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Basement Stories

by Zerostars

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1.
What do you care Waving the curtain back "We're on our way" I've listened this and to what they say Bring up my name, Reveal a war of words Are you still in that hiding place? My concern is easily traced It's just terribly placed I was under the overpass I was looking for you It was not so easy I won't dress in those rags again I've never been so ashamed Without a dollar to my name I'm starting to find This backward thinking is fine One step ahead, only leaves you behind Turn on your heel Sure as the solid ground Where's the luck you were aiming for? Well it doesn't live here anymore It's just not like before I was under the overpass I was looking for you It was not so easy I won't dress in those rags again I've never been so ashamed Without a dollar to my name And I know one day you'll fall apart Bending a branch in my hand Screaming like the daylights And I know one day you'll come undone Pressing your palm into mine Exploding in the twilight I've broken, not just sprained, my emotions They're shattered, bleeding fast In the sand Where you're afraid to stand For fear of sinking A thousand hands wave out to sea And I know one day you'll fall apart Bending a branch in my hand Screaming like the daylights And I know one day you'll come undone Pressing your palm into mine Exploding in the twilight I was under the overpass I was looking for you It was not so easy I was drawing on innocent Memories I won't pretend I never tried to forget
2.
Cruel and thoughtless me How can I invite you? When your hand’s on my knee I don’t even like you And I’m too far our to sea Too shallow to be perceived I may be sentenced to never, ever be believed And it’s high time I put my foot down I’m feeling ill at ease From begging on my knees My apology Spent years in the making I’m afraid I’m ashamed So much for explaining And I don’t think I can smile I’ve written myself off the page I’m too angry and frustrated for someone of my tender age And it’s high time I put my foot down I’m feeling ill at ease From begging on my knees And it’s high time I put my foot down I’m feeling ill at ease Will someone help me please And it’s high time I put my foot down And it’s high time I put my foot down And it’s high time I put my foot down
3.
Dad's Dress 03:45
My Mother was clever and I'm sure you could have guessed that she never let me rest My Father was handsome he looked good in a dress put my Mother to the test And my sisters they got married in the fall but by Christmas a divorce for one and all My friends are petty theives they don't leave it to chance if we raid the high school dance The teachers and students and the faculty staff couldn't help but laugh But we'll all be cracking text books in the fall and by summer there'll be nothing to recall Be it a thousand years In a way I never knew better in a million ways I'm gonna get to say that I love you I love you A captain was sailing on the rollicky sea with a message for me "Bring all your things we've got plenty of room, and we'll be docking soon." In a month my life was hanging out to dry and I got so sick of him I thought I'd die So I rolled back into town with everyone there if they want to let them stare Cause I got myself a job making dresses for Dad now that really makes Mom mad There's a picture in the paper everyday Of the boy who drove this simple town away Be it a thousand years In a way I never knew better in a million ways I'm gonna get to say that I love you I love you I've been waiting so long I've been waiting so long I've been waiting so long for my life to begin Space is a gap that your love falls through Too much space and your mind goes too I wouldn't be wearing a sinful grin but such is the state I've been living in Space is a gap that your love falls through Too much space and your mind goes too I wouldn't be wearing a sinful grin but such is the state I've been living in
4.
Air casualty Bad weather, no options Bad company Now you're moving, somewhat closer to me Down on the streets, will they believe what you said? When all the local papers find you smoking in bed Down on the streets they're just amazed with your head But you can't think for burning when you're smoking in bed Err casually On the side of who's giving Opportunity A fake smile on a faded picture How do you feel? A new comfort for the old symptoms And is it real? The close contact makes it harder to breathe Down on the streets, will they believe what you said? When all the local papers find you smoking in bed Down on the streets they're just amazed with your head But you can't think for burning when you're smoking in bed Are you awake, did you just hear what I said? How can you lead, when you're so easily lead?
5.
Johnny 03:19
