1. |
||||
|
Percival Owl walked around with a scowl and worked at the library
Working three days every week he could afford to play the lottery
He picked the same numbers every single time, 15, 6, 19, 8, and 21
Then one day he got a big surprise, when watching the TV from inside
He discovered that he had won!
And he walked outside and shouted
"Hoot hoot, hoot hoot, hoot hoot, hoot hoot, hoot hoot!"
Percival Owl went back into the house and called up all of his friends
Lawrence Shih-Tzu, Flo Buzzybee, Lois Ducky and Ted Grizzly Bear
So they all came on over and had a great party to celebrate the news
And they ate lots of pizza and bounced off the walls and drank up all the booze
And they walked outside and shouted
"Hoot!" "Yip!" "Buzz!" "Quack!" "ROWR!!"
[old man across the street]
"Percival Owl, Percival Owl! Stop this infernal racket, confound it! You and your animal friends are making entirely too much noise. Please step back into your little owly-house, for I am trying to rehearse with my marching band!"
|
||||
2. |
Once 'Round the Park
04:06
|
|||
|
I’m so glad I woke up today, the sun is shining brightly and the clouds have gone away
And I think I’ll write a letter to my mom to let her know that I’m okay
I’m so glad we’re out for a walk, the time goes by so quickly when you have the day off,
And I think I’ll send a telegram to Steege to let him know the storms have stopped
I’m so glad the weather has changed, my coat is at the cleaner and my boots are put away
And I think I’ll put these long johns in the bottom drawer with all our winter things
I’m so glad I can hardly contain, let’s get a cup of coffee and look out the window pane
And I think I’ll write a note to you and fold it like a paper airplane
Once ‘round the park and twice ‘round the fountain, the library board is planning expansion
The wind is just right for frisbee, so let’s play a game
Once ‘round the park for old time’s sake, and twice round the park the trees start to shake
The sun looks beautiful now and summer is here.
Let’s hot dogs every day, let’s have black cherry soda
Let’s steal the Carnegie Library
I’m so glad I woke up today, I think I’ll quit my job and go sailing today
Let’s go sailing, I’ve never been sailing
Don’t you want to sail too?
I want to feel the waves on my feet, I want to swim in the big blue sea,
Let’s go sailing, I’ve never been sailing
Don’t you want to sail too?
|
||||
3. |
Friendly Train
02:28
|
|||
|
Well, the friendly train makes many stops
It can pick you up in the parking lot
It can take you to the grocery mart
It can go to the DAV
See, the friendly train is free to all
You can meet your friends at the mini mall
You can wave at people, you’ll know them all
When you get on the friendly train
Friendly train, get on the friendly train
Friendly train, get on the friendly train
When we go bowling, we’ll bowl in the friendly lane
Get on the friendly train
You can go to work on a friendly train,
You can walk around eating candy canes
You can move to Texas or friendly Maine,
You can wink at the bearded man (Hey Kyle!)
There are friendly things that we can do
We can play a friendly game of Clue
We can eat a dinner of friendly stew
We can go to the ice capades
Friendly train, get on the friendly train
Friendly train, get on the friendly train
Colonel Mustard in the parlor with the friendly candlestick holder
He rides the friendly train
Ba ba ba ba
Friendly train, get on the friendly train
Friendly train, get on the friendly train
We can use our parachutes to bail out of the crashing friendly plane
Or we can take the friendly train
Toot toot!
|
||||
4. |
Let's Be Best Friends
02:52
|
|||
|
Let’s be best friends forever, you can read all my comic books
Let’s be best friends forever, we can play by the apple tree
And, if by chance, cousin Steege should go to France,
We can look at his website every day and laugh
At his big sassy moustache
MOUSTACHE
Let’s be best friends forever, you can borrow my strobe-y light
Let’s be best friends forever, we can bust out the owl kite
And if it rains, we can make paper airplanes and
Dwindle out time away inside drinking Fresca and playing with boardgames
“WHAT KIND OF BOARD GAMES?”
