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Save the Plant!

by The Size Queens

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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Between the Cheeks, To The Country, Save the Plant!, Consumption Work: Tammy, Cybertariat, At The Aral Sea, Appetite For Redaction, III, Magic Dollar Shoppe, and Is It IN Yet?. , and , .

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    Limited Edition of 50 Residual Media Compact Disc Digipak featuring artwork by José Villarreal

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1.
Daughter 05:29
DAUGHTER This time she’s really gone This time it’s really true Can’t stop her at the front door and tell her what not to do Could never keep her from smoking She made her way to the Piggly Wiggly store Couldn’t keep her from drinking She always had to have one more And you can’t teach a dead daughter Well that’s something true Oh don’t waste your breath She’s not listening in death She always dated the wrong men She made a trashcan of her car We couldn’t correct her posture Or going a little too far She never called to tell us Sometimes arriving surprise, surprise She had a boyfriend who drove an ice truck Something dead in both his eyes Now you can’t teach a dead daughter You can’t tell her what to fear You can only look upon her And pity the poor dear She was an aspiring student Didn’t have any clear aptitudes She kept herself busy Extracurricular, outside the school But we had hopes she’d be something Bigger than both of us To her we were just Ozzie and Harriet She didn’t have time for all that junk Oh you can’t teach a dead daughter So honey don’t waste your breath She didn’t listen to us in life She’s not listening to us in death Dear Mama and Daddy, I'm writing this to you to let you know I'm not gonna be coming back. I don't want you to take it personally. And I know that you never really liked Donny, but he's a good man and he's gonna be the father of my child. When he's not drinking he's very tender. When I'm not drinking I really think I can put my mind to reasoning. In the meantime I'm planning one day to go to veterinary school. For a while I think I'm just gonna ride with him in his truck. And then we get settled somewhere that's what I'm gonna do. I know I've left my turtle behind. Mama, please, if you wouldn't mind just making sure that you don't overfeed it. Just one piece of lettuce a day is enough. I know you get sentimental and you always wanna give it more but it'll make it sick. You know I love you, Your daughter. Bye.
2.
THE GOVERNOR’S MANSION They say they’ll give you a chance, but only one chance They say you’ll give you a chance The second chance is a warning In this restaurant, three strikes and you’re out You’re out It’s a three-strike restaurant And you’re out And they want you to wash the table They want you to keep your hygiene up They want you to smell like the lilacs in the bathroom The garden in the can Oh they want you to smell like the lilacs in the spray can And they might just keep you If you can make the powerful man happy They might just keep you around for the season But the season is short; it’s less than a week They don’t want to pay you minimum wage So you have to wear flipflops on your feet And they use you to wipe down the tables and clear the plates You feel like you’re working at the Virginia governor’s estate And they want you to wash the tables and smell like lilacs from the can They want to you wash the tables and serve the powerful man Because the powerful man, He only checks in for a week The high-minded man with his Thunderbird degree And he only comes for a week And he wants it perfect the whole time He’s changed the seasons He has dominion over time Your sister joined a cult in the 1960’s and she died When you were born the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s were far behind And the only thing left to do was to get a job in an office tower But they decided it was too much to pay you insurance or minimum wage for the hour Now you’re working in a restaurant where you have to smell like a canned flower So they gave you a job in a restaurant open for less than a week They gave you a job serving the governors To serve all the governors But you should smell like lilacs in the can And you should respond to their demands Or three strikes and you’re out And you end up in an industrial prison Making bathroom sprays Til the end of your days Or until you’ve changed your ways They locked you in the can Puttin lilacs in a can
3.
Supermax 03:31
SUPERMAX We moved to a quiet street With a nice stop light After you lost your feet And we stopped every time Even when there was no train rumbling by We moved to a tiny town There was almost nothing No one around They finally moved a Supermax into our town Are we safer now? I think we’re safer now And we grew up Told not to smoke Not to drink Not to think We grew up Told not to runaway Beware of the dangerous drug dealer at the end of the way The first one’s free Then a life of slavery Oh, are we safer now? Safer now thanks to those PSAs? Now they’ve moved this Supermax in and we both got jobs We can be each other’s eyes Everyone has eyes There’s always eyes watching everything Oh, don’t bring no plastic gun They’re more dangerous, dangerous than a real one Oh, our neighborhood watch is out If you’re going to wear a hoodie It better be pastel And you better act like a mouse Oh are we safer today? They told us to watch out for the drug dealer down the way They told us not to drink and drive We followed all of their rules Now they finally moved a Supermax prison into our yard The lights are always on The fence is electrified We can be each other's eyes Everyone has eyes We can see everything, everything Oh, don’t bring no plastic gun They’re more dangerous than a real one Oh, don't put that plastic gun Up to your head We want to tuck you into bed Oh, son, don't put that plastic gun Up to your head We just want to tuck you into bed Oh son, I think we're safer now Safer now, I think we're safer now Oh
