Get all 24 Jason Mendelson releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of STFH MAG remix, Do You Remember?, Send a Medic, Wonder, All These Scenes, Katie Never Did, Thief in the Night, Where They Make Rum, and 16 more.
1. |
Eisenhower Ave
01:01
|
|||
As I ride backwards through Alexandria to my apartment right near the theater, Old Town gets small. The monument, the masonic hall. Everybody looks down. People scramble like ants.
Now Trevor Bostwick, patent examiner, shows up for work here, a busy quarter's end. Late nights, no sleep. Buried in cases as the daylight creeps - just over the bridge - people scramble like ants.
|
||||
2. |
Mt Vernon Sq - Conv Ctr
04:08
|
|||
Just came in from Topeka
Hey DC nice to meet ya
My first time in the city
I want to go somewhere nice
Welcome to the capital!
You wanna find a bar?
Well watch out brother
don't go too far
I know a good place
ten blocks away
you can fight for a seat
with all the neuroscientists!
You wanna get there?
take the train
don't stand on the left
or the people complain
don't block the machines
or the people get pissed
don't let 'em think
you're just another tourist!
City streets
A to Z
Cabs of blue, red and green
Now this yellow one's orange
flagged it down on a corner
man it's taking a long time
there's my state on a street sign
Sorry pal, got to go another way
got to get around this motorcade
I'll get you there, don't you fret
just sit back and watch the little TV set
Hang on man, I gotta check
did you mean Northeast
or was it Northwest?
Here we go
it's just up ahead
that'll be $15.50!
Took a seat
had a drink
saw that man on C-Span
I look around and see it's not so strange at all
A woman from Chicago
she finally left that town
says she's glad just to be here
after years of wandering around
after a day in the District
I could make it here somehow
all the restless are natives
I think I get it now
|
||||
3. |
Prince George's Plaza
03:24
|
|||
One day in the distant future I'm gonna make it out of this place
high-tail it from the Food-a-rama and disappear without a trace
I'm heading for the big time city just like Mr. Neal J. Fox
Bright lights and interstates in a brand new pair of neon socks
Goodbye to Riverdale
goodbye to all fair weather friends
Goodbye to Riverdale
Goodbye my fine fair weathered friends
One day in the distant future I'm gonna plan and make my escape
used Capri, one tank of gas, cruising down the East-West Highway
I'm heading out to California with Goldie Hawn and Mama Cass
Palm trees off Melrose Avenue, write my name in Venice Beach sand
(chorus)
Windy City waits for me
Big Easy seems so free
Sunbelt will shine on me
Big city!
Some day in the 1990's they're gonna build a station out here
Green Line right to my front door and that's how I'm gonna disappear
(chorus)
|
||||
4. |
Spring Hill
04:29
|
|||
Hey oh, oh hey!
There comes a time in a young man's life
to say goodbye to the things of his youth
To no longer ride a bicycle and maybe shave that beard
and give up trying to play the mandolin
but you don't have to do what those people say to do
so keep on trying to learn the mandolin
You've got some wax for your mustache
and a suit that looks like 1893
you no longer ride a bicycle since you took the Silver Line
and bought yourself a car on Spring Hill Road
There was so much to choose from you were kind of overwhelmed
but you bought yourself a car on Spring Hill Road
So you drive way up Route 7
Winchester and beyond
and then back to the District
to try to find a parking spot
With all the time you save by driving
you've got more time to practice mandolin
your girlfriend got a banjo and your buddy plays a tenor guitar
and the lady next door has got an upright bass
well now you've got a band and an album full of songs
Guess who gets to drive them all to gigs?
Yes, now you get to drive them all to gigs!
Hey oh, oh hey!
|
||||
5. |
West Falls Church
04:29
|
|||
I never thought it would come down
to brothers fighting on Upton's Hill
Struggling just to stand, divided houses cease to be so
Mine eyes have seen the glory
Attention and review
Whose eyes have seen the soldiers?
Julia
She wrote a set of new words
to "John Brown's Body in the grave"
Printing this poetry, Atlantic Monthly
it spread like wildfire
Mine eyes have seen the glory
Attention and review
Whose eyes have seen the soldiers?
