We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

The Mask

by Bill White

supported by
The Fishermen & the Priestess
The Fishermen & the Priestess thumbnail
/
1.
I See the Line 04:47
lyrics
buy track
First he learned to use the club To settle a dispute Then he ate his brothers flesh In fields of rotting fruit I see the line Civilizations arose From fields of blood and sweat They still say Lincoln freed the slaves but it hasnt happened yet I see the line Is this the whole trip Or just a stop in a station of space? to find love, to forget love A place for hearts to break I see the line The sun burns to a cinder The moon reflects no light A lost and lonely planet Spins through the empty night I see the line A phantom ship still sails the sea Although nobody steers it The captain used to sing a song Theres no one left to hear it I see the line If we are the only ones With eyes to see, with ears to hear Who will know the universe When we disappear? I see the line
2.
Transmission Mechanism 01:29
lyrics
buy track
15, then 19 Short end reason Driving all goblins Into the season For a short order fry cook With a grease-spattered face. Here is an 8X10 room With no breathing space It takes a lot of money To give this break to you Call it a transmission mechanism. Its not the truth, but itll do. A trillion for me Six Hundred for you That should pay half your rent With a litte left over for food Its a lockdown economy Stimulated by slavery In sickness or remission Its a transmission decision From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli In the distance of transmission Behind the mask of poverty Lies the transmission mechanism Like mercury in a dime Each to his own And each in his own time
3.
April 2020, New York City 03:03
lyrics
buy track
My wife is on the front lines In this apocalyptic war The casualty rate in her brigade Now stands at one in four Some die from the fever some die from the fear Sime de from the heartbreak Of the loss of those so dear Somme junp out of windows Some overdose on polls Sone folks kill each other Thank that will cure their ills Some are intubated Some die in the street Others die as loved ones watch Them struggle, then to cease Some doe in rebellion Some die from the cure Some are saved, only to die when the killer returns Today my wife was tested And her test came out clean So for now we are protected Still I fear what tonorrow may bring Its not only my family but the family of man Falling through the glass of time Like so many grains of sand And so we ask the question That has been asked before By creatures who once walked the Earth And dont walk here any more Are we being wiped out? Are we being wiped out? Are we being wiped out?
4.
The Mask 01:55
lyrics
buy track
“Open your eyes The coffin rises Six feet from your nose. Tie the sick To flaming sticks. Dont forget to burn the clothes.” Put the mask on now. Exit left, there is no time to smile or take a bow. Say whatever is in your head. Dont ask why, dont ask how Put the mask on now. After 90 days of torture I told them what I knew The only ones who listened Said my story wasnt true Put the mask on now. In the alley of rats Where men search for their bones Houses built for dogs and cats Are filled with bats and rats Someone had a wild idea Put masks on all the cows Barefaced animals Are breaking the fence Put the mask on now Put the mask on now.
5.
Virus Free 01:54
lyrics
buy track
Rubber bullets wont kill you But they hurt like a snake-head cane This city is in lock-down. If they catch you in the street, Dont run, lest you catch Rubber bullets in your back. A 73-year old man Arrived at the emergency doors With a slight fever and severe cough. They gave him a quick once-over. then determined him Virus Free And sent him home Where he died later that night. Now I am to bring the hospitals regrets To his family. I dont expect A warm acceptence of my generic apologies. They will probably spit on me, Tell me to fuck off And leave them alone. The boys who had defied lockdown And were shot by the cops In the back with rubber bullets Were taken to the hospital Where, after brutally detailed Testings and examinations, Were declared Virus Free The excruciating routines they endured Were not nearly as painful As the lethal cough spasms From the tubercular lungs Of the 73 year-old man Who had been refused treatment And sent home Without so much as a nasal swab.
6.
Mother Country 06:47
lyrics
buy track
She was somebody I had known in childhood Recently I heard a rumor she had died When the affair was over We kept on talking And swore we’d never leave Each others side We walk through the park Never touching We would like to spend the night In a strange bed When at last we kissed We both felt nothing But we did not take back The words we said We find a house Deep inside the forest Three men celebrate Their date of birth We shake hands all around And each man tells us We are brave, that he could never leave His mother country. She is my mother I cant break free From North to South From sea to sea Ali I evee knew In ashes aroud me Still I will ever leave My mother country They sent us out Without a mask for cover They sent is out For candles and a cake We looked far Into the bakers window It was clear We had arrived too late I dont know what I’d do without these rivers That run between these trees like frightened mice I know that I could never love another At any price As I love you And I dont know what Id do Without my mother country he is my mother I cant break free From North to South From sea to sea Ali I evee knew In ashes aroud me Still I will ever leave My mother country Three men Joined in celebration Each one Took and shook My hand Two of them Were total strangers The third had greeted me As his best friend.
7.
A Suffered Soul 02:46
lyrics
buy track
Who suffers in this life Carries his suffering into the next His is a suffered soul So lay down your possessions Or take them with you Into the light of dead stars Who spreads joy in this life Finds more joy in the next. His is a a joyful soul. He carries his possessions through the gate But leaves a few things behind for those who are turned away.
8.
Handle Up the Roof 02:19
lyrics
buy track
Handle up the roof the great nation falls The mice are first to hear The rumble in the walls A baseball hits The window pane The lady shakes A snakehead cane You wont find it in the cards But its written in the book She’s knocking down the walls And putting handles up the roof one kind of fool says there there is no god another kind says he knows hiim personally but whar does a fish know of a fishery or an apple of the seed from which it grows all these men and women frozen into a generation a generation split in half two lying sides of a lying nation what do they know of egypt the back fire of a curse the knocking down of doors the handle up the roof
9.
Ratification / Psychedelation 03:36
lyrics
buy track
Petrified people Monolith monsters in the shadow of a steeple Wont be no church no more Paralyzed horses Worm eaters Brain eaters Leave salty slug trails on the floor Ratification Psychedelation Its the dawn of the dead Fear of a nation The devil girl from Mars The man from a distand star Puppet people, mole people The alligator and the troll people Is this the same virus That killed the Marcianos in the book by HG Wells? Are we of the same race As the red planet spiders Ten steps West of Hell? Ratification Psychedelation Circus of blood Fear of a nation Scraptrap cadillac Bee girls and cat girls cannibal snake and bat girls Invisible Man Super Man The shrinking and the shrieking man You lose your deposit if you take it back Ratification Psychedelation Last Man on Earth Fear of a Nation
10.
After All These Starry Nights 02:43
lyrics
buy track
Been so long since Ive seen the stars Tonight they are shining bright. Is it worth a million dead to shake the rocks out of my head And the dust out of the night? After all these starry nights If we still are here, We we again blacken the sky With the refuse of our years? “It costs too much to keep them blue. A tax increase will fall on you. You want blue skies? what? Are you dumb? Where is the money for blue skies to come from?” If it takes another world war to teach us the value of love, Strength, empathy, and faith Then we are already lost. After all these starry nights Will we still think about The inestimable cost Of life cut down like so much wheat On mortgaged fields Defaulted loans A silent planet Still lost in the stars Blue skies and yellow bones

