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The Rhizome

by Bill White and Friends

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The Fishermen & the Priestess
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1.
Bill White and Mark M Scullion - Every Time I Start a Conversation 02:52
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EVERY TIME I START A CONVERSATION Words by Bill White - Music by Mark M Scullion ©2023 Every time I start a conversation You take it out of control Before the first sentence is out of my mouth You have attacked every syllable Stubborn and cantankerous Bull-headed, thick rhinocerous No commonality, no rapport I cant hold a conversation with you any more Your brain is in remission So you give yourself permission Maybe if you were muted You wouldnt sound so stupid Every time I start a conversation You take it out of control Before the first sentence is out of my mouth You have attacked every syllable Stubborn and cantankerous Bull-headed, thick rhinocerous No commonality, no rapport I cant hold a conversation with you any more
2.
nancy cunningham and bill white - Stick Yourself To Your Chair 03:29
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iner Notes This is a cheerleading song to get us all sitting in our chairs welcoming what arises. Anthony Trollope suggested cobbler's tack to stick a writer to the chair as the secret to becoming an author. He wrote three pages every morning, which is what Julia Cameron suggests in The Artist's Way - though Trollope's went right into an envelope, and Cameron suggests never reading them or letting anyone else read them. Anyone (and everyone) is welcome to make music for this one, since it feels like a message we all need to hear in our own voices. #meta #needs_collab #collaborations_welcome #needs_music #artists_way #inspiration #how_to Lyrics Stick You to a Chair You can write your morning pages You can buy yourself some paint You can magic marker sticky notes You can stick them where they ain’t You can make your affirmations You can stick 'em everywhere But sooner or later, you’re gonna have to stick your self - - - to your chair Yeah, sooner or later you’re gonna have to stick your self - - - to your chair Can you sit there Are you too afraid to choke Can you sit there Let your muses take a smoke Can you sit there Can you sing Can you sit there Can you write Can you sit there while you’re sure it is never gonna be all right While you write your morning pages When you buy yourself some paint While you magic marker sticky notes When you stick 'em where they ain’t While you make your affirmations When you stick 'em everywhere When sooner or later, you finally stick your self - - - to your chair Yeah, sooner or later you’re gonna have to stick your self - - - to your chair Cause you can’t make art by meaning to You can’t make it by making plans So go on settle down Let's see just how much sitting you can stand  Go on sit there Don't be too afraid to choke Go on sit there Let those muses take a smoke Go on sit there You can sing Go on sit there You can write If you can sit there, I can promise you it's all gonna be all right So write your morning pages Open your new paint Magic marker your sticky notes Stick them whereever they ain’t Make your affirmations And now stick 'em everywhere Sooner or later, you're gonna learn how to stick your self - - - to your chair Yeah, sooner and later, keep learning how to stick your self - - - to your chair ©Lyrics Nancy Cunningham July 2023
3.
Gwyn Jones Cindy Prince and Bill White - Sorry for My Sorry Ass 03:23
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Where I come up short You stand tall Where you hit your stride I get smashed against the wall But that doesn’t mean You can hang it all on me You punch the buzzer on the bed Don’t do a steppin’ thing I'm sorry for the layin’ hens Sorry for the cattle herd I'm sorry I can't grow things I ain't what you deserved I'm sorry that I’m lazy Too soon, run out of gas I'm sorry for the little chicks And I'm sorry for my sorry ass I know I ain't much good at plantin’ Ain't much good at balin’ hay I don't know much about cattle I can't seem to find my way Some say there are secrets to it Well, none's been told to me ‘Cause I ain't good at growin’ Even our children would agree I'm sorry for the layin’ hens Sorry for the cattle herd I'm sorry I can't grow things I ain't what you deserved I'm sorry that I’m lazy Too soon, run out of gas I'm sorry for the little chicks And I'm sorry for my sorry ass But when you tell me to close the window (Do you know how petty that is) When you complain I ate the cornflakes (Do you know how petty that is) Then you tell me that I sing loud (Do you know how petty that is) When you blame me for something you forgot (Do you know how petty that is) You tell me that I’m idle When I’ve been at my desk all day And didn’t get around To goin’ out and bailin’ any hay You say my work is meaningless Because it means nothing to you Sorry I’m such a flop But so goes the words of truth I'm sorry for the layin’ hens Sorry for the cattle herd I'm sorry I can't grow things I ain't what you deserved I'm sorry that I’m lazy Too soon, run out of gas I'm sorry for the little chicks And I'm sorry for my sorry ass But when you tell me to close the window (Do you know how petty that is) When you complain I ate the cornflakes (Do you know how petty that is) Then you tell me that I sing loud (Do you know how petty that is) When you blame me for something you forgot (Do you know how petty that is) I don't keep good records I hate to clean the stalls Ain't good at pert’ near nothin’ I'm sorry I've dropped the ball And where I come up short You stand tall Where you hit your stride I get smashed against the wall I'm sorry for the layin’ hens Sorry for the cattle herd I'm sorry I can't grow things I ain't what you deserved I'm sorry that I’m lazy Too soon, run out of gas I'm sorry for the little chicks And I'm sorry for my sorry ass
4.
A Singer, Not A Fighter 02:58
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VERSE the roads are getting longer and there are fewer stops between everything is slowing down or maybe its just me VERSE but i have crossed two statelines since i packed up my gear tonight ill sing my songs again in some backwater joint round here CHORUS the crowds are getting thinner the moneys getting lighter i could have pushed a little harder but ive always been a singer, not a fighter VERSE they danced to my music sang along with my rhymes but my name was never big enough to stand the test of time VERSE but i earn enough to get myself and my van to the next gig and theres always someone who remembers me from the days when i was big BRIDGE i know now i will never be the next haggard or george jones but ive written my share of honest songs in a voice that was my own VERSE but if i didnt have this old guitar and a voice that can still hold a tune i would turn the page and fade away like the phases of the moon CHORUS the crowds are so much thinner the moneys so much lighter i could still push a little harder but ill always be a singer not a fighter
5.
nancy cunningham land bill white - Songwriter Heaven 04:08
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it was a typical sunday at the shakerag general store i sang a buttload of songs then another buttload more a circle pf pickers were backing me up then along came jones saying, "sorry to interupt" but that song you are playing used to be a country song you got the words right but your singing it wrong then he took the guitar right out of my hands and when he started to sing i knew id lost my band so i got in my pinto and headed back to atoka the radio was playing some old hokey polka i reached under my seat popped open a corrs and the next thing i knew i was flung out the door i must have hit a opossum or a hole in the road i flew through the air to the ground i was throwed my whole world went black it was the end of the session when i opened my eyes i was in songwriters heaven there was jerry jeff walker george jones and john prine cole porter and gershwin bacharach and sondheim mia zapata and dory previn and lefty frizzell townes and tim hardin laura nyro and thom bell but with all these songwriters something was wrong nobody was singing there was nary a song so i took a deep breath and sang mama tried then merle haggard cut loose with jenny take a ride mitch ryder started vamping on blueberry hill fats domino was dancing buddy holly stood still then sang pancho and lefty george jones sang along soon everyone was singing somebody elses song guy clark sang bad girls then donna summer sang hanging around the water tank waiting for a train then i heard a voice on the radio and i opened up my eyes i was in a ditch off 51 lucky to be alive i guess of all my seven lives i just used number seven next time it will not be a dream ill be in songwriter heaven
6.
yewnorker and bill white - There Ain't No Blues in Heaven 03:18
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I can remember years ago A preacher made me cry He said heaven's such a happy place The blues end when we die If there ain't no blues in heaven Then I dont wanna go Close the gates for heavens sakes Cuz this boy says hell no So where is Hound Dog Taylor? And where is BB King? Bunk me with Muddy Waters You can give us our own wing What about Jimi Hendrix? And where's Stevie Ray Vaughn? Where's old Sophie Tucker? I wanna hear her songs Pass the word to Saint Peter That blues is all I know And if there aint no blues in heaven Then I don't wanna go There ain't no blues in heaven? That means no Fred McDowell? Ain't no Lightning Hopkins? It sounds a bit like hell
7.
acoustic maddie and bill white - The Bride 02:43
lyrics
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For years I roamed through sullen fields Not knowing Ii was dead Living out my lifetime dreams Inside my broken head Until one day in the month of \may A messenger arrived To say I must marry a living man If I were to survive And so I roamed the city streets In search of such a person Who would bring me back to life Before my situation worsened. For still I had the form of life Though my insides had rotted And i could pass for one alive Although my guts had clotted I found him as he searched for me Entangled in a dream From which poured images of verse Into vanishing streams I dared not wake this living man Nor lie down by his side Instead I joined him in his dream And there became his bride And with his kiss I was made whole And found life everlasting In dreams there is no first or last No vacant shadows passing We are as solid as the land As fluid as the ocean Life in death or death in life Such antiquated notions He is a breathing dreamer And I the dreamers breath He somehow has cheated life While I have cheated death
8.
Outrageous Marilyn 02:41
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i head downtown at six in the morning the show doesnt start until eight at night but i want to beat the traffic ill feed the gulls down at the waterfront then read for a few hours at cafe paradise before catching an early matinee on third avenue ill have a mid day meal at the market where my girlfriends dad sells fried chicken and she takes a break while i eat if its thursday ill go to a museum thats the day admission is free and there are plenty of comfortable places to sit ill walk through the arboretum look at trees from around the world think about the days i used to come here and drop acid with my friends but sometimes i just want to go to the laundromat see if outrageous marilyn is sitting in the big dryer drop in a coin and watch her spin
9.
Stuck 03:32
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A flight was slated to leave On christmas Eve But that departure Was canceled in July Now there are no plaes going anywhere And the only roads going out of here are in the sky And even if I could I have no place to go the dust has fallen everywhere Ad the raini cant seem To wash away the snow You find yourself inside a room Wihout amy doors You are not stick anywhere Until you dont want to be there any more Until you dont want to be there any more
10.
I Drew a Map 02:53
lyrics
i was standing on a sheet of ice i was standing on a sheet oif sand i didnt know where i was so i drew a map i drew a map with everything on it but despite the marks i made that map remained empty so i removed the lids from my eyes could not look left could not look right si i looked up into the vacant skies patched my eyes and took a nap then i drew a map i drew borders and time lines departure times for airlines i drew billboards and mileage markers maps for bikers and sad hitch hikers i drew streets of movie theatres and the strip malls in between the freeways and the parking lots and drive in movie screens valleys and mountains and alleys cities without limits or signs in the end there was nothing but sheets of sand and ice i drew a map and there was nothing on it empty spaces between exit ramps meaningless lines connecting places with pieces of glass from broken street lamps i drew a map and threw everything on it suitcases filled with tourists dreams but the map was as empty as i had found it in the blank paper trash of yesterday i drew people and places and methods of travel there was no place to go and no way to get there my map was as empty as the things i drew on it it amounted to nothing and i diidnt care
11.
Love is a Moment of Truth 04:27
lyrics
love is a moment of truth when you decide to save someone else instead of trying to save yourself hate is the father of lies born of the moment when true love dies seeing each other with false eyes "how could you do this to me?' she asks "how could you do this to me?" he replies there is a remant of truth in both of their lies but life is filled with suffering dont blame your hardships on someone else because love is a moment of truth no wrong done on either side in a moment of truth, none can hide love is a moment of truth unending truth does not bend only haters will play "let's pretend' when two people love one another but marry others they hate to save mother and father who will stand for the truth at the wedding and say the father of hate made their bedding haters will tear you apart will inject their poison into your heart by hatred we are so misused then love comes in a moment of truth an unending moment of truth
12.
eric anderson and bill white - I Love to Come Here but I Dont Like to Stay 02:59
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13.
Only the Fallen 02:40
lyrics
