Get all 7 Billy Butler releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of No, Thanks, Tom Waits for None, To The Depth of Jazz, Music from Gay Bride of Frankenstein, You Let Me Down (acoustic), Neptune, and Billy Bitter and the Hip Ditties - The Lot #20 Sessions.
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1. |
Fame 1920
02:59
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So you wanna join the Follies
Leave your ordinary life behind
Become a Ziegfeld dolly
And dance a can-can line
You have got a pretty face
And you can hold a little tune
But there is more to being a star
Than sitting on the moon
There will be loss and pain
But without risk there is no gain
Rely on skill and charm, not some guy with a hat-on
There are better ways to reach… fame!
Can’t you see this girl is thirsty?
Someone get her drink, and quick
If you didn’t know, this is Olive Thomas
Ziggy’s latest pick
She the contest winner of
New York’s Beautiful-est Girl
Every artist wants to paint her
Dressed only in diamonds and pearl
There will be loss and pain
But without risk there is no gain
Rely on skill and charm, not some guy with a hat-on
There are better ways to reach… fame!
Here’s a tragic example
Of a showgirl who had it all
Now down and out on skid row
That’s a pretty long way to fall
She was once a Broadway starlet
Life was but a dream
Now she’s hawking chachkies
And chorus girl cold cream
She met a wealthy banker with six kids and a wife
He showered her with gifts and all the comforts of life
She didn’t have a clue he was a gambling man
Now she’s busted flat and selling all she can
She says, there’s work waiting for me
If I can just get to Paris
The showgirls make a solemn pact
To meet at the diner in twenty years or so
They’ll be rich and famous in fact
Everyone will know their name
There will be loss and pain
But without risk there is no gain
Rely on skill and charm, not some guy with a hat-on
There are better ways to reach… fame!
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2. |
People Are Strange
03:47
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3. |
Pianotown
04:15
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Isms and schisms were gettin on me
Got to comfy in complacency
Then New York City called
I packed up my Uhaul
And headed down I-93
So I'm movin to Pianotown
Pulling my roots right outa the ground
Movin to Pianotown
Uptown, downtown
Yes, I'm moving to Pianotown
Pulling my roots right outa the ground
Movin to Pianotown
Uptown, downtown
Yes, I'm uptown and downtown
Down, down, down, down...
Six months later still lookin for dough
Watching it all fly out the window
You might think it's strange
Slinging an ax for spare change
I'm selling a song, not selling my soul
So I'm provin in Pianotown
This white boy knows how to get down
Provin in Pianotown
I'm diggin in and gettin down
Yes, I'm provin in Pianotown
This white boy knows how to get down
Provin in Pianotown
I'm diggin in and gettin down
Yes, I'm diggin in and gettin down
Down, down, down, down...
Take the 6, the 5, or the 4
First stop in The Bronx
Then south to my door
Half a block from parole
Half an ounce for a c-note
And a view of the Harlem shore
So I'm groovin in Pianotown
Diggin my roots right into the ground
groovin in Pianotown
I'm diggin in and gettin down
Yes, I'm groovin in Pianotown
Diggin my roots right into the ground
Groovin in Pianotown
I'm diggin in and gettin down
Yes, I'm diggin in and gettin down
Down, down, down, down...
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4. |
Minnie the Moocher
03:30
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Folks, here's a story about Minnie the Moocher
She was a lowdown hoochie coocher
She was the roughest, toughest frail
But Minnie had a heart as big as a whale
Hidee hidee hidee hi
Hode hode hode ho
Hee dee hee dee hee dee hee
Woah, oh oh oh oh oh oh
She messed around with a bloke named Smoky
She loved him though he was cokey
He took her down to Chinatown
And he showed her how to kick the gong around
Hidee hidee hidee hi
Whoah
Hee dee hee dee hee dee hee
A hidee hidee hidee ho
Woah, oh oh oh oh oh oh
She had a dream about the King of Sweden
He gave her things that she was needin'
He gave her a home built of gold and steel
A diamond car with platinum wheels
Hidee hidee hidee hi
Whoah
Hee dee hee dee hee dee hee
A hidee hidee hidee ho
Woah, oh oh oh oh oh oh
He gave her his townhouse and his racing horses
Each meal she ate was a dozen courses
She had a million dollars worth of nickels and dimes
She sat around and counted them all a million times
Hidee hidee hidee hi
Hooh whoaa oh oh whoa
Hidee hidee hidee hi
Poor Min, Poor Min, Poor Min
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5. |
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The Ritz Hotel, Paris, France, 1920
Young Jack and Olive married far too soon
Life on the stage kept them far apart
So they engaged to renew their hearts
A second honeymoon
A first wedding bed
Impending doom
Someone will be dead
Jack was once in the Navy
He brought something back with him too
No, it’s not a trinket
Or a Sailor Jerry tattoo
A doctor prescribed blue coffin-shaped pill
To crush, mortar and apply to his dill
Restless, Olive decides to write to her mama back home: ‘Mama dear: I’m well and having a nice time. Leaving here on the 11th of September. I will cable you from the boat and will tell you all the news when I arrive. Love to all. Olive.’
