The Deal Box, by Douglas Chay

The Deal Box

by Douglas Chay

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1.	Bugs 02:44	lyrics	buy track
There's a big red ant at the foot of my bed If I go to sleep it'll crawl into my head There's a giant roach playing in the kitchen It's spreading disease and leaving droppings around I tried those sprays I even fumigated But all I do just seems to complicate it Emerging from cracks with their smiling mugs I don't like bugs There's a black hairy spider living under my sink If I get naked it'll bite into my pink There's some kind of crustacean there behind the fridge It's brothers and sisters are probably living upstairs Roach motels, electrocuting shells I just want to send those fuckers to hell Laying their eggs that hatch in my water jug I don't like bugs They hurt you, they harm you, in the dark they alarm you When you come home at night they're waiting in the moonlight They know when you're sleeping they know when you're awake So they can run to the counter and chow down on your cake Well I know some people keep their lousy bugs as pets But I haven't met a sane person who's done that yet There's a wasp on my cheek while I'm taking a nap Injecting its poison before I can slap There's a gangrenous slug floating in my bath It's sucking my blood and then spitting it back I don't mean to be mean I know they're all creatures of God But I still wish they'd perish in one big fat stinking blob They can live outside but not in my rug I don't like bugs Every time I think of you I think of you and your bugs When you die they'll eat you up They hurt you they harm you they all gang up on you Dropping in unexpected with hair follicles erected They're on your dishes your toothbrush, your toilet, your skink Your telephone your ice cream cone, your fountain pen ink Well I know some people treat their lousy bugs as pets But I haven't met a sane person who's done that yet There's a big red ant at the foot of my bed If I go to sleep it'll crawl into my head There's a giant roach playing in the kitchen It's spreading disease and leaving droppings around I tried those sprays I even fumigated But all I do just seems to complicate it Emerging from cracks with their smiling mugs I don't like bugs © 1986 Douglas Chay
2.	Me and Sister Dough 04:27	lyrics	buy track
Once I looked into a glassy eye's hypnotic gaze Gave to me a melody I can't begin to play Once I dropped a sea shell in a wishing well of coins Authorities, they said to me, "You're living far too recklessly" I don't know why they bother me and my sister Once I woke to find my house was broken into two Called the local seamstress, but there's nothing she can do Once I had some money so I bought myself a toy Receptionists, they guarantee it's far too intricate for me I don't know why they bother me and my sister ...my sister Dough She said that I ground my face in the sandy beaches of Northern Ireland But you know I don't remember Not a word of what she said would stay in my head Once I listened to a hollow voice echo my name Told me in a twisted tongue that shattered into flames Once I knew a lady who had books she couldn't keep Security found out that she was giving secrets far too free I don't know why they bother me and my sister She's going to write to me she's going to make me see WhatI feel but what I cannot understand She's going to talk to me I wonder what they're going to do to me When they find out I've been hiding all their plans They're going to torture me they're going to make me bleed They'll shine the bright white light into my eyes And when all my strength is gone I think I'll find it hard to carry I'll soar away just like a butterfly Once I had an enemy we both did wonder why I found we became quite friendly rehearsing for to die © 1986 Douglas Chay
3.	Hello Hello 03:15	lyrics	buy track
I don't know how I know I'll see you there I don't know why I feel I'm everywhere I don't know how I know you're there To those of you who Imow: hello hello I'm floating down an endless stream of fear While love surrounds I think it's somewhere I don't know how I feel it here To those of you who know: hello hello All I know is what you tell me All I hear is what you say Life is only what you make it I never listened anyway Hello hello, hello hello An endless time of some tranquility Will not arrive if you don't let it be Another height for you and me to see Reflecting light will surely set us free Another height for you and me To those of you who know: hello hello (repeat first verse) © 1986 Douglas Chay
4.	I'll Have Come Round 02:45	lyrics	buy track
