Let's all thank the JogTunes Indie podcast for introducing me to May McDonough, my most recent music obsession. After hearing Red Tag Nation at the start of a recent podcast - and not surprisingly - at the start of a recent run, I was itching to hear more. So I came home and dug around in the Internet only to find very little. Just this video here - which I also love - and one other on Youtube.
I listened to a few more samples, read this great review, and decided to buy the whole album on itunes, which I have to admit, I've never done before. Who buys the whole album anymore when you don't have to, right? I guess I do, for the right sound. I just did, and I don't regret it. The pace of the album is a bit slow for running, but it's great for turning up loud and gesturing wildly in your back yard. Try it. You'll see what I mean. Or listen to the reviewer mentioned above:
It’s hardly surprising anymore that there are musicians as good as this out there just waiting to be heard. In a way, it’s a bit depressing to think about. This album is a must-buy. ... go out to May McDonough’s website to buy the record. You won’t be disappointed.
You can also hear the whole Red Tag Nation song at Music Alley, which is one of two or three places I found it available for streaming. You can't even find the lyrics for these songs in a search, which is hard to believe. I thought somebody somewhere had typed up and posted the lyrics to just about every song ever created at this point - but maybe not.
So, I'm going old school. Remember the days when we used to listen to tapes and transcribe the lyrics ourselves because they weren't in the liner notes and there wasn't such a thing as the Internet to feed you lyrics, wiki definitions and entire term papers footnoted and everything for free? I'm feeling all nostalgic about it too, like I should do this by hand in a flowered, page-worn journal - but I'm a keyboard girl at this point, so here goes. I hope I get most of the words right. They are raw and revolutionary. If you are alive, they will make you want to shake your fist at the world.
Red Tag Nation lyrics by May McDonough
Heaven waits for the damned at heart.
You don't know nothing til you break it apart.
There ain't no going home.
Drink your liquid courage and paint your tonsils black, I know.
Say what you want, you can always take it back, I know.
American boy with your British fixation.
Worn out boots and a vague imagination.
There ain't no going home.
Drink your liquid courage and paint your tonsils black, I know.
Say what you want, you can always take it back, I know.
Anarchy meets cooperation.
Whatcha gonna do about a red tag nation?
Sharpen your teeth and prepare for damnation.
Do what you can to wreck the foundation.
Anarchy meets cooperation.
Whatcha gonna do about a red tag nation?
Sharpen your teeth and prepare for damnation.
Do what you can to wreck the foundation.
Anarchy meets cooperation.
Anarchy meets cooperation.
Heaven waits for the damned at heart.
You don't know nothing til you break it apart.
There ain't no going home.
Drink your liquid courage and paint your tonsils black, I know.
Say what you want, you can always take it back, I know.
American boy with your British fixation.
Worn out boots and a vague imagination.
There ain't no going home.
Drink your liquid courage and paint your tonsils black, I know.
Say what you want, you can always take it back, I know.
Trade your life for a job at the farm.
Feed the weeds, run all your arm.
There ain't no going home.
Drink your liquid courage and paint your tonsils black, I know.
There ain't no going home.
There ain't no going home.
There ain't no going home.
I always liked your handwriting. It's a lost form.
Posted by: jen | November 21, 2012 at 09:24 AM