4.
HALF PRICE OR NOTHING In the days when we dressed up Didn’t do it for a club In those days we could mess up There was always a wig or a raincoat I want to rob a bank Not even for the money I want to burn down a department store Cause all that stuff they sell is so funny And if we hit the florist, too Well tears for those bouquets Everything has got to go Half price or nothing In the days when we dressed up Didn’t do it for attention or a look Always had a wig and belt And whatever we took Wanna do something real Wanna do something real again Wanna do something we won’t forget Not for the news or nothing In the days when we dressed up Didn’t do it for the stage In the days when we messed up Always a wig and rage I want to knock over a bank Put the fear of God in some Want to burn down a department store What’s the point of life on the run And if we hit the florist, too Well tears for those bouquets Sad to see a rose in flames Half price or nothing It’s gotta be the real thing Wanna do something real again The way we used to entertain ourselves Most of us weren’t even friends Didn’t even know each other Who needs to know each other We’ve got the ends Don’t care how we get there In the days when we dressed up We always had accoutrements There was always a fake mustache A stolen car in the lot We’re gonna rob a bank Oh baby we don’t need that money Leave Harrods burnt to the ground Just because that stuff they sell is so funny And if hit the florist shop too Well tears for those bouquets Everything has got to go Half price or nothing Half price or nothing It's gotta be half price or nothing
5.
AIRPORT SLEEPERS The audience is sleeping, is sleeping In the airport terminal The audience is sleeping With their ear buds in, their songs on shuffle The audience is drinking, they are laughing In the airport terminal Watching the aquarium In the restaurant, they are laughing At the airport terminal A man is passing his passport to another Leaving his baggage unattended Washing his feet and cutting his beard Changing right here In the airport terminal And everyone passed through PRISM Become a hologram in the airport terminal Everyone's still in PRISM Just like holograms In the airport terminals The audience is sleeping They’re all dreaming, someone’s looking on The audience with their headsets crickets in the deserts, granular imaging Where are we going Who are we crossing The planes are leaving trails In the sky Where are we going When we’re crossing We’re just leaving trails of vapor In the sky The audience is sleeping Exchanging luggage In the airport terminal The smart phones changing time zones Sending letters off with stamps I don’t even know This I’m writing from the airport I might not see you at home This I’m writing from the airport I might not see you at home The audience is praying Before the hologram, in the airport terminal The monks and mullahs and priests are praying In front of the hologram at the airport terminal
6.
FIFTY SHADES OF PALE Ooh, sometimes you go to a party Someone sells you too much stuff And the room gets awfully stifling Laying out on the rooftop You feel yourself lifted Blowing like a cloud around the moon Fifty shades of pale Lighter than light Fifty shades of pale The secrets from last night No one put you into chains No one called you Mistress Jane Ah, you did it on your own Just you and your mind Oh, fifty shades of pale Bestseller for your tail Nobody else’s thought about what it means to be free Fifty shades of pale Lighter than light Oh, you’re blowing round the room Like someone’s bong hit Ooh, you did it all yourself Don’t need no S/M fantasies to set yourself free Ah, you did by yourself girl Fifty shades of pale Lighter than light Little slower than the speed of sound You found it in your mind Fifty shades of pale No bestseller could write All of the stories you experience In your mind You could use some ginger ale Cause your throat is kind of dry You’d like to see yourself in a mirror But your features have grown light Light light light Till there’s just a flux of air in there Tracing round your blond hair Fifty shades of pale Baby it’s your trip Don’t need no S/M novel to flip Yeah, it’s in your mind, baby Oh, Freedom Sex is in your mind Ah, it’s in your mind Listened to it on books on tape Drove yourself right off the road Stepped onto a boat, wearing just a cape You changed your name to 'O' Floated right out of this song And drifted off to sea When you left my castle Didn't give you no hassle You unlocked your own handcuffs, set yourself free 'O' where did you go? Where did you go 'O'? You drifted right out of my song…
7.
Magic Blimp 04:40
MAGIC BLIMP She thought she saw Saw a crystal ship She was lying on her back On a dance floor in Islip And the band it sucked but the guitarist sounded good She didn’t mind lying in the beer on the hard hardwood In her mind she can fly on a crystal ship In her mind she can fly on a crystal ship She was lying there when the whole drunk crowd was cleared The bouncer came up, kicked her once and said, "It’s time for you too, dear" She walked out on the street and saw trails from passing cars Wow, man, they’re coming at me like a million stars Oh she thought it was cosmic but it really was just her eyes Oh she thought it was cosmic, she needed surgery on her eyes He was waiting to be hugged by Amma in a Marriott Hotel The crowd rushed forward, everybody wanted to be in her folds To be hugged by someone who has hugged one million people Is almost like eating a burger at McDonald’s—so many served Oh, he thought it was cosmic, but it just plain made him fat Oh, he thought it was cosmic but it was bigger than that She