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Overture 00:17
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Love in the shape of a ghost Entertains but always leaves her alone Toasts are just spokes on a wheel She drives them on without any feeling Brotherly love is all that remains And blind it is to all she claims The future is a pulse in the dark Declared for all but never revealing Who will appear for the light if it's drowning Who will appeal to the dust Scenes leave a mark on the skin surrounding Your age will reel you in Your daughter is a version of youth She smiles the clock goes faster for you When the time has come not to be seen Fate delivers the man of her dreams Take a lovers tour of all the young men Years past belief it'll never happen again The future's dark but kinder than most Declared for all but never revealing Who will appear for the light if it's drowning Who will appeal to the dust Scenes will leave a mark on the skin surrounding Your age will reel you in (Words & music (c)2011 Neil Carlill, Published by Fintage Music International B.V.)
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Eve won the award Birdie knew the score Sanders took his own life in 1972 He said “Dear world, I'm leaving because I'm bored” Tallulah was appalled at Betty's husky voice She thought impersonation But Betty's voice was sore from Screaming at husband number four A triple suicide film Or maybe just a double Because Marilyn was sent to the angels by R.F.K or so they say Miscellanea calls All about Eve It's a vision of the facts and what lies beneath But sometimes it all seems so very microscopic She stole the final scene As the scheming heir to Eve But Barbara Bates took her own life At the age of 43 She's enshrined In the three-way mirror The Golden Globe was Betty's But the Oscar wasn't in sight They gave it to Judy Holiday To Joan Crawford's delight Fuel on the Feud, fuel on Claudette injured her back And Haywood was too young They thought of Marlene Dietrich, Donna Reed and Ingrid Bergman But Bette Davis was the one The declining suns of All about Eve It's a vision of the facts and what lies beneath But sometimes it all seems so very microscopic The playwright is just a weird process By which a body could be dead Or brilliant or vivid. The Sideshow Refrains of all about Eve.
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Love streams, inside Now Voyager Struggle has it's signs They're adrift in her room Charlotte won't declare, not at all And it's to to be seen And it's time to be fair And it's time to put the spies out of her life Scheming hands, go How is soon, how is soon, how is soon? Take a look at the moon? All is swaying Here to take a cruise Now Voyager All is sailing When you take a ship Now Voyager A trip wears the sun A trip where the man he's already spun And she's bitten by the cake And she's stung by the crash And she's torn by the scandal How is soon, how is soon, how is soon? Take a look at the moon? How is soon, how is soon, how is soon? Take a look at the stars? Souls behavior No Marriage Now Voyager Go with the child Dr Jacquith Now Voyager So she won't take them all Into her life By the stars she will sacrifice How is soon, how is soon, how is soon? Take a look at the moon? How is soon, how is soon, how is soon? Take a look at the stars? Life streams now it's true Sit and watch Now Voyager (Words & music (c)2011 Neil Carlill)
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I cycled up to the orange town The yellow breeze it rubs the ground A Bower bird brings the daily news As fiction reigns in the solitude Flying makes you buzz you can catch the dust I want your kiss I just washed my hair Things to make you ring You can shake them up Take a walk With Madge I wake the lust You throw me down A fine appeal is all somehow A lire bird dictates the news A seasons change Sleeping makes you sick Won't you wake me up Hollow Calls Adrift from you all Lying makes you rust Won't you please shut up Hear the songs in many styles Time casts the sharecroppers son Cabin in the Cotton Slide past believable suns Wait for The numbers, the numbers I'll give you many many dollars for the peep show the undressing Bette Davis she's aglow It's 1932 Before the Hays code Sell the sexual adventure go bye bye Flying makes you rust Won't you take me up To that mouth I just washed my hair Sleeping makes you wish you were on the dish Oh so tall adrift from you all Time casts the sharecroppers son Cabin in the Cotton Slide past believable suns Wait for the numbers, the numbers (Words & music (c) 2011 Neil Carlill)
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She wore a Clark Kent pantsuit with shark bite seams She tore a line in the horizon with her high beams She was all about the gutters All about the eaves Shut her blinds but her mind's eye's on wide screen Was every spark of electricity just my eyes playing tricks on me or the black mark of dark victory? She swore to Ronald Reagan with a Clark Gable grin, "We'll stabilize this patient once the horse pills kick in." His pompadour was on the floor The room began to spin Now they're dancing on the gables like angels on a pin Was every spark of electricity just my mind playing tricks on me or the black mark of dark victory? He said, with eyes as empty as the bottle of vermouth, "I didn't catch your name when we were falling off the roof." She left the olives in the glass and picked her tooth and said, "I'll tell you if you want, but don't expect the truth." Every spark of electricity was my heart playing tricks on me Oh, the black mark of dark victory! Oh, the black mark of dark victory! Oh, the black mark of dark victory!
