what fresh hell is this?

Art Bergmann: guitars, vocals
Chris Wardman: guitar
Dave Genn: keyboards
Adam Drake: drums
Don Binns: bass
Anne Bourne: cello
Ron Hawkins, Stephen Stanley: background vocals
Jim Moore: bass on Beatles in Hollywood

Words and music by Art Bergmann, except where noted.

Produced by Chris Wardman.
Engineered by Lenny Derose. Additional engineering by Brad Haehnel.
Digital editing on sonic solutions by Chris Wardman & Brad Haehnel.
Mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk, New York.

What Fresh Hell Is This? (Ek 80208) ©, (p) 1995 Sony Music Entertainment (Canada) Inc. Epic is a trademark of Sony Music Entertainment (Canada) Inc.

beatles in hollywood

There are no absolutes to human misery
Things can get worse
Hum…humming in the wires
No news is good news
Sad children of the fates
These homeless of the world
All gathered here in this bar for a while
To forestall going out in the world
Yeah, I think of a million things
As I ride through the night
My dead dad above me
I’m down the well
If this is hell
Turn up the heat
If you’re the devil
Turn up the god-damned heat

You’re a running, baby deer
Caught in the headlights
Have you ever really faced fear
Like a butterfly in drying concrete
Laying in the gutter facing the wrong way
And the stars aren’t here anymore
If I ever get off of this bed
I’ll believe in you

I’m so sick of cake
I’m sick of health
A drunken rage
Hey, I can do that straight
Logically I could reason my way
Right back to hell
I could medicate myself
Right back into a coma
Religiously
I kick my habit
Indulgently

All the doctors in the town
The nurses in the institution
All the philosophers in the world
All the priests in the suburbs
Couldn’t tell me why
Why the woman hurt
If they only had a clue
They convince you that
There’s no such thing as luck
Til you’re so fucked up
You need a lawyer to become unstuck

I will not be another
This is nameless drivel
From this faceless void
I will put my name on a tombstone
And plant it in a quiet corner somewhere

another train song

I saw you at the station
Waving and smiling bye-bye
No, I’ve never seen you so happy
With a ticket in your hand
On a train to the east

No, don’t ever let me go
Don’t let them make me say
I told you so baby
Baby, baby, don’t get in line
Now look who’s crying

I saw you on the platform
Waving and smiling and looking so fine
Your parents are so well informed
You follow suit
The blind leading the blind

No, don’t ever let me go
Don’t let them make me say
I told you so baby
Baby, baby, don’t get in line
Now look who’s crying
That’s the whole of the law
Bye-bye

Your parents gave you orders
Cursed with a birth certificate
A passport and a stamp
You’re on a train crossing borders
Machine gun nest
Barbed wire blessed
Holiday camp

No, don’t ever let me go
Don’t let them make me say
I told you so baby
Baby, baby, don’t get in line
Now look who’s crying
That’s the whole of the law
Bye-bye
That’s the whole of the law
Bye-bye

in betweens

Hey you
All dressed in black
In your gravedigger clothes
Are you down and dirty
Superclean
Do you save souls

Be damned or saved
I don’t like in betweens
Black or white
I need a girl who’s extreme

My tongue goes slack
I feel a strange affinity
I start heavy breathing
In your vicinity

Are you damned or saved
I don’t like in betweens
Black or white
I need a girl who’s extreme

Be damned or saved
I don’t like in betweens
Black or white
I need a girl who’s extreme

She’s a well-rounded girl
With a happy face
A renaissance girl
Or a family disgrace
Hey you
All dressed in black
In your gravedigger clothes
Are you superclean
Down and dirty
Or do you save souls?

buried alive

Lead me down your garden path
Show me my innocent past
All the good things
I thought were trash
All the king’s horses
All the queen’s men
Couldn’t put me back together again
Does it take a genius
To understand

She says don’t worry
My whole life’s a crime
Roll over me
And I’ll bury you alive

