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Memory Device

by Stephen Rippy

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1.
Milliarium 01:40
2.
Shell shock Always a battle at the front lines Fall back It’s only me on your land mines Spring trap An answer waiting for a question Wind up The bumper sticker impression Toe the line right up to the blame What side would you choose for me If you didn’t know my name? White noise I couldn’t disagree at first blush Drowned out Something gets lost in the onrush You try to take my wonder Wonder what you’d do that for ‘Cause there can’t be much value In not hoping anymore Size up your targets and take aim Which shot would you save for me If you didn’t know my name? BABY, WHAT’S COME BETWEEN US? POLITICS OF THE WEDGE CONQUER AND DIVIDE IN THE KNOW – I GET THE POINT ‘TIL IT KILLS OFF THE JOY THAT YOU KEEP INSIDE The compass demagnetized And I’m at my most adrift You’re selling me an anchor But I’m asking for a lift Losing time always seems a shame How much could you spare for me If you didn’t know my name?
3.
Air on Fire 04:12
The blessing and the curse Of living in interesting times Something’s wrong, something’s wrong With the thinking For better or for worse This is an impossible climb Can it fly? Can it fly? Feels like sinking Hope the landing’s soft Can hardly stay aloft With the air on fire Next to a monolith Of messages meant to malign Who are you? Who are you To raise your hand? Like running a race With a parachute opened behind Can’t move on, can’t move on Past where you stand Winded from it all It’s hard to breathe or call With the air on fire Don’t mind the drinking, baby It’s not a permanent thing Climb down to this mood with me And we’ll ride out the swing Tough to know where we are When everything is a crisis Magnified, magnified Out of balance Who thought we’d go so far, Left to our own devices? Burning off, burning off Time and talent It’s a national bruise Addicted to bad news Now the air’s on fire Can’t catch a breath with the air on fire (A million points, a thousand days That could have gone a different way)
4.
Aerial view of a life Slip through the borders of time Somehow you get the feeling These memories outlived their prime Well, that shoe fits and you’ll wear it On the one foot you keep in the past Still only half-expecting that The latest will be the last Nothing quite disappears Jump decades and leap years It’s the magic you’ve been waiting on But this idea, its day has come and gone Aerial view of a life Distance a kinetic flow Why the rush to reminisce With people that you barely know? Reach out again, but to what end - Really, can there be much left to say? Pinwheeling cigarette sparks That burn out along the highway Goodbye to a good dream As close as it can seem To conclusions that were never drawn ‘Cause this idea, its day has come and gone Continents drift, the universe expands Things move apart; it’s according to plan We lose track of the ties, far off and scattershot Throw ourselves to the wind and find out who we’re not
5.
Wake-up call sounds like the end of the world So, like it or not, you’re moving Trying to shake off the years That appeared from nowhere Seems like the greater the distance becomes From home, the more at home you feel All those doubts can dissipate With a change in the air Done with the limitations Done with the expectations So it’s not what you designed Get off your chest what’s on your mind: The path of least resentment leads away from here Same old same old on a different night Well, like it or not, you joined in Trying to outrun the years That appeared from nowhere There may be no answers in a glass But it always seems worth looking While promises dissipate With the smoke in the air They want more than you can give They’ve taken more than you have lived Keepers of a different kind Get off your chest what’s on your mind: The path of least resentment leads away from here GLINTS OF DUST IN AN EVENING SUNBEAM ENGINES HUM OUT A LAZY THEME YOU’RE WAY UP IN THE AIR TONIGHT IT’S ALL UP IN THE AIR TONIGHT SOMEHOW EVERYTHING WAS LESS THAN IT SEEMED Summer of your discontent - You don’t need help to take that hint Something lost, something to find Get off your chest what’s on your mind: The path of least resentment leads away from here
6.
What have you done with my lost loved one? Blood on your fingers And blood on your tongue Powder keg-bright, warm up to the fight There’s light at the windows tonight Knots to untie, excuses to buy Rail at your life With both fists to the sky Tetherless kite drifting out of sight There’s light at the windows tonight Light at the windows and shouts from the door A sign in the front yard would hardly say more Cut glass shattered by the rocks thrown within I’m tired of singing this story, but here I go again Stuck in our past – wear it like a cast Craving the grudge Enmity built to last Tinderbox spite; you watch it ignite There’s light at the windows tonight
7.
