Get all 17 The Pleasures Pale releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of No, Joy (Not the Same Story), Twitch, Happy Love Ghosts (It Haunts Me Now), Lovely Lovely, How I Dreamt of You, Daily Living Is a Herculean Art, Champion My Cause, Happy Love Ghosts (2019 mix), and 9 more.
1. |
Be What You Are
04:27
|
|||
Stymied on the back porch
A screened-in view of ineptitude
I cannot wait another hour
You're just another toothsome fool
Magazines say we're young and lean
And the horde of plebes stares mockingly
My own biology tends to leave me pale
And my own psychology says I don't care
Be what you are you live today
Be what you will as pleasures pale
A kiss on the shoulder
Now you listen to me
Life is much, much older
And the stories being told only sometimes agree
Newspapers will show run-rampant grief
Corruption, abuse and back-alley thieves
This can tend to alarm the frail
This could tend to leave anyone pale
Be what you are you live today
Be what you will as pleasures pale
The myths you generate
With your mouth in mind
Seize me, tie me; you could be more kind
You can see a light at the end of the tunnel
They'll say it's an oncoming train
This can tend to alarm the weak at heart
You know daily living is a Herculean art
Be what you are you live today
Be what you will as pleasures pale
Be what you are you live today
Be what you will as pleasures pale
Oh, life comes and goes
|
||||
2. |
Lovely Lovely
02:46
|
|||
Lovely lovely, to me you cling
Sometimes I'm dry and I thrive on your sting
Oh, lovely lovely, in love with my mind
Oh, lovely lovely, this torture of mine
Do you know how to face the night?
With memories beautiful in black and white?
I'll hold back my cries from indecency
I'll borrow a few smiles from hypocrisy
Lovely lovely, I crawl on your floor
With you above me insisting on more
Oh, lovely lovely, love me no more
Lovely lovely, it's you I deplore
Please tell me how to face the night
With memories beautiful in black and white
Dying in photographs my strength decays
I'm sick and tired of memories and remains
Lovely lovely, I crawl on your floor
With you above me Insisting on more
Oh, lovely lovely, love me no more
Lovely lovely, it's you I deplore
Please tell me how to face the night
My memories come vivid in black and white
Should I get dressed? Get out of this town?
I'm too mad and it's too bad; now, wait 'til you're gown
Lovely lovely
Lovely lovely
|
||||
3. |
An Upright Spine
04:01
|
|||
4. |
It Could Be Heaven
03:16
|
|||
The bathtub steams on a cold, cold Dayton morning
In a darkened dream I live for these enjoyments
If you wish, you can ignore me
You don't ask and I don't tell
This is my own road to hell
Save your opinions for the wishing well
It could be heaven just as well
I once held a hand, porcelain in a wedding gown
But the earth will keep spinning 'round and 'round
Restless, I guess it might surprise you
That I have had less and I've still so much to do
I'd walk the streets in a house-trailer town
A re-run episode of Lost and Found
Save your opinions for pennies
It could be heaven just as well
Yes, it could be heaven just as well
It could be be heaven just as well
Because the earth will keep spinning 'round and 'round and 'round
You don't ask and I don't tell
This is my own road to hell
Save your opinions for the wishing well
It could be heaven just as well
It could be heaven just as well
|
||||
5. |
Hideous Monsters
03:40
|
|||
Sad she sat on trembling hands
Battered shell and shattered plans
She rose from the bed, sighed and softly said
I am not afraid, this world's deranged
How strange...
Fate asked me to follow her down
Into the depths of the fury and sound
She fell to the floor, cried and cried once more
I am not afraid, this world's deranged
How strange...
Sorrow follows me
While monsters live and breathe
Shadows now haunt my dreams
While monsters live and breathe
Hideous monsters, they live and breathe
Chance appeared on a gathering storm
Pulled me in to suffer and mourn
She rose from the bed, through blackened eyes she said
Lust, it fades; love, it fails
How cruel...
