JANE'S GREAT DANE

She said I can tell you don’t know what to do, so just let me give a little tip to you: you gotta learn one thing;

 

She said you’ve got to learn one thing from your first lover, teach that thing to your second lover, then learn another thing

 

And baby (she said) pretty soon you’ll know how to use touch, how to use a kiss, how to string words together like this, and you’ll be giving him a moment to live forever;

 

Love done with grace, and you’ll have unwound her, and you’ll be leaving her better off than when you found her

 

Mother nature has no mercy—she's often broken my heart—but I’d rather suffer from the saying than from the silence, so here it goes: you're the icing on every cake that's ever been made, and I'm a sucker for love, you’re a sucker for love, and that dude over there in the gingham shirt walking here’s a sucker for love

 

The girl in the red said: learn one thing from each lover, learn it from him then teach it to another, then learn one thing;

 

My first lover said: learn one thing from each lover, try it on once then teach it to another, then learn another thing.

 

(Vocals: Jonathan Plaut; Electric guitar: John Monterisi; Bass guitar: John Cajolet; Drums: Lou Serio; Hammond XK3C: Bob (“BoCoo”) Cooper; Saxophone: Jeff Garmel; Trumpet: Alex (“Flip”) Rogers; Backing vocals: Amy Brooks; Recorded and mixed by Doug Batchelder, Den Studios; ©℗ Jonathan Plaut 2022)

I want to do what boys and girls do when they get together

Not sure what it is, but I want to know

I need to find a boy who wonders too

Hope it means holding hands and walking slow

 

Grandpa, what did boys and girls do when they got together?

I saw the picture-- you’re holding grandma tight

Even now do you remember good old days?

Was the world easier in black and white?

 

Young child, my leaves are falling and my nights are getting colder

People my age are getting old or they’re not getting any older

We held hands and walked real slow

And I still want to do what boys and girls do when they get together.

 

I miss your grandma most when the wind is blowing

She wouldn’t want me alone when it starts snowing

And soon, it’ll be coming down, down, down

 

I’m just like you, I want the same

Remember: these are the good old days

Held up by gossamer threads of God’s good grace

 

Until the twinkling stars and me are mingling forever

I want to do what boys and girls do

I just want to do what boys and girls do

We all want to do what boys and girls do when they get together.

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(Vocals: Jonathan Plaut, Hannah Yampolsky; Electric guitar: Doug Batchelder; Bass guitar: John Cajolet; Drums: Lou Serio; Keyboard: Doug Batchelder; Recorded and mixed by Doug Batchelder, Den Studios; ©℗ Jonathan Plaut 2022)

Seeking shade in a diner from the Moab desert sun, She poured coffee, I rested my feet. I slid a $20 on the counter, said “I want nothing else except your story, won’t you sell it to me?” She said:

 

“After dad, ma rented a house and put the indoor sofa outside, and I grew up believing everybody gets one chance at luck and mine came with his olive oil eyes.

 

We started running town to town, searching for a dream, washed dishes nearly every place. But try as I might I could never run away from me, because each mirror shined back the same face.

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Then he took me to Caroline, said he found a job, grabbed my hand and jammed on a ring. They were the worst three years of my life, but with everything I learned I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

 

Now I spend all my money on turquoise and horses, Utah’s where I belong. Life don’t always run on straight courses, says the girl who calls me mom.

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Soon she’ll go running town to town, living wild and free, waiting tables in 100 different places. When she feels it’s right to break away from me, I hope she loves it when each mirror shows her face.

 

Stairway was the last song of every dance, Til’ my heart was swept away in the flood, no one gets a pass on making a life, you gotta sheetrock right over the blood.”

 

Then she folded up my $20, and tucked it in my shirt, and said, “Mister, the coffee’s on me -- you can’t buy my stories like a cheap pair of shoes but when I get a mind, I give ‘em away for free.

 

So you go run town to town and search for a dream, they got diners in a thousand different places, and in each one they got a waitress like me if you look deep enough into their faces.”

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(Vocals: Jonathan Plaut; Electric guitar: John Monterisi; Bass guitar: John Cajolet; Drums: Lou Serio; Piano: Bob (“BoCoo”) Cooper; Recorded and mixed by Doug Batchelder, Den Studios; ©℗ Jonathan Plaut 2022)

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I’m carrying my coffin, trying to save my soul

Don’t want to be a burden to the man who digs the hole

Heading to a place with no sign on the door

 

Wicked deeds show on my face in the lines that run 

Each breath hurts that I take under the sun

I know that they will judge me by the worst thing I done

 

Say it now, while I fully understand

Or you’ll be talking to a stone with flowers in your hand

 

Say you love me now before I leave the land

Or you’ll be talking to a stone with flowers in your hand

 

Now you’re looking at the ground and I’m looking at the sky

You’re reading my will but still I’m wondering why

If the just and worthy are born, the just and worthy must die

 

Go give your loving to the next loving man

That beats talking to a stone with flowers in your hand

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(Vocals: Jonathan Plaut; Electric guitar: Doug Batchelder; Bass guitar: Doug Batchelder; Drums: Lou Serio; Recorded and mixed by: Doug Batchelder, Den Studios; ©℗Jonathan Plaut 2022)

