Get all 8 The Grinning Ghosts releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Yolk EP, Shell EP, Live At Practice, EP 2, EP III, Youth on the Rack, EP I, and Yesterday Tomorrow.
1. |
Funeral
05:39
|
|||
|
Funeral
I can tell you’d like me better
If I were better looking
Looking at myself in the
reflection of my room
Lately I've been wondering
What you're, been wondering what you’re doing
Sitting here listening to your favorite album
Want to do something that feel like a movie
But I'm afraid it's a weepy that has run to long
Hoping for the trick end that reveals the meaning
Guess I'm just trying not to write a song
Oh my—I haven't been doing nothing have I?
Get your life together you would say
Beneath your window spins a crown of love
And I'd crawl that tunnel just to see you everyday
Cause it’s tearing me to bits
Cause I somehow just can’t fit
But you know I can’t talk about it
You dance and you settle
My heart is a broken mirror
I’m gonna call it funeral
Cause it’s what you like to hear
Watching cartoons and saccharine fiction
Cozied up with sad uncomfortable truths
And you tell me I'm the champion of my own disappointments
Well, when that's what you are then what's the use?
Ahh, I've been so miserable Morrissey would have blush
Writing things too late to write
But still I must’ve written over two dozen
Cause every moment feels like a year without light
Cause it’s tearing me to bits
Cause I somehow just can’t fit
But you know I can’t talk about it
You dance and you settle
My heart is a broken mirror
I’m gonna call it funeral
Cause it’s what you like to hear
How could you turn me out?
Where else would I go?
Nowadays you're the only one I know
And I how happy I was
From the hospital you to take
How could I refuse when you ask
me with that face you make
So I drove you to your new love-at-last
Cause I'm a sucker for thankless tasks
Getting folded over and over
In the ways you feel
Forgetting’s a tune you mull over
Like Honzo steel
Oh, we only do the things that we knew we would
Once again getting lost in the neighborhood
But you know I can’t talk about it
You dance and you settle
My heart is a broken mirror
I’m gonna call it funeral
Cause it’s what you like to hear
(Don’t wait on the kettle)
It’s what you like to hear
(Plug in the Nintendo)
It’s what you like to hear
(You dance and you settle)
It’s what you like to hear
(Better look out below)
|
||||
2. |
No One Nothing Rag
03:21
|
|||
|
No one, nothing
I’ve never been no one, nothing at all
He said
No one, nothing
I’ve never been no one, nothing at all
No One goes with his buddy to talk to
No One Else is buddy but he doesn’t eat me
No One said it’s not irrational cause he says
I’m down on San Mateo on a dead end street
Everybody goes like a barrel of monkeys
Up there buddy, but he don’t like ‘stand
And everybody bring somebody, a hundred and one
Because he don’t make money but, uh, he’s in a band
No one, nothing
I’ve never been no one, nothing at all
He said
No one, nothing
I’ve never been no one, nothing at all
Well, co-pilot buddy, but there’s no one to talk to
Well, maybe he does, he just doesn’t know where to go
Well, nope that’s a pity but believe it or not, he said
Believe it or not, nobody’s running the show
Said the truth’s sad buddy, but you’re coming with me
But nobody ever comes and he don’t know why
And everything thing’s so sad, he said, he said, he said
He said he knows he’s not that sorry but uh, he could have cried
No one, nothing
I’ve never been no one, nothing at all
He said
No one, nothing
I’ve never been no one, nothing at all
Nobody said she needs somebody to talk to
They walk right past, but uh, she didn’t try
And she sans them where she lives in the dark
In a holed-out room where she don’t know why
And goes
No one, nothing
I’ve never been no one, nothing at all
She said
No one, nothing
Never been no one, nothing at all
Waaah!,
She went ah ah ah
She went ah ah owww
She goes my ears hurt bad cause they’re stuffed with that!
She goes
No one, nothing
never been no one, nothing at all
She said
No one, nothing
never been no one, nothing at all
Well, she’s never been
Well, she’s never been
Never been no one nothing at all
|
||||
3. |
Can't Be Loved
03:20
|
|||
|
Can’t Be Loved
It’s hard for me to get excited
Even when I’ve been invited
Cause I’m waiting outside
And I don’t feel alive without you, without you
And I heard you’re coming down
And I heard you’re cutting out
But I never cared about what I shared
Without you, without you
Cause I’m dead again
From all this wait again
I got too tough again
With my new bluff again
So I can’t be loved
I can’t be loved
I can’t be loved
I can’t be loved
So I went to another state
I got lost passing through the gate
And I never came back
I threw away the facts
Without you, without you
So I started digging my own grave
Cause I walk and trip over everything
And I like to have plans, and start making them
Without you, without you
Cause I’m dead again
From all this wait again
I got too tough again
With my new bluff again
So I can’t be loved
I can’t be loved
I can’t be loved
I can’t be loved
|
||||
4. |
Revel On
02:14
|
|||
|
Revel On
I can dress all on my own
Lace and button too
The first steps were rather rough
Left the crutches by the cupboards
Revel on
It don’t make sense
Revel on
Don’t fret your pretty head
Revelin’
Thought you should just revel on
Thought I’d break from the pummeling
Came back and the locks were changed
Figures those that bruise the most
They wouldn’t be the first to leave, no
Revel on
It don’t make sense
Revel on
Don’t fret your pretty head
Revelin’
Thought you should just revel on
Revel on
Revel on
Revel on
|
||||
5. |
||||
|
Don’t Want Me (Or My Rise to E-Glory)
And there I was, rain was coming
down like self-esteem
Playing video games, eatin’ day old ramen
feeling so alone
It’s not sentimental, not inconsequential
Still believe that you’re my one, two
One, two, three, four
Don’t want me, I feel fine
Don’t want me, I feel fine
Don’t want me, I feel fine
Don’t want me, I feel fine
So I lay me out, empty garbage can
Filed on the curb
Am I in the way? Just listenin’ to Morrissey
Cryin’ all the time
Sentimental, not inconsequential
Since believe that you’re my one, two
One, two, three, four
Don’t want me, I feel fine
Don’t want me, I feel fine
Don’t want me, I feel fine
Don’t want me, I feel fine
|
||||
6. |
Everything to Me
04:08
|
|||
|
Everything to Me
Down this sham like a rain again
Can't drown out sun when we were friends
And I know that it's not up to bear
But I can't say this thing you've unprepared
Cause you're everything I wanted and
You're everything that means to me
You're everything I wanted and
You're everything to me
Go and say what you're wanting and
Your worn out tongue warms up again
And I won't admit that I've been down or scared
I can't stay in this thing you've un-repaired
Cause you're everything I wanted and
You're everything that I can see
You're everything I wanted and
You're everything to me
Down this street they will run again
And I'll cram this town with terraphim
And I won't admit that I'm in love abhorred
And I'll cram this bed soaked full of whores
Cause you're everything I wanted and
You're everything that means to me
You're everything I wanted and
You're everything to me
No one left to
Care about you
No one left to see
They won't love you
I can't love you
For all your enmity
Cause you're everything I wanted and
You're everything that means to me
You're everything I wanted and
You're everything to me
You're everything I wanted and
You're everything that I concede
You're everything I wanted and
You're everything to me
|
||||
7. |
Lie, Lie, Lie
01:28
|
|||
|
Lie, Lie, Lie
Lie, lie, lie
I know you do
Lie, lie, lie
I know you do
Bring some change onto
I’ll be here this afternoon
Waiting on you
Lie, lie, lie
I know you won’t
Lie, lie, lie
So please don’t
Bring some change my way
I’ll be here in your memory
Memory
|
||||
8. |
San Pedro
04:20
|
|||
|
San Pedro
Worn eyes, emerald green
Prettiest eyes that I’ve ever seen
Won’t you rescinded my eyes
Stay with me
Might you never dream
Might you never want to adorn my eyes
Ahhh…
Stay with me
Oh, might you wait for me
Might you never want to mourn my life
Go to sleep, might you never weep
Might you never want to mourn my life
Ahhh…
Whoo!
(You’re gonna die laughin’)
White line fever!
(You’re gonna die laughin’)
And she makes me go da da dada da
(You’re gonna die laughin’)
Revel on, it don’t make sense
Revel on, don’t fret you’re pretty head
(You’re gonna die laughin’)
Jack Kerouac it down the ole highway
Just gonna
Panic on the streets of London
Moon river and me
|
||||
9. |
Andrew II (Interlude I)
03:00
|
|||
|
Andrew II
I don't know but it comes and go, oh come on
I don't know but I want to go, oh come on
Oh come on, oh come on
Im afraid when my feelings paid, oh come on
I can't stand how I am human, oh come on
Come on, come on
Freak out
|
||||
10. |
UCI Graduation Rag
03:29
|
|||
|
UCI Graduation Rag
Eggs on a jean
and then a "D"
and then a bee eats me
Nothing's left for the starved
but you know there's nothing left in my head
Whooo!
Stop that, it's just another
idealistic quotient of man
Whoo
Dancing like I can spell
but you know I didn't want it again
How's that's --- said another
call somebody who said they're my friend
whooo ohhh
wattcha
(You’re my guitar zero)
Oh, how 'bout supplication
I’m bound right in on my low
You've got nothing but patients
Oh, how bout now you've been sold
Oh, no no
You've got suffocation
I'm bound right in on my time
dumbfound this on the tease way
Oh, how bout now you've been lyin'
You got consternation
I dance right up on my toes
Don't say if I'm a loser
I lose me out of my woes
You've got isolation
I'm lined right up on my time
I can't stop this is a need way
You can't lose me off of your mind
You've got suffocation
I'm bound right in on my low
dumbfound this on the tease way
Oh how bout you've been sold
If you mix a think with a pleasure you get a treasure
If you cross a fox with a box you've missed the measure
Upshot: autodidaction
Watch out!
|
||||
11. |
||||
|
Depleting Bleak Down Art Type
Fat neck see me I'm a bat in the outskirts of town
Gaul rite
You're gonna blood wreak feed me till your life's just black ash in the ground
Gaul rite
Oh your bleach drenched body
I don't ask for much
It's all over you
You wanna bleak down art type
The rat’s hue
Well taste my fangs they're enspelled just like gyges ring
But you'll see me
They're gonna break the ache
But they're not gonna leave a thing
And you'll will me
You wanna burn your hands?
Then I will burn for you
For your life
You wanna bleak down art type
The rat’s hue
Dwell so slavishly in the revenants dream
You're gonna berate the sate that's flouncing in the stream
Ash is hand, blackened sand
You tried so hard but you don't understand
Your corpse flayed coldened tattered dying mind
You want a bleak down art type
Your mothers falter
You want a bleak down art type
The rat’s hue
|
||||
12. |
Supercilious Rag
01:57
|
|||
|
Supercilious
I've got
Nothing in my pocket
but two dimes, a napkin, and no cares
But I'll try
Yes, I'll try
to cast the sea-stop flames our eyes would share
Maybe
I'll be your baby
for three mules, a kopeck, and a create of bread
But I'll try
Yes, I'll try
to weigh such exorbitance too within my bed
An impoverished thought
loops the hangman's knot
for a wayfarer's leap from life
to the dust
A pauper's words
fail an affectless world rife--
He's supercilious!
Maybe
I'll be your baby
but two dimes, a napkin, and no cares
But I''l try
Yes, I'll try
to weigh such exorbitance too within my bed
An impoverished thought
loops the hangman's knot
for a wayfarer's leap from life
to the dust
A pauper's words
fail an affectless world rife--
He's supercilious!
|
||||
13. |
Critical Apathy
04:56
|
|||
|
Critical Apathy
I never wanted to be an upright monkey
Obviously I guess I'm not that lucky
But don't be so harsh
Lately the bonus army's too shot to march
and I don't need your cultivation
Texas former Indian nation
off to oppress the black man again
seemingly lovely intuition
not to quote the inquisition
but you're going to hell you goddamn blasphemer
I'd like to be
I'd like to be
I'd like to be
I'd like to be like Jesus, yeah
William Jennings Bryan's in the dark
but he's seemingly won our hearts
and Scopes has got to pay
Give him his fill of shopping every day
Have to bike the lustful makers
Bod will smite the quaking shakers
got to find salvation in time
somethings awful frighted tasteful
sipping hope from Apple's ladled
will they save the potato in time?
I'd like to be
I'd like to be
I'd like to be
I'd like to be like Jesus yeah
read the scriptures
you won't listen
nations on its holy mission
got to make my cousin see the light
Gaga Gaga you can't save me
Katy Perry holy lady
Oh my God I think I see the light
|
||||
14. |
Test Test
03:58
|
|||
|
Test Test
Test test, oh tsk tsk
Is this microphone on?
Test test, oh tsk tsk
Should I have run this by you first?
Test
And should I? Just don’t know
Test
And should I? Just don’t know
Test, test
One stop for selfishness
One step abandonment
Test, test
I keep singing this S.O.S.
About how I don’t know
Test test, oh tsk tsk
And now decades have past
Test test, oh tsk tsk
and I've not even a splash
Test test, oh tsk tsk
And should I get off now?
Test test, oh tsk tsk
And will I even touch ground?
Test, test
One stop for selfishness
One step abandonment
Test, test
I keep singing this S.O.S.
About how I don’t know
|
||||
15. |
Alyssa
03:43
|
|||
|
Alyssa
Alyssa listen, won't you listen to me
All I want is to listen to you
Alyssa listen, won't you listen to me
All I want is to listen to you
I'll call you Al if you call me Betty
I'll call you now if you call me Betty
I'll call you Al if you call me Betty
I'll call you now if you call me Betty
said Alyssa listen, I'm a begging you please
I'll I want is to listen to you
said, Alyssa listen I'll get down on my knees
I'll I want is to listen
I'll call you Al if you call me Betty
I'll call you now if you call me Betty
I'll call you Al if you call me Betty
I'll call you now if you call me Betty
Alyssa listen won't you listen to me
All I want is to listen to you
Alyssa listen I’m a begging you please
All I want is to listen to you
It's true
All I want is to listen to you
It's true
All I want is to listen to you
|
||||
16. |
Mekong Baby
04:55
|
|||
|
Mekong Baby
There's trash in the street
So how bout we meet
Down by the river
Where life doesn't dither
Oh take me away
From this utter decay
What do you say
Oh but how've you been lately
Oh oh oh how've you been lately
My my my
My my my my
Mekong baby
I've been working
But destiny's smirking
Burning my hand
In history's plan
Oh if we could flee
Our country’s legacy
Where would we be
The roads not long
That leads to Hong Kong
We'd leave behind
This litch of decline
But for all that's wrong
I'd miss the Mekong
After all that’s where we belong
|
||||
17. |
Surf Rider Rag
02:41
|
|||
18. |
||||
|
Damp Your Eyes with Drink and Lonely
Damp your eyes they turn it fast and bored
Would you’ve guessed that I had cracked?
Cracked and poured
Daylight drains as if I’m in a drain
L.A.’s dead with love--
And lover’s dreams
So I’ve downed to meet you at The Smell
J’suis Death. And then I’ll call-- call you Belle
Saw you dancing in a Prufrock's tear
Secret kissed the pixies hid behind your ear
NIghtness crowns me nearly every day
All you can make me stay
Stay away!
|
||||
19. |
||||
|
Cynical Spells Fear
/ Naked Without a Fix
Gee I don't know what's got into me
I tripped and fell
But I can't stay down
Good gosh
You don't think that a
Mr. Lonesome's got hoodwinked
Golly gee miss bumble
Oh you don't have to worry about me
Ser Pounce gave me a daffodil
Won't you come to Smile-Laugh-And-Have-Fun-Ville
Come take a dip in the sunshine
Pleased if you'd come and you'd be fine
Pleased if you'd come and you'd be well
Smile, dance, get on swell
There's no need to worry
No need to worry
No need to worry you see fa la la la
Jeepers, Monsieur Frown's a drag
And it's so dreary just to have him around
For G. Willikers Tiberius' sake
Someone get him some candy for his tooth ache
Smile joe
Why won't you go?
You know you don't always have to feel so low
Miss Mittens give him a sweet cake
Won't you come to Smile-Laugh-And-Have-Fun Lake?
|
||||
20. |
Runway Rag
01:04
|
|||
21. |
You're the Best
03:14
|
|||
|
You're the Best
Violets,
You're the best
So much better than the rest
Violets you're lost can't you see?
I don't need to shout
Violets you’d count me out
Violets you mean so much to me
I'll stand like glue
Hurts much more than you do
Violets you've come to let me down
Violets you're the best
So much better than the rest
Violets you come but then you go
I don't need to shout
Violets you can count me out
Violets you're hopeless don't you know?
I'll stand like glue
Hurts much more than you do
Violets you've come to let me down
Violets violets
va va va vi
buh buh buh bye bye baby
|
||||
22. |
New York Sidewalk
02:37
|
|||
|
New York Sidewalk
New York sidewalk feels the thresh in the streaks of light
Her new dark fragrance keeps me up, I'm a storm in the night
She goes hey little Daryl I've seen you moping around
she goes hey little Daryl I've seen you moping around
she goes hey little Daryl I've seen you've lost yourself in New York Town
That’s her name for sure
She's slamming the door goodnight
Ohh, Ohhh, hurt me
New York sidewalk she's a wound and she's burning hot white
Long Tall Sally's from the valley but she's twice my height
She goes hey little Daryl I've seen you moping around
she goes hey little Daryl I've seen you moping around
she goes hey little Daryl I can't keep coming around now bye bye
well, that's her name for sure
She's slamming the door goodnight
Ohh, Ohhh, hurt me
|
||||
23. |
Teach Me to Dance
03:42
|
|||
|
Teach me to dance
Ain't no good at smiling
Ain't never had a good time
I've never learned to have fun
I've just frowned since I was nine
I'm hiding in the corner
I've got caught up in your glance
Ain’t so much a talker so
You’ve just got to teach me to dance
Everyone's so lonely
Nobody's got a chance
I've never felt so lonely
Oh, you've just got to teach me to dance
Alright
You're a spark on a goner
Honey, you're a crush in the night
I invented bifocal lenses
And you're the key on my kite
I've been looking for you all across the
Western expanse
You've got me looped in your lasso
Sweetheart You've just got to teach me to dance
Man these guys are lousy
Can't even play at all
And everyone looks sadly at everyone else
On the wall
Come on get up get moving
Let’s all move to France
But before all that sweetheart oh you've just gotta teach me to dance
Cause everyone's so lonely
Oh no one believes in romance
I've never felt so lonely
Oh you've just gotta teach me to dance
Just gotta teach me to dance
|
||||
24. |
||||
|
My Girlfriend Plays Guitar
I have a girlfriend who plays the guitar
I have a girlfriend who plays the guitar
And I think she’s pretty good
She writes her own songs
and sings her own songs
She writes her own songs
and sings her own songs
All by herself
And she makes me go la da dada da da
I play the drums for her because I’m a drummer
I play the drums for her because I’m a drummer
And I think I’m pretty good
We made an EP
And then an album
We made an EP
And then an album
So we got a couple of fans
And she makes me go la da dada da da
Yeah she makes me go la da dada da da
|
||||
25. |
And You Rag
04:25
|
|||
|
And You
And there we sat
In the car
With the radio on
Listening to Ringo Starr
And you smiled at me
Started to laugh and then you
Turned it up and sang
I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus's
Garden in the shade
We'd be warm beneath the storm
In each other's arms in the shade
And you
And I've been waiting years to say
Don't you mind it it will be okay
And I've been waiting years to talk
And now I can since you've undone my lock
And I've been waiting years to shout
And now I can since you've done let me out
And I've been waiting years to know
And now I can since you've said it so
So I grabbed the microphone
But I whispered so it's not too well know
I've got a wisdom
I'd like to say
Send the kids along
It will be okay
And life's so funny
Not bones and no's
But it's hard to see when you're always going
And all the world has seen it right?
No? well it's getting late so say goodnight
And you
|
||||
26. |
Rock & Roll Is Dead
01:46
|
|||
|
Rock and Roll Is Dead
Swallowed all the battered truth and shut up
Shattered with the battered used and cut up
Last in, can't win, so let's meet anywhere
All the kiddies said
Bartered for the falsened feeling enough
Shouldered with the battered used and cut up
Last in, can't win, so let's meet anywhere
Uncle Jonny said
All the broke things left behind
Look around yourselves to find
Another face, out of place, so let's meet anywhere
Up the left coast
Rock and roll is dead
|
||||
27. |
||||
|
What Would You Expect from Me?
Oh heartless
Takes my affection
It's not a problem
Cause this is my life
Oh heartless
Takes my affection
It's not a problem
Cause this is my life
Down
And I don't know what it means
To be a symbol of your life
And we both know that I'm wrong meh
But I don't think that you're right
And we both know what's to come
And we both know what you'd take
And I can't afford it now but
How could you be so fake?
And we both know what you care
And we both know what you'd do
And I can't but bring it up
But I've barely lied to you
And I'm just not what you need
And I don't know what is true
And I don't know what it is
But he’s afraid of you
And I don't know what it means
To be a symbol of your life
We both know that I'm wrong meh
But I don't think that you're right
And we both know what's to come
And we both know what you'd do
And of all the things he says
He says he’s afraid of you
And we both know what you'd love
And we both know what you'd take
And nothing stops that now
Have you ever felt so great?
And I'm not so sure what you'd say
About him being used
Of all the things he's loved
That he's afraid to lose
Of all the things he's loved
That he's afraid to lose
|
||||
The Grinning Ghosts California
Scrappy rock and roll band from SoCal founded by Daryl & Thomas after a pilgrimage to Graceland.
The Grinning Ghosts recommends:
Bleed into my mouth
by Bellhaunts
Bellhaunts are our Bellfriends.
go to album
Orange County Folk Songs Vol. 1
by Daryl Blake
Daryl’s better project.
go to albumIf you like The Grinning Ghosts, you may also like:
Super tough hard rock with spoken word interludes and an experimental bent featuring members of San Francisco's early punk band Crime.
go to album
The Power Of The Heart: A Tribute To Lou Reed
by Various Artists
Keith Richards, Rosanne Cash, Lucinda Williams, Joan Jett, and more pay tribute to the enduring and visionary music of Lou Reed.
go to album
A Chaos Of Flowers
by BIG|BRAVE
Leaning into the sparse, impressionistic sound of 2023's albu "Nature Morte," the Montreal metallurgists sound as heavy and radiant as ever.
go to album
The Seattle band work around the edges of shoegaze and dream pop with a rare sense of clarity and momentum.
go to album
