and healthy
if there's something you'd prefer
it seems to me there can't be a simpler wish to grant
just keep an eye upon the calendar

you're beautiful right now
but if you'd care to change that
i think time can find a way to arrange that

too soon old and too late wise
don't you wish that we could strike a compromise
 

5. Thin, Weak Smile

you're callin' her the devil now because
she wasn't quite the angel you convinced yourself she was
but no one could be quite the person who
you thought you had discovered when you thought she wanted you

now you've weathered all the damage
but the most that you can manage
is a thin
weak
smile
go home and prepare it, cause i think you're gonna wear it
for a while

you wish that you could face her with some pride
but every time you see her in the street you turn aside
you've lost it all, you've had your fall from grace
now you're gonna need some armor 
if you're gonna show your face

so you fumble and you fluster
and the most that you can muster
is a thin, weak smile
go home and prepare it, cause i think you're gonna wear it
for a while

everybody knows that you're a fraud
you're not fooling anybody with that nonchalant facade
i hope someday you grow a thicker skin
cause there's only so much mileage left
in your shit-eating grin

now you've weathered all the damage
but the most that you can manage
is a thin
weak
smile
go home and prepare it, you're gonna have to wear it
for a while
 

6. Clean Needle

(This is a jazzy update to a Franklin classic. It's easier to put the lyrics here than there, so I'll put them here.)

across the street
you're a repeat offender
you're out to meet
another candy vendor

they say your song is hey big spender
if that's so then i'm no contender
but your face is as white as a flag of surrender

and i can only shoot from one position
otherwise i might explode
i don't have the kind of ammunition
you intend to load

all i want to be is your clean needle
wash me off before you tie
all i want to be is your clean needle
keep you safe and high

the broken door swings on a hundred hinges
there's many more abusers than syringes
sharing spears with another huntress
laying tracks in a state of undress
you've had your lovers, well now you'll have one less

all i ever read was one addition
now those terms have been revised
i thought i was on a routine mission
to keep you sterilized

all i want to be is your clean needle
wipe me off before you tie
all i want to be is your clean needle
keep you safe and high

and all i want to make is one addition
to the list of things you need
tell me how a girl in your condition
finds the strength to bleed

all i want to be is your clean needle
wipe me off before you tie
all i want to be is your clean needle
keep you safe and high
 

7. Charlottesville

troopers on highway 29
hiding behind the trees that line
the road down to virginia from d.c.

thank you
i swear that i'll slow down
but i'm still
a half an hour from town

and there's a couch that's been made up for me
and someone waiting anxiously in charlottesville
in charlottesville

i know you're only being kind
but kindness is hard enough to find
and i'll pretend you don't avoid his name
that really isn't why i came to charlottesville 
charlottesville

bourbon and humidity
in a sovereign colony
why do you pretend you're free
when you feel your will
bending in the night like these
antebellum balconies
in the sultry summer breeze
how can you keep still
in charlottesville
 

8. Nickname Stuck

has the nickname stuck
so far into your arm
your considerable wit
and undeniable charm
are not enough to pluck
the sword out of the stone
when the sword is a muscle
wrapped around a bone

i know that your father
used up his last favor
getting you off with a slap on the wrist
and i know that your mother
says get a decent supper
pressing a fifty into your fist

she thinks that you'll get better
is that why you hate her

or has the nickname stuck
so far into your arm
your considerable wit
and undeniable charm
are not enough to pluck
the sword out of the stone
when the sword is a muscle
wrapped around a bone

what about your lover?
shouldn't she be older?
it'll be luck if she makes 22
cause now there's something sharper
above your bunsen burner
than the blade she so cautiously withdrew
she's still somebody's daughter
is that why you caught her
is that why you're you're dragging her down after you
into the muck

has the nickname stuck
so far into your arm
your considerable wit
and undeniable charm
are not enough to pluck
the sword out of the stone
when the sword is a muscle
wrapped around a stone

and is the nickname stuck
so deep into the skin
if you still had a choice
you'd prefer to leave it in
 

9. Shapeless Things

i can see the shapeless things to come
i can see the shapeless things to come
a trickle from the rusted pipes
a torn portfolio
of pornographic monotypes
a haze descending over christendom
and i can see the shapeless things to come

the sky is black with burnt magnesium
the hit parade's a 60-cycle hum
you work and drink and dance for now
but soon you'll know the worst
the smoke that hides the starry plough
like petals from a first chrysanthemum
and i can see the shapeless things
i can see the shapeless things to come
to come
 

10. Save A Piece For Me

sell him the whole territory and all of the maps
tell him your whole sordid story
with a few tactful gaps
feed him your banquet of glory
but if he leaves some scraps
honey, perhaps

you can save a piece for me

show him your fusion reactor
lift up your band
throw him a ride on your tractor
for a quick farmer's tan
you can still be the sole benefactor
of my charity plan
give what you can

but try to save a piece for me

you've made your big decision
you say you're honor bound
but i've got a strong suspicion
that there's a lot to go around

give him that kiss that i'm craving
i can adjust
give him your best misbehaving
your joy and your lust
leave me a sliver
a shaving
a crumb or a crust
keep what you must

but darling, save a piece for me

can i take it on trust
that you will save a piece for me
 

11. Idiots

they want to make you feel worse
cause you love what they hate
they want to make you ashamed
of your very best trait

they'll call you defective
cause you've not perfected
a line of defense
they'll call you deficient
cause you're not proficient
at false confidence
it's true in a sense
but not in the sense that they mean

they want to make you feel worse
cause you're thick in the waist
they want to make you ashamed
of your catholic taste

they'll call you unworthy
cause you're not some earthy hale fellow, well met
who's good with a pool cue
they'd like to retool you
and make you forget
the limits aren't set
by their great infernal machine

all that's on their side
is numbers and strength
why else do you think they'd go to such lengths
to cut people down when they're already weak
tying bells 'round the neck of the old village freak

they think it's their duty
to capture all beauty
and force it to crawl
but don't let them touch you
no matter how much you are tempted to fall

their power's a specter
a shadow protector
it's nothing at all
a crepe paper wall
they call an invisible screen
keeping you from your dreams

don't you let them
put it up between

12. Narrow Shoulders

tell me with your eyes set close together
do you see the things ordinary mortals see
say it's a surprise
knock me over with a feather
when you hurt your wings
will you even notice me

envy's a sin
but so is pride
now you can watch me begin
preparations for the big backslide

but would it make
your narrow shoulders wide as mine
if you had to share the weight
that i bear down the line

looking like a corduroy cadaver
sing to me about places we have never gone
what if i grew bored
with this palaver
leading me to doubt everything i've leaned upon

i take the stage
they yawn and nod
you do the same
and they treat you like Scheherazade

but would it make
your narrow shoulders broad as mine
if you had to share the weight
that i bear down the line
when you have to share the weight
that i bear down the line

13. Dia Lara

(instrumental)

14. Untitled

you walk around underneath
invisible mistletoe
just how far a kiss'll go
remains to be seen

your halo's a holly wreath
your lips are lascivious
but you seem oblivious
to what it could mean

i've made my intentions so clear
51 weeks of the year
but christmas is finally here
and it's better to give than receive, my dear

some people can't tell it's there
but i know so well it's there
from winter to winter and
each season between 

invisible mistletoe
invisible mistletoe

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