Demographix Vol. 1: Plain and Simple (2002)

(click on the song to play)
1. prelude: in the shade of an old apple tree
2. self-portrait in your colors
3. the beauty pool
4. up there
5. la linea
6. interlude: self-portrait in g
7. sarah
8. set you free
9. something simple

Bonus Tracks:
10. when apples grow on the lilac tree

Demographix Vol. 1: Plain and Simple (2002)
Recorded in New York City, 2001/2
All songs written and produced by Michael Novick
MKN: vocals, electric and acoustic guitars
Mandhip Dhamoon: tablas on the beauty pool

self-portrait in your colors

someday you'll learn that i'm a hard man to know/you only get to see what i'm inclined to show/i'm too sensitive/i'm too shy/too judgemental to lie/too shallow/i'm too deep/but i'd sweep you off your feet/i always bet too much when i've got nothing to gain/but you have to play your cards if you want in on the game/i'm too intense/i'm benign/but i won't stop until you're mine/i'm a genius/i'm a fool/and you are nothing if not cruel/i'm your salvation/i'll be your end/i'm the part of you that will not bend/i'm the singer/i'm the tune/i'm eternal/i'm too soon

the beauty pool

i walked up to the beauty pool so full of my life/i sang to the yellowstone stars and dreamed of me/i came back to my island but it wasn't the same/i woke up to a hole in the sky/i slipped out the back door to find out what it feels like to fly/you grew up in a plume of fire/so much like a lullaby but set to a funeral march and sung off key/i'm sorry i met you and your incompetent spies/i may be a servant of rome but i'm already wild with violence that seeps through my home/you're so superficial/so painfully thin/you'd skim rocks in the beauty pool just to see if the water would boil/your instincts are blurred by sin/you pissed in the beauty pool but you don't scare me...

up there

what's it like up there hangin' from a hill a statue of yourself on your windowsill?/so this is l.a.?/what a way to go/head up in the clouds and your own video/did you save the best for last or was it all a dream?/i'll remember this when we meet again/you and your veneer/i'll be waiting here/you left up all your christmas lights/were they just for show?/what's it like up there on the highest horse swingin' by a thread in your four-post bed?/so this is l.a.?/what a way to go/head up in the clouds/playin' for the crowd/what's it like up there?

la linea

we took the train to la linea/in spite of all the rain/invitations sound like promises and company is pain/on the sidewalks of new york and in the shadows of your face i found a home in you but i couldn't take his place/i'm sorry you couldn't see/behind my eyes there's a man in me/when i look into the past and think of things you said it starts me laughing but what we had is dead/i told you it would end this way with me in north dakota/i feel so far away from that night at la linea when you accepted me/but that was just a cruel dream it was never meant to be

self-portrait in g

i think i might be a little bit weary/i think i might be a little bit lonely/i think i might be a little on the safe side/i think i might be a bit of a rough ride/i think i might be somewhat predictable/i think i might be a bit too unusual/i think that sometimes i’m a bad guy/i think i might be willing to try again/it’s the same old song and we’re losing time/put your faith in mine/i think i might be headed for trouble/i think i might be trapped in this bubble/i think i might be part of the problem/i think i might be ready to pardon my sins/i want to go back and sleep by the moonlight/i want to swallow a piece of the night/i want to give you all that i have/i think i might be losing my grip again/and it’s the same old tune and we’re wasting time/i just might be the next in line

sarah

i can see her coming/always slowly/wrapped up tight in royal blue/like an ancient, rolling sea/lighting up my day/speaking softly/with words that break your heart/i was withered from the start/sarah, why’d you go and leave?/i promised to be true, but that didn’t stop you/i’m always on the run from the things that haunt me/but i’m tired now, it seems, of bottling my dreams/i still can see her now/hair back in a curl/talking to a friend/some skinny irish girl/sarah, what am i to believe?/i gave my soul to you in spite of what i knew

set you free

are you satisfied with the scenery?/is it pleasing to your eye?/or would you give it all away for the perfect alibi?/languishing in tangles with mona lisa’s ghost/always playing chicken with the things you love the most/you’re not fooling anyone/least of all me/the life you have is passing/the truth will set you free/you doubt your second guesses/you never name your price/i’m tired of all the glory/i’m sick of being nice/this music is a weapon/my breath is poison air/and no amount of reason can win the lady fair/you’re not fooling anyone/least of all me/this life you have is passing/the truth will set you free/and you’re not fooling anyone/your eyes are full of me/he’s just a grand illusion/the truth will set you free

something simple

i watched the sun go down/i was thinking of your past/i’ll pray for you when you sail away/but it’s such a long way to go for something simple/and i feel so small/clouds in the shape of sunday parade across the sky/i feel the world is changing colors/and a new day has come for me/it’s something simple/and it makes me smile/yeah, something simple can carry me home/and it was such a long way to go/it was such a long way to go/yeah, it was such a long way to go