1. |
Xenophobia Stales
03:07
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XENOPHOBIA STALES
When I was just a baby a-rockin’ in my grave,
I asked my dear old mother, “How do these streets get paved?”
She told me of the money, a-comin’ like a train
Into the head that governs, and it rattles ‘round his brain.
But don’t spend my money on the nuclear war.
A catchy refrain.
Don’t spend my money on the nuclear war.
When I was just a schoolboy a-playin’ at the ball,
I asked my old headmaster, “Why is this school so droll?”
He drew a pie of fortune and sliced the school’s small share,
And said, “The largest portion will be flying through the air.”
But don’t spend my money on the nuclear war.
Don’t you dare!
Don’t spend my money on the nuclear war.
Now I am just a rocker a-tryin’ to make ends meet
Just like any other bozo that you might chance to meet.
We’re born to pay our taxes or be hassled or be jailed,
And we’re brought up on the notion that it’s what freedom entails,
But don’t spend my money on the nuclear war.
Xenophobia stales!
Don’t spend my money on the nuclear war.
XENOPHOBIA STALES
[Medford]
Leslie Medford : acoustic guitar, knee-slaps, and voices
Written: February 1983
Publishing: BrowBeat Music, BMI.
Recording date: February 1983
Recording place: In a room, and then in a moving automobile, and then in a room, in Stockton, CA.
Recorded using a tiny Sony "cassette-corder".
Remastered by Mike Carnahan & Leslie Medford, 2/4/24
Running Time: 3:07
Particulars: This song had an adventure-filled first couple of days. The first bit is recorded the day I wrote it, with tentative voice. The second bit - the lines with the knee-slappings - was recorded that night in my girlfriend Virginia Wilcox's car while driving down Pacific Avenue in Stockton, the recording from earlier playing in her tape deck, me singing and knee-slapping, non-tentatively, happy with my new song, and recording this cacophony on a dictaphone as we sailed down the Miracle Mile. The third bit employs the same method as part 2, but back in VW's apartment the next day. (Was her car a VW?) For Blown Youth, Mike and I "spliced" the three bits together in his studio.
Catchy refrain. Someday someone will record it properly...if someone survives.
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2. |
Beauty
01:11
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BEAUTY
The light in here is dim
For us to bargain in.
I take it on the chin
If you won’t see me.
You won’t see me.
BEAUTY
[Medford]
Leslie Medford : acoustic guitar and voice
Written: 26 February 1983
Publishing: BrowBeat Music, BMI.
Recording date: 26 February 1983
Recording place: 7505 Parkwoods Drive, Stockton, CA
Recorded using a tiny Sony "cassette-corder".
Remastered by Mike Carnahan & Leslie Medford, 2/4/24
Running Time: 1:11
This is the "conception day" recording of "Beauty". I thereafter added a second verse which can be heard in a "superior" recording of the song made 14 years later. (It's up on Bandcamp too.)
The accompanying photograph is one I took of Virginia Wilcox in 1983. (She of "Xenophobia Stales" fame.)
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3. |
The Future Now
03:55
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THE FUTURE NOW
Here we are, static in the latter half of the twentieth century
But it might as well be the Middle Ages,
There'll have to be some changes
But how they'll come about foxes me.
I want the future now,
I want to hold it in my hands;
All men equal and unbowed,
I want the promised land.
But that doesn't seem to get any closer, and Moses has had his day...
The tablets of law are an advertising poster,
Civilisation here to stay
And this is progress?
You must be joking!
Me, I'm just looking for any kind of hope.
I want the future now,
I want to see it on the screen,
I want to break the bounds
That make our lives so mean.
Oh, blind, blinded, blinding hatred of race, sex, religion, country, colour and creed,
You scream from the pages of everything I read.
You just bring me oppression and torture,
Apartheid, corruption and plague;
You just bring me the rape of the planet
And joke world rights at the Hague.
You say someday the Millennium!
But how far is someday away?
I want the future now
I'm young, and it's my right.
I want a reason to be proud.
I want to see the light.
I want the future now,
I want to see it on the screen,
I want to break the bounds:
And make life worth more than dreams.
