|
1. The Essential Cubicle Nosepicker
|
|
Dick and Ruby live together in Charlestown, Massachusetts (near Sullivan station). They share a bed, attend functions together, visit family on the holidays, and go to parties with mutual friends every so often. They make love three times per month. Dick is on his third job in the city. He's making pretty good cash in a pretty smart corporate environment (business advisory services). He's at work right now. So is Ruby. She works at paint-it-yourself pottery store in Cambridge. She sells pots that people paint themselves.
Mid-tempo piano, guitar and violin track sung by Dick, Ruby and friends.
|
|
2. Drawer of Knives
|
|
Dick sometimes goes to the bar with the boys after work. They drink beer and cuss and all that, just like they did in college. The birds tell the men how it really is. The men don't typically give a good goddamn.
Fun, boisterous number in 3/4 time, shouted by a drunken male chorus, responded to by singing milkmaids. |
|
3. Everything Seems Clear (or I Will Sew Every Seed That Falls)
|
Buy
the compact disc |
In the morning, Ruby drives Dick to work. Dick doesn't feel hung over or anything. Actually, everything seems pretty good. After all, he's got a decent job, most of his bills are paidÉRuby certainly is a great woman. Maybe they'll get married some time. Being an adult isn't so tough. You just have to stay cool. |
|
4. The Dreams of Buried Children
|
Buy
the compact disc |
Dick works late. He works late often, as that is what is expected of him. He decides to walk home from work, which is in Harvard Square. It is a decent walk, but the night seems strange and refreshing. Dick thought this morning that everything seemed pretty good. Yes, sir. Pretty good, indeed. After all, its not like he's starving or dead or anything.
|
|
5. She Made a Simile (to explain to the drunks that it was time to leave)
|
Buy
the compact disc |
Dick came home and told Ruby that they should go out for some fun. They went to a party with lots of other young professionals. Dick remembered all the parties he went to when he was in his early twenties, before he had to work so damn hard. They'd all drink too much and talk about the cool stuff they were going to accomplish when they got older. Now they just talk about the boring stuff they're doing now. Dick, unlike many of his new peers, sometimes still drinks too much.
|
|
6. Demystified, Disenchanted, but Still Stirring Delusional (I'm bigger than atmospheric pressure, larger than weather could be)
|
|
Dick has to sleep on the couch. As Ruby falls asleep in the wide, empty bed, she has a moment of clarity. But it's a sleepy clarity. A dreamy sort of unclear clarity.
Lush, dreamy piano number with Ruby singing rich harmonies
|
|
7. Mom's Favorite Bum
|
|
In the morning, Ruby heads off to work without Dick. Dick doesn't feel so hot. Out the window, Dick can see a bum in the bus stop across the street sleeping with a blanket over her head, like a little tent. Ruby had thrown that old blanket away months ago, one that Dick's family had used for years. When Dick's mother heard about this, she felt oddly elated and connected. Since then, whenever she came to visit Dick and Ruby's apartment, she always gave her "favorite bum" a twenty. Big bucks for a bum. Dick decides not to go to work today.
Complex, upbeat piano track with a great Dick, plus many cameos from Dick's good friends. Both silly and sad.
|
|
8. America's Lear
|
|
When Ruby comes home from work, Dick isn't home, his briefcase is where he had left it the day before, and there is eight empty beer bottles in the garbage. She doesn't feel like eating dinner. She has a glass of wine, and then another. Two bottles later, Dick still isn't home, and Ruby begins to feel afraid. Not because she's alone tonight, but because she suddenly feels like she's been alone for long time. She stays up late to watch an old film adaptation of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" on the television.
Slow, reflective ballad sung by Ruby and a whispering chorus.
|
|
9. Failure for Dummies
|
Buy
the compact disc |
The next morning, Ruby finds that Dick has slept on the couch again. He must of came in after she had went to bed. He must of, right? There is a broken glass in the kitchen. Her head is pounding. She kisses him on the forehead and leaves for work. She'd like to stay home, but you can't call into work just because you feel afraid, because you feel like something bad has happened and just can't remember it, or don't want to remember it. After all, what would happen if people in Cambridge couldn't paint their own pots for a day?
|
|
10. America's Lear (Reprise)
|
Buy
the compact disc |
Nervous, Ruby calls home. Nobody answers.
|
|
11. Black Cloud Over Charelstown
|
|
Dick wakes up around noon. He surveys the kitchen, noting the broken glass and the empty wine bottles. He removes a steno pad and a pen from his briefcase, which promptly ends up in the garbage with the beer empties that started him on his pillage the day before. He pulls out his suitcase, still packed from the last business trip. Before he leaves, he writes a note to Ruby.
Strong, dramatic anthem sung by Dick, alone. Could very well be one of the best tracks on the record.
|
|
12. The Grain of Deity in Woman
|
|
Ruby comes home from work early. "Fuck the pots" she thinks. The note Dick had left didn't make much sense, but the message was clear enough. Simple enough to give her another moment of clarity.
Strong, Dramatic anthem sung by Ruby, alone. Could very well be one of the best tracks on the record.
|
|
13. Beautiful Like Me
|
|
Dick drove and drove until he was in the town where he grew up. A nice town in Maine by the sea, where people didn't seem to do much. He didn't think about the work he left behind, nor the woman he left working at the pottery shop. The ocean presented itself to Dick, and Dick thought about getting a boat and floating among the waves forever and ever.
Reflective, meandering number sung primarily by Dick, with highlights from Ruby. Bass accompanies the piano. Oddly optimistic.
|
