Love At Twenty

EXITMUSIC 1009
Written, arranged and produced by
Mikel Rouse
EXITMUSIC RECORDINGS

Love At Twenty is a collection of songs originally composed for the Joe Goode Performance Group’s production of Grace in San Francisco. The songs are Rouse’s first use of the Prepared Piano sample library that he conceived and produced for the John Cage Trust. From the San Francisco Chronical: “Then came 2004’s “Grace,” a collaboration with composer Mikel Rouse. This music was unlike any heard at a Goode performance before: richly textured, overwhelmingly lovely, awash in pretty chord changes and lush layers. And it seemed to unlock a new expansiveness in Goode. Gone were the child’s tunes, the ingratiating posturing”.

“…but not the swoon-worthy stuff of “Grace,” which opened the double bill. Rouse made his score using a CD-ROM recording of sounds from a John Cage prepared piano, and the result gives “Grace” a gentle, decaying cuckoo-clock quality. Is it because of the music that the sections of pure dancing in “Grace” seem never to meander, seem to constantly hold your attention with their chest- wide-open breathiness and cascading sculptures of bodies? Whatever the reason, “Grace” is among Goode’s best work. Rouse played the acoustic guitar and reprised his role as Brook- Kotholow’s love interest; the chemistry between them was enough to make you blush”.

01. Our Weight
02. I Loved That Too
03. M&R Blues
04. Yo Yo
05. My Love’s Gone
06. Trio
07. Housewife
08. Love.Gov
09. The Law Of Love
10. Weather Was Lost
11. (Tell God That) I Saved You

Lyrics

OUR WEIGHT

I weigh one eighty five
My son weighs sixty-eight
We both like our weight
Our weight

Jesus was Mohammed
And Mohammed took the bait
We both like our weight
Our weight

Everyone makes money
Off Americans that hate
We both like our weight
Our weight

Livin’ as we die alone
And maybe that’s our fate
We both like our weight
Our weight

I believe in miracles
Unless they come too late
We both like our weight
Our weight

Jesus licked Mohammed
And Mohammed had to state
We both like our weight
Our weight

I LOVED THAT TOO

I was loved and I was left
I was loved and I was left
I was left, left by you
I loved that too

I was lost when I was found
Diggin’ dirt from the ground
Plantin’ folks I never knew
I loved that too

Save me
Only you can save me
Only you behave me better than I do

Pay me
If you’ll just repay me
For all of the maybes
Maybe we’ll be two

I was old when I was young
Missed the boat, I missed the fun
Makin’ signs like I was through
I loved that too

I was here and I was there
Didn’t think or didn’t care
And still I’m tossed without a clue
I loved that too

Save me
Only you can save me
Only you behave me better than I do

Pay me
If you’ll just repay me
For all of the maybes
Maybe we’ll be two

And when I’m dyin’, Lyin’ in wait
Take my hand; it’s not too late
Look in my eyes the way you do
I’d love that too

M&R BLUES

Whatever we have gotten wrong
It doesn’t matter when we’re gone
Nobody there to wave us in
No one to drag us down again

The mystery of every drink
That makes it easier to think
Oblivion is under way
And reservations are OK

I got no hope today hope today
I got no hope today hope today
I got no beat today beat today
I got no love today love today
I got no God today God today
I got no sin today sin today
I got no deal today deal today
I got no weave today weave today

Whatever else we might have been
Won’t matter to the next of kin
Piano bars in every room
A luxury we all assume

The allergies collecting dust
Economy’s that boom or bust
Oblivion is underway
And everybody has to pay

Wherever else we won’t belong
It doesn’t matter when we’re gone
The fashion and the history
It won’t be there to pester me

The TV sits there all alone
Just waitin’ for the news to phone
Oblivion is under way
I only wish that I could stay

YO YO

When I get my head back
When you give it back
I will go on living
For this heart attack

I’ve been up and down
Up and down this string before
Ands I have walked the dog
‘till my hands were sore

Baby rock the cradle
Rock me all night long
And I will set your table
Set it with this song

Were the neighbors knocking?
Knocking from above
Feel just like a yo yo
Like a yo yo in love

When I get my head back
When you give it back
I will go on living
For this heart attack

Were the angels watching?
Watching from above
Feel just like a yo yo
Like a yo yo in love

MY LOVE’S GONE

My Love’s gone
My love’s gone
It got all used up
Now my love’s gone

HOUSEWIFE

Everyone’s waitin’ for my decline
I don’t blame them, so am I
But what’s the hurry?
There’s baggage to unload
The end’s beginning
The rubber meets the road

Chorus:
They say love is blind, well I know that
‘cause I was left behind with a roadmap
But I have tried to find any life like mine
Where the sun don’t shine and the weather’s fine
If you’re so inclined
But you can’t deny it was worth a try
When it’s do or die, when you say you’re my housewife…

Time’s a waistin’, like all my time
I’m not complainin’; baby it’s your dime
Keeping a record of who was left behind
It’s while we’re sleepin’
That’s when we change our mind

Chorus

If’n I got an ax to grind
It’s while we’re sleepin’
That’s when we change our mind
I saw it comin’, I knew if from the start
The end’s beginning
The first to go is art

LOVE.GOV

If this ain’t love
If this ain’t love
From up above, love.gov
If this ain’t love

If this ain’t hope
If this ain’t hope
Well here’s the dope: I bought the rope
If this ain’t hope

If this ain’t life
If this ain’t life
Then don’t think twice, it’s paradise
If this ain’t life

If this ain’t fair
If this ain’t fair
Then don’t despair; you’re almost there
If this ain’t fair

If this ain’t God
If this ain’t God
Then spare the rod, even or odd
If this ain’t God

If this ain’t love
If this ain’t love
From up above, love.gov
If this ain’t love

If this ain’t love
If this ain’t love…

WEATHER WAS LOST

Bless my handsome face
Worn away with grace
Put it in its place

Never miss the stains
Weather in my veins
Kiss me when it rains

Weather was lost on a cloudy day
Cover the cost, days that slip away

Every now and then
Wondering where I’ve been
Fall is love again

Given what I get
Placing my lest bet
Even as we met

Weather was lost on a cloudy day
Cover the cost, days that slip away

Even as we scheme
Measuring the dream
Hopeless as it seems

Maybe I’m OK
Somehow washed away
Life is here to stay

Weather was lost on a cloudy day
Cover the cost, days that slip away

Bless my handsome face
Worn away with grace
Put it in its place

Even as we scheme
Measuring the dream
Hopeless as it seems

(TELL GOD THAT) I SAVED YOU

You’re a wall, you’re a wall
You’re a mighty wall

So when I do this…
Born and died here
And you do that…
Laughed and cried here
Wild and delirious
Never thought I’d find a way

So when I do this…
Secret Santa
And you do that…
Drinkin’ Fanta
Wild and delirious
Leave your life at home today

And tell god that I saved you
Tell his Son it’s time to make his bed
Tell God that I saved you
With a crown of thorns around my head

So when I do this…
Cain and Abel
And you do that…
Set the table
Wild and delirious
Never thought they’d find a way

So when I do this…
Cher and Sonny
And you do that…
Paper money
Wild and delirious
Leave your life at home today

And tell god that I saved you
Tell his Son it’s time to make his bed
Tell God that I saved you
With a crown of thorns around my head

I knew you were on my mind
And I thought that grace was blind