Try Another Universe - Lyrics
© 2021 by Bill Crozier
1. Spinning Wheel
Gotta tell you how I feel
Running through the maze
Take one off the spinning wheel
Every seven days
Got no choice we had a deal
I can't control the blaze
Two point five four, an inch exact
Give those guys another star
If you reach around the back
You might find a new guitar
If you reach inside your head
Better meet me at the bar
What the hey, I'll try it out (chorus)
Won't do me any harm
Time to play, time to shout
Third time's the charm
If at first you don't succeed
Chop out the second verse
Try to find another seed
Try another universe
I got all I really need
Remembering December first
(chorus)
Gotta tell you how I feel
Running through the maze
Take one off the spinning wheel
2. Rocket Ship Island
Rocket Ship Island (chorus)
Along the equator
Get in line and
I'll see you later
On Rocket Ship Island I was born
Everyday I watch them soar
I study the motors
I watch the loaders
Drive through the cargo doors
I am a chemical man
High on hydrazine from a can
Eyes open wide, I'll catch a ride
Fly off to some fantasy land
(chorus)
Call up a friend from the ages
And talk about boosters and stages
Did you see Number Five
As she flew down the sky
No, I can't see too much from the cages
(chorus)
Years gone, I'm still on the case
To find my way into space
Now I drive a loader, it gets me closer
But I still can't get off the base
I grew up thinking I had a chance
To fly by the seat of my pants
Here's what I found
I'm stuck to the ground
But I still learned how to dance
(Instrumental)
Come on over to my place
Who needs to go out into space?
Open your eyes, you'll get a surprise
This island's a beautiful place
(chorus)
3. Jesus, Mary, Joseph
Jesus, Mary, Joseph in suburbia
Do you think it's a good idea
14 gauge wire running to His crib
Baby Jesus hooked up to the grid
Holly, golly, fa la la (chorus)
So on and so on
Jesus, Mary, Joseph on the lawn
If you kill a reindeer
Or do something just as bad
Don't plug Him in till after Christmas
Then you will get everything you want
Jesus, Mary, Joseph on the lawn
(repeat chorus twice)
4. January 8 (Another Day)
The sun comes up a little sooner
Shining the same on
The babies and the boomers
Light comes streaming into the room
Keep it up, sun, keep out the gloom
In Turnersville, renew my registration
Get in the fast lane
Get with the situation
I wouldn't have to do it at all
If I had mailed it in the fall
I went to the bank in the same plaza
Got one hundred dollars in cash-a
That reminds me of Kasha and Wang
I miss them, I could miss whole gang
It's another day, do it again (chorus)
Crow like a rooster, lay like a hen
For the sun has gone over
Over and over
Long before we can remember
Taste a new ale, it's good and piney
Red like the sunset, just as shiny
I write it all down and if it's a winner
I'll brew it again and drink it for dinner
(electric piano solo, chorus)
I do what I want, do what I need
I don't get pulled over
I don't have to speed
Up on the hill or down in the hollow
My way is clear for whatever follows
The sun goes down a little later
Because I don't live on the equator
Light still streaming into the room
Keep it up, sun, keep out the gloom
(chorus)
5. Ribbon V 1.0
Take a block of wood you found
Drill it full of holes
Wind a wire round and round
Peel it from your soul
Run a piece of foil thru
Bend that narrow band
You try to make it true
Takes a steady hand
After you take a break
After you blow your nose
Easy like a piece of cake
I want two of those
Plug it in and start to cry
There's something you forgot
Put it in and then you sigh
You made this did you not?
Mikey doesn't know the words
Eat a can of soup
Cut it up and make it curve
Paint it with some goop
Spend a couple dollars
Spend a lot of time
First you get to holler
Then you make it shine
6. Snow Geese
Why are the snow geese
Flying north so early
They should take to the air
In late February
Winter is over, like in my dream
We're in deep shit, man
That's what it means
Flocks of birds flying
As the Earth starts to rumble
Red lava shoots out
As the mountains crumble
The Earth is angry
You should have seen it
We're in deep shit, man
That's what it means
The Earth replies (chorus)
By spewing out dust
There's a big thermostat
Built into the crust
As she gets warmer
She's throwing some rocks
Just as I put on my new fuzzy socks
The dust flies up high and
It blocks out the sun
Airports shut down as I get ready to run
Temperature falling, sunsets in the red
We're in deep shit, man
That's what I said
(chorus, instrumental)
For 3 billion years
The Earth has been breathing
Long time she's alive
She knows how she's feeling
I check my facts get a couple of hits
Are we in deep shit, man
Or am I full of it?
