Why Should I stand up?
She'll break yours, too
Buster Cornelius
Polka Girl
Ride board 
I'm a sailor 
That's entertainment 
(He must've been) quite a guy
Wedding at Cana 
Rockin' as fast as I can
Hi Fi alphabet 
If nobody loves you in heave


For this album The Colorblind James Experience were:

John Ebert: trombone, tuba, background vocal
Ken Frank: acoustic bass guitar, background vocals, violin
Colorblind James: vocals, guitar, vibraphone, organ, tenor banjo
PhiIlip Marshall: lead guitar, background vocals, tenor banjo
Jim McAvaney: drums, washboard, background vocal
Dave McIntire: clarinette, saxaphone, background vocal
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


WHY SHOULD I STAND UP?                                      back to top

I have learned to close my eyes to
All that I can't reconcile
I have learned to turn my back on
Anyone who cramps my style
I could be satisfied chasing a good time
But something tells me the suffering's just begun
Maybe I want to be the silent type
I know what's happening but why should I stand up?

A man was drowning in a river
Said won't somebody lend a hand
Nobody did, though I guess they figured
He'd only fall back in again
And all the heroes threw down their white hats
Claiming they'd been underpaid
And round the corner there comes a brass band
Its the cynics on parade
It you've had enough of playing follow the leader
Its time to come up with some new kind of game
I'm on the outside anyhow
I can see from here so why should I stand up?

A fellow could get hurt doing something foolish
Doing something rash
I once overheard some villain say
That he who fights and runs away
Lives to fight
Lives to fight
Lives to fight another day

Is there nothing in this world to fight for?
Is there nothing in this world to change?
Is there nothing in this world that matters?
Is there no reason to take a stand?
What about justice? What about freedom?
What about peace? And dignity?
What about respect? What about compassion?
What about a little thing called love?
How about mercy? How about kindness?
How about blue skies and clean air?
How about the jaguar? How about the buffalo?
How about the buffalo?
How about the buffalo?
A million years old and drunk at the moment
I'm a million years old and drunk as I might be
Look what I found lying in the basement:
A bottle of wine called Why Should I Stand Up?
 


SHE'LL BREAK YOURS, TOO                                      back to top

She threw me through the bedroom door
Said "Get your suitcase off my floor"
Oh! Oh she'll break yours, too

I got my things up off the floor
I guess that girl ain't my girl anymore
Oh! Oh she'll break yours. too

I will not let this get me down
Who knows, things might look up next time around
There won't be no tears in my eyes
Nobody likes to see a grown man cry

I see them everywhere I go
When we pass they smile and say hello
Oh! Oh she'll break yours, too

Well you can smile, go ahead and smirk
Soon I think you'll know just what it's worth
Oh! Oh she'll break yours. too

Two months later he's swallowing pills
He's poised out on his window sill
He sits with a revolver on the living room floor
I guess that girl don't love him no more

I told him once, I told him twice
That boy would not follow my advice
Oh! Oh she'll break yours too

So don't come around here asking me how
Figure it out she's your girl now
Oh! Oh she'll break yours
Oh! Oh she'll break yours
Oh! Oh she'll break yours too
 


BUSTER CORNELIUS                                      back to top

Buster Cornelius was an honest man
But he ruled his people with an iron hand
Buster Cornelius was a regular Joe
But if you did him wrong. he'd let you know

Buster Cornelius was fine and upstanding
But to his people he was hard and demanding
He was always brave and never cruel
But don't ever mistake him for a fool

Buster Cornelius stood four foot four
But to his people he was ten feet tall
Whether in battle or at the sacred altar
He led them truly and never faltered

Buster Cornelius died at home
They say his age was forty-one
They carried him out of his modest room
And laid his body in a marble tomb

As heroes go. he was the best
Head and shoulders above the rest
That's why on the third of May.
We celebrate Buster Cornelius Day
 


POLKA GIRL                                      back to top

Polka Girl! Polka Girl! Polka Girl!
You'd better not let me down

I know a girl named Ruth
I'll tell you all the truth
When the cabbage stars to boil
She losses all control

Polka Girl! Polka Girl! Polka Girl!
You'd better not let me down

The band is all in place
Accordion and bass
Clarinet and drums
Tenor and trombone

Polka Girl! Polka Girl! Polka Girl!
You'd better not let me down

I'll bare my teeth
My lips will curl
Heads will roll
If you get near my Polka Girl

Polka Girl! Polka Girl! Polka Girl!
You'd better not let me down
 


RIDE BOARD                                      back to top

My spirit left my body while I slept
And took a seat in a small cafe overlooking the river
And in a small cafe overlooking the river
My spirit relaxed
And drank a cappuccino and then another
And my spirit borrowed a cigarette
And smoked it and watched .t disappear
And my spirit rose
And on its way out
Paused before the ride board
And reading it, my spirit was moved
And tell to its knee and wept
And sang of the ride board
Its praises in a loud voice
 


I'M A SAILOR                                      back to top

I'm a sailor
I've been to the North Sea
I've been to the South Sea
I've been to the Dead Sea
I'm a sailor
I've got my top mast
I've got my main sail
I've got my crows nest too

Been gone for six weeks
Been gone for eight months
Been gone for ten years
Been gone for a lifetime
Don't know my family
Forgot my wife's name
If I have children
I know them not

I've seen poor folks
In little junk boats
Eating fish guts
Eating frogs' heads
I've seen rich men
Raised on candy
Raised on eclairs
Living on champagne

I've been seasick
I've been poisoned
I've been capsized
I've been shipwrecked
I've been washed up on
Devil's Island
With the driftwood
And left far dead
 


THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT                                      back to top

When you see the tap dancer dancing
Tapping all around
On the floors and on the wails and on the
Ceiling, upside down
That's Entertainment!
That's Entertainment!
That's Entertainment!
Well, what would you call it?

A woman is in danger
Of falling off a cliff
And her house gets torn and her skirt his caught
And he prays he can gel to her first
That's Entertainment!
That's Entertainment!
That's Entertainment!
Well, what would you call it?

Sometimes it makes you happy
Sometimes it makes you cry
Sometimes it makes you wonder
If you even want to try
That's Entertainment!
That's Entertainment!
That's Entertainment!
Well, what would you call it?
 


(HE MUST'VE BEEN) QUITE A GUY                                      back to top

He was born on a freight train
He was born on a cruise ship
He was born on an airplane
He was born in a taxi cab

He was born in a blizzard
Far away in a manger
On the top of a mountain
In the mists of the jungle

He was born in the desert
When the lilacs were blooming
He was born in the ball park
High up in the grandstands

He was born an a surfboard
He was born in a backpack
He was born at the opera
He was born on a chain gang

He lived on the east coast
Grew upon the west coast
Made his home in the north
Settled down in the south

Quit school in the third grade
With honors from Harvard
Played semipro baseball
For a team in Havana

He worked in Chicago
At the Bake-a- Lite factory
Dug clams in New Orleans
And then in Miami

He worked on a farm
On a ranch in Wyoming
Shot buffalo for a while
Until the herds disappeared

He became a teacher
And then an inventor
He invented the clam bake
He invented the back yard

He invented the porch
He invented the banjo
He invented the hammock
He invented the card game

He invented the light bulb
He invented the sick day
He invented a phonograph
With a gasoline engine

He discovered the Mississippi
And he gave it a name tag
And he filled it with garbage
From the hull of a steamboat

He fled from the dust bowl
He fled from the city
He fled from his family
He fled from the farm

He joined the union
He marched with the Wobblies
He wore a red bandana
And sang union songs

He was sent to the war
He fought with MacArthur
He marched into Paris
He liberated Rome

He marched into Washington
And Selma, Alabama
He marched into Hollywood
He marched into television

He died in a plane crash
In a fight in a barroom
He died when his car crashed
In a tenement fire

He died saving children
He died broke and lonely
And drunk in a gutter
In the middle of nowhere

He died of a heat rash
He died of a bee sting
He ate poison mushrooms
And that did him in

I went to an auction
Bought a trunk with his diary
From cover to cover
He must have been quite a guy
 


WEDDING AT CANA                                      back to top

The wedding party had just begun
People getting loose and having fun
'Till Mary overheard the father of the bride
In a panic 'cause they had run out of wine

Mary said. Son, they have no wine
Mary said. Son, they have no wine
He said I can't help that. Mom, its not my time"
Mary said. 'Son, they have no wine