THE FUTURE NOW
[Peter Hammill]
Leslie Medford : piano and voice
Recording date: February 1983
Recording place: 7505 Parkwoods Drive, Stockton, CA
Recorded using a (faulty) boombox
Remastered by Mike Carnahan & Leslie Medford, 2/4/24.
Running Time: 3:55
Particulars: This is the title track from Peter Hammill's solo album of 1978. Prime Hammill!
I dedicate this to my friend John Malde, who long insisted this recording was worth releasing, while I countered, "You must be joking!"
This is the only recording of me playing piano and singing. I "learned" the piece, recorded it this once, and never played it again! Unsure why that was, but my mother had a nice-sounding Everett upright piano, and I was staying in Stockton at the time.
The accompanying photograph was taken by Barbara Brumm in 1981 at 1212 Mountain Blvd, Montclair, Oakland, CA. Using a stencil of my own device, I hand-painted that t-shirt. Haha! Such a dedicated fan am I.
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4. |
Circle
05:00
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CIRCLE
The lyric here is totally improvised.
CIRCLE
[Medford]
Leslie Medford: guitar, whistling, voice
Carlos Lopez: harmonica, laughter
Written: 5 June 1983
Recording date: 5 June 1983
Recording place: Blackwater Café, 912 N. Yosemite St., Stockton, CA
Recorded using a tiny Sony "cassette-corder".
Remastered by Mike Carnahan & Leslie Medford, 2/4/24
Running Time: 5:00
Particulars: Under the influence of Syd Barrett and other things I came up with the guitar and melody in the afternoon; then later at the gig I just sprang it on my musical compadre, Carlos - and the audience. That evening was one of the first times I played through a professional PA system with a person running sound. (The Blackwater didn't usually have a P.A. system.) The O-so-appropriate special effects are thanks to its inspired operator - my notes say that's Duncan Atkinson, of Torn Boys fame. It's a "room recording", Virginia Wilcox minding my mini-Sony at her table, so you can tell what a freak show was going down in that room. I've always thought the resulting cassette of this performance was an artifact of merit as regards my solo career.
The willfully obscure imaginary record sleeve which accompanies "Circle" here - a still from the 1935 film of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" - includes my name. See it there? You'll be the first.
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5. |
Janine
03:26
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JANINE
O my love, Janine, I'm helpless for your smile.
Like a Polish wanderer I travel ever onward to your land,
And were it not but for the jewels I'd close your hand.
Your strange demand to collocate my mind
Scares me into gloom you're too intense
I've gotta keep you in your place
I've no defense I gotta keep a veil upon my face.
Janine, Janine, you'd like to know me well
But I've got things inside my head that even I can't face.
Janine, Janine, you'd like to crash my walls
But if'n' you take an ax to me you'll kill another man not me at all.
O you're fay, Janine! A tripper to the last.
But if I catch you standing on my toes I've got a right to shout you down,
For you're a lazy stream in which my thoughts would drown.
Ah but stay, Janine and we can ride along!
I've cut your wings for laughs I'm not obliged
To read you statements of the year
So take your glasses off and don't act so sincere.
Janine, Janine, you'd like to know me well
But I've got things inside my head that even I can't face.
Janine, Janine, you'd like to crash my walls
But if'n' you take an ax to me you'll kill another man not me at all.
JANINE
[David Bowie]
Leslie Medford: guitar, whistling, voice
Carlos Lopez: drums and percussion
Recording date: 5 June 1983
Recording place: Blackwater Café, 912 N. Yosemite St., Stockton, CA
Recorded using a tiny Sony "cassette-corder".
Remastered by Mike Carnahan, Carl Salbacka & Leslie Medford
Running Time: 3:26
Particulars: From the same show as "Circle" and "Golden Days".
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6. |
Golden Days
03:51
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GOLDEN DAYS
Solitary pictures.
Children at play.
Vacant laughter.
Gloomy days.
All of the money,
All of the pain.
Hope that He's coming
To ease the strain.
My best friend Barbara
Stands away.
Don't get involved with him!
Keep your soul away.
Look at the world outside.