Darling, when I was young it was simple what I wanted

Painted ladies with a red dress on, keep me guessing all night long

But now those days have passed, I’ve been laid in leaves of grass

Paint has faded, dresses gone, pretty ladies moving on

 

I want to dance in the pouring rain and give praise to the setting sun

I just want to feel you beside me

 

When you were just a little girl and held the best charms in the world

He said “for you babe I’ll be brave, and give you diamonds to the grave”

 

But pretty soon it didn’t fit you when that man began to hit you

Ten years soldiered on, with diamonds scattered on the ground

You want to dance in the pouring rain and give praise to the setting sun

You just want to feel me beside you

 

Here’s to women that don’t go crazy for no reason

And to dudes that hold an open door

Here’s to fatal attractions and slim chances

of turning songs into lovers and lovers into songs

 

Good morning New York town, art is up and money’s down

Red flags looked like white to me, with your rose glasses on

 

But I’ll keep walking Bleecker Street until I just can’t stand no more

The older I get the more I’m sure the less I know

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I want to dance in the pouring rain and give praise to the setting sun

I just want to feel you beside me.

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(Vocals: Jonathan Plaut; Electric guitar: John Monterisi and Steve Ferrara; Bass guitar: John Cajolet; Harmonica: Marcos Silva; Drums: Lou Serio; Backing vocals: Steve Ferrara; Recorded and mixed by Joe Marotta and Steve Ferrara; ©℗ Jonathan Plaut 2022)

Saturday morning at 6 a.m., I’ve been up for an hour can’t get to sleep again

I wouldn’t trade your love for money

That same day slips into the night, I can’t help wondering if he’s treating you right

I wouldn’t trade your love for money

All I want to know is what you gonna do with that wild and precious life

 

I don’t mind death calling in the end, the only thing wrong is that I don’t know when

I wouldn’t trade your love for money

I’m 41 years old, got no time to rest, ‘cause if I live ‘til 80 that’s just 39 years left

I wouldn’t trade your love for money

Time washes away certain memories, just wish I could choose which ones they’d be

I wouldn’t trade your love for money

All I want to know is what you gonna do with that wild and precious life

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(Vocals: Jonathan Plaut; Electric guitar: John Monterisi and Steve Ferrara; Bass guitar: John Cajolet; Drums: Lou Serio; Saxophone: Jeff Garmel; Mellotron: an unknown Mellotronist; Recorded at Panoramic House, Stinson Beach, CA; Mixed by Mark Rahilly; ©℗ Jonathan Plaut 2022; lyrics inspired by Mary Oliver (1935-2019) and her beautiful poem, “The Summer Day”)

I can tell you don’t want this heart, do you?

I can tell you don’t want this heart, do you?

I can tell you don’t want this heart, so I’m going to get up, dust off, go out, find me someone who do.

 

I can tell you don’t want these bones, do you?

I can tell you don’t want these bones, do you?

I can tell you don’t want these bones, so I’m going to get up, dust off, go out, find me someone who do.

 

Sitting in a row on a poplar tree,

Singing warblers 1, 2, 3

It once was for, but now they’re warlblin’ at me

 

You wish you were leaving on the next thing smoking, don’t you?

You wish you were leaving on the next thing smoking, don’t you?

Once you’ve been leaving on the next thing smoking, I’m gonna go out find me someone who’ll do those things you won’t do.

 

I’m going to get up, dust off, go out, find me someone who do, ‘cause I can tell you don’t want these bones.

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(Vocals: Jonathan Plaut; Electric guitar: Doug Batchelder; Bass guitar: Doug Batchelder; Drums: Lou Serio; Recorded and mixed by Doug Batchelder, Den Studios; ©℗ Jonathan Plaut 2022)

Walking through Nashville, nowhere to be, since she made clear I wasn’t who she needs

I stopped in a thrift store to clear my mind, you were leaning on 33s of Prine

My new old guitar

 

The last one to hold you painted you blue before trading you in for something new

I taught you new songs then listened carefully, you whispered old ones right back at me

My new old guitar

 

Are you used to being lonesome and not making a sound?

Are you tired of hearing “no” and being left on the ground?

 

Downtown Nashville there’s a store, they got six strings with five strings and no home anymore

 

This one Willie played, or maybe once by Merle, or helped someone win the affections of a girl

Did I save you or did you save me? Looking at us it’s hard to see

Now I know we’ll never be far, we won’t be alone going bar to bar

 

Holdin’ hands all through town, singing out that we’ve been found, my new old guitar

Sweet music through the town, singing out that we’ve been found, my new old guitar

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(Vocals: Jonathan Plaut; Guitar: Doug Batchelder; Pedal Steel: Doug Batchelder; Bass guitar: John Cajolet; Drums: Lou Serio; Hammond B3: Doug Batchelder; Backing vocals: Doug Batchelder; Recorded and mixed by Doug Batchelder, Den Studios; ©℗Jonathan Plaut 2022); (For New Old Guitar (Redux): Guitar: Buddy Sullivan and Steve Ferrara; bass: Steve Ferrara; drums: Skip Fischer; Recorded and mixed by Joe Marotta)