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Jezebel, Jezebel How ya like the view from down there, Jezebel? "Things are looking up as far as I can tell from the bottom of this well." Well, well, Jezebel An hour every day, the sunshine fills that saucer up above, then flies away I suppose, from where you sit, you gotta make the most of it -- Just because it goes, don't mean it quits! Jezebel, Jezebel Everybody's pulling for you, Jezebel Things are looking up as far as I can tell from the bottom of that well. Well, well, Jezebel The only antidote to cure your claustrophobia's a perfumed ransom note Be sure to act surprised when no handsome groom replies by crying out your flying saucer eyes crying out your flying saucer eyes And you say "Hope is just a telescope; Could I be any clearer? You're looking at the Universe by looking in a mirror Hope is just a telescope Darling, can't you see? You ain't gettin' any closer just by looking at me. You ain't gettin' any closer just by looking at me." You ain't gettin' any closer.... Jezebel, Jezebel Where ya gonna go from here, Jezebel? "I've already gone a long long way as far as I can tell if you count the distance that I fell. If you count the distance that I fell. If you count the distance that I fell." (Words & music (c)2011 Jeff Mellin, Sweet Red Onion Publishing, BMI)
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Table for two set on Hawaiian, thrift-store tablecloth in the the paper-plated corner of your kitchenette Cracks in the plaster leaky faucet in the sink Still, I think that was as close to perfect as it ever gets Not bad for a first try Not bad for two beginners and if things had worked out different I'd be more than just the man who came to dinner It ain't too hard to recall that summer at your parent's place, the expression on their faces when we told them 'bout it all Me and your dad out there on the front porch talking politics and sports just like a son he never had Well, I hope they're doing fine down in Miami every winter 'cause if things had worked out different I'd be more than just the man who came to dinner Guess I should stop by My flight gets in at 5 but my connection's not 'till 9 I've seen your photographs online: Halloween and Christmas; Little princess posed beside you like a witness to your crime I can see she's got your eyes There's so much of you in her And if things had worked out different I'd be so much more than the man who came to dinner (Words & music (c)2011 Jeff Mellin, Sweet Red Onion Publishing, BMI)
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Middle of the Hudson River Bay Your Pall Mall filters cherry lipstick stained Staten Island Ferry sunk in the bat of an eye and you cried, “Batten down the hatches, boy Keep the matches dry Batten down the hatches, boy Keep the matches dry” Batting your lashes like you’re Cassius Clay Gloating, “I’m the greatest, by the way.” Then your pupils grew wide as we swam into the shade of the Snoopy balloon from the Macy’s Parade Float like a butterfly I still feel the sting like an Indian burn from that dirigible string Barren eyes flashing red as the Flying Ace flew his flight overhead “Hold on tight” was all you said “Hold on tight, hold on tight” was all you said Float like a butterfly You gave me the slip as you pulled that Pall Mall from your cherry lips Well, I gave you my all; What more could I do? You shed it like a chrysalis; just another Hell you’d been through All this All this, and Heaven too All this All this, and Heaven too Middle of the Hudson River Bay I watched that big balloon flying away The wind snatched it It vanished in the bat of an eye Perhaps it crash landed in the French countryside where from Hell up to Heaven the doughboys still cry “Batten down the hatches, boys! Keep the matches dry! Batten down the hatches, boys! Keep the matches dry!” (Words & music (c) 2011 Jeff Mellin, Sweet Red Onion Publishinh, BMI)
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We faced them together but lost by a nose Click your heels -- you’ll still feel it when this wheel of fortune slows It itches and squeals in the folds of your clothes as the stable-gate swings in the rain Whatever happened, Baby Jane? Whatever happened, Baby Jane? That zoetrope motion That carousel sound The careful commotion of hooves off the ground froze in the flicker of a merry-go-round broken down frame by frame Whatever happened, Baby Jane? Whatever happened, Baby Jane? Lights low for the lesson; It’s easier to watch the slides in succession through the pinholes on the box That photo-flash finish comes ‘round again on the clock Odds are good it’ll end the same Whatever happened, Baby Jane? Whatever happened, Baby Jane? Whatever happened, Baby? (Words & music (c)2011 Jeff Mellin, Sweet Red Onion Publishing, BMI)