Chess, and chess, and checkers and chess
And dominoes, dominoes
Risk, and risk, and Life, Go Fish
Monopoly, Monopoly
I’ll be the shoe, you be the car
I’ll rob the bank while you stack all the Chance cards
And when the sun comes out,
We can cheer and scream and shout
So let’s be best friends forever.
|
||||
5. |
The Bird Expert
01:53
|
|||
|
The Bird Expert
People will tell you I don’t know a thing about birds
But that’s just simply not true
Birds’ll poop on your shoulder and they’ll sneak into your attic
Cause that’s just the kind of thing that birds like to do
Birds are deceitful, crafty and mean,
Basically as bad as common thieves
One time I loaned a bird my favorite T-shirt
And he ripped a hole in the sleeve
People will tell you I don’t know a thing about birds
But that’s just simply not true
Birds’ll crash your party and they’ll spike your favorite punch
Cause that’s just the kind of thing that birds like to do
O, one night I was sleeping peacefully in my bed,
When I heard my bird alarm going off, so
I ran down the stairs and caught a bird in the act
Of trying to steal my socks
ALSO
Birds are terribly two-faced,
They’ll just tell you the things they think you want to hear
They don’t care about being honest
Birds’ll say nice things to your face and then badmouth you
To your friends when you’re away
IN CONCLUSION
People will tell you I don’t know a thing about birds
But that’s just simply not true
Birds’ll build your hopes up, but then they’ll crush your dreams
Cause that’s just the kind of thing that birds like to do.
|
||||
6. |
Hotdogs for Breakfast
01:22
|
|||
|
Once on a dreary day I stood at the bike rack behind the old library wing
I looked to the sky, o’ercast and gray, the sun was nowhere in sight
Though I was saddened by this fact, the summer was near and I knew that quite soon
We’d have sunny days to run and play, and stay out all day and night
And we’d eat hotdogs for breakfast, hotdogs for lunch, hotdogs for a midnight snack
Pickles and onions, ketchup and mustard, please pass the napkins
Fire up the grill, dear friend, for the summer is near
|
||||
7. |
Correspondence
02:18
|
|||
|
I could send a telegram and tell you of my love for you
You could send a postcard and inform me that you love me too
But, if you don’t use a stamp, your message I may never know
So please check your postage before to the post office you go
“Dear love, my inkwell was tipped over by a fat cat,
So I’ve written you this message using grapejuice instead.
Please respond at once for I am missing now most desperately
Your company.”
If you traveled overseas, I’d send my love by airmail
If you could not see I’d send a letter written in braille
If you were convicted of a heinous crime and sent to jail,
I’d frost words upon a cake to eliminate the paper trail
Hear the clickety-clack of the woodpecker on the tree,
Using morse code, I’ve deciphered his message, which says,
“Hurry home, young woodpecker bride, for I’m
Building a nest for you and me inside this tree!”
|
||||
8. |
Paper Airplane
03:02
|
|||
|
They say the world’s a terrible place
They say that life’s a kick in the face
Is it true?
They say that nothing ever works out
Your life will be corrupted by doubt
Is it true?
If you’re feeling crummy about your miserable little life,
Then you probably feel like shouting from the rooftop:
“O cru-el world, where is thy joy?”
They say the world’s a meaningless pit
The city’s always covered in grit
Is it true?
They say you might as well just give up
‘Cause nothing you do will ever amount to much
Is it true?
I know your troubles, friend,
And you’re going ‘round the bend,
But your woes may well be at an end
For the stationery store is just outside the door
So grab your wallet, and prepare to spend
You’ve got no reason now to complain
Just fold yourself a paper airplane
Here we go!
Paper airplane, fly to the moon and back again!
|
||||
9. |
||||
10. |
I Hate the Job
03:48
|
|||
|
Look high! The sun is rising!