When the big red sun goes down and slips beneath the sky

I know you dance just to see the see the disappointment in your daddy’s eyes

But a lifetime ain’t enough to forget about the pain

 

Every little inch of you deserves a love letter

Sit at the end of bar while Buster put the glass away

Uncrumplin’ the bills at the end of the night

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Be mine tonight

 

All the girls I knew found boys to take for keeps

Love means saying sorry even when you don't mean it

These shaking hands hold their holiday cards

 

Everything is beautiful in my false memories

Before you change your name and your phone don’t work

Please be my baby just one more time

Be mine tonight

 

I’ve lied to every girl I ever knew, except for you

 

I called for a chaplain at 3:00 a.m. but there were none around

In the ring of the night I take off the gloves and have a fight with myself

 

In a little while the sun will come up for the last time,

Until then I’ll never really understand what people think about me

 

And today is one day more and today one day less

To live a long life of occasional bliss

Be Mine Tonight

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(Vocals: Jonathan Plaut; Electric guitar: John Monterisi; Bass guitar: John Cajolet; Drums: Lou Serio; Hammond XK3C: Bob Cooper; Saxophone: Jeff Garmel; Trumpet: Alex Rogers; Backing vocals: Doug Batchelder and Amy Brooks; Recorded and mixed by Doug Batchelder, Den Studios; ©℗ Jonathan Plaut 2022)

Baby’s packing up everything she’s got

Taking her dog to move to Wyoming

Said she found a man to give her what she wants

And lord knows that ain’t me

 

I know and she knows I could make her stay

All it would take would be a bended knee

But after two years I never gave her a reason to believe

She wants a reason to believe, or a reason to leave

 

She’s taking half of the dishes and all of her clothes

And some of the pictures that hang on the wall

She says I can stay and live in her house, but only until it sells

 

Does it make it a lie, does it make it a waste, to find that love is not real?

What would you do with the time that you spent – when you laughed, should you have cried?

 

I’m thinking what to give her when she moves away, when the van is ready to go

Something she can use every day further on up the road

 

I’ll give her a reason to leave, I’ll let her watch me close the window and close the door

And though I might get tired and lonely, I won’t bother her anymore

She’ll have no reason to believe, she’ll have her reason to leave

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(Vocals: Jonathan Plaut; Electric guitar: John Monterisi and Steve Ferrara; Bass guitar: Carl “Doc” Hauser; Acoustic guitar: Jonathan Plaut; Saxophone: Jeff Garmel; Trumpet: Jeff Cox; Mandolin: Mark Aleo; Backing vocals: John Monterisi, Steve Ferrara; Recorded and mixed by Steve Ferrara; ©℗ Jonathan Plaut 2022)

I’ve been working since before the dawn is breaking

Most of my time is spent alone

There’s just one thing that keeps me moving

Thinking about after I get home

 

Let’s make love so I can start drinking

You know how to get me right

We tried it the other way but every time we do

I wake up drunk and you’re nowhere in sight

 

How many times I gotta tell you

the way to my pleasin’ and thrillin’?

Pour wine in my glass, another if I ask,

That’s the way to get me willin’

 

Fix me a drink so we can make love

You can do it boy if you try

Sweet nothin’s is good but read between the lines

Without whiskey, this town is dry

 

Now you know how it’s gotta be

Time to make up your mind

I want you satisfied

But make it quick cause it’s whisky time

No, it’s whiskey first and then you’re mine.

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(Vocals: Dan Bern and Hannah Yampolsky; Electric guitar: Doug Batchelder; Bass guitar: Lou Spagnola; Viola: Jonathan Plaut; Drums: Lou Serio; Recorded and mixed by Doug Batchelder, Den Studios; ©℗ Jonathan Plaut 2022)

I drove my ride to the Chelsea side under the beer sign on Calle 9

Kike bought me pollo y arroz -a, he asked me if I heard of Chelsea Rosa

I felt a feminine force flow in, Kike licked his lips and pointed his chin

She looked like Venus in a low-cut sweater, I ain’t the same man since I met her

 

She said her name was Chelsea Rosa, she was a feminina peligrosa

She treated me unkind, drove me out of my mind - “No more, amor!”

 

Kike tell me “Your brain is fried, bro.  Go amigo, she’ll make you loco.”

How could he know I was too gone to go? Too lost in Rosa, an overdose -a

That cool Chiquita called Chelsea Rosa, she told me she once struck out Sammy Sosa

They call my baby Chelsea Rosa, I’ll tell you somethin’, she’s peligrosa

No more amor.

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(Vocals: Jonathan Plaut; Electric guitar: John Monterisi and Steve Ferrara; Bass guitar: John Cajolet; Drums: Lou Serio; Saxophone: Jeff Garmel; Trumpet: Jordan McLean; Harmonica: Marcos Silva; Backing vocals: John Monterisi; recorded at the Bitter End, New York City, 9/18/2017; mixed by Steve Ferrara; ©℗ John Monterisi 2017)