about

Four years ago, I was halfway into my third novel, The Mayor is a Gringo, and gaining momentum on a sequel to my memoir, Cinema Penitentiary, when my daughter. Estrella del Carmen, was born, and I no longer had the blocks of time neccessary to continue work on either one. I was able, however, to knock off 15 articles a day describing various auto parts, but that ended abruptly when my employer was imprisoned after being convicted on a non- violent drug charge.

Two years before the birth of my daughter, I had joined a group that set aside the month of February for its members to write and record an album. I had always written songs erratically throughout the years, and the result was, excepting the instances when I was writing them for one of many reasons, a hit or miss randomness. I reasoned that by limiting my songwriting to one month out of the year, the scattered impressions woud be replaced by a more unified vision.

So I worked steadily on fiction and essays throughout the year, setting aside february for songwriting. This worked for the first two years, but with a newborn to care for, I could not focus on the fiction, and decided to express all my ideas through song. Once I worked a song out in my head, I could write it down in an hour or so, then record take after take in stolen moments until it seemed finshed. I joined another group that required one to write and record 50 songs in three months, and after the first year was writing a song every day. This last February, after my daughter turned four, and I had completed seven albums in eight months, I was certain that I had exhausted my musical and lyrical ideas and was intent upon leaving songwriting behind to return to other pursuits.

My wife had just started a new job as co-ordinator of all mental health facilities in the northern sector of Lima. By the middle of March we had enough money saved to move to a new apartment across the street from the clinic in which her office was located. We had been living with three branches of her family in her mother’s three story house and were eager to start life as a single unit family consisting only of mama, papa, and baby.

The day after we moved, the Covid-19 lockdown was announced, and neither Estrella nor I has left the apartment since. Kelly spends most of her time across the street engulfed in paperwork, which she brings home and works on for most of her non-working hours. I spend nearly all my time playing on the floor with plastic animals and barbie dolls, cooking and cleaning, and coloring dinosaurs while cartoons and childrens songs fill the air.

In April, I was invited to participate in poetry writing month by writing a poem every day. This was a welcome challenge, as I had been planning to put in some time improving my weak attempts at lyrics that could stand on their own, without music. When the month ended, and I had filled a notebook with poetry that reeked with coronavirus paranoia and speculation, I couldnt help but reach for the guitar and digital recorder.

There was rarely a moment during the composing and recording of these songs that I was not under seige by my daughter, who demanded my participation in perpetual play, and often when i did manage to break away from her to attempt a recording, she would break into my room, yelling and laughing and ruining the take. On one occasion, she joined in singing with such gusto and a remarkabl feel for lyrics she was hearing for the first time, that I saved the mangled take and ultimately used it for the album. On another song, I wrote a part for her to sing. When finished recording and sequencing the album it sounded to me like it was recorded on death row, not in a child’s playroom.

It is a paradox that this most despairing album was created in such a childish and playful atmosphere. But I am not a depressed person. I love life, and hate to see it wasted. The Mask is an affirmation of the neccessity for human consciousness in the universe, the holiness that shines from every human being, and the darkness that descends with each death.

A film maker from my hometown whose work I despised recently passed away, and news of her passing filled me with an inexplicable sorrow. In my professional capacity as a film critic, I was merciless in my assessments of her work, but my critical appraisals no longer matter. That so many loved her and her work is what remains. After the lights went up on a press screening of her first film, I had turned to the critic sitting next to me and moaned that this was one of the worst movie I had ever seen. “I loved it,” she replied. “I mean, I really loved it.” And I realize now that she is the better for her love, and I am the worse for my hatred. And I know that the light that emanated from this film maker’s conciousness spread so much joy among so many people that it touched…and the prospect of the life force, so precious, now being exterminated on such a horrifying scale……..

Well, this is what I have tried to express in The Mask.

credits

released May 23, 2020

all songs written and performed by bill white during lockdown in lima, peru april-may 2020 background vocals by estrella del carmen
photograhy..estrella del carmen

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Bill White image

Bill White Lima, Peru

contact / help

Contact Bill White

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Bill White, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now