(chorus, first verse)
7. The Elusive Moon
The elusive moon
Falls into shadow
Tried to catch it for you
My cereal, soggy
But it's OK
I saw the best one
At your place
On the side of a hill
I ran outside
When the children
Banged pots and pans
To call back the moon
(Li'l instrumental, repeat first verse)
8. Venus de Milo
Venus de Milo (chorus)
From Ohio
Call me “Skipper”
Put on a slipper
If you knew how I felt
You'd put on a belt
Looks like that sarong
Won't stay there very long
Pull it up to your neck
Before you get arrested
But then I might see
Your ankle or knee
(chorus, instrumental)
I saw you at the fair ground
Before you let your hair down
I believe they got it right
When they named you Aphrodite
(chorus)
How far up your legs go
I don't need to know
I simply froze
Looking at your toes
You're fantastic
Made of thermoplastic
I could plan ahead
For some crackers in my bed
(repeat chorus, fade)
9. Future
I saw the rocket boosters
Land at Canaveral
I had no idea that was gonna happen
Nobody told me how far we have come
I thought it was a movie like 2001
I thought it was a movie like 2001
I may need to give a nod to Elon
Everyone I know has been
Saying for eons
“Where is my flying car?”
There is a red one between Terra and Mars
There is a red one between Terra and Mars
If you didn't see the boosters (chorus)
I got a watch you can borrow
The past becomes the future
We need a new name for tomorrow
They keep building things
They tell us we need
So they can take our money
Grow the economy
If we want to grow every year
We gotta pay
Even if it kills us like it does every day
Even if it kills us like it does every day
(chorus, piano instrumental, chorus)
Now what should we do
You could ask the smartest guy
If he had not just died on the day of pi
“To the planet Mars
Some people we must send
'Cause in six hundred years
Our life on Earth will end
'Cause in six hundred years
Our life on Earth will end”
(chorus)
10. I Got an Idea
I got an idea (chorus)
Idea in my head
Idea on the screen, idea on the bed
Turn up the heat to 60 degrees
The filament sticks, it's hard to release
I slip under the blade of a driver
Pry off the parachute and skydiver
(chorus)
A ballerina, dice I can roll
I print an ocarina with holes
(ocarina instrumental, chorus)
I found a future never imagined
Infinity wishes, take that, Aladdin
I try to sleep, wake up with a jolt
As I was dreaming about nuts and bolts
I got an idea...
11. The Lions of Mars
The lions of Mars
Chase the lambs into April
They run the lambs down
Till they have their fill
The old white pine, tall and majestic
Fell with the wind who said Mxyzptlk
Backwards
The old white pine
Took out the spruce tree
It set the neighbor's chickens free
There's a big stump
Reaching up to the stars
I'd like to cut it up and make a guitar
Sound board
From lemons you make lemon pie (chorus)
Just what you need
When you are feeling blue
But keep your eye upon the sky
You never know when the
Tree's gonna fall on you
I cut up the tree, and what'd I do next?
Play a game fetch
With my old friend Rex
Throw it in the back in a great big pile
I think we got enough for awhile
Firewood
(chorus, first verse)
12. Vapor
What's black and white and
Read all over?
No one gets that joke no longer
All the print has gone to vapor
No one reads the paper
Without request you make a bargain
You are drawn into the margin
They drag you to the market
You become a target
(Every magazine
You have ever seen
You can read for free
If you eat your cookies)
You might as well get behind
The Google Car and get in line
You will never disconnect it
You've been infected
(Every magazine
You have ever seen
You can read for free
If you eat your cookies)
What's black and white and
Read all over?
No one gets that joke no longer
13. Tailgate Revenge
There's a guy behind me, right behind
Horn blows at the gate
He cuts across behind me
He must be running late
I cut left and follow (chorus)
Racing with the swallow
I see your intention
Cruising the Extension
See the deer in the clover
You wanna run them over
Try to count to ten
Before you take tailgate revenge
Now he's behind a Mini Cooper
Runs her off the line
When the guy pulls ahead
The Mini gets behind
(chorus)
See the deer in the clover
You wanna run them over
Try to count to ten
Don't take tailgate revenge
(instrumental)
See the deer in the clover
You wanna run them over
Try to count to ten
Before you take tailgate revenge
14. Pyramid
Go to the shed for the clam-shell digger
I dig a little hole but my brain says it's bigger
Go to the Depot after watching a vid
I plumb a post, start the pyramid
I plumb a post, start the pyramid
Its got four sides and a wide angle
12-foot 4 by 4 ready to wrangle
Stir the cement and the stony red dirt
The end of July stuck to her skirt
The end of July stuck to her skirt
Hail to King Khufu (chorus)
Hail to the goddess Bat
Hail to King Khufu
Hail to the goddess Bat
(Instrumental)
All of the lines start to come together
A saw and a hammer
And some stormy weather
After a beer, after taking a vid
I stand back, look at the pyramid
I stand back, look at the pyramid
(chorus, instrumental fade)
15. I Love Nature
A monarch alights on the chop saw
What a beautiful creature
Sliding 10” compound miter
I love nature
While biking a squirrel dash before me
No need to suture
27-inch 18-speed horsey
I love nature
Go lift your car (chorus)
Go lift your house
Tell me what you wanna do
Born of the Earth
Every machine
From lever to pulley to screw
A hummingbird poses for glamour
While I'm nailing some lumber
16 ounce fiberglass hammer
I love nature
A cat takes a nap 'neath the tractor
To how many lives does that take her?
Twenty horses with a cow catcher
I love nature
(chorus)
While grilling I see a black spider
Red hour glass underneath her
3-burner gas with igniter
I love nature
(chorus, first verse)