Record 3 of 4 · Backdoor Records

Claws Out

1990 · Backdoor Records · 9 tracks

The title track was written during a three-hour show that was supposed to be forty-five minutes. The production is thin. The songs are not.

1. 01Claws Out
   Lyrics

   Forty minutes past the end of the set
   And nobody came to tell us to stop
   The sound man thought the manager had it
   The manager was in the office with a mop
   Nobody in this building is in charge tonight
   Nobody in this building is going to stop us
   
   So we played the four best ones again
   And the room did not leave
   The smokers came back in off the sidewalk
   And they did not leave
   
   Claws out — we're not finished
   Nobody said that we were finished
   Claws out — the clock is somebody else's
   And the room stayed
   Claws out
   
   Then Dani played a thing that wasn't a song yet
   No words for it, no name, no shape
   Suki got underneath it and held it up
   Carla came in like she'd known it a year
   I opened my mouth and the words were there
   This is that thing — you're listening to it
   It did not exist at eight o'clock
   
   So we played it till it found an ending
   And the room did not leave
   The sound man took his watch off
   And laid it face-down on the board
   
   Claws out — we're not finished
   Nobody said that we were finished
   Claws out — the clock is somebody else's
   And the room stayed
   Claws out
   
   Somebody fixed the pipe at half past ten
   Nobody told us till a quarter to twelve
   And if they'd told us at half past ten
   We'd have played to a quarter to twelve
   
   Claws out — we were not finished
   Nobody said that we were finished
   Claws out — the clock was somebody else's
   Three hours and seven minutes
   And the room stayed
   Claws out
   
   Two hundred came in
   Two hundred and eighty stayed
   Three hours and seven minutes
   Nobody left

2. 02Velvet Claw4:18
3. 03Gerald's Mistake
4. 04More Glass Than Necessary3:41
5. 05You Girls3:57
6. 06The Third Time3:43
   Lyrics

   West Hollywood, the third meeting, a man with our record in his hand
   Three minutes in he said "you girls," and I let it go
   Eight minutes in he said it again, and I said his name
   Twelve minutes in, I stood up before I decided to stand up
   The body goes first and the reasons catch up later
   
   Everyone gets two
   That's my rule — I never said it out loud
   Everyone gets two
   I'm saying it now — everyone gets two
   
   The third time
   Not the first, not the second
   The third time
   That's when I'm done
   The third time
   Everyone gets two
   The third time
   He used all three
   
   Dani, Suki, Carla — all at once
   Not one of them looked at the others
   Three chairs went back in the same half-second
   And Todd still talking about the market
   I thanked the label for their time
   And that was the whole conversation
   
   Everyone gets two
   He said it three times — the same two words
   Everyone gets two
   Nobody told him — but everyone gets two
   
   The third time
   Not the first, not the second
   The third time
   That's when I'm done
   The third time
   Everyone gets two
   The third time
   He used all three
   
   It cost us the record — I know what it cost
   I did the math once. It came out the same
   I'd do it again at the third time
   Ask me in ten years
   I'll still be standing up
   
   The third time
   Not the first, not the second
   The third time
   That's when I'm done
   The third time
   Everyone gets two
   He used all three
   
   He used all three
   He used all three

7. 07Room Service4:12
8. 08Good Call3:18
9. 09Nineteen Eighty-Two4:43