Why'd the Boy throw the Clock Out the Window? The German Girls A Different Bob First Day Of Spring Walking My Camel Home Gravel Road Considering a Move to Memphis Fledgling Circus Dance Critters Great Northwest

For this album The Colorblind James Experience were:

Bernie Heveron: Upright Bass, vocals
Colorblind James: Guitar, vibraphone, vocals
Phillip Marshall: Lead guitar, vocals
Jim McAvaney: Drums
 
 
 
 
 

Why'd the Boy Throw the Clock Out the Window?                                           Back to top

The fog rose up from hell that day
By the river you could hear the lost souls screaming
I wish they wouldn't carry on that way
Why'd the boy throw the clock out the window?
It was something we could never mention
Though I know I would have come through soon
But you cant pay debts with good intentions
Why'd the boy throw the clock out the window?
We watched him as his faith was shattered
We watched as his confidence disappeared
And he turned his back or all that mattered
Why'd the boy throw the clock out the window
0f course we cried when we heard the news
And we cried when the ice truck pulled away
With nothing to gain so much to lose
Why'd the boy throw the clock out the window?

The German Girls                                           Back to top

First thing she said was we're the German Girls
We are three and sometimes four
We have travelled halfway round the world
And now we're knocking at your door
We didn't come for fun and we didn't come for romance
They handed us a ticket so we thought we'd take a chance
Dorothy was the taller girl with long brown hair
Sissy wore wire rimmed glasses, sometimes braids
Helga, she was shorter and her hair was black
The other girl. I never knew her name
We didn't come for fun and we didn't come for romance
They handed us a ticket so we thought we'd take a chance
Coast to coast what they liked the most was
East to west what they liked the best was
First thing she said was were the German Girls

A Different Bob                                           Back to top

My baby was talking in her sleep
She said "Bob"
I said "What"
She said "Bob"
I said "I'm Bob"
She said "No"
I mean a different Bob"
And so I asked her the next day
I said "Jane,"
She said "What"
I said ''Who's Bob?"
She said 'You're Bob'
I said "No.
I mean a different Bob"
My baby was run over by a truck
It was a Dodge
As she lay dying
She called for Bob
I touched her hand and said I'm here
But she said 'No.
I mean a different Bob'

First Day of Spring                                           Back to top

First day it really felt like spring
I said I didn't want to see you again
Your birthday was the night before
I had a terrible time and when I walked through my front door
I saw a face in the mirror hanging on the wall
She said "Don't you ever torture me like that anymore
She's a witch! You were gonna marry that girl!
She's probably been around for a thousand years
I'll never think of money if I fall in love again
Remember that day at the construction site?
It was a Sunday so we started up a caterpillar truck
That tractor wouldn't stop we couldn't shut the thing off
And then a sheriff pulled up out in the parking lot
I was supposed a hang around and get some work done
But you sold me on a twisted idea of fun
She's a witch! You were gonna marry that girl!
She's probably been around for a thousand years
I'll never think of money it I fall in love again

Walking My Camel Home.                                           Back to top

The sheik's men, they snuck up behind me
And stole the air I'd planned to breathe
They left me reelin' 'round light headed
I knew that it was time to leave
But I felt much better out in the moonlight
Walking my camel home

Last time I come out here at night
Let's just say it was a big mistake
I got drunk and I knocked a tent down
I almost smothered in my own heartache
But it gave me something to think about
While walking my camel home

I've got responsibilities
A lot of things I'm supposed to do
But for me the hardest part
Is to make it look like that's not true
That's how come wear these shades
While walking my camel home

I was sitting in my favorite chair
Staring at my favorite floor
When the doorbell rang; I said "I'll get it"
The forty thieves were at the door
Is true I've made some strange connections
Walking my camel home

Gravel Road                                           Back to top

I went down to Gravel Road
I went to get my fortune told
The fortune teller robbed me blind
Now cant get her out of my mind
I don't know where I've been since then
I'll never go down Gravel Road again

Gonna visit the place, gonna stand in the spot
Where her young life was blotted out
Some old codger white as a ghost
Thought he'd hit a mailbox post
I don't know where I've been since then
I'll never go down Gravel Road again

I went to sleep with a smile on my face
But I woke up in different place
I never did scream, I never did shout
But I gave up trying to figure it out
I don't know where I been since then
I'll never go down Gravel Road again

Considering a Move to Memphis                                           Back to top

Im considering a move to Memphis
With my hair all aglow
When I arrive in Memphis
I'm bound to meet up with someone
I might know

I'm considering, I'm considering
A move to Memphis, A move to Memphis
I'm considering, I'm considering

I'll visit the Graceland mansion
And set my face in wax
Then I'll go back to my motel room
To file my income tax.