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A picture perfect unkind This world is lifetimes away from me She says "I don't mind" and the words defeat me Fingers trace the pulse that keeps me moving You've been so sweet to me all day It makes it so much easier to say I guess I'm bound to help you til I won't I guess I'm bound to like you more than anything until I don't Hit the volume/rewind Take two and it all unfolds again They say that the pain fades with time We're getting older but we're still not smarter People all so pleased to be alive To this day I can't imagine why I guess I'm bound to miss you for a time I guess I'm bound to grasp for some relief of any kind A gentleman in every sense of the word Yeah that's as maybe but what's the use When all you hear is "oh, you should be more like so" A single moment in time This life is eons away from me I say I don't mind but why should you believe me Thanks just the same I guess I've found my reasons It all seemed so much easier some time Turned out there was nothing much to find I guess I'm bound to brave another day I guess the horrors of the flesh are all we are anyway (Words & music (c)2011 Jamal River)
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When the curtain rises the noise from a projectile is heard And a cry, "oh my god!" It falls in a heap on the ground and she follows Fires in fast succession into its prostrate body Stretched out flat with its face on the ground Then the sound of a click, the six chambers are empty It looks at the revolver and lets it be dropped with its hand And with a fall of eyes on the body they become enormous Like beginning out of its head Like they be getting out of its head A glance of horror inherits its face It gives a shiver as it looks at the dead man And then on and on he is gone life goes on And then on and on he is gone Such a melancholy air has settled in on this place forever Our star has killed her one true love Or something like it, something hard to get over Holding murder and adultery grimly at bay She's still the champ, she can just grin and bear it, the end All this death and deceit Something well worth it to see Bring it with it'd make a swell movie Presenting Mr. Herbert Marshall as the murdered lover In the year of our Lord 19 and 29 And then eleven years later make the picture again Mr. Marshall reborn as the husband this time But there's a new set of rules, a new code to obey We got that old time religion setting in on the brain So tell your lurid, unscrupulous tale once again But this time it'll be an eye for an eye in the end, Amen Such a wrong-headed life we just cannot abide You want to make it make it right, Bette Davis has to die (Words & music (c)2011 Jamal River)
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Just got home from afar Got no prospects in store Got no cash to pay the rent Alabama's at the park Wanting for the same things that you are Everybody's money's long past spent She'll find you sitting there You squint your eyes and think You never will be left behind again You're out there on your own Twenty years from home And then you're parachute jumping from a plane Stuff your scrounging in your hat Steal a fish from a stray cat Then off to the airshow where there's nitwits needed Roll right off the plane Nearly lose it to a train That's bearing down exactly where you've landed Spend your earnings on a brand new suit Before you know it you'll be Guarding bodies and smuggling booze in Off to work you go Shooting down planes from the border patrol You'll send them parachute jumping from a plane And with Alabama in tow You both best serve the devil you know Or you're back out there on the corner in the rain You want the lightning Not the thunder You're scared to move because you might go under Where were you when you woke up today? Or did you wake up today? Now you're in over your head Time to bailout or end up dead Better off just parachute jumping til the end And when you hear the final call They need someone to take that fall But you said you would never be that way again (Words & music (c)2010 Jamal River)
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Hush hush, sweet Charlotte Things aren't quite as bad as they seem Been pushed round too often, yes But you haven't let them bury your dreams Drawn around what you haven't done yet Focused on what's already gone Hidden like there's nobody wants you Fading like a phantom at dawn Hush hush, sweet Charlotte Please don't let them rattle your brains Been lied to too often, yes Now your world seems so unbearably strange You fight to keep the things that you're used to Frightened by unstoppable change There's people close to you who will use you, yes But you mustn't let it happen again Floating in the fog of your impossible past You are sure you know the answers to what you're too scared to ask Trapped inside the horror of the things you have seen Now you're waiting for the flood to come and wash it all clean Hush hush, sweet Charlotte Things aren't quite as bad as they seem Been misled too often, yes Now let's show them what insanity means (Words & music (c)2011 Jamal River)
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about