Tonight, Olive took it all too far
She drank too much alcohol at all those bohemian bars
A bottle of champagne at Cabaret de l'Enfer,
At Cafe du Néant, two Black Deaths, one Yellow Fever
"Drink, Maccabees!" the bartender cried
“My deadly drinks will get you high!”
And drink she did!
There on the dresser what does she see?
Perhaps Jack’s flask of favorite Whiskey
A little hair of the dog that bit, they say
Keeps the pink elephants away
‘My God, what have I done,’ she cried.
Jack rings the front desk terrified
“Help, my wife’s gonna die!”
The bellhop rushes in
With milk and water they begin
To nurse her, induce her
But nothing is working.
She clung to life for five long agonizing days
Then the bright shining star sadly faded away
Rumors sailed faster than the steamer
That brought her dead body back to the USA
The American Hospital, Paris, France, Nineteen Twenty
A young lady’s life ended far too soon
Take heed if you love fame and booze
This could be your fate if you so choose
A last honeymoon
An empty wedding bed
Impending doom
Olive now is dead
Yes, she’s dead
In case you weren’t paying attention
Olive’s Dea…………d!
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6. |
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Spider webs, squeaking floors
Dust bunnies and creaking doors
Listen closely you can hear it moan
I love this house, I love this home
But alone, I am alone, I am alone
No, no, no, I am utterly alone
My life is one big dark room
I’m a negative, string up on gloom
Underdeveloped under a red light
A ghostly outline of black and white
But alone, I am alone, I am alone
No, no, no, I am utterly alone
I know things you never thought could be
I see things that no one will ever see
People who have died
More alive than the living
I can’t wait to die
I won’t bide my time
And yet, I bet I die alone
I am alone
Alone
No, no, no, I am utterly alone
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7. |
Stoned On 42nd Street
04:20
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8. |
Cynthia
02:17
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Cynthia, oh Cynthia
Queerest lady I know
Makes music swing
and the birds all sing
Cynthia we love you so
Have you seen
The Manhattan Queen
She’s a Bowery beauty
Eyes of blue
Her hair sometimes to
She’s a downtown cutie
Cynthia, oh Cynthia
Gershwin should write you an aria
I am so hysteria
For sweet Cynthia
(piano solo - chorus)
Cynthia, oh Cynthia
Queerest lady I know
Makes music swing
and the birds all sing
Cynthia we love you so
She once played
A lovely mermaid
Swam the sea top to bottom
Obscure as her art
She left her heart
With the Women of Sodom
Cynthia, oh Cynthia
Sees us all for the dolls we are
She is so mysteria
Sweet Cynthia
No one holds a candelabra
To sweet Cynthia
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9. |
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My fur-coat's sold, oh, Lord ain't it cold
But I'm not gonna holler 'cause I've still got a dollar
And when I get low, oh, I get high
My man walked out, now you know that ain't right
Well, he better watch out if I meet him tonight
I said when I get low, oh, I get high
All the hard luck in this town has found me
Lord only knows how these troubles have found me
I'm all alone with no one to pet me
But old rocking chair ain't never gonna get me
When I get low, oh, I get high
All the hard luck in this town has found me
Lord only knows how these troubles have found me
I'm all alone with no one to pet me
My old rocking chair ain't never gonna get me
When I get low, oh, I get high
My man walked out, now you know that ain't right
Well, he better watch out if I meet him tonight
I said when I get low, oh, I get high
When I get low, oh, I get high
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10. |
Ghosts of Broadway
03:50
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Dinner for one
Is not much fun
Can’t share a laugh
Or clever conversation
A bottle of champagne
Just doesn’t taste the same
Without you
The grand drape falls
On the final curtain call
The show is over
For the belles of the ball
The houselights are trim
Footlights have dimmed
At the end of the play
A single light center stage
Shines for the ghosts of Broadway
We’ll meet again
In heaven my friend
Dance all night long
The song will never end
Cole Porter will play
Night and Day forever
We will dine
The finest food and wine
Our cups runneth over
With a buzz divine
When it’s time to play
We’ll take our place center stage
We’ll bring down the house
We’ll be all the rage
And we’ll shine with the ghosts of Broadway
We’ll bring down the house
We'll be all the rage
And we’ll shine with the ghosts of Broadway
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Billy Butler New Hampshire
He has an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustains him through temporary periods of joy.
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