Immaculate Misconceptions
Immaculate Misconceptions (from the album and play Immaculate Conceptions)
Immaculate Misconceptions (2x)
You have them; you hold them… immaculate misconceptions…
Will you ever change, or will you stay the same?
Immaculate Misconceptions (2x)
You build them; you spread them… immaculate misconceptions…
Will you make the right choice?
Remain silent or use your voice?
Immaculate Misconceptions (2x)
You have them, you hold them… immaculate misconceptions…
Will they ever let you go?
If you don’t try, you’ll never know.
Immaculate Misconceptions (2x)
Lyrics, Music & Arrangement By:
© 2005 Jeremy J. dePrisco ASCAP
Our Town (from the album and play Immaculate Misconceptions)
Whether yelling “white power” or snorting white powder
Our Mayor is guilty and hangs
Whether sucking on sewage or judging the Jewish
Our vampire’s venomous fangs
It’s our town… it’s our town
It’s our town… our town.
While running in riots, the news team will buy it
Plump payroll reserved for police
A dark cloud surrounds us, our conscience confounds us
Our boredom our biggest disease
CHORUS
BRIDGE
Sometimes I wander alone, as gunshots ring out in the night
Why do I call this my home? Something just doesn’t feel right.
Whether angel or devil we all need a shovel
To dig ourselves out of our hole
Our history hinders – caught hard in the cinders
Of fossils of black slate and coal
Lyrics, Music & Arrangement By:
© 2005 Jeremy J. dePrisco ASCAP
Hard Day Comin’ (from the album and play Immaculate Misconceptions)
The times are changin’
All thoughts of creation are blown away in the dust
Friends are all running, soldiers all gunning, as we continue to rust
CHORUS
It’s a hard day coming… it’s a hard, hard day
It’s a hard day coming… it’s a hard, hard day
To get to the moon we’ll melt the silver spoon
Forgetting we’re in this as one
The rights of our people are written on the steeple
The savior, the mother, the son
CHORUS
Forget your intentions and smile on redemption
As gunshots ring out in the streets
Increase your confession to hide your obsession
With power, corruption and greed
CHORUS
This isn’t conjecture, this isn’t a lecture
Just one man with a voice
There’s no need to prove that it’s better to soothe
And we each make our own choice
CHORUS 2 x, 1st 2 lines of 1st Verse
Lyrics, Music & Arrangement By:
© 2005 Jeremy J. dePrisco ASCAP
Mother Taught Me (from the album and play Immaculate Misconceptions)
My mother taught me to believe in him
My mother taught me to be good
My mother taught me to believe in him
But his presence wasn’t understood
Lyrics, Music & Arrangement By:
© 2005 Jeremy J. dePrisco ASCAP
Tempest (from the album and play Immaculate Misconceptions)
The tempest… the growth and trust of lies
The capture… a sensory disguise
The Passion… all of which derives from
The tension… concocted and divine
Give the reason… that trust is concealed
In the mountain… stolen but not sealed
The Justice… of criminals and crooks
The changing… of the guard in the books
Religion… where the finger points
We’re together… when we’re not disjoined
The reason… no longer hidden by the light…
The garden, corrupted by design
The rapture, confused within our time
Deception… The path to which resides
In obsession… it fills the air with cries
Our possessions, stealing time away
From the dharma, just words, nothing to say
The vision, word power scares
The freedom, to love but not to care
Ideas… more patient than the dawn
Falling… like rubies from the dust
Lose a lover, wallow in regrets
Grab the cactus, another pain forgets
On her birthday, of 100 years
She made the statement – she never lived in fear
Lyrics, Music & Arrangement By:
© 2004 Jeremy J. dePrisco ASCAP
*some fragments inspired by View from the Moon by JoAnne Growney
Sister (Hell’s Back Door) (from the album and play Immaculate Misconceptions)
Got half of what you wanted and all of what you need
Be sure to look twice before you cross my street
Say sister don’t you seem a touch uptight
Why won’t your father let you out tonight?
Not pulling no voodoo, don’t want you to scoff
You have to recognize that I think you’re real hot
Ain’t committing no sins I have seen before… Meet me outside, at Hell’s back door.
Heard you singing in the choir, got an angel of a voice
Doesn’t seem to me that I have much of a choice
Say sister can’t you see that you’re my type?
My favorite colors are black and white.
Been counting my blessings and saying my prayers
I’m not too concerned about anyone’s stares.
Ain’t committing no sins I have seen before… Meet me outside, at Hell’s back door.
BRIDGE
You’re my blood, my wine – better body than Christ
Mother Mary, she was scary, but you always look fine
A miraculous conception – you could make me believe
I’m the serpent, you’re the garden, just like Adam & Eve
The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost
All of them know I love you the most
Say sister won’t you give me half a chance
For all you know it’s what God commands
Your eyes are magic, and I love your stares
You’re my bad habit, no one else compares
The priesthood can wait, that’s what time is for
Meet me outside, at Hell’s back door.
Lyrics, Music & Arrangement By:
© 2005 Jeremy J. dePrisco ASCAP
Shadowbox (from the album and play Immaculate Misconceptions)
The church is a shadowbox, who’s making the flame, makin’ the puppets.
The trees fall but make no sound, the Earth’s flat, spins round and round.
The priest is a psycho fox, who’s playing the game, cigarettes puffin’.
The lord calls the lost and found, asks if they’ve seen his Turin shroud.
The church is a shadowbox, who’s tossing the blame, and Bible thumpin’
Hymns ring, but make no sound. Their meaning is hollow now.
The priest is an astronaut, hanging by a thread, his whisky ain’t nothin’
The lord calls the lost and found, has anyone seen his thorny crown