Speak by command not incantation Any kook can imitate gobble d gook or footnote notation But when the ides of march meet the winds of august The truth of the story is told by only the fallen Only the fallen who sing in the fire Those who are still standing are cowards and liars From the pulpits they speak like rodents they squeak To the congregation not by command not by Gods hand But through incantation The dead salute no more in triangular columns The truth of the story is told by only the fallen Only the fallen still sing in the grass That covers the bodies of those who still pass Prophesy and interpretation debased to incantation The wind that fills them is base and common The truth of the story is told by only the fallen And after the dirt of your life is thrown over your coffin You will find there were never any heroes there was only the fallen
14.
nahlej381 and bill white - Compliance 02:54
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COMPLIANCE we dont want talent we dont want brains we want people who will say it is sunny when it's gray we want compliance we are not looking for charisma or exceptional looks we want a livng, breathing carcass we can hang on a hook we want compliance we dont want a martyr we dont want a saint we dont want advice we dont want complaints we want compliance
15.
One Man Woman 03:51
16.
The Last of Her One-Night Stands 01:48
lyrics
i left the bar at closing time with dolly and my best friend. we drove across town to her house she invited both of us in she took my friend into the bedroom said i could sleep in the rocking chair half an hour later she was on me moving like a grizzly bear chorus i was the last of her one-night stands she was turning a new leaf she had fallen pretty low before but she really hit bottom with me she had been passed through too many hands but i was the last of her one-night stands she built a fire out in the woods and burned all her dirty sheets along with the witch of winter to make her pledge complete she took out a piece of paper and put it to the flame and on that piece of paper she had written out my name repeat chorus
17.
Nadia Cripps. Edgar Allen Poe, Bill White - Lenore (Days and Nights I Think About You) 03:28
lyrics
Ah broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever! Let the bell toll!--a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river; And, Guy De Vere, hast thou no tear?--weep now or never more! See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore! Come! let the burial rite be read--the funeral song be sung!-- An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young-- A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young. "Wretches! ye loved her for her wealth and hated her for her pride, "And when she fell in feeble health, ye blessed her--that she died! "How shall the ritual, then, be read?--the requiem how be sung "By you--by yours, the evil eye,--by yours, the slanderous tongue "That did to death the innocent that died, and died so young?" Peccavimus; but rave not thus! and let a Sabbath song Go up to God so solemnly the dead may feel so wrong! The sweet Lenore hath "gone before," with Hope, that flew beside Leaving thee wild for the dear child that should have been thy bride-- For her, the fair and debonair, that now so lowly lies, The life upon her yellow hair but not within her eyes-- The life still there, upon her hair--the death upon her eyes. "Avaunt! to-night my heart is light. No dirge will I upraise, "But waft the angel on her flight with a Pæan of old days! "Let no bell toll!--lest her sweet soul, amid its hallowed mirth, "Should catch the note, as it doth float up from the damnéd Earth. "To friends above, from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven-- "From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven-- "From grief and groan, to a golden throne, beside the King of Heaven."

about

Traditionally, social structures are like trees. They have roots, the trunk grows strong and upwards, with branches extending horizontally, engendering a multiplicity of relatively identical leaves. Every branch affects every other branch, a unity evolving faster than it can be broken down by diversity.

But there is another kind of social structure, one made up of lines that can intersect at any point, but their individuality remaining unchanged by their connection to other lines, some of which are contradictory to their own nature, This type of social structure is called The Rhizome.

Most of my albums are of the arbor variety, with each part unified by every other part, Each song acts upon every other song, their diverse natures compromised by the oneness of the whole. Like a movie in which each scene is comprised of many modules, the albums are novellas comprised of a series of songs that tell a story only when correctly placed in conjunction with the others.

This album is different, almost random. It reflects society as it is in its true anarchic state. Each song has its own personality, which is unchanged by its proximity to the other songs. This is a society in whichindividual personalities are granted their uniqueness, regardless of the attitudes surrounding them. And it is this multi-dimensional tolerance that ensures the strength of such social structures.

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released March 18, 2023

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