thought she was walking in the 1960s She was in an annex of the Dubai Mall in the part they call The Village She thought she’d see a star like Edie or maybe she'd talk to Andy But all they had were just stacks and stacks of sale-price skinny jeans Oh, she thought it was cosmic, it really was just a mall Oh, she thought it was cosmic, it was closer to a fall And we all got together and burned something in the desert It's gotten too hip in Nevada so we detoured to Death Valley We thought we could cock our guns and pose like Squeaky Fromme But President Ford was long gone and we had no stories worth leaking Oh we thought it was cosmic, maybe we’d commit a murder But none of us could break the rules Get outside the rules! Ah, crystal ship, please take me Crystal ship, magic blimp Oh, Zeppelin Oh, Goodyear Budweiser Make me wiser Just take me I don’t care what you’re advertising Just take me Crystal ship, magic blimp Oh, Goodyear Budweiser Make me wiser I don’t care what you’re advertising Just take me Just take me
8.
ONAMANAKANAMANA Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ah! Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ah! I joined Shinrikyo I make sarin gas Put it on the Tokyo Express No looking back I wear a funny face mask When I took it off no one caught me I’m feeling good today, no regrets Have to do what you’ve got to do And I say Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ah! Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ah! I use sarin gas on the subway I feel good because I get away Getting away with killing anyone I want, oh oh! So you’re foaming at the mouth with your backpack on Gonna be late for school Everybody's gonna laugh Laugh at you Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ah! Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ooh! Ooh, I’m a Maoist sitting in a tree Waiting for police to try and encircle me But I’m picking them off one two three And that’s what a Maoist is going to do Maoist is going to kill you, OW! Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ooh! Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ah! Living in a village outside the city Wearing a mask Not going to let the rebels win Not going to let the government in Not going to let civilians live Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ooh! Ooh, I’m gonna have my own little war with you! Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ah! If you don’t get caught you don’t need regret If you don’t get caught you don’t regret If you don’t get caught you don’t need regret No oh! Aaahh Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-oh! Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ah! Sitting in my bedroom Sitting in my basement Making my sarin gas Gotta find a place to leave it Gonna put it under my hat Oh, I’m going to walk away Everybody is gonna choke today Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ooh! Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ooh! It’s not personal It’s not an attack on you I’ve got a bigger things in mind what I want to do I want to stop society now, I want to stop it now Everybody’s keeping me down But if I don’t get caught I don’t feel regret And if you don’t get feel regret Because you haven’t been caught That’s the way it ought to work Because it’s justice Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ooh Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ah If I was a chicken I’d carry SARS Carry SARS into the villages If I was a cow I’d be a mad cow It's true! If I was a pig I’d have trichinosis If I was a bird I'd have avian flu I'd fly straight to you, I'd fly to you Onamanakanamana cinemana-anamana-ah!
9.
SPINNING WORLD I can’t keep anybody safe I can’t even keep anyone around I can’t keep anyone alive Or keep the old ones from suicide Can’t keep anyone from a terrorist attack Lord knows I can’t bring anyone back Can’t keep anyone around for a thousand years Even if I could they wouldn’t be pharaohs but slaves And why would you want to keep a slave around for so many days I can’t keep someone from sending anthrax to the President I can’t make the Guantanamo prisoners free I can’t keep people from killing one another I can’t even keep my plant Sure I bought the plant for cheap But I can’t keep it alive I can’t keep anyone around for a thousand years I can’t keep the mummies underground And if I did they would not be pharaohs but slaves And why would you want to keep a slave for that many days And I couldn’t even save my own daughter I can’t keep people from sending envelopes with white powder Through the post office They're going to close them anyway I can’t even save this plant I bought at the grocery store And thing’s must be going to hell The plant I bought seems to hate the sun But it shrinks in the kitchen Doesn’t seem to like water but it always feels too dry I cannot save the plant And I don't know why Spinning world spinning round Spinning lies all the way out Spinning lies like masking tape Makes you think you’re wrapped up and safe But shipping out You’re gonna break It’s almost sure You’re gonna break When they ship you out You’re gonna break No matter how well wrapped up With that masking tape And I couldn’t save my daughter And I cannot save my father Thought I admit I didn’t really try I admit I didn’t really try Masking tape Put it on your mouth, put it on your wrists Throw it out Spinning world Get rid of it, get rid of it Spinning world Get rid of it Put masking tape On its mouth and on its wrists And just Then just take the world throw it out Like it never had a name And never did exist Spinning world, spinning round Everything is upside down Put masking tape on its mouth And around its wrists Then throw it out Like it never had a name Throw it out like it never did exist Spinning world I admit I never really tried Admit I never really tried I admit

