Loudon Wainwright III - bocals, guitar
Chaim Tannenbaum - vocals, harmonica, banjo
David Mansfield - acoustic, electric, pedal steel and slide guitars, mandolin, bouzouki, fiddle
Randy Landau - acoustic bass
Jeffrey Lesser - percusion, vocals, jew's harp
Richard Crooks - drums
Steve Gaboury - organ, accordion, keyboard trumpet, keyboard percussion
Martha Wainwright - vocals
Dominic Cortese - accordian
John Kaye - percussion

All songs c 1995 Snowden Music (ASCP) except
"Treasures Untold," c 1955 Peer Music International
 

Cobwebs

Well it stombles and it falls off of almost every tongue
Give a listen and you will hear
Its lurkin' like a land mine
In almost every sentence
It's an assault to my mind's ear

Yeah it mighta started back with Jack Kerouac
Probaby more than it was Maynard G. Krebs
It's the four-letter word that used to mean "as if"
And the meaning's covered in cobwebs
Cobwebs

Used to be a prepostion
Then it was a conjunction
Now it's used as an audible pause
Oh I hate it when I hear it
Especially when I say it
Gotta stamp it out
There oughta be some laws
College boys valley girls
Mall rats grandmommys
Everybody's mis-using that word
I heard it four times in one poor little sentence
It was the saddest sound
I ever have heard

Cobwebs Cobwebs Cobwebs

I suppose you could blame it on my generation
Chickens from the sixties finally comin' in to roos
I been sayin' it myself for over 39 years now
Just to give my cool quota just a little bitty kind of a boost
But when I hear it i can't stand it
Specially comin' out of the mouth
Of one of my own kids
It's been taught and caught
What have we wrought?
Give a listen, hear what we did

I preter "ah" or "er"
You can rest assured
If you're sayin' what you mean
Then it don't mean a thing
It's just an ugly little four-letter word
Doesn't anybody care
Or am I the only one
Am I just stuck back in some kine of a past

Cobwebs
Cobwebs

Well it stumbles and it falls off of almost every tongue
Give a listen and you will hear
It's lurkin' like a land mine
In almost every sentence
It's an assault to my mind's ear

Yeah mighta started back with Jack Kerouac
Probaby more than likely ist was Maynard G. Krebs
It's the four-letter word that used to mean "as if"
And the meaning's covered in cobwebs
Cobwebs

Doesn't mean a thing
Cobwebs
Little bitty boost
Jack Kerouac
Cobwebs
Maynard G. Krebs
Cobwebs
 
 
 
 
 

A Year

The only time I've seen you was about a year ago
I was afraid to bold you but I wanted you to know
I touched your tiny perfect hand hefore I went uptown
I didn't pick you up because I'd have to put you down

For reasons that don't make much sense and you won't
understand
I've stayed away for your first year it'S sort of what I planned
But I've been in your neighborhood sometimes just blocks away
I didn't come to visit you because I couldn't stay

There was a baby on a plane maybe she was 2
And sbe was smiling at me I was not sure what to do
I've kept my distance from you a year's much more than a while
And so I looked away from her too ashamed to smile

When I saw you last year I knew that there was no mistake
Amazing things can happen why just look what life can make
But life can get so hard sometimes some feelings can't be tamed
And people get so angry frightened and ashamed
 

You've been a sort of secret for a year I've told but few
Although I'm sure that where you are so many must love you
And I've passed by your window hut haven't dared look in
Although I know I'd love you too I'm too scared to begin
 

Father Daughter Dialogue
Dearest Daddy with your songs
Do you hope to right your wrongs
You can't undo what has been done
To all your daughters and your son
The facts are in and we have found
That basically you're not around
Dearest Daddy try as you might
All you are is just uptight
You sing of my mother and me
~omewhat sentimentally
You sing of a father and son
When all you do from him is run
You like to think that things are okay
By singing things that you should say
Dearest Daddy with your songs
Do you hope to right your wrongs?

Darling Daughter can't you see
The guy singing the songs ain't me
He's someone people wish I was
What I can't do this dude does
And if the songs seem slightly pat
I know life's messier than that
They're just songs and life is real
They're just my version how I feel
And you don't feel the same I know
How it went down or it should go
My mistakes you label wrongs
I expiate my guilt with songs
Why I'm uptight or not around
Those whys continue to confound
Darling Daughter can't you see
The guy singing the songs ain't me
 

1994

There's been a brand new breakthrough
Though they're not sure what it means
We used to blame our parents
Now we can pin it on our genes
Hey and I'm not talking "501's"
I don't mean no pair of pants
I'm talking about a future
Where nothing's left to chance

If you're dumb, fat, queer or crazy
No one is to blame
You've just been dealt a lousy hand
In the genetic poker game
And if you start killing people
It's not evil you're not cruel
It's just a little goop polluting
Your genetic swimming pool
 

They can Spot the culprit
And magnify it on a screen
Those scientists and doctors
Can pinpoint that nasty gene
And with a little engineering
They can take that wayward train
And they can get it hack on track
So you're Smart, straight, thin and sane

Abadon what is random
Don't you leave it up to luck
Why not submit yourself to a little
Genetic nip and tuck?
Yeah we can put a man upon the moon
And we can conquer inner-space
With a little genetic tinkering
We can make a master race

Now back there in the first verse
I sang that nothing is left to chance
We're locked into a box or a goose step
In life's D.N.A dance
Now the future is no mystery
Finally you can make plans
Yes it's your destiny and you own it
Just pray it Stays in your hands

'Cause they can Spot the culprit        I
And magnify it on a screen
Those Scientists and doctors
Can pinpoint that nasty gene
And with a little engineering
They can take your wayward train
And they can get it back on track
So you're smart, straight, thin and sane
 
 

Just A John

I'm like my daddy I'm much the same
He loved to play that cheatin' game
Takin' my mother for a ride
Always havin' something on the side
After some scotches, some wine and some beers
Daddy'd come clean and he'd cry real tears
He'd beg forgiveness swear he'd behave
No longer king, he became her knave
 

You know that Woody Cuthrie said it son
"There are more pretty girls than one
Woody Allen he did it boy
Sowin' some seeds can destroy
I'm a catalyst I'm a contentious bone
Happy to break up your unhappy home
And with this weakness for the weaker sex
A look's a hook, a smile's a hex
 

Long legs heneath a short tight skirt
You just deserve your just dessert
Lipstick nail polish the paint is bait
To make a fella wanna pollinate
Resist temptation if you can
But the ocean always washes over castles made out of
And in the jungle you never say no
To her come hither you must go
 

Some dudes choose booze smack or crack
Other guys lose it all at the race track
But the ladies' man he's the biggest fool
He's a stooge, he's a chump, he's a tool
At her service eager to please
Lots of us got this dread disease
You might be thinkin' you're some kinda Don Juan
But in the end my friend you're just a John
 
 
 

Dreaming

I'd rather be dreaming than living
Living's just too hard to do
It's chances not choices
Noises not voices
A day's just a thing to get through
Living's just too hard to do
I'd rather be dreaming than talking     ¼
There's nothing to hear or to say
With ears covered mouth closed
The world is opposed
Nothing gets in or away
There's nothing to hear or to say

I'd rather he dreaming than thinking
Thoughts are small comfort to me
Dreams might be pretend
But at least dreams end
And I just can't Stop thinking you see
Thoughts are small comfort to me

I'd rather be dreaming than sleeping
Just sleeping you're just as well dead
In dreams I can fly
In dreams I don't die
That's why I lie here in this bed
Just sleeping you're just as well dead

I'd rather be dreaming
 
 
 

Treasures Untold
written by Jimmie Rodgers

Dreaming of you and your eyes of blue
I have loved you forever it seems
I have longed for your dear
And wanted you near
You are the girl of my dreams
And though I have met you just now
I'll tell you of my love somehow

If I could but win your heart, little girl
Then I would have treasure untold
The kisses you give me in life's sweetest dreams
Are even more precious than gold
I love your sweet face and your dear smiling eyes
How often this story's been told
If I could but win your heart little girl
Then I would have tresure untold