My head feels full and what I hear sounds quite absurd And parts here are rather darkened That is, I think they can't be seen And others are quite light But it doesn't matter because tomorrow I'll have come round And I'll be the one you think you know or what I seem to be And I'll say thanks and you'll say please and we'll play along just fine But you don't know me when I'm alone, how could you I guess you could I don't feel sick and yet I don't feel well, I don't feel much at all And colors blur and points they curve and retain their shape through it all But you know I don't know why, I don't feel quite right It's just I don't feel the way I usually do (repeat chorus) © 1985 Douglas Chay
5.	My Dead Friends 02:54	lyrics	buy track
Martha is a friend of mine, she eats food all the time She knows your mother and tells her things about you And her friend Dave lies dead on the beach He never learned how to teach He wanted a Ph.D. but he found a rifle I'm buying some ugly flowers For my dead friends I'm spitting from the top of a tower On my dead friends My dead friends with their heads in their hands They eat from a can my dead friends My dead friends they live in a house Somewhere in the deep south My dead friends Stan is a casual acquaintance he's 43 with a good job But he's already washed up cause he always talks as if he's already dead Ain't that sad, ain't that a shame But there's no one around who you can lay the blame There's nothing to eat in the kitchen and I'm still hungry I'm wasting away the afternoon mourning over My dead friends I'm baking a cake with some white enriched flour for My dead friends My dead friends they all live in a van They eat with their hands My dead friends they're too busy to talk And when they see you they walk My dead friends they grow their pot in a pan They smell like Pierre Cardin My dead friends as a matter of fact All their clothes are jet black My dead friends © 1986 Douglas Chay
6.	The Deal Box 04:06	lyrics	buy track
The other night about ten o'clock Outside the grocery store parking lot A friend accosted who held onto her purse pt was next found riding in the back of a hearse It could have been me A guy was talking just the other day 'Bout how he got to be that way He was doing thirty, thought that's doing alright But some folks were drinking and they missed the red light It could have been me Everyone is hoping that they've taken some vaccine That keeps themselves immune The news all seems so distant from the subway office grind But give yourself some time I heard on the news about the airline flight When the hijackers freaked with their guns and their knives They wanted to go to some strange part of Spain But instead sucked all the people through a hole in the plane © 1986 Douglas Chay
7.	I Love Vegetables 02:51	lyrics	buy track
I love vegetables, I love the way They're multicolored, like no other, makes my day I love coffee beans and chromosome genes I'd like some cream and sugar in my DNA I love vegetables I love peach incense and California mints I love to feel the paintbrush on the canvas gray I love shooting stars and totaled cars I love to feel the wind a-tearing 'cross ray face I love vegetables I know a wall, it's rather obscene If you get there soon, you'll see what I mean You know that girl, she lives on the hill She's a deal of money, never made a will I love dollar bills, unwritten wills I love a chilly evening, darkness cold and wet I love leather's smell and water wells I love to burn a hole in things with cigarettes I love vegetables The time has now come To build our big garden The brine surely flows And our minds surely know I love oil paints and murdered saints I love to sit and watch TV while fires flame I love planets, stars, Saturn and Mars I love to watch a speech and see a tongue go lame © 1986 Douglas Chay
8.	Dr. Jenning 03:00	lyrics	buy track
Molest me an ancient tongue I climb upon its smoldering rung And every step I further take is one more chance I won't awaken Dr. Jenning—I think I need seme help Will you see me—maybe you can help Can you tell me—what's that you say to me, Dr. Jenning? Waiting for a blackened sea to ope its mouth and swallow me Watch the water turn to blood it tastes like wine is that enough? Dr. Jenning—I'm waiting in your room Where could you be—can you get here soon? When I think of—all the things you've done, Dr. Jenning I see her fill those needles full of things so kind I put my hands in my head trying to find my mind I don't know who to talk to things can be so weird My body's acning won't you let me out of here? The lobsters snap their heavy claws entangled in a seaweed gauze Disembodied from their heads they writhe together in sea beds Walking through a distant sphere where shadows rise and disappear Throbbing red goes forth and back my fingers severed and hair hacked © 1986 Douglas Chay
9.	Nuclear World 03:01	lyrics	buy track
God save you if you're born a girl There's nothing you can do 'cause they'll all do it to you God save you if you're born in America You're working for the Reagans or you're working in Peru God save you if you're born black Society won't want you and they'll try to send you back God save you if you're born a homosexual They have a separate table for the ladies and the fags God save us 'cause we're living in a nuclear world Save us 'cause we're giving all we have to the gov. Save us, can you tell if you're a boy or a girl Save us 'cause we're living in a nuclear God save you if you're overweight You're sticking to your diet but you don't know what you ate God save you from the Church of God They'll tell you what you want to hear and then they'll tell you their rate God save you if you can't conform You'll see they'll go reform you if you're straying from the norm God save you if you're handicapped They'll say you're not a real person and that's not where it's at God save us cause we're living in a nuclear world Save us 'cause we can't afford to pay off our "bills Save us 'cause I think we're all incurably ill Save us 'cause we're living in a nuclear world Nuclear babies bouncing off the wall Weaned on their bottles with nylon nipples Disposable family in the family car Going away for a vacation On a slippery Vaseline beach It's just a brown paper bag, take-out order, toilet paper Rubber, polyethylene, microwave, mucous membrane Pelt tip, ballpoint, aerosol, sanitary napkin, two for one Nuclear world God save you if you can't conceive They're mixing you a baby in a laboratory God save you if you're getting old They'll stick you in an institution and watch your body go cold God save you if you're born at all You know you're asking for some trouble if you crawl out the womb God save you on your dying day They'll pickle up your body and stick you in your tomb © 1986 Douglas Chay
10.	Last Sunday Evening 03:31	lyrics	buy track
Sunday evening, I must be leaving For a place where I don't want to be No, I can't stay, I have to go far away But I wish you'd come there with me 'Cause this is my last Sunday evening This is my last Sunday night This is my last Monday morning I have to leave to catch my flight This is my last throat contraction This is my last time tonight This is the last time I'll see you Send me a postcard if you like Monday morning will soon be dawning And I won't care what Tuesday brings I'll watch the steam rise from my creamed coffee Fatty bacon with doughnut rings (repeat chorus) © 1986 Douglas Chay
11.	i.e. (Part 1) 01:09	lyrics	buy track
Ladies on the street, you're calling it nighttime You're on the street but it's all you can do Walking to your car, you know it don't feel right You have your money but you don't have your shoes Looking for a job, you know you won't find one All the employers have their eye out for you Sleeping in a bush, it's softer than sidewalks But either way you're waking up in the nude You gotta leave it there, you gotta leave your cares in your baggies You got love, you got love there somewhere You got to leave your care with the governmental blues Elevator muse doorman at the railway station © 1986 Douglas Chay
12.	Tourmaline 03:06	lyrics	buy track
Wake me up tonight don't let me out of sight Take my mirrors down I want to touch your hair Tourmaline I'd like to see you when I do so This time for me Think of me tonight and think of something kind Look up at the sky you'll he before my eyes Tourmaline this time tomorrow I'll be Click, tick tock, this time you'll see Oh, I hear the rain Falling down again Make me feel alright and tell me only lies Take me to the cliff and put me on the rocks Tourmaline I'd like to be there when you need me This time for me Oh, I hear the rain Falling down again © 1985 Douglas Chay
13.	Peach Onion Sandwich 03:08	lyrics	buy track
People used to tell me "I don't like the way your hair Falls down to your shoulders, you're not getting older There's no room for you there" People used to ask me "why can't you be one of us You're always alone in what you call your home We really think you missed the bus" People used to judge me, a court a jury of law We'll pass a sentence and ask for your repentance And make you stand against the wall Give me what I need and don't try to make me bleed I'm not your oppressor don't try to feed me lessons Of your righteous morality Leave my thoughts alone and stop invading my phone I won't be a martyr for established institutions try to creep into your home All I need is what I need People used to tell me, while talking on the telephone What I didn't want to hear, confirming all my fears Ended saying "can't you leave me alone?" People used to send me letters I would throw in the trash The envelope would say I might have already won today A million dollars in cash, how bout that? People used to make me into something that I never was That they wanted me to be and they tried to convince me That that was the way I was (repeat chorus) © 1987 Douglas Chay
14.	Sydney's Spectacular Horror 04:50	lyrics	buy track
The eyes of sight can't see him coming down The prison walls that hear no sound He wants to get back to his life And drink some tea and see his wife He ran from Dover to Beltane Got under cover in the rain He got lost somewhere 'round route thirty-five He was so tired, thought he'd hide And get a little bit of sleep Next to the horses and the sheep He wants to get back to his life And see the kids and fuck the wife He wandered in a waterfront cafe And ordered fish and chips to stay He'll never go away he'll never ever go away (repeat first verse) His wife was watching television And saw the six o'clock news had come on An escaped convict had been shot She wasn't hoping he was not He wants to get back to his life And eat some food and see his wife © 1986 Douglas Chay
15.	96 Million Miles From Home 02:39	lyrics	buy track
I was walking in the winter woods one day When I looked up and saw a sign for me say Man, you better run as fast as you can Cause you've landed somewhere in another land I stared and stared at the silver sign The air was thin, thought that I'd go blind In the golden horizon a castle hovered Cast a shadow on the people who fell on one another People there said you'd better beware We've landed 96 million miles from home Plow the deep to get enough sleep We're going 96 million miles I heard an ominous voice call out my name Sounded shallow deeply hollow like a fiery flame I tried to run, did the best that I can But I got the feeling it was part of the plan I was taken to the castle by an opposing force Its walls were chained, a moat and mane Its floors were doors They brought me to a room, it was a desert land They sat me in a room that was filled with sand A drawbridge and a moat, a platinum lined coat It was 96 million miles from home Walk a million miles it went out of style We've landed 96 million miles Ashes to ashes, dust to dust Cold hard steel now turns to rust Paint on the canvas drops to the eye Simply gravity, I wonder why The next thing I know I was throwing the sand I'm back in the woods holding the land in my hand I looked up at the sign it say you better beware But I closed my eyes and it wasn't there What have I seen and where have I been? A drawbridge and a moat, a platinum lined coat It was 96 million miles from home © 1985 Douglas Chay
16.	Me and Sister Dough (Band Version) 04:34	lyrics	buy track
Once I looked into a glassy eyes hypnotic gaze Gave to me a melody I can't begin to play Once I dropped a sea shell in a wishing well of coins Authorities, they said to me, "You're living far too recklessly" I don't know why they bother me and my sister Once I woke to find my house was broken into two Called the local seamstress, but there's nothing she can do Once I had some money so I bought myself a toy Receptionists, they guarantee it's far too intricate for me I don't know why they bother me and my sister ...my sister Dough She said that I ground my face in the sandy beaches of Northern Ireland But you know I don't remember Not a word of what she said would stay in my head Once I listened to a hollow voice echo my name Told me in a twisted tongue that shattered into flames Once I knew a lady who had books she couldn't keep Security found out that she was giving secrets far too free I don't know why they bother me and my sister Shes going to write to me she's going to make me see WhatI feel but what I cannot understand She's going to talk to me I wonder what they're going to do to me When they find out I've been hiding all their plans They're going to torture me they're going to make me bleed They'll shine the bright white light into my eyes And when all my strength is gone I think I'll find it hard to carry I'll soar away just like a butterfly Once I had an enemy we both did wonder why I found we became quite friendly rehearsing for to die © 1986 Douglas Chay
17.	The Deal Box (Band Version) 04:17	lyrics	buy track
The other night about ten o'clock Outside the grocery store parking lot A friend accosted who held onto her purse pt was next found riding in the back of a hearse It could have been me A guy was talking just the other day 'Bout how he got to be that way He was doing thirty, thought that's doing alright But some folks were drinking and they missed the red light It could have been me Everyone is hoping that they've taken some vaccine That keeps themselves immune The news all seems so distant from the subway office grind But give yourself some time I heard on the news about the airline flight When the hijackers freaked with their guns and their knives They wanted to go to some strange part of Spain But instead sucked all the people through a hole in the plane © 1986 Douglas Chay
18.	Dr. Jenning (Band Version) 02:59	lyrics	buy track
Molest me an ancient tongue I climb upon its smoldering rung And every step I further take is one more chance I won't awaken Dr. Jenning—I think I need seme help Will you see me—maybe you can help Can you tell me—what's that you say to me, Dr. Jenning? Waiting for a blackened sea to ope its mouth and swallow me Watch the water turn to blood it tastes like wine is that enough? Dr. Jenning—I'm waiting in your room Where could you be—can you get here soon? When I think of—all the things you've done, Dr. Jenning I see her fill those needles full of things so kind I put my hands in my head trying to find my mind I don't know who to talk to things can be so weird My body's acning won't you let me out of here? The lobsters snap their heavy claws entangled in a seaweed gauze Disembodied from their heads they writhe together in sea beds Walking through a distant sphere where shadows rise and disappear Throbbing red goes forth and back my fingers severed and hair hacked © 1986 Douglas Chay
19.	Bugs (Version 2) 02:50	lyrics	buy track
There's a big red ant at the foot of my bed If I go to sleep it'll crawl into my head There's a giant roach playing in the kitchen It's spreading disease and leaving droppings around I tried those sprays I even fumigated But all I do just seems to complicate it Emerging from cracks with their smiling mugs I hate bugs There's a black hairy spider living under my sink If I get naked it'll bite into my pink There's some kind of crustacean there behind the fridge It's brothers and sisters are probably living upstairs Roach motels, electrocuting shells I just want to send those fuckers to hell Laying their eggs that hatch in my water jug I hate bugs They hurt you, they harm you, in the dark they alarm you When you come home at night they're waiting in the moonlight They know when you're sleeping they know when you're awake So they can run to the counter and chow down on your cake Well I know some people keep their lousy bugs as pets But I haven't met a sane person who's done that yet There's a wasp on my cheek while I'm taking a nap Injecting its poison before I can slap There's a gangrenous slug floating in my bath It's sucking my blood and then spitting it back I don't mean to be mean I know they're all creatures of God But I still wish they'd perish in one big fat stinking blob They can live outside but not in my rug I hate bugs Every time I think of you I think of you and your bugs When you die they'll eat you up They hurt you they harm you they all gang up on you Dropping in unexpected with hair follicles erected They're on your dishes your toothbrush, your toilet, your skink Your telephone your ice cream cone, your fountain pen ink Well I know some people keep their lousy bugs as pets But I haven't met a sane person who's done that yet There's a big red ant at the foot of my bed If I go to sleep it'll crawl into my head There's a giant roach playing in the kitchen It's spreading disease and leaving droppings around I tried those sprays I even fumigated But all I do just seems to complicate it Emerging from cracks with their smiling mugs I hate bugs © 1986 Douglas Chay
20.	i.e. (Parts 2-6) 05:36	lyrics	buy track
I can feel you in the morning I can see you in the night So long says the pipeman in his brown cedar suit For his store was burned down by the mafia And his lover took too many sleeping pills And his kids joined the Church and came out Brainwashed I can hear it bouncing off the wall Remember the old man with his head on the plate The silverware bent and melted back into earth And the people throw their bread to the ducks They feel they must not use words Or else people will know that their communication Is not at all what they wish it to be © 1987 Douglas Chay

credits

released January 17, 1987

Composed, performed and produced by Douglas Chay: vocals, guitars, bass, percussion, piano, organ, flute

Except tracks 16-18: Mason Stokes: drums and percussion, Dan Cook: violin and bass

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about

Douglas Chay Baltimore, Maryland

Melodic, fuzz drenched songs celebrating household objects and abject alienation. Chay was part of the Columbia, SC music scene in the late '80s/early '90s and fronted the band Deal Box.

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