Took the long way between the trees The heat and the humidity Pollen-dusted furniture And blood-dusted knees The heat and the humidity Landscape of my dreams Hurricanes and schoolbook reams Heart so full it felt like It could rip at the seams Just below a Texas shade of sky Took the long way east of the dome Hills in a shadow of green Conté colored fingerprints And letters from home Hills in a shadow of green Lakes and late-night shows Funnel clouds and bruised egos Couldn’t match our differences And that’s how it goes Just below a Texas shade of sky Love and life and loss Cling to us like hanging moss Keeping up as we cross the county lines Left my common sense Torn across a wire fence The beauty’s yours, the contradictions mine Took the long way over the plains Windswept and bleached in the sun Marriage license, mortgage And another eight lanes Windswept and bleached in the sun All those aging fears Lightning storms and used-up years Can I really miss them While I’m still standing here? Held beneath a Texas shade of sky Just below a Texas shade of sky
8.
Took the long way between the trees The heat and the humidity Pollen-dusted furniture And blood-dusted knees The heat and the humidity Landscape of my dreams Hurricanes and schoolbook reams Heart so full it felt like It could rip at the seams Just below a Texas shade of sky Took the long way east of the dome Hills in a shadow of green Conté colored fingerprints And letters from home Hills in a shadow of green Lakes and late-night shows Funnel clouds and bruised egos Couldn’t match our differences And that’s how it goes Just below a Texas shade of sky Love and life and loss Cling to us like hanging moss Keeping up as we cross the county lines Left my common sense Torn across a wire fence The beauty’s yours, the contradictions mine Took the long way over the plains Windswept and bleached in the sun Marriage license, mortgage And another eight lanes Windswept and bleached in the sun All those aging fears Lightning storms and used-up years Can I really miss them While I’m still standing here? Held beneath a Texas shade of sky Just below a Texas shade of sky
9.
Candlelit waitresses glide down the stairs Through the space heaters that circle the bar Single-malt distractions don’t do the trick I’m still aware of how distant you are All alone with time to kill On an uphill slide downhill Pictures of tourists taken by tourists All of those cameos we must have made What do we look like when our guard is down, Caught in a smile, or when our nerves are frayed? Fighting for the bitter thrill On an uphill slide downhill Years are sand-dollar currency Invested in our memories They crumble and catch the wind I hope we’ll have more to spend Blood on our fingers, there’s blood on our tongues Tough to recall all the damage we’ve done Held fast to this ground by my own headstrong Feet that failed me when I wanted to run And your love keeps me here still Through an uphill slide downhill
10.
Anonymous in the old world While the rain blows pixel-slight Music as archeology Someone’s digging deep tonight Well, I come undone in slow motion And the crashing is so easy I don’t notice it’s begun I need something to remember me by Carry something to remember me by Skipped like a stone through the jet stream To arrive still in my skin Sucker-punched by my indifference And it’s down the hole again So I take my shots at all I’ve got Turning lightning in a bottle To a storm in a teapot I need something to remember me by Carry something to remember me by I dreamed of the ocean Covered by a curtain of blue Heaven knows, I’m predisposed To have that view But it’s not what I want for me And it’s not what I want for you Always fighting that tendency Covered by a curtain of blue In the sober light of mourning Cut the losses of those days All of the times I missed the point In all of the many ways Struggle with my soul for some control A crisis of self-confidence Collecting too high a toll I need something to remember me by Carry something to remember me by I need someone to remember me by Carry someone to remember me by Let it be you
11.
Centerville 04:44
And so we go away New lives from a window display My pocket’s full of Monopoly money The weather’s cool with a chance of sunny But it doesn’t bring us closer No, it doesn’t bring us close to Centerville And so we speed along Outrun all the things we’ve done wrong Your bag is filled up with maps and hand lotion Well, all those things may help us cross an ocean But they haven’t brought us closer No, they haven’t brought us close to Centerville Your state of mind’s not in the state of mine From behind our own Maginot lines Warning shots fired Hot words aspire to a longer burn What if we tear so much of it down we can’t return? And so we’ll wait and see What turns out eventually The noisy streets and hotels of a new town These memories collected and reduced down I hope they bring us closer Yeah, I hope they bring us close to Centerville

credits

released March 14, 2006

Recorded, mixed, and coerced by Stephen Rippy at:
Big Al Productions Studios (McKinney, TX) April, 2004 – February, 2006
Additional recording: Center of the Universe (Allen, TX)

Cover design and photography by Stephen Rippy
Band photograph by Marisol Rippy

BIG AL
Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Acoustic and Electric Pianos, Bass, Drum Kit
Mandolin, Organ, Percussion, Programming, Synthesizers, Vocals

Music and words by Stephen Rippy (ASCAP)
©2006 Big Al Productions
“Thanks for listening!”

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Stephen Rippy Dallas, Texas

Stephen Rippy is a Texas-based game soundtrack composer; notable releases include the "Age of Empires" series, "Halo Wars," "CastleVille," and "Dungeon Boss."

Maintaining a separate body of work as a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Stephen has independently released numerous solo albums as well as 2 EP's with Dallas band The Presumptions.
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