American Love
by Camden Joy
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Check out the lyric sheet and CD, both designed by Mark Lerner of Rag and Bone Shop.Purchasable with gift card$10 USD or more
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital AlbumDesigned by Rag & Bone Shop in Kingston, NY. Lyrics included. Liner notes by Gina Arnold.
Includes unlimited streaming of American Love via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 7 daysPurchasable with gift card$10 USD or more
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Full Digital Discography
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1. |
American Love
02:49
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I was working in a weapons plant making American Love to drop in the waters of a faraway land from many miles above. And when they drink they just grow thirstier, spreading rumors of an empire where one could drink from a bottomless cup and dream of American love.
On the payroll of the Pentagon I made American Love. We’d sing of romance eternally strong as we loaded the canisters up. But the money I made seemed to slip away, so I worked double shifts and holidays. But I could never pay for all I had bought and I lost my American Love.
We don’t ask for too much here, Just things that don’t disappear. We have nothing left to fear but fear.
Out of an echo I still heard in my heart I made American Love. From secret documents exchanged in the dark, we learned to spend half and make twice as much. But then the memory of what love once was began to fade into a pathetic lust. The boom we needed bottomed out and went bust. Just then the world fell in American Love
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2. |
Wherefore
01:24
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Susan: "Every cause for which we fought has failed. Every secret move we made revealed."
Mrs Stanton: "Wait, I thought we won once… New York state?"
Susan: "No. Albany reversed it."
Mrs. Stanton: "I thought by now we’d have the vote."
Susan: “Yeah but then slavery worsened. Wherefore we’re forced into a war by some prairie politician who wants to free the Southern slave but not those in the union, who sorta hates slavery but not nearly enough. He meets Mrs. Stanton, does not impress her much."
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3. |
Tequila
03:40
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Every morning as you leave me here, I want to say stay today my dear. It is all I can do to let you go through that door once more.
We are nothing like the rest of them, who see love as stuff they can’t defend. When friendship is true, the whole world loves you.
I’m trying to find a way that’s not cliché to talk of love in words that just might stay. But silence is so eloquent they say… Do I say “I love you” enough? You should know I do, my love. Today when you go make sure you know that I’m the one who wants you home the most.
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4. |
Truman
03:11
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When Truman gave up on shooting guns at Germany, he brought the sons of Jackson County home: a gun too hot to touch, a princess drinking beer, one lost battalion surrounded and alone...
He came back from signal rockets, planes, and bombs. The stench of death in his throat, picture of her in his hand. Though he had almost nothing, not a penny to his name, he felt grateful for the few small things he had.
Truman came back from living in the frozen ground, his mind focused on failures ahead. The ones who’d known him well now could not place that face, having so often given him up for dead.
After he left her, ol' Khaki Mc Clusters, to end the war to win all wars, she’d step out and look for him everyday. At times she’d hear the wind, imagine it was him, and then come home feeling entirely changed.
When he came home to 219 North Delaware, a great weight had been lifted and now he was finally free. Truman plainly saw there’s little hope for him. Still he knew he was as lucky as can be.
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5. |
Bryan
02:10
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Did you hear the candidates saying that they are on your side? Do you want some Chief Executive telling you such lies? William Jennings Bryan was most truly on your side because he did like each of you does: you lose but don’t give up.
Lost a race in ninety-four then again in eighteen ninety-six, nineteen hundred, and in aught-eight.
Lost, but never licked.
They loved him in the south and west but northerners thought him a pest. He felt a gold standard was best. They said, ah give it a rest. He did not care for businessmen, disagreed with Charles Darwin. He spoke for the common man and so he has been forgotten.
Lost a race in ninety-four then again in eighteen ninety-six, nineteen hundred, and in aught-eight.
Lost, but never licked.
When William Jennings Bryan spoke, he brought the working classes hope. He championed the farming folk and laid the wealthy low. No dollar coin will feature him, though he ran and ran again. Speaking for the common man, he couldn’t ever win.
Lost a race in ninety-four, then again in eighteen ninety-six, nineteen hundred, and in aught-eight.
Lost, but never licked.
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6. |
Love America
03:44
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I was over at that place one day, friend of mine come by, here’s what he say: “Is it true you love America, where the white men are above the law? Where the small merchant cannot compete when the Wal-Mart moves across the street? Where the downtown market's boarded up (I hear the stock market can’t stop going up!)? Where the only things we can afford are fattening foods bought at the dollar store? While our dream of being warm and free is used by billionaires to wipe their feet."
Yes it’s true you love America once you see the way Walt Whitman saw last night I dreamed you were the Pleiades and this morning down among the leaves I tasted salt blown from the sea suddenly I prized my liberty I love Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Iggy Pop and NASA’s Space Program. And though I sense the signal weakening, I pray one day you find the strength to sing.
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Lucy: "What is a man but some nothing? What’s a Henry but a man? But when that Henry’s name is Blackwell suddenly I can’t well rant. I can’t well speak. I can’t well stand. Blackwell? There is nothing black there. In his heart my soul is bared."
Henry: "What is a rock but some nothing? And a stone is just a rock. But when that Stone’s name is Lucy it becomes brilliant with thought. Her mind’s like a diamond. Her argument’s like fire. Alone among the ones I’ve met she ignites desire."
Henry (to Lucy): "You are but a bag of gold protected by some dragon who tells you never trust a man. Perhaps it’s Mrs Stanton but I think it’s Susan. (Mrs Stanton has her Henry.) Yeah, Susan’s certainly seen the worse. Now Susan’s keeping you from me."
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8. |
Revolution
03:38
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Susan and Mrs Stanton: "We raised $3,000 to start a women’s paper, called it The Revolution, commenced our publication. Right from the start we noticed subjects besides the suffrage would capture little interest and make the readers restless. But we’re with the working women. There’s no one else to defend them. We’re with the working women working toward revolution.
"Preachers quote Scripture freely to insure we’re all kneeling. They dream of Armageddon. We dream of revolution.
"Now on to prostitution! surprised you there with that one— that’s called a 'jump transition.' With prostitution common, let me pose you a question: is this an occupation you’d like a friend to be in? ‘Hey, watcha doin' Monday?’ ‘Uh, sleepin' with men for money. Perchance getting arrested. Perchance getting infected.’ Disease & destitution. Deluded worn-out women. They say there’s no solution. We say there’s revolution."
Lucy and Henry: "Exactly one year later we started our own paper, called it the Women’s Journal. (Now Susan has a rival.) Not everyone is okay with revolution each day, with rhetoric and bad news and worker-centric views. And all your ‘down with churches’ and all your anti-God stuff and your thing with divorces and soul’s who’ve 'lost their love.' The vote is what we all want. The vote is our whole reason. Not to destroy the system, just change the constitution."
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9. |
Opposites
03:41
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Henry (comparing his wife to Victoria): "You are opposites like cold and hot. She is everything you are not."
Lucy: "I am everything. She is naught."
Henry: "No, of course. I forgot. I wonder has she met Lucretia Mott?"
Lucy: "How would I know?”
Henry: “No. I just thought..."
Lucy: "What worries me is Mrs. Stanton. No one in the world writes with such passion. But when she changes her mind or adds positions, she changes the whole women’s movement. She moves and the movement moves. She trips and the movement falls. Now she paints us all as radicals, defending and praising this Woodhull. In Iowa and in Michigan, our suffrage campaign feels doomed again. Those people read what Woodhull says, and think suffragists are anarchists. So... Where is Susan in all of this?"
Henry: "It says she’s lecturing out west. But wait. I saved for last the best. Guess who’s running for president? And guess who gave her an endorsement on behalf of the women’s movement? Mrs. Stanton says, 'Woodhull’s the One: Free love and socialism!'"
Lucy: "This is damage that can’t be undone. Someone somewhere should tell Susan."
Henry: "Someone will, but it’s all good fun. She's named Frederick Douglass to be her vice-president… but she hasn’t bothered asking him!"
Lucy: "Once more, they’re laughing at women."
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10. |
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His mother’s sure he’s not the same boy that she raised. They said in court that "her best efforts were all a waste." Now he spends his time just hanging out at the Lost & Found, and submarines and helicopters follow him around. They’re with him as he joins the spirit of Robert Mitchum on TV. And watching as the spirit asks, “Is there some place safe we can meet?" Listening to everything, and writing it all down, submarines and helicopters follow him around. He’s free to go anywhere, knowing each step’s clearly been foreseen. They slipped into his bedroom and quietly reversed his dreams. While satellites make photographs out of the smallest sounds, submarines and helicopters follow him around.
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11. |
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I will teach you right from wrong. You can follow right along. Give me all you got. I will tell you when to stop. And you will carry me along.
I will show you right from wrong, in the basement build a bomb. And as we blow your house sky high, you will pull me from the fire, and I will teach you right from wrong
I will tell you right from wrong, and in the morning I’ll be gone. If you let me wreck me your life, and promise me your wife, I might let you hear this song:
We’re breakin Johnny Paycheck outta jail. We’re waitin in the wagon, both hands on the wheel. We’re breakin Johnny Paycheck outta jail
There’s no right explanation for how we feel. The man Johnny shot I’m sure he meant to kill. But can you draw the guard’s attention, when they ring that dinner bell? We’re breakin Johnny Paycheck outta jail
Yeah we’re haulin Johnny Paycheck from his cell. Bring him Johnny Paycheck, what the hell. I know the fellow’s dead now. We’re breakin Johnny Paycheck outta jail.
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12. |
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I was just starting to enjoy this fiasco, when Jared Polits jumped to his feet decries it as "wasteful.” I got no more room left in my heart for hypocrite assholes. Stop with the song. Move it along. (I'd be so grateful.) It’s like pointing a gun at the artist and demanding justice. That hostage is worthless. Let’s face facts: their deaths would please us. Then you know, as I do, they’ll offer a piece of the action. You’ll say, “Toss in a project for Boulder, we’ll call it even." There was once I thought we could be great folk. Now the brotherhood of man is completely hateful. Beauty like these coins is lost on most people. Oh, I’m just starting to enjoy this fiasco.
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13. |
This One's Love
02:56
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Here is the way that dreams get made: the swirling tilt-a-world, eyes for one girl. Can’t see what tomorrow brings. Oh, let this be a passing thing. I found my heart within my throat. I found the nerve to drop the act and face the facts, what could I do? My dear I fear I love you.
I swore before what’s fair in war I’m sure is fair for her then you appeared. There was this sudden jolt. You hit me like a lightning bolt. I try to talk. You speak and speak to me. I cannot breathe. My heart won’t beat. Is there a lack of oxygen? (It’s like somehow you’re in my skin.)
My friend, when I tell him, he doesn’t even listen. Says this always happens: you glimpse a passing mask, it spins you around real fast. But fall fashions never last.
These scenes get so tough He’s seen enough stuff. Leave! Just leave because: this one’s love, this one’s love, this one’s love!!
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14. |
How to Fight
02:56
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There comes a time when every father takes his kids aside, advises them “be fair and humble,” shows them wrong from right. But after a time, every father says, “Bear them, well, try… but if some idiot insults you, this is how to fight: with a roll of coins held in each hand. To quote a Lichtenstein, “Blammety-blam!" God bless the presidential coin program. A heavy coin makes a heavyweight, and there are some folks… oh, goddamn!”
There came a vote, an act of Congress or of pure madness? The house was not unanimous. Perhaps that’s meaningless. Late 2005, the US Mint had backers lined up, left and right. But Alaska and a lotta Texas still knew how to fight. With a roll of coins held in each hand, Richard Lugar can helped to ugarstand.
But the vote revealed sense had long since fled. Bush signed it into law before year’s end.
Americans, that’s how happens. Now we’re making billions and losing millions, or making millions, and losing billions.
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about
Novelist, guerrilla artist, and music-maker Camden Joy returns with his second record of original material in seven months. This one becomes available on our nation's birthday, 4 July 2020. It is "American Love."
It was recorded from April to May with each musician in a far separate location. Files were emailed back and forth until a song was complete, and then they were turned over to the masterful Jason Sarubbi, who assembled the tracks and attempted, post-recording, to somehow "engineer" the sessions.
The fourteen songs on "American Love" feature a raw but melodic rock sound with astute lyrics full of historical figures, from early suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B Anthony, and Lucy Stone, to narratives of Harry S Truman and William Jennings Bryant. (And then there's also a song about Johnny Paycheck...?)
A lot of famous dead Americans collide with a lot of dying American musical styles on this extraordinary release.
Camden Joy writes: "I love my country because Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B, I love my country because Richard Pryor, because Mark Twain, because George Marshall, because Bob Dylan, because Studs Terkel, because Rosa Parks, because Salk & Sabin, because Abigail Adams, because Dorothea Lange, because James Agee. This is my country! We have done a gigantic amount of good in the world and will again soon."
It was recorded from April to May with each musician in a far separate location. Files were emailed back and forth until a song was complete, and then they were turned over to the masterful Jason Sarubbi, who assembled the tracks and attempted, post-recording, to somehow "engineer" the sessions.
The fourteen songs on "American Love" feature a raw but melodic rock sound with astute lyrics full of historical figures, from early suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B Anthony, and Lucy Stone, to narratives of Harry S Truman and William Jennings Bryant. (And then there's also a song about Johnny Paycheck...?)
A lot of famous dead Americans collide with a lot of dying American musical styles on this extraordinary release.
Camden Joy writes: "I love my country because Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B, I love my country because Richard Pryor, because Mark Twain, because George Marshall, because Bob Dylan, because Studs Terkel, because Rosa Parks, because Salk & Sabin, because Abigail Adams, because Dorothea Lange, because James Agee. This is my country! We have done a gigantic amount of good in the world and will again soon."
credits
released July 4, 2020
Songs by Camden Joy. Drums by Lukas Lerner. Bass by Mark Lerner. Engineered by Jason Sarubbi.
Songs by Camden Joy. Drums by Lukas Lerner. Bass by Mark Lerner. Engineered by Jason Sarubbi.
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about
Camden Joy Middlebury, Vermont
lo-fi americana and caustic wit swirl about a 1970s suburban garage where a 1950s country band plays timeless originals and succinct gems.
discography
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Mar 2022 -
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Jul 2020 -
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Jun 2015
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