Johnny’s still alive He’s playing with feeling And all the words he sings Are very revealing And every songbird on the wing Declare that Johnny is everything Johnny’s still alive He’s no missing person They found him on the bench He wasn’t in prison And a hundred holy offerings Will never equal the joy he brings Johnny I thought we lost you In the flood You scared the living daylights out of us Just to teach us what it was To really fear for somebody To really feel for somebody Johnny’s still alive Though stranger than fiction He’s lower middle class and ready for action Though heroes may die for a greater cause They’re bound to envy his applause
6.
Family Tree 04:14
If there's a question "Do you intend to be free"? Or is your past repeating Your story of slavery? And if there's a moment To have a word with you Will you share the shadow That climbs our family tree? Our family tree If there's a reason I fail the way I do I've loved an imitation Of what I thought was true And if you can stand this Display of poverty Walk here in my footsteps Around our family tree Our family tree I scored all the time off you I struggled to hide from you I stripped all the pride from you And failed in spite of you You swallowed the lie for me Disguised it entirely And stayed up and cried for me Stood sleepless in agony I never could offer much I couldn't decide for us I thought this would right itself We'll never survive ourselves And if you should find me Crawling in the dirt Leave me at the bottom Of our family tree Of our family tree
7.
Uptown 03:36
Kiss me and prove what you've been thinking is real Ditch all your old clothes. Can't you see the style that you've been lacking? Is it your plan to shock this man from the ledge? Painting your nails while I'm head first in the greenhouse I was building. Uptown, where the breeze blows Feel a stranger in your own clothes, watch me now. You dropped all your change from shopping too fast. A bottle of wine and swap meet sweaters you found while you were driving. I feel remorseful pangs of a life unlead. Embarrassing you by the way I'm acting you need space to rent in Uptown, where the breeze blows Feel a stranger in your own clothes, watch me now. BRIDGE A little patience is required, before you set the house on fire. (Why do you smoke those low-grade cigarettes?) I'm losing all my sense of self. Why don't you dance for someone else? (Why do you smoke those low-grade cigarettes?) Now you're undressing for clients in private booths. I stop to adjust my tie the situation gets less attractive. I thought you used to hang with a challenging crew. They've only provided standard issue reasons for falling down in Uptown, where the breeze blows Feel a stranger in your own clothes, watch me now.
8.
Bridges to burn, bridges to burn Mary Basic with your hands on your thighs calling plays from the side Ahead in the lead, ahead in the lead Marian Catholic with your holy ideals it's the Hawks turn to steal The six foot senior drives inside for the tie and Captain McClain will cry herself to sleep for the hundredth time
9.
Sleeping In 04:09
If you float over remember the dust that fell in our eyes And stand as sudden silence fell on fields where we once played You could set a storm to rise every wave a widowed cry if you'd stop sleeping in. Time is a birdsong whistling past our best defense We fake just like actors making plans for no-good deeds I'll wear your picture on a chain I'm too tired to be brave from all my sleeping in There is a standard by which we're measured when we get older I'm just beginning to stand for something there's no denying I adore you ceaselessly tens of thousands just like me have stopped their sleeping in.
10.
Driving to New Orleans Through a path cut by a lake I’m gonna try to get my courage up Think I’m gonna need it down the line You ask me how I feel, I feel fine I hate to have to do this There’s a knot inside my throat I’m gonna recreate the scene for you The characters are real, the names have changed You ask me how I feel, I feel strange And I know I’ll complicate things further But in case you haven’t heard there’s an impending storm Down where the lions roar Driving to New Orleans And I hope to stay awake I’m gonna get myself together there Set my rubber ducks all in a row You ask me how I feel I don’t know You ask me how I feel well I don’t know Baby don’t cry when there’s nothing left A sigh of relief a promise someone forgets A faint and wounded blossom on the road Now I believe that somehow something exists Beyond the gate, I don’t know how big it is To think we’re gonna make it on our own Driving to New Orleans ‘Cause I’ve earned my second chance I wanna stumble into Storyville Thumb down trails from my memory You ask me how I feel, I feel free You ask me how I feel, I feel free

about

Basement Stories, the debut album from Chicago's Zerostars, is a carefully refined and gorgeously arranged ten song rumination on failure, hope, and redemption.

Recorded over a nearly two-year period at The Brill Basement Recording Studio, Basement Stories finds singer/songwriter Jason Moody hinting at Ray Davies' styled storytelling poetics with bits of Morrissey's tuneful melodic wit.

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released March 22, 2008

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Zerostars Chicago, Illinois

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