Practising students
Offer up the cure
All the liars talk
That hang around here
It was the longest day
Of the year
In my never-ending search
For culture and bliss
A cup of coffee
And a morning kiss
How could I ever think
There was more than this

She says so sorry
My whole life’s a crime
Roll over me
And I’ll bury you alive

All the king’s horses
All the queen’s men
Couldn’t put me back together again
Does it take a genius
To understand

She says so sorry
My whole life’s a crime
Roll over me
And I’ll bury you alive
Don’t worry
My whole life’s a crime

guns and heroin

Some people never go out
I understand why
Need something to read about
To spice up their lives

Others we just can’t stay in
No romance no matter how stricken
Though poverty is not what it seems
I can’t fathom fear

So if I seem close to danger
What does the bible say
Nothing will ever change
Safe in our beds
Like the rich in their tombs

Where did the money come from
Two weeks out of prison
Fifty dollars for a gun
Turned into fifty thousand

We met two mutual friends
She’s a hooker I’m a musician
He wants legitimate business
God if he only knew it’s the same as…

Tell me what is your reason
for entering our fair state
What is your purpose
of crossing the border here today
What is your business
in this beautiful country
What are your reasons
for entering the USA

some fresh hell

You turn your friends
Into your clientele
Like a vampire newly-wed
Now you’re needing
Some fresh little hell
Because you’re all nearly dead

Knock, knock on my front door
You need my money
And you want me to score
Knock, knock on my front door
Give me more and more and more
And more and more

All your boys
Are only sixteen years old
You buy them all a car
They deliver and collect
All the gold
They are your rising young stars

Knock, knock on my front door
You need my money
And you want me to score
Knock, knock on my front door
Give me more and more and more
And more and more

My city has gone
Look in my eyes
It’s a bloodless coup
An Easy-bake take-over
Eastern flower power

Penthouse apartment
For the money to fill
You know you love the smell
Now there is just one
More or less
Story to tell
And that is how you fell

Knock, knock on my front door
You need my money
And you want me to score
Knock, knock on my front door
Give me more and more and more
And more and more

Like a vampire newly-wed
All your brides are nearly dead
Your friends
Hell, yes, your clientele
You take their money
Because you love the smell
Now you’re needing
Some fresh little hell
One more down
One less story to tell
One more down
One less story to tell

contract

I’ll pollute the world for you
Do anything you want me to
And I’ll salute your flag - as I do
I do all this and enjoy it too

I’ll be a real fine drag for you
Create a heap of slag for you
Mess up your girls – like you do
I hang naked in full public view

Yeah, I dig my own grave for you
Be a total slave for you
Go around the world for you
Create a monster – and bring it too

We got a contract, contract
Who’s using who
Contract, contract
Who’s screwing who
Contract, contract
Who’s schmoozing who
C-O-N-T-R-A-C-T
I got my CEO salary
What I got
C-O-N-T-R-A-C-T
I screw my home and family
What you want

C-O-N-T-R-A-C-T
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y
Let’s get together
And have some drinks and discuss it
Aw, heck, here’s a piece of my neck
F-R-I-C-T-I-O-N
Friction, friction

I be a total drag for you
Create a heap of slag for you
Mess up your girls – like you do
I create a monster – and eat it too

We got a contract, contract
Who’s using who
Contract, contract
Who’s screwing who
We got a contract, contract
Who’s using who
Contract, contract
Who’s screwing who
Contract, contract

jones

She gives me the jones
Callin’ all the time
She’s got the phone hooked
Right into my main-line
She gives me a loan
She’s a walkin’ talkin’
Shatterin’ chatterbox
Jones

She’s got my number
I’m goin’ under
The click of her nails
Tappin’ the phone
It never fails
It’s chills me to the bone
She puts me back in jail
And drags me ‘way from home

She’s got my number
I’m goin’ under
Jones
She gives me the jones
It’s in her look
The blink of an eye
I’m in her book
Makes me wanna cry
My goose is cooked
It makes me wanna die
She’s got my number
I’m goin’ under
Jones