Never turning back
Then they cut short their visit
rebels charging from the west
Back in the carriage with a northern governor
Washington-bound
(chorus)
The lines arranged themselves in my brain
so I hastily arose
I shall lose this if I don't write it down now
through the last verse
(chorus)
|
||||
6. |
Court House
02:37
|
|||
I just wanted to eat my lunch
eyewitness news is much too much
I can't even get back to my car
everybody's crowding my favorite bar
The lights, the game, the action, and fame
The leather, the whips, the ladies' silk slips
The power, the money, a little taste of honey
Bite marks on her tushie but she never said YES!
What a party man
What a party town
What a party way to beat me down
|
||||
7. |
Capitol South
03:53
|
|||
They wrote it down in a book
all they saw and all they heard
a merchant sails across the sea
and trades this work for silk and tea
Volumes land on these shores
in his hands, a collection soars
when fires rend and lay to waste
Thomas calls, he knows his place
Dust in the sunlight
dancing all around
pixellated shadows
He made the men an offer that they couldn't refuse
his books were numerous and valued, only slightly used
In his concept universality there was no topic that the Congress wouldn't want in their tree
so they purchased all his books, sixty-five hundred in all
filled up all of the shelves, filled up all of the walls
Mr. Spofford came and he went to town when he started copyrighting, talked to Buildings & Grounds
So they got a new place to house all the stuff
some of it is awesome, maybe some of it's fluff
but you can bet that if you write a book
there is a student in the future who just might take a look
I wrote it down in a book
all I saw and all I heard
a merchant sails across the sea
|
||||
8. |
Shaw
04:18
|
|||
9. |
Medical Center
04:59
|
|||
In a family room in Boston a father stands with his baby in his hands
He asks "Why? Why do you have those brown eyes? Why do you look like your mother?"
In a parking lot in Stanford a woman stands with a bottle in her hands
She asks "Why? Why do I need this so much? Why can't I change my life?"
They carry a code (DNA)
it's the language of life (DNA)
the lyrics of your inner song
At a lab bench in Bethesda a student stands with a test tube in her hands
She asks "Why? Why do I see this pattern? What's the rest of the story?"
She's cracking the code (DNA)
of the language of life (DNA)
she's learning how to sing the song
G A T C
C G T A
G A T C
C G T A
Find out what it means to me
Just may say your life some day
In a hospital room in Fairfax
a doctor stands holding her patient's hands
"Don't you cry. You're very sick, but there's good news.
There's much more we can do."
Because we know the code (DNA)
of the language of life (DNA)
the lyrics of your inner song
|
||||
10. |
College Park
03:41
|
|||
American Queen Anne in all her painted glory
Entomology, Professor Cory
One day when they dig this up
What will we leave them to find?
Training in the spring, Senators played here
Conservation, please
another strikeout for Candini
One day when they dig this up
What will we leave them to find?
Will they remember our name?
College Park
Buildings torn to shreds
daughters of the chief
taken much too soon
no sense of relief
One day when they dig this up
What will we leave them to find?
One day when they dig this up
What will we all leave behind?
|
||||
11. |
Cheverly
02:19
|
|||
Today is Cheverly Day
We're gonna go to the park and play
This town has hundreds of trees
and a playground made of cheese
C is for Cheverly
B is for Bellamy
A! Did you know?
Today is Cheverly Day
We're gonna go to the park and play
And if we run out of gas
we'll miss our orienteering class
C is for Cheverly
B is for Bellamy
A! Did you know?
Today is Cheverly Day
If in the secret garden you look
for the marbles in concrete nook
Why don't you write us a book?
Today is Cheverly Day
We're gonna go to the park and play
This town has hundreds of trees
and a playground made of cheese
C is for Cheverly
B is for Bellamy
A! Did you know?
Today is Cheverly Day
|
||||
12. |
Rhode Island Ave
03:14
|
|||
From the southeast side of town
there's a man who changed the world
never missed a day of work
Joseph Curseen
He was dedicated to the safety of his streets
a better life for me and you
an operator
We remember two men who were just doing their jobs
DC-born in '46
there's a man who changed the world
in the Tuesday morning mixed
Thomas Morris
An airman of four years
loved by family and friends
a bowler feared by all the pins
an expediter
We remember two men who were just doing their jobs
|
Jason Mendelson Washington, D.C.
Multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer Jason Mendelson of Alexandria, Virginia created MetroSongs in 2010 with the goal of writing and recording a unique original song for each of the DC area's 91 Metro station locations, based on local history and character. The project was completed in April 2017 with Volumes 7 & 8. ... more
Streaming and Download help
If you like Jason Mendelson, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp