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Start From Scratch

by James William Scott

supported by
Christopher Evans
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SRJ
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Andrew Rodger
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1.
Start From Scratch 05:24
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Let’s start from scratch for things have gone wayward Let’s bury the axe or scare ourselves sensible Reset the specs, a question of balance The nation’s a wreck and others are dominoes Let’s change the tune or end in ruin Reset the time and stay alive Who’s got the codes? Do they follow orders? Can they plug their ears? Infighting down corridors Turn off the tap, we’re leaking swamp water That hair needs a hat, that body an anorak Watch them collude, a tainted brood Morally spent, retirement Empowered by distrust in expertise Everyone watches Rome fall to its knees The zoo’s got fleas In our blood, the final stages Prime the pump, increase their wages While we are left to dry Stare hollow at the sky Run out the clock Rehearsed obfuscation They’ll stare at us smug Or hide in the shrubbery Let’s tell the truth for things have gone cockeyed Let’s re-plug the sluice and protect our retinas (From burning and all our guts from turning) Let’s change the tune or end in ruin Reset the time and stay alive The shower of power is golden when it It’s taken in bed Smile for the camera A handshake for the state The scepter is better when wielded for a A slug to the head Great things are coming They’re coming from our famous dead Empowered by distrust in expertise Everyone watch It’s in our blood, the final stages Prime the pump, increase their wages While we are left to dry Stare hollow at the sky Empowered by distrust in expertise Everyone watch It’s in our blood, the final stages Prime the pump, increase their wages It’s in our blood, the final stages Prime the pump, increase their wages
2.
Native To Yourself 04:27
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I hooed and hawed about going out I had my doubts About this actor’s play And what it had to say Would it tingle brains? No I heard about an “après-fête” And I was dressed For a night out on the town And when I turned ‘round An apparition that I knew (somewhat) Completely commandeered my view All your charms are native to yourself Not from the well of influence of others All your charms are native to yourself A rippling pool to dive deep and swim around in Are you asking me back to your home? Ancient goddess, spirit woman Formed for the earth Your words made of dirt And newly Free from a life dimming your light Never meant to be a mother or a wife, no All your charms are native to yourself Not from the well of influence of others All your charms are native to yourself A rippling pool to dive into Basking bodies In the maroon light You had to fight off watchdogs For your recent past But I had to laugh Moving morals to the side I accepted it was only for the night And though I was in your thoughts I stood in awe and wonder As you fell upward to the sky All your charms are native to yourself Not from the well of influence of others All your charms are native to yourself A rippling pool to dive deep and swim around in All your charms are native to yourself Not from the well of influence of others All your charms are native to yourself A rippling pool to dive deep and swim around in You fell upward to the sky I stood in awe and wonder
3.
This Sum 03:36
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The bed’s unmade but not the mind It’s made up and it has been for sometime Somewhere a starling sings its song And so go I, into a world some think is wrong This sum says we’ve a station in life A subterranean prison Now that the waterfront is covered My martyrdom will be so satisfied With each step I take You’ll feel something reborn In the black With each step I take What a start I’ll make Commotion keepin’ ‘em all on track This sum says keepin’ current’s no good I say it’s a meeting of powers This sum Is heaven bound This sum Will sleep safe and sound This sum Is my legacy This sum’s Gonna do it for me
4.
Head Over Heart? 05:07
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Fahrenheit will find him so wonderful And telegrams are suited to all his thoughts of you Not what is true In a strange archaic life Never mind the constant climb towards some peak control It’d be so wonderful Head over heart Grist for the eyes Head over heart Suites for the lies Granny’s been and gone on her pleasure cruise The old Victrola’s revolutionized Turning down foxtrots it’s found In times called worse than these When the need to show was just confined to those With an arrogant postcard Choosing Head over heart Grist for the eyes Head over heart Suites for the lies Be wary of his feeling sorry for himself Be sorry for that scary feeling in him Be wary of his feeling sorry for himself Swan about in velvet They know he can’t help it High street marches every Sunday Rationed wisdom dispatched in a Speech prismatic Maybe someday They’ll know what he means Acolytes will turn against him Frilly flares and shirts will wear thin Bursts of anger keep the fire rekindling beefs anew Choir’s words from pens of poison No redeemer’s yet been chosen here Fahrenheit will still find him wonderful A model tease with language so colourful Never mind the boasting It’s only flash Pseuds like him are never really built to last Head over heart Grist for the eyes Head over heart Social disguise Head over heart Suites for the lies Be wary of his feeling sorry for himself Be sorry for that scary feeling in him Be wary of his feeling sorry for himself Be sorry for that scary feeling in him Be wary of his feeling sorry for himself Swan about in velvet They know he can’t help it
5.
Ladywoman 05:00
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You’re fine You know you sing and move in time Sometimes I just recline and watch your ankles “A” grade You’ll never see me throwing shade Unless I somehow transform into an alder Each day You’re clad in black, dark blue and grey To brighten up my life I’m cuddlin’ up to you If you feel it, won’t you cuddle Cuddle up to me too Lady woman Ladywoman Ladywoman, it’s our love affair If you let me hold ya I’ll say stuff I think I already told ya Ladywoman, please permit me please I have to ask ya ‘Cause, well, being forceful’s not my nature You drive I think it’s best if we want to stay alive But let me put some gas in the car Don’t frown I’m not a man of much renown Like you I want to keep things quiet Each day You always have the coffee made To brighten up my life I’m cuddlin’ up to you If you feel it, won’t you cuddle Cuddle, cuddle me too Lady woman Ladywoman Ladywoman, it’s our love affair If you let me hold ya I’ll say some stuff that I already told ya Ladywoman, please permit me please I have to ask ya ‘Cause, well, being forceful’s not my nature Ladywoman, it’s our love affair If you let me hold ya I’ll say stuff I think I already told ya Ladywoman, please permit me please I have to ask ya ‘Cause, well, being forceful’s not my nature
6.
Stay 04:54
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Should you happen to stay For a moment stray In a way that has Meaning to you So true Prepare for a little fun There’s time to whittle away Will we ever have to take a break? And will I ever have to lie to you? If we separate The thinking from the feeling Like me, you may feel lost No matter Start doing the things that you want with your life And then if we want, we break Will we ever have to take that break? And will I ever have to lie to you? Will I ever have to not be true to you? May we find some semblance of a real love See you breathe Hear you sleep Can’t believe that the hours are naught The cradle will rock The people will talk The past will be annulled By the sum of these two sets of lungs That cancel out the set of lungs of any other They cancel out the lungs of any other Rendering the owners belonging to those lungs mute Have I convinced you to stay? For a moment stray In a way that has Meaning to you So true Prepare for a little fun There’s so much time Why don’t we whittle it all away Will we ever have to take that break? And will I ever have to lie to you, lie to you, lie to you? I don’t want to deceive you now, or maybe ever I don’t want you to think I’m trying to be clever Right now I find myself at ease, I hope for always If it wasn’t for these shakin’ knees, I’d ask you to stay
7.
Condominimum 03:10
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Increase your share Box us all away It’s like we’re living with nothing Staring at the ceiling Watching, working and sleeping Again and again For some time Maybe ever and ever Rezone your past The facade can stay So you’re living in something With a plaque from the city But the building’s kinda shitty So you live in a home without soul It’s without soul Rumours of coalitions Greasy palms and favoured nations As we’re nickeled and dimed again Dishing out the fivers and tens Waiting for the man to say “When” Increase your share Box us all away ‘Til we’re living with nothing Watching, working and sleeping Forever and ever
8.
Pinpoint 03:57
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I finally pulled it out of my pocket It was a dream I kept to myself Waiting for the perfect time Why was it one of those things That seemed to fade too fast I wasn’t party to your point of reference Is this a “thing” or a meme? You don’t know how much I’ve seen that Is this what your grandpa called a “crazy scene”? You don’t know how much I’ve seen that The same kind of shiver going up my spine You don’t know how much I’ve seen that And people getting tired that I’m taking the time You don’t know how much I’ve seen that It feels new Through your new eyes And it feels right Through your new thighs You know that I’d testify That you don’t know how much I Waited for this day And you don’t know how much I Played little games for days and days and days You don’t how much I said to myself That every little thing was going to be okay You don’t how much I You don’t how much I You don’t how much I How much it…. Feels new Through your new eyes And it feels right Through your new thighs I finally pulled it out of my pocket (I can almost pinpoint the point) It was a dream I kept to myself Waiting for the perfect time (I can almost pinpoint the point) Why was it one of those things That seemed to fade too fast (I can almost pinpoint the point) I wasn’t party to your point of reference So I see what you really are You’re getting your hit You’re such a product of your age I was such a caprice Such a lapse in your record of terrible taste You’re not programmed to care about someone not yourself Who wants to be a gap in your rage You can’t care how much I You can’t care how much I You can’t care how much I How much it feels… Wrong
9.
Future Planted Seeds 03:44
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Finding your way ‘round Through multi-layered Malefic snags while Looking well curried for your audience of one Hun Gazing through the mirrored door You have your memories And future planted seeds Now are growing The vista’s in the light Through prisms, acolyte Laurels growing Cooly, you flee From celebrations Iniquitous foul And stained by lovers of unholy pentecost Bowing In awe now that You have your memories And future planted seeds Now are growing The vista’s in the light Through prisms, acolyte Laurels growing Fools’ encomium Addicted tympanum Over…. Turning From common sense Burning All the gains we made through history By the sword and by the mind And it is with regret and no respect We must leave your nation far behind Cry heathen Gleaning the lattice Of hungry magpies Sailing through whirlpools Ideas that made meat of their wits And danced with the furies Freely Chained to the crowd You have your memories And future planted seeds Now are growing The vista’s in the light Through prisms, acolyte Laurels growing Fools’ encomium Addicted tympanum Overflowing
10.
April Flowers 02:44
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A working class courtesan Groomed in family ways and trade By her mother The doctor He specialized in anatomical pathological female hysteria So he said An artist with stunted growth Inbred He paints alone By the elephant Refilling Glass after glass from hollowed out cane of earthquake cocktail Summoning St. Vitus Flower in a frenzy Always dancing for her pleasure Not for others And her doctor choose to Proceed without curing Paris had a hit on its hands, serpentine and free There is a story A fundraiser was held Society was there Yes, at the asylum A new star was born when the orchestra played The painter would watch her dance And delirium would devise Images Later, when found infirm Shooting invisible spiders She still had faith in him Commissioning infamy
11.
Reflect and Wait 01:51
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For though we’ve travelled hand in hand And whispered words that no one else would say And though the path we came across Was built on footsteps two by two And eyes trained on one To keep them close Enrich their life with love and selfless gifts The path took many years Our arms can’t reach Our knees disjointed Sparks make no fire And now we wait Across the room With hope we’ll walk hand in hand once we say goodbye
12.
Back In The Fold 04:31
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We are crossing Rusting in the salty air With grifters on board With cards as their sword Of fortune Liner hiding all the dirty suits at play As louche as they’re lush They hop from boudoir to bed In search of that rich touch International waters set for a mystery International waters set for a dream Of monied intrigue Every frame is debonair And filled with dying socialites Crossing the stars and stems of night With their drinks held high And I am just a stowaway A scamp along for the ride Nothing to lose But all the strands of my former life I steal into their staterooms And I shave and choose from Choice designer clothes Now they say “It’s good to have you back in the fold” We are sailing Baking in the salty air Distrusting in kind Romance on our mind And I’m loving coming awfully close to being caught Avoiding a cell Occasionally slipping away When the ruse doesn’t sit well International charlatans They, purveyors of long cons In Paris, Casablanca and Hong Kong In my case, nowhere for long I’m drawn To the fun In short bursts Every frame is debonair And filled with dying socialites Crossing the stars and stems of night With their drinks held high And I am just a stowaway A scamp along for the ride Nothing to lose But all the strands of my former life And every frame is double crossed with bon vivants Every frame is bubbling over French champagne Dubious of each introduction Is anyone in here a real countess? This count sounds like he’s born in New Jersey These are my people

credits

released October 6, 2023

All vocals, instruments and programming by James William Scott except guitar on "Stay" by Christopher Norman

Written, Produced and Mixed by James William Scott

Photo and Cover: Coppola Minute Design

All songs copyright 2023

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James William Scott Toronto, Ontario

Toronto-based composer. Plays drums and keyboards. Sings a bit. Drums with Heavy Ethics, Hot Wax Meltdown and Strange Brood. Keyboards with Polite Society.

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