I'm considering a move to Memphis
And this much I know
When I arrive in Memphis
I'II have to spend my dough

I'll walk down to Beale Street
To watch the jug band show
I'll shake hands with Gus Cannon
He's someone I should know

I'll get myself a motel room
That's not too small to see
I'll get one with a private bath
And a black and white TV

Memphis isn't all that big
At least thats how I found it
Why it only took an hour and a half
To walk completely around it

Memphis isn't all that big
It isn't all that wide
Still it is the kind of place
Where a country boy can hide

I'm considering, I'm considering
A move to Memphis, A move to Memphis
I'm considering I'm considering

I'll find a favorite restaurant
And sit there every day
And at the nearby bowling alley
I'll bowl my cares away

Somedays I'll order chicken
Somedays I'll order fish
Somedays I'll have piroshkis
That's a Polish dish

And after bowling twenty frames
I'll sit and have a beer
Perhaps I'll meet a pretty girl
Who is a barmaid there

I'll get a job at a steak house
Wash dishes, mop floors
Yes, I know I won't get rich

Memphis is the kind of town
That wont feel like a trap
Besides I kind of like the way
It sits there on the map

I'm considering a move to Memphis
That's Memphis, Tennessee
It worked for Elvis Presley
Why can't it work for me?

The people in the restaurants there
Will all use forks and knives
They won't take decongestants though
For fear of getting hives

I'm considering, I'm considering
A move to Memphis A move to Memphis
I'm considering. I'm considering

I'll ask the lowly sparrow
Up in his lofty perch
Would you please direct me to
The local Baptist church

I'll attend the Wednesday meeting
And there I'll speak in tongues
I'll shout and holler 'praise the Lord
'Till I nearly burst my lungs

Someday I'll return to Memphis
In my own private jet
I'll remember my first visit there
That's if I don't forget

When I arrive in Memphis
I'll put a sign out on the door
It's OK to disturb me
That's what I came here for

I'm considering, I'm considering
A move to Memphis, A move to Memphis
I'm considering, I'm considering

Fledgling Circus                                           Back to top

Oh come on and fight my battles
Oh come on and plead my case
Oh come on and do something to show me.
That I am not alone in this place

Fortune has not smiled upon me
Has not even bothered to learn my name
Should never have joined this fledgling circus
When it failed they singled me for blame

One night I picked a fight with a strong man
I beat him within on inch of his life
He borrowed a rope from the tightrope walker
Went home and hung himself that night

Next it was the lion tamer
Lost his head in the lion's jaws
They say that beast was extra hungry
'Cause I'd last fed him three days before

An entire famous trapeze family
Last week all plunged to their deaths
It was all so sad and unneccessary
'Cause I'd forgot to mend the net

I got a date with a woman with two heads
She's the only one left who'll talk to me
At dinner she makes good conversation
One head talks while the other one eats

Oh come on and fight my battles
Oh come on and plead my case
Oh come on and do something to show me.
That I am not alone in this place

Dance Critters                                           Back to top

I been watering my horse
Since way before noon
I hope that beast
Gets satisfied soon

I'm a mean old hombre
From a border town
Woke up the sheriff
And gunned him down

Dance, crittersl
When I say dance
Dance, critters!
Dance, critters!

I been eating sand
and cactus pie
I'm telling you a feller
Gets mighty dry

My six gun's loaded
And pointed down
Best keep your feet up
Off the ground

Dance, critters!
When I say dance
Dance, critters!
Dance, critters!

It was a town full of violent men and bad women.
Nobody had a heart of gold. Justice was unheard of and mercy, rarer still.
In a corner of the barroom some musicians played rowdy dance-hall jive.
The piano was shaped like a coffin. The banjo was made from two pie-tins and bailing wire;
I said "Hey, I've got one like that at home."
Even with all the noise, I could hear her spurs jangling down the street.
Like altar bells they sounded, and I struck my breast three times.
She'd been gone awhile, since I don't remember when,
"I spent a year in Echo Canyon" she said, "just me and my tamborine."
The music stopped

and then it started again.

Dance, critters!
When I say dance
Dance, critters!
Dance, critters!

Me and old Andre
The Indian guide
We got three stuffed kittens
And a buffalo hide

Head 'em up!
Move 'em out!
When I say dance
You're gonna shout

Dance, critters!
When I say dance
Dance, critters!
Dance, critters!
 

Great Northwest                                           Back to top

Then things get all confused
And things get all shook up
You lose your sense of balance
And find yourself upside-down
Turn on your water faucet
All this green stuff falls out
And when you try to speak
The words will not make sense

I'm not a big disaster
I get my work all done
Sometimes I don't show up, though
And I don't even call in
My fellow workers hate me
I know it's not their fault
I've got to hide my paycheck
Or they'll try to rip it up

I do not save my money
That makes my wife upset
I like to spend my wages
The very first chance I get
Sometimes they cut my power
They turn my phone off, too
And sometimes I am threatened
'Round when the rent is due

But I won't be ruled by hatred
I will not live in fear
When my burden gets too heavy
I'll simply disappear
I'll probably shave my eyebrows
And cut off all my hair
And paint myself to blend in
The Great Northwest somewhere                                           Back to top

G. Elwyn Meixner plays guitar on "The German Girls'', ''A Different Bob",''First Day of Spring" and "Walking My Camel Home". He plays guitar and banjo on "Considering a Move to Memphis" and "Dance Critters".

Personnel on "Why'd the Boy Throw the Clock Out the Window?":
Dave Fischer: Bass,
Kevin McDevitt: Drums, Scott Young: Trombone,
Peter Strauss: Saxophone and Clarinet,
My Sin: Keyboard, Phillip Marshall: Lead Guitar,
Colorblind James: Guitar, Vibraphone, Vocal