about

On their sixth album, The Size Queens interrogate the shape of contemporary protest. With allusions to the Baader-Meinhof gang, Edward Snowden, Indian Maoists, Squeaky Fromme, Aum Shinrikyo, the escapism of pop S/M novels, and exploited workers in the service of government officials, “Save The Plant!” conveys the exultation and poignancy of revolutions, pointed and pointless. The Size Queens provide a glimpse of malcontents and those who wish to contain them: the prison industrial complex, the NSA, and worried parents. There’s no beeline to liberation, and those who are free must leave someone behind, shackled to the hope of returning to normalcy, or—in the case of this recording—to undertake the mission of saving at least one’s houseplant.

For everyone incarcerated, literally & metaphorically, facing incarceration, fighting incarceration. Save The Plant!

credits

released March 20, 2014

All songs Adam Klein & Michael Mullen
© 2014 Comfort Bringers Publishing
Produced by The Size Queens & Wally Sound

IN ALL PLACES Adam lead vocals; Michael piano; Wally engineering, mixing, & mastering; Nicole Brodsky stateless interlocutor IN SOME PLACES Adam handclaps; Michael organs, synthesizers, backing vocals, handclaps; Wally guitars, bass, aerosol sprays, door, recorder, tambourine; Ethan Gold guitars, bass, backing vocals, drums; Carlos Forster harmonies; Danny Pearson drums, guitar, mandolin; John Murry slide guitar, backing vocals; Ari Gold drums, backing vocals; Mike Carnahan guitars, backing vocals; Liz Bull backing vocals

On the cover: Jose H. Villarreal “See What I See”
Packaging concerns: Chuck Mobley
Recorded at: Wally Sound in Oakland, CA over 8 days in July & August 2013

Side 1 DAUGHTER Danny electric guitar, mandolin; Wally recorder, door, whistling; Michael pump organ, backing vocals THE GOVERNOR’S MANSION Ethan drums; Wally bass, aerosol sprays; Michael strings, harpsichord SUPERMAX Ari drums; Ethan bass, backing vocals; Wally lead guitar HALF PRICE OR NOTHING Wally guitar, tambourine, second slide guitar; John backing vocals, slide guitar; Michael organ; Danny drums (Stateless Track #5) AIRPORT SLEEPERS Wally guitar; Michael synths; Carlos harmonies; Ethan bass Side 2 FIFTY SHADES OF PALE Danny drums; Wally bass, tambourine; Michael organ; Ethan guitar MAGIC BLIMP Ethan lead guitars; Wally bass, rhythm guitar, tambourine; WonderWally sitarish guitar; Michael organ; Danny drums ONOMANAKANAMANA Ari drums; Ethan bass; Mike guitars SPINNING WORLD Carlos harmonies; Ethan bass; Michael keyboards

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The Size Queens San Francisco

THE SIZE QUEENS 2005-2017
After 12 years, 8 records and 1 EP, the loose-knit group of artists and activists, musicians and poets quietly and amicably disbanded and the art rock experiment that was The Size Queens was completed.

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