Sorrow follows me
While monsters live and breathe
Shadows now haunt my dreams
While monsters live and breathe
Hideous monsters, they live and breathe
Down she went into an endless sea
To find a place to be forever free
It swallowed her
Now sorrow follows me
|
||||
6. |
But She Didn't
02:46
|
|||
A suburban sun shone on a hilltop high
A young man swallows his tongue
Afraid to sing the lullaby
And the guitar rang
Oh, and the guitar rang
Well, he might have died on two-dollar wine
As the neck was kissed
She might have tried not be vicious
But she didn't
A suburban night on a rusted bike
A young man spits out his tongue-tied pain
To persuade the bells to ring good-bye
She might have listened
Oh, no, no, no, no, but she didn't
And he might have died on two-dollar wine
As the neck was kissed
She might have tried not be vicious
But she didn't
No, no, no, but she didn't
No, no, no, no, no, but she didn't
And he might have died on two-dollar wine
As the neck was kissed
She might have tried not be vicious
But she didn't
Under a suburban moon
She spook too soon
She yelled out his self-maligned name
But to no avail as he rode away and the bicycle sang
But she didn't
And he might have died on two-dollar wine
As the neck was kissed
Is love afraid to be made called self discipline?
Chances come and some get blown away
|
||||
7. |
How I Dreamt of You
03:37
|
|||
Wonderstruck was I
Here lies an impulsive man
It’s frightening
Indeed how indulgence can
Helpless and relaxed
Listless and in fact
Too weak to object to you
(If I wanted to)
Uncontested time
Your eyes sublime
Remain molested, pleased
And brutally too kind
In a room light by the moon
Life’s trials consumed
And I could not object to you
(If I wanted to)
Take that staircase into heaven
Gently lie down
Your body...
Your body and beauty collide
And in a room light by the moon
Life’s trials consumed
And I could not object to you
And I could not object to you
And I could not object to you
(If I wanted to)
Oh, I wanted to
Oh, I wanted to
And I could not object to you
And I could not object to you
|
||||
8. |
A Candle in Your Room
03:16
|
|||
When you're bent upon self demise
Use this notion to soothe:
You're worth the world
Could I light a candle in your room?
Sing and bring flowers for you?
Oh, oh, oh...
Oh, oh, worth the world
All the lovelorn suffering ones In the arms of passion
I can see it is a long way away
As I lay upon my bed of thorns
I use this notion to soothe:
Could I light a candle in your room?
Sing and bring flowers for you?
You're worth the world
You're worth the world
Oh, oh, oh...
Oh, oh, worth the world
Holidays are very lonely days
If you've got nowhere to belong
Holidays can be the loneliest days
But it's your life, love, so hang on
If you're bent upon self demise
Use this notion to soothe:
You're worth the world
Could I light a candle in your room?
Sing and bring flowers for you?
You're worth the world
You're worth the world
Worth the world
|
||||
9. |
If It Wasn't So Funny
05:21
|
|||
Despair and I share another bleak evening
— This is my prime time I kill
For the love of a girl in black I’d give my body
Lordy, Lordy mostly likely she’d give it back
And in this land of plenty a dollar buys many
Sometimes there are pretty things I crave to grab
La la la, for the love of a girl in black
I’d give my body, but she’d likely give it back
And I’d laugh if it wasn’t so funny
Oh, I’d laugh if it wasn’t so funny
And I’d laugh if it wasn’t so funny
Hey, Bob, don’t mind the reason; it’s another bleak evening
Just plant your pants on the seat and let’s go
For the love of a girl in black I’d give my body
Lordy, Lordy mostly likely she would give it back
And in this land of plenty, if I ever had any
I would be the last one to know
La la la, for the love of a girl in black
I’d give my body, but she’d likely give it back
And I’d laugh if it wasn’t so funny
Oh, I’d laugh if it wasn’t so funny
And I’d laugh if it wasn’t so funny
In this land of plenty my dollar buys many
But all I seem to get is duller still
La la la, for the love of everything I lack
I’d give my heart and soul and I’d gladly give it all
And I’d laugh if it wasn’t so funny
Oh, I’d laugh if it wasn’t so funny
And I’d laugh if it wasn’t so funny
Oh, tell me, tell me can you sell me some more pretty things?
Oh, tell me, tell me will you sell me some more pretty things?
Tell me, tell me will you sell me some more pretty things?
|
||||
10. |
All About Men
03:53
|
|||
It makes me ill, oh-oh, it makes me mad
What some think is so good to me appears so blatantly bad
No, I never get used to this black and blue streak
That runs through America
This is all about men
So what is a sissy, and who then is a coward
When it takes more will, more living skill to be fair and level-headed
No, I never get used to this black and blue streak
That runs through America
This is all about men
This is all about men
And I know as I am one
I know as I am one
And mine is to do or die
Look at me now, though I know it taxes your brain
Don’t I look like the son of a world war won
Against the debacle of conformity
That saps intelligence from the human race?
We're battered and we're bruised
But our love will be the mountain you will never move
This is all about men
This is all about men
This is all about men
This is all about men
This is all about men
This is all about men
This is all about men
|
||||
11. |
Whipsaw Children
03:42
|
|||
There was a boy with crooked teeth
Who lived inside his dreams
Child-boy devil, neighborhood bully
Pushed him around for laughs
A snowball in the face, a fist in the kidney
Hey, aren’t you playing with me?
Whipsaw, whipsaw
You have not seen the last of me
Those dreadful summer days
on a backlot baseball field
A ball at the head, a push in the back
A laugh and he'll take you down
There was a boy with crooked teeth
Who lived inside his dreams
Child-boy devil, neighborhood bully
Pushed him around for laughs
A snowball in the face, a fist in the kidney
Hey, aren’t you playing with me?
Whipsaw, whipsaw
You have not seen the last of me
A trip and you’re trapped
With your arms tightly wrapped ‘round your neck
And you want to go home
A kick, swing, makeshift wrestling ring
Hey, aren’t you playing with me?
No, no, no, no
Downcast boy with bashful lips
Devil-boy bully with mashing fists
Whipsaw, whipsaw, whipsaw
Whipsaw, whipsaw,
Don’t run, don’t fall
Whipsaw, whipsaw
Aren’t you playing with me?
Hey, aren’t you playing with me?
Hey, aren’t you playing with me?
|
||||
12. |
It Haunts Me Now
02:38
|
|||
13. |
Happy Love Ghosts
04:46
|
|||
How the evening moans
And nestles around your lovely body
How the evening floats
And settles in your empty room
Sultry shadows loom On a bare and lonesome wall
Washed with Coltrane Lush Life songs
Hush, hush, hush
These are strangely frightful nights
In this town we are in this room
We lie listening as the piano moves
Tears from a grieving face are tears from a leaving face
Happy love ghosts at play In my empty room
Up the stairs in the old house
Creaking steps seem to say
It's a wine and soft-bed delusion
And I'm afraid I'm prey
These are strangely frightful nights
In this town we are in this room
We lie listening as the piano moves
Tears from a grieving face are tears from a leaving face
Happy love ghosts at play In my empty room
And, oh, it haunts me now
And, oh, it haunts me now
Tears from a grieving face are tears from a leaving face
You said "love" in my empty room
In my empty room; it haunts me now
In my empty room; it haunts me now
In my empty room; it haunts me now
In my empty room; it haunts me now
In my empty room; it haunts me now
In my empty room; it haunts me now
In my empty room; it haunts me now
In my empty room; it haunts me now
|
The Pleasures Pale Dayton, Ohio
The Pleasures Pale was an influential indie quartet based in Dayton Ohio active from 1985 to 1987. Oft-compared to anglo groups such as The Smiths, TPP's influences can now be read as more diverse — taking cues from postpunk, rockabilly, swing, Motown and Dayton funk. A band for misfits, their extensive, lyric-driven output sought to light a way through the rust belt's post-industrial bleakness. ... more
Streaming and Download help
The Pleasures Pale recommends:
If you like The Pleasures Pale, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp