Music video: “I’m Feeling Isolated”

A song for our times, with apologies to The Ramones.

And here it is without swearing:

Lyrics released as CC-BY: You’re free to make derivative works (and please do!), giving credit to “Jack Newhorse, jacknewhorse.com”.

A version without that one swear word is at https://youtu.be/V_hdh6uQoJ8.


LYRICS

I’m Feeling Isolated
Parody of Ramones “I Wanna Be Sedated”

2020 you can go fuck yourself oh,
I’m feeling isolated
Nothing to do, no where to go oh
I’m feeling isolated
Living at a distance, feeling really rough
Virtual massages don’t do near enough
Working in my undies, working in the buff
Oh no oh oh oh oh

2020 you can go fuck yourself oh,
I’m feeling isolated
Nothing to do, no where to go oh
I’m feeling isolated
Sitting in the kitchen, don’t know what to do
Nothing for me inside and nothing outside too
Drink another coffee and make another poo
Oh no oh oh oh oh

2020 you can go fuck yourself oh,
I’m feeling isolated
Nothing to do, no where to go oh
I’m feeling isolated
Nation full of dummies, sunburn on their tongues
Crowding on the beaches, heads all up their bungs
Can’t say that I’ll miss them when they’re coughing up their lungs
Oh no oh oh oh oh

2020 you can go fuck yourself oh,
I’m feeling isolated
Nothing to do, no where to go oh
I’m feeling isolated
Time for introspection, don’t like what I see
Thought I’d write a novel or smash the bourgeoisie
Instead I sit around playing Final Fantasy
Oh no oh oh oh oh

Ba ba baba, baba ba baba, I’m feeling isolated
Ba ba baba, baba ba baba, I’m feeling isolated
Ba ba baba, baba ba baba, I’m feeling isolated
Ba ba baba, baba ba baba, I’m feeling isolated

“Rotterdamse Bar”: Song for voice & piano

Written in mixed English and Dutch with a specific singer in mind. (Thanks to friends Rosann and Conner for checking the Dutch.)

© 2019 Tom Geller, all rights reserved.


LYRICS

VERSE I

The sun glides low above the harbor
of the Maritime Museum
Where boats and cranes bear testament to the past
I dream of the days of the harbortimes
Of the noise and the filth and the petty crimes
Een noodzakelijk overlast.

The wind blows cold over the sailors
with a whispered “Carpe diem”
The fading sun gives way to the evening star
They dream of success in the coming days
Of the hope of a chance of a loving gaze
Als zij lopen naar de Rotterdamse Bar.

CHORUS

Rotterdamse bar by the harbor
Rotterdamse bar in de wijk
You take in every hard-working person
The sweating, sad, exhausted and cursing
Whom everyday life will verbeter or worsen
We werken allen hard, geen gezeik

VERSE II

The boats and cranes are all silent now
by the Maritime Museum
Examined only by tourists and children in from school
For each there are a thousand more
That never made it to this shore
Vergeten en nu zonder levensdoel.

Each day I walk past the quiet
of that watery mausoleum
Off to work like those sailors now obsolete
I hope that some in a future time
Will remember me as an paradigm
Zal ik gekozen worden of niet?

CHORUS

Rotterdamse bar by the harbor
Rotterdamse bar in de wijk
You take in every hard-working person
The sweating, sad, exhausted and cursing
Whom everyday life will verbeter or worsen
We werken allen hard, geen gezeik

BRIDGE

Alledaagse mensen
In de hedendaagse tijd
Alledaagse zorgen
Eeuwigdurende, eeuwigdurende strijd

VERSE III

The ghosts glide low above the harbor
of the Maritime Museum
I know that mine will join them any day
I hope they’ll see me as I am
And will welcome me to Rotterdam’s
Meest mysterieuze maatschappij

The harbor will soon be transformed again
in an endless industream
To life as it is we must say an au revoir
Our names they will almost all forget
Every day the daily sun will set
Maar wij hebben toch de Rotterdamse Bar

CHORUS

Rotterdamse bar by the harbor
Rotterdamse bar in de wijk
You take in every hard-working person
The sweating, sad, exhausted and cursing
Whom everyday life will verbeter or worsen
We werken allen hard, geen gezeik
We werken allen hard, geen gezeik
We werken allen hard, geen gezeik

“Nothing and Nowhere”: Song for voice & piano

Written in response to a friend’s post on FetLife — and a lifelong fascination with how our lives are affected by our bodies and how they’re seen — I wrote this song. It might be the opener for a musical that’s brewing in my head.

LYRICS

VERSE I

From a thought in a head to a dot in an egg in your mother
Then it grows and divides as its code overrides ev’ry other
Chaos springs from that initial condition
Despite all of your prayin’ and wishin’

Maybe you’ll get a start with a hole in your heart (nonmetaphorical)
Or with bowels you distrust causing howls and your life is deplorable
Ev’ry part of your anatomy delivers
Ways to baffle all your future caregivers

CHORUS I

We all come from the same place
And that place is nothing and nowhere
Occupying a distinct space
From the insect to the giant polar bear
And the taste of your tongue
How you smell when you’re young
How your muscles are strung
And how well you are hungry
For knowledge and life
Whether you want a wife
Whether you handle strife
Or will fall on your knife
Your body says
Your body knows
And in the end
Your body will be
Back to nothing

VERSE II

And when you go outside are you true? Do you hide from the masses?
Do they stare or find fault? Do they care? Is it salt or molasses?
Do you garner attention remotest?
Or complete ev’ry journey unnoticed?

And when you raise your voice, meet their gaze, make a choice, do they hear you?
When you talk, do you boom? When you walk in a room do they fear you?
Embryology defines your limits
Then the world determines your place in it

CHORUS II

We all come from the same place
And that place is nothing and nowhere
Occupying a distinct space
From the insect to the giant polar bear
And the way that they treat you
Whenever they meet you
They might try to cheat you
Or maybe complete you
They surmise your mass
To determine your class
And the brass of your sass
From your presence, alas
Your body says
Your body shows
And in the end
Your body will be
Back to nothing

BRIDGE

Temporarily healthy
Temporarily thrive
Temporarily able
Temporarily alive

VERSE III (partial) & CLOSING

From a thought in your head maybe not, then you’re dead; well, not living
Much as you will conclude, like this tune, pretty soon unforgiving
To nothing
Nothing
Nothing
Temporary life

A response to that Horse Cock song: “Butterfly Pussy” song for small ensemble

A response to “No Cock Like Horse Cock”.

After arranging Pepper Coyote’s “No Cock Like Horse Cock” for orchestra and chorus, apparently there was more to be said.


Lyrics

There are those who say that the horse cock is the best
That their cocks are the cockiest when you put them to the test
But I’ve found genitalia that is better than the rest
So just sit right down, I’ll tell you what it is.

It’s not the panda penis with its bony little bone
The puppy dick is cute, but it can knot take the throne
The kitty dick is scary with its spiky danger zone
It’s not the duct I want to shoot the jizz.

My tastes are simpler, kinder, sweeter
Hold me while I beat my meat-er
Touch my butt and call me Dieter
Give me just one thing:

Butterfly pussy, butterfly
Butterfly pussy, butterfly

It comes in three varieties, depending on the need,
Three sweet configurations made to take your steaming seed
The exporian’s my favorite, fills me with a lusty greed
Though exporians can be a bitchy bunch.

With a groove that’s on the outside of a saucy, saucy whore,
You can always see the juice that shot up in the heretofore
From the entry point until the sexy, sexy ovipore
It’s an open-bar buffet I want to munch

So let me stick my aedeagus
In your microscopic puss-puss
Turn this me-me into us-us
Make the angels sing:

Butterfly pussy, butterfly
Butterfly pussy, butterfly
Butterfly pussy, butterfly
Butterfly pussy, butterfly

“No Cock Like Horse Cock” for orchestra and chorus

I think Pepper Coyote’s song “No Cock Like Horse Cock” is a goddamn yiffyfur anthem. 


So I orchestrated it (with Pepper’s permission) for chorus and orchestra and recorded a synthesized orchestra part. He graciously allowed me to pull together a few singers to open his NSFW show at Motor City Furry Con 2019. People loved it!

Pepper Coyote has agreed to let me release this arrangement under a “Creative Commons” license — specifically, CC-BY 4.0. That means anybody (including you!) can put together a performance at future cons, meets, weddings, bar mitzvahs, what have you. Here are your resources:

Also available for the musically nerdy (but not necessary for performance) are:

A version with four-part (SATB) chorus is also available by request. And if you have a performance lined up, I’ll re-arrange it for whatever you have.

Questions? Contact @JackNewhorse on Telegram.

“Prayer to Persephone”: Song for voice and orchestra

A short song for voice and orchestra. Text is “Prayer to Persephone” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, from her 1921 collection “Second April”.

LYRICS

Be to her, Persephone,
All the things I might not be;
Take her head upon your knee.
She that was so proud and wild,
Flippant, arrogant and free,
She that had no need of me,
Is a little lonely child
Lost in Hell,—Persephone,
Take her head upon your knee;
Say to her, “My dear, my dear,
It is not so dreadful here.”