Bette Davis is a legend of the cinema, the ultimate classic Hollywood star. Her style and attitude have had a cultural impact that goes far beyond the screen. And now, finally, her impact on musical inspiration will go far beyond “Bette Davis Eyes.”

THREE ON A MATCH is a new songwriting project from songwriters Neil Carlill (Lodger, Delicatessen), Jeff Mellin (The Eddies, Miss Mary) & King Toad (Furious Skinny, The Michael Tabors). Inspired by the films of the great Bette Davis, their songs draw on plot elements, characters, actors, biographic details, or, in some cases, the film titles alone.

Carlill (fresh from his collaboration with Duran Duran’s Warren Cuccurullo) and Mellin (fresh from his own recordings with the Velvet Underground’s Doug Yule) had been looking to collaborate for years, and decided the best place to start would be their shared love of old movies. And of course, the films of Ms. Davis were at the top of their list.

“Each Bette Davis film resonates with me in its own way,” says Carlill. At times he finds inspiration in of the back story, rumor mill and pop-culture trivia because “the surrounding mythology yields too much comedy, irony and tragedy to go un-eulogized.” He conceived abstract character sketches and highlighted iconic lines to evoke the films’ atmosphere and to produce a musical structure “that sets the listener quite literally off-balance.”

Mellin says that Bette Davis movies are "perfect seeds for songs." His approach was to focus on the titles alone: "I wanted to let the raw sound and rhythm of the words shape the songs’ creation, knowing there’d be no escaping the inherent aesthetics and my own subconscious associations." He says the titles’ infuse the songs with a “vintage mystique” and “cinematic narrative” that results in the “sort of memory dream you might’ have falling asleep to Turner Classic Movies.”

To fill out the trio, Carlill brought in King Toad, who found inspiration characters, dialog and even historical context. “My approach was different for each track,” says Toad. He comes at the material from perspectives inside an out of the film, and deals with plot elements, controversies surrounding the films, the overall sense and feel of the films, as well as their unifying roots. “Both "Of Human Bondage" & "The Letter" are based on the works of W. Somerset Maugham,” he notes. “I was happy to be able to write songs for the pair.”

These three varied approaches yield an album that is complex, witty, dark and even romantic -- not unlike Ms. Davis herself. Sticking to minimal, mostly acoustic arrangements, the three artists create a mood that evokes the playfulness of a Saturday matinee, the nostalgia of an old movie house and the solitude of private screening.The thirteen songs span Davis' entire career, from early pre-code romps like “Cabin In The Cotton” and “Parachute Jumper” through her artistic heights of "Dark Victory" and “All About Eve” and and up to the high camp of “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” and “Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte.”

To celebrate Bette Davis' 103rd birthday, the album will be pre-released as a name-your-own-price download on April 5. Stereorrific Recordings will officially release the album on matchbook (yes, real matchbooks) as high-quality download and then as a limited edition CD package, complete with film canister, imagined movie still, and a 28-page book on May 26.

credits

released May 26, 2011

NEIL CARLILL was a founding member of DELICATESSEN (Rough Trade/Big Life), who recorded three albums on the 90s alternative/experimental scene. He later was part of Lodger (Island Records), who landed the track ‘I’m Leaving’ in the UK Top 40. Neil is also currently one half of CHICANERY with Duran Duran's Warren Cuccurullo. Neil has also worked on other projects including ME ME THE MOTH with Marcelo Radulovich, VEDETTE with Manuel Stagars and Jayrope, 5 LITTLE ELEPHANTS with Charles-Eric Charrier and SHOOSH with Craig Murphy and Ed Drury.

JEFF MELLIN is a multi-disciplinary artist, singer, guitarist and songwriter whose jangling melodies and crafted lyrics blend Americana with Mersey Beat and sun-shower pop. The former front man for the 90s Boston-based twangle-pop group THE EDDIES has released a series of classic pop and melancholic swamp-folk recordings including Jeff Mell!n Saves The World, Parts 1ne & 2we (Stereorrific) and Good For A Gander (Stereorrific). His most recent solo CD, Love Is Made Of Sky (Stereorrific/dPulse) features the Velvet Underground's Doug Yule, members of SHRAG, & "Orange" Nichole Clarke. His lyrics have been anthologized in "Skin & Bones" (Kolourmeim Press) and his songs have been covered by indie artists including Miss Mary, Death by Chocolate, Superdrive and Slide.

KING TOAD (Jamal River) was born & raised in Iowa City, IA. He's been self-releasing music for the past 15 years since the age of 17, first on the independent Iowa City label Bla/NK, later on his own. He has released seven official albums under the name King Toad, the most recent being 2008's "Why Am I So Romantic?" His music explores various styles & instrumentation, but generally leans toward keeping things fast, catchy & short. Lyrically the tone is often darker, frequently touching on themes of death, depression & mental illness. He was a songwriter & multi-instrumentalist for THE MICHAEL TABORS in '04 & '05, and has produced one album and several live recordings for monster-rock group FURIOUS SKINNY. He has written songs & soundtracks for various projects, from film & video to live theater.

JOEL MELLIN - drums on "Dark Victory"

Mastered by PETE WEISS at Verdant Studios, Athens VT (www.weissy.com)

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Some rights reserved. Please refer to individual track pages for license info.

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Carlill, Mellin & Toad are "Three On A Match" Lowell, Massachusetts

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