The spring is at its peak
Alas, you cannot smile
When you’ve been trapped
Inside the building all this week
Breathe deep, and smell the concrete
The colours so alive
But no, you may not laugh
For you’re not allowed
To have any fun between 9 and 5
There should be nothing better
Than to wake up quite early
And plan out a list of activities
But who is in the mood for happiness
When the dark cloud looms overhead
I hate the job
The sun is in the west now,
The day is almost done
But after a short while
The sun will rise and a new day
Will have begun
The job is never ceasing
The job will never end
And when today is done
It’s only ten hours ‘till the job
Begins again
I hate the job
Look up! The stars are shining!
The night should be enjoyed
But if you stay up now, you’ll be
Late to work and then the boss will be annoyed
Lie down and close your eyes then,
This peace, in sleep you’ll spend
But no! “NO!” The job is in your
Dreams as well, the job is your
Enemy until the very end!
I hate the job
|
||||
11. |
||||
|
The unemployed author goes to walk out in the park
Across the road and down from his apartment several blocks
Where he watches the birds and gives voice to the words
Of the sleuth in his next mystery.
He hasn’t written anything for eight months and a day
There’s dust atop the typewriter and all the keys are gray
When the publishers pushed for another new book,
His creativity got lost in the fray
But he runs back home in a fit of frantic thought
To sit down and write all that he’s been thinking of
But when the key strikes blank, he discovers the sad lie
That the top’s left off and the ribbon has gone dry
So he twists the ribbon through every lasting inch,
But no ink is found and his idea starts to slip, and he cries out,
“Curs-ed fate! All my plans have gone awry - for the ribbon has gone dry!”
The unemployed author notes the ribbon make and size,
And goes downtown to find the shop with typewriter supplies
But it’s been such a long time since he’s been downtown
That he can’t find where he used to buy
He stops into a couple shops and at the local mart
To get directions to the store that sells typewriter parts
And he winds through the city for hours and hours
Till he sees a sign on the door:
It was Olav’s Grist Mill and Typewriter Repair, and sure enough
There was Olav inside the window there,
And so he ran ‘cross the street, and he pushed open the door
And he said, “Do you have a Smithonn’s Ribbon No. 4?”
[Olav]
“Yah, of course we have them!”
The unemployed author makes his way back to the house
Installs the newfound ribbon and begins to test it out,
And he types and types more and he tests and tests more,
Finished pages falling down to the floor
He types now with a fury from the morning till the eve,
And two days later he is still at work a’writing,
But he finally triumphs, and looks at the last page,
And turns to his cat and says,
“Let me know what you think of the ending, Figaro!”
|
||||
The Great and Powerful Gizmo Carthage, Missouri
Hi. The Great and Powerful Gizmo is a band, currently on hiatus. We played primarily between 2001 and June 15, 2006. We aren't done hiatus-ing yet. Anyhow, here's some music we recorded. Hoping to make all of our albums available over time. Just finished a mix of the 10-year-old "Why The Luggage," more to come soon! ... more
The Great and Powerful Gizmo recommends:
Monuments
by O'er Field and Stream
This is our new project. Please check it out. Thanks!
go to albumIf you like The Great and Powerful Gizmo, you may also like:
The Revenge Of Heads On Fire
by White Hills
Trailblazing psych duo White Hills return with another batch of bottom-heavy stoner-y anthems submerged in 200 tons of guitar.
go to album
Philly's Emily Robb deconstructs guitar rock into sludgy, blown-out slabs of riffage and feedback on this bruiser of a new album.
go to album
New York group Landlady return with an accessible collection of lightly psychedelic, nostalgic pop songs.
go to album
Plinky shoegaze-inflected guitar rock confronts the world with both nihilism and hope on the sophomore release Philadelphia band Knifeplay.
go to album
Chicago-based group Dendrons bring a touch of early 2000s indie rock to their knotty post-punk on this second full-length.
go to album