Follow the noise.
Look at the world outside.
Follow the noise.
All of the love and laughter it's...
It's thrown away!
All of the love and the laughter
In search of Golden Days.
I seek a rhythm.
Perfect tune.
Happiness for ever after
In my room.
I've had a message.
This is my last hope.
The world so tight around me,
There's no scope.
Ah what is happening to my soul?
Ah what has happened to my soul?
All of the love and laughter it's...
It's thrown away!
All of the love and the laughter
In search of Golden Days.
Ah what is happening to my soul?
Ah what has happened to my soul?
All of the love and laughter it's...
It's thrown away
All of the love and the laughter
In search of Golden Days.
GOLDEN DAYS
[Kevin Coyne]
Leslie Medford: guitar and voice
Carlos Lopez: drums and percussion
Recording date: 5 June 1983
Recording place: Blackwater Café, 912 N. Yosemite St., Stockton, CA
Recorded using a tiny Sony "cassette-corder".
Remastered by Mike Carnahan, Carl Salbacka & Leslie Medford
Running Time: 3:51
Particulars: From the same show as "Circle" and "Janine".
There is a video up on YouTube of me performing this song live at a club in SF in 1987.
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7. |
Red Boat
04:11
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RED BOAT
Yellow masons built this stone wall, and the lake’s not really there.
Like a jukebox in a dark cave, pretty voices fill the air.
Round light…finds us here once more.
Black night…red boat washed ashore.
Like a bad dream in an ash tree talking to the wooden chair,
We are strangers to each other. We’re in love but we don’t care.
She gives me her hands, still hung from the line.
She gives me her hands. Do it again.
Black night…red boat washed ashore.
‘Cross the border in the forest where the knife wind cuts the bone,
Dogs are barking at our little red boat. We are never sailing home.
Round light…finds us here once more.
Black night…red boat washed ashore.
Yellow mason builds a stone wall, and the lake’s not really there.
Like a jukebox in a dark cave, pretty voices fill the air.
She gives me her hands, still hung from a wire.
She gives me her hands. Do it again.
Black night…red boat washed ashore.
RED BOAT
[Leslie Medford/Jeffrey Clark]
Jeff Clark : lead vocals
Leslie Medford : 12-string guitar, chorus vocals
Kelly Foley : 6-string guitar, chorus vocals
Written: 6 August 1983
Publishing: BrowBeat Music, BMI.
Recording date: 7 August 1983
Recording place: 4677A San Sebastian Ave., Oakland, CA
Recorded using a tiny Sony "cassette-corder".
Remastered by Mike Carnahan & Leslie Medford, 12/21/23
Running Time: 4:11
Jeff and Kelly visited me in my digs in Oakland and we had a little impromptu sesh. Jeff scribbled some lyrics and we went to town in a red boat.
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8. |
Even As The Days Change
04:10
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EVEN AS THE DAYS CHANGE
Even as the days change,
And even with consciousness adamant at our brains,
The greyness of the city is unrelieved.
Relations knocked unknowingly into this.
They streamed a brood of ooze and glue,
Stuck on some old god or so slowly passing through
That it could never be said that they would ever be expected to.
I stood bemused in the half-light,
Between the sofas, watching while
Everybody partied on your smile,
While the aeroplanes hummed deep
Above the city a mile.
I will never be able to answer.
And it makes me sick of thinking
Like some tiny child with wrist and tongue-tied to a balloon.
Or like a man with inside-out umbrella in the gale
He looked like he was reeling in a whale,
Was not amused.
I will never be able to explain.
And I am so sick of talk,
The microphones have long been turned off,
And I begin to shout
At my family, ‘cause I think they don’t know what I’m living about.
And over this loud love trying to get out.
EVEN AS THE DAYS CHANGE
[Medford]
Leslie Medford: guitar, voice, laughter
Barbara: laughter
Written: 26 May 1982 [LM song number 21]
Publishing: BrowBeat Music, BMI.
Recording date: May 1982
Recording place: 1212 Mountain Blvd, Montclair, Oakland, CA.
Recorded using a tiny Sony "cassette-corder".
Remastered by Mike Carnahan & Leslie Medford, 12/21/23
Running Time: 4:10
Particulars: How it's done. Haha! Bedroom, Barby, champagne, weed, dogs, music...what more is there really? It may benefit the listener to hear the earlier rendition of this song on "Quaint"...but this is closer in many ways to the energy the song is looking for, though the silliness is silly. (The best extant version of the song is one recorded at The Shamrock, downtown Stockton, but the foreground audience chatter from the bar is so pervasive it's been deemed unworthy by the powers that be.) Someday: a proper recording of this, electric, with full band, wot?! In the meantime, I love this.
Accompanying photograph: BB in her parents' house, 1982, by LM.
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9. |
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THE WRENCH THAT YOU THREW
Because I was in love
I kept a blade of word and posturing sallied on
To places where I really don’t have a clue.
Collecting the gloves that point to a coliseum,
You were the Christian I meant to chew.
Yeah, I was a sweetheart…
A Pavlovian meat sharp…
Napoleon Pullapart…
It was funnier then than it is now
Because I was in love.
It hasn’t occurred to you, or maybe you think I’m mad,
But I have unscrewed the complete bugaboo.
The wrench that you threw, it ended in my direction.
There was annoyance and laughter too.
We thought we were forever…
We said it all together…
I’ll try to do this better…
It was funnier then than it is now
Because I was in love.
Ha! We’ll laugh about that awhile in days that are coming up.
And I have a feeling we’ll be alright.
But it'd sure like to... to take it all by the hand
Put it to bed now, ‘cause it's all through.
Try to forget her.
I try not to think about her…
But ya know, sometimes I dream about her…
I was happier then than I am now
Because I was in love.
THE WRENCH THAT YOU THREW
[Medford]
Leslie Medford : guitar and voice
Written: February 1984
Publishing: BrowBeat Music, BMI.
Recording date: March 1984
Recording place: 4677A San Sebastian Ave., Oakland, CA
Recorded using a tiny Sony "cassette-corder".
Remastered by Mike Carnahan & Leslie Medford, 12/21/23
Running Time: 2:47
Accompanying photograph: my first love, of 1976-79, inspired many of my early songs. Melissa, 1977, by LM..
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10. |
Blistering Between Us
03:10
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BLISTERING BETWEEN US
(conception, extempore)
The lyric here is totally improvised.
BLISTERING BETWEEN US
[Medford]
Leslie Medford : guitar and voice
Written: February 1984
Publishing: BrowBeat Music, BMI.
Recording date: February 1984
Recording place: 4677A San Sebastian Ave., Oakland, CA
Recorded using a tiny Sony "cassette-corder".
Remastered by Mike Carnahan & Leslie Medford, 12/21/23
Running Time: 3:10
Particulars: A seed of a song, sprouting in a fertile February. Must do something with this eventually...in the hereafter...and maybe call it BrowBeat.
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11. |
Palindrome
02:34
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PALINDROME
No good winking at the fashionable plate,
She’s the least likely to make a break.
It’s not that your approach is too abrupt,
She hasn’t had the chance to size your wallet up.
History is written in the buff,
But by the time you read it it’s all window dressing stuff.
The mannequins may get a change of clothes,
But look, they’re in the self-same pose!
PALINDROME
[Medford]
Leslie Medford : harmonica and voice
Mike Elias : acoustic guitar
Written: December 1983
Publishing: BrowBeat Music, BMI.
Recording date: October 1984
Recording place: Mike Elias’ front room, SF, CA
Recorded using a tiny Sony "cassette-corder".
Remastered by Mike Carnahan & Leslie Medford, 2/4/24.
Running Time: 2:34
Particulars: Mike Elias was the other guitarist finalist for the first Ophelias lineup. Sam Babbitt was chosen, but Mike Elias’s jazzy ideas and friendly demeanor offered an attractive alternative.
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12. |
There's A Bell
03:31
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THERE'S A BELL
There’s a bell at the top of us spiralling down
There’s a bell on the top of your hill
There’s a bell by the side of a sound that shines
There’s a bell on your windowsill.
They were like two lovers entwining
On the best carpet in the house.
They burn a fire inside there nightly,
Isn’t that what it’s all about?
There’s a bell at the top of us spiralling down
There’s a bell on the top of your hill
There’s a bell by the side of a sound that shines
There’s a bell on your windowsill.
They were like two cakes of friction
Eaten together out of spite.
They thought dessert should have a reason,
They thought their favorite sense was sight!
There’s a bell at the top of us spiralling down
There’s a bell on the top of your hill
There’s a bell by the side of a sound that shines
There’s a bell on your windowsill.
THERE'S A BELL
[Medford]
Leslie Medford : acoustic guitar and voice
Mike Elias : electric guitar
Written: 18 December 1983
Publishing: BrowBeat Music, BMI.
Recording date: October 1984
Recording place: Mike Elias’ front room, SF, CA
Recorded using a tiny Sony "cassette-corder".
Remastered by Mike Carnahan & Leslie Medford
Running Time:
Particulars: That's psych! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...
Mike Elias was the other guitarist finalist for the first Ophelias lineup. Sam Babbitt was chosen, but Mike Elias’s jazzy ideas and friendly demeanor offered an attractive alternative. Do I detect Donovan and the early Floyd?!
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13. |
||||
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THE BIG (MYOPIAN) BUCK BOY SPINS
I like his place and I like his pipes.
There's no way he be where winter ripens well
Aren’t those magnolias that grow on your street
Beneath the city’s noxious heat?
Old justification sold back to your head.
It’s the only thing that keeps us dead. Well
Once there were ten of many many many many many men, but
Now it’s just nine of good fine friends of mine.
An' I guess your father was a vapid space,
And I guess I guess your mother was a shoreless shape, well
They took it longer than was due their
Their station and their circumstance.
(Aw, that doesn’t rhyme.)
And don’t he believe like a four mind man
That he’d rather be right here right here where I’m standing but
Does it not occur to him that
Life on earth surrounds each spin?
And this time is this day and everyday.
And this time is the total turning away.
Yeah, life on earth surrounds each spin, and
The big myopian buck boy spins
Like a broken door on a broken hinge.
The world is too much with us and
leaning on the horn.
THE BIG (MYOPIAN) BUCK BOY SPINS
[Medford]
Leslie Medford : acoustic guitar and voice
Mike Elias : electric guitar
Written: July 1983
Publishing: BrowBeat Music, BMI.
Recording date: October 1984
Recording place: Mike Elias’ front room, SF, CA
Recorded using a tiny Sony "cassette-corder".
Remastered by Mike Carnahan & Leslie Medford, 12/21/23
Running Time: 4:31
Particulars: Mike Elias was the other guitarist finalist for the first Ophelias lineup. Sam Babbitt was chosen, but Mike Elias’s jazzy ideas and friendly demeanor offered an attractive alternative.
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14. |
Sign Of The Times
01:02
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SIGN OF THE TIMES
Lipstick 'n leather
Wear 'n tear
Fight for a
Sign of the times.
Chain bound
The lines, crack down
On stony ground...
Ha!
End on line between the lines.
End on a
Sign of the times!
SIGN OF THE TIMES
[Bryan Ferry]
Leslie Medford: guitar, voice
Recording date: 31 December 1982
Recording place: Torii Japanese restaurant, March Lane, Stockton, CA
Recorded using a tiny Sony "cassette-corder".
Remastered by Mike Carnahan & Leslie Medford, 2/4/24
Running Time: 1:02
Particulars: New Year's Eve, 1982. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" was played at midnight to a mayhem of noisemakers. This snippet - an appropriate ender for "Blown Youth" I think - was during the lead-up to the witching hour. Superfun gig.
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LESLIE MEDFORD Oakland, California
Leslie Medford is a dude from a world that no longer exists!The two bands he led 1984-1991 have their own bandcamp pages under The Ophelias and HighHorse. Medford was a busy fellow during his pro period (1982-1992) and this site covers solo things & side projects from as early as 1975 and as recent as 2004.There is tremendous variety here, of a high standard of idea, if not always execution.Enjoy! ... more
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