She gives me the jones
I don’t know why
I can’t leave her
On her own
Maybe if I knew why
I could find my way home
She’s got my number
I’m goin’ under
She’s got my number
We’ll never slumber
Jones
She gives me the jones
Jones
She gives me the jones

demolished

You got so wired
What did you think
Would happen in the first place
You got so wired
Didn’t think
That you would fall from grace
You got so wired
Wasn’t it all so calculating
You got so wired
You used to hang on
Every single word I’d say

You’ll never break
This demolition heart
You wanna know what it’s like
Everything is best kept quiet
And a sordid past takes a poke
At the future
‘Til the stars fall from the sky
It looks the same
Thrill me or fill me with shame
A sordid past takes a poke
At the future

The things that are easiest said
Don’t impress her
What do we have in common
Stare out the window
And poke fun at all the silly folks
What do we have in common
Chain smoke cigarettes
And sometimes sex
It’s something
You can recognize
When you look
Into your lover’s eyes

nearer my god to thee

When you wake up every morning
Just to face one more deadline
Will you think back on me
And admit you were the same kind
When you stop all your denying
That somewhere inside you
There’s someone who’s like me too
Who does the things I do
When you finally make up your mind
To stay for more than just one night
Will we find out
What you’re really like
Isn’t that like me
To lie, thieve, cheat, and steal
For you isn’t that like you
To come around and say
I owe you
Will you still love me
When I’m nearer my god to thee
Will you still love me
When I’m nearer my got to thee
When you’ve made
All your arrangements
To get out of your house
And how to smash your plates and china
To disavow your vows
Smash your sacred cow
Give me a nod of approval
Show me a little sign
That will make me stronger for you
Knowing you’ve made up your mind
Isn’t that like me
To lie, thieve, cheat, and steal for you
Isn’t that like you
To come around and say
I owe you
Will you still love me
When I’m nearer my god to thee
Will you still love me
When I’m nearer my god to thee
When you finally make up your mind
To stay for more than just one night
We’re gonna find out
What we’re really like
Will you still love me
When I’m nearer my god to thee
Will you still love me
When I’m nearer my god to thee

dive

Got a mouthful of ashes
And I got some rope
You got a pocketful of plastic
I guess you’ve never been broke
Long-distance phone call
From a noisy bar
Says they’ll be digging
Through your trash one day
I said they already are
Hush now baby
Don’t you cry
Dry your eyes
Watch me dive
Got a mouthful of ashes
And I got some rope
You got a pocketful of plastic
Guess you’ve never been broke
There’s no secrets
No they don’t have one
Watch ‘em find some food today
Before it rots in the sun
I long for the night
Where I can hide
Maybe dream up a life
Instead of living this lie
Yeah, I love the night
I feel safe and warm inside
Instead of living this lie
Got a mouthful of ashes
And I got a gun
You got a pocketful of tragic
You always had your fun
Kid says where’s the car
And where are you parked
Hmm…maybe in the garage
Where I was a star
Hush now baby
Don’t you cry
Dry your tears
And watch me dive

stop the time

Start the time
Every morning
In the rain
My life is waiting
Get on the bus
Who could enjoy this
Here on the bus
Who will employ us
I take the pains
To avert my eyes
There’s always a psycho
With me in his sights
I wish
For just 5 minutes
He’d be on my side
I wish
For just 5 minutes
He’d be on my side
Hide behind my paper
An item in the news
Some kid
Got his head blown off
Now he’s twenty-one forever
A lucky guy
Twenty-one forever
He stopped the time
Count the clocks
Count the blocks
Count the stops
Until I get off
I wish
For just 5 minutes
Stop the time

what fresh hell is this?

art bergmann

beatles in hollywood

another train song

in betweens

buried alive

guns and heroin

some fresh hell

contract

jones

demolished

nearer my god to thee

dive

stop the time