Mary told the waiter. 'Do what he tells you
Take what he gives you and buy what he sells you
Listen to him once and listen to him twice
And don't ignore any of his advice''

Even Jesus was smiling now
He always liked to help out, anyhow
He said "I'll need seven buckets, all in a row
All of em filled with H2O"

The waiter was gone for ten minutes or so
And then he came back, lust like he was told
He said. Here's your seven buckets, all in a line"
Jesus said, "That's not water it's wine

Just then a man walked by with a frown on his face
Saying. 'Suppose that I might have a taste''?
Mary winked and said she thought he could
So he drank a cup and said, "Boy, that's good"

He said. 'Most people serve the good wine first
And as the night wears on. the wine gets worse
But you certainly have shown a lot of class;
You've saved the best wine for last'

Now Jesus told the waiter. Don't say a word
About what you've seen and what you've heard"
The waiter agreed and he tried hard, too
But by the very next day, the whole town knew
 


ROCKIN' AS FAST AS I CAN                                      back to top

I had a dream the other night
Oh what a dreadful dream it was
I dreamt that I was on a stage
And as if that wasn't bad enough
The people were angry and shouted Let's rock!"
There wasn't a satisfied fan
I whispered back "I am rockin
Rockin as fast as can

So lets rock! Lets rock'
Let's rock! Let's rock!
Rockin' as fast as I can

Well, frankly, I had to admit it, folks
It wasn't much of a show
Nothing moved and nothing grooved
And all of the tempos were Slow
And they screamed and hollered 'Hey turn on the heat"
I heard it again and again
I whispered back The heat is on
And I'm rockin' as fast as I can

So lets rock! Let's rock!
Let's rock! Let's rock!
Rockin' as fast as I can

Some people wanted their money back
That didn't matter to me
But others would only be satisfied
When they'd got what they'd come there to see
So they screamed and hollered
Hey come on, get down
That is if you think you still can"
I whispered back I am down"
I'm rockin' as fast as can

So let's rock' Let's rock!
Lets rock' Lets rock'
Rockin as fast as I can
 


HI FI ALPHABET                                      back to top

I saw the monster from the bay
I saw it raise it's ugly head
We spoke for about a half an hour
I don't recall a thing we said

Jack's Bloody Shadow is a bar
Its next door to the Broken Ghost
That's up the street from What A Cage
I don't remember on which coast

Lil miss was married yesterday
To some bohemian die hard twerp
He didn't bother to get dressed
It wasn't even in a church

His family chipped in for a gift
All tied with ribbon in a knot
Its what they've always wanted, yes
A cubist cemetery plot

He said finally wrote my book
Its called the Hi-Fi Alphabet
I asked him what it was about
He hasn't figured that out yet
 
 


IF NOBODY LOVES YOU IN HEAVEN                                      back to top

The road that does stretch on before us
It ends when we give up this life
But if nobody loves you in heaven
What's the use of this sorrow and strife?

And what of the baptismal water
Could it be nothing more than a bath?
If nobody loves you in heaven
What good is this straight narrow path?

They say that this road leads to glory
I've heard it again and again
But if nobody loves you in heaven
Then your life's filled with nothing but shame

And what at the Holy Scripture
Could it be just a book full of lies
If nobody loves you in heaven
Then its all just a roll of the dice

So we pray to the lord for forgiveness
We beg him upon bended knees
But if nobody loves you in heaven
Our prayers are worth nothing, you see

Will the lame man never walk freely?
Is the blind man never to see?
If nobody loves you in heaven
What a cruel joke it would be

Though you sing with the voice of an angel
Though your heart be as pure as a flame
If nobody loves you in heaven
This life has been truly in vain

If nobody loves you in heaven
What is this suffering worth?
If nobody loves you in heaven
Why are we here on this earth?
 



All songs written by Colorblind James
® ©1989 Death Valley Music.
 
 

Eileen Fugman plays accordian on "Polka Girl".
G. Elwyn Meixner plays Hawaiian guitar on "If Nobody Loves You In Heaven".

On "Hi Fl Alphabet", Paul Dodd plays bongo drums,
Peggi Fournier plays soprano saxaphone,
G. Elwyn Meixner plays mandolin, and Patrick Morgan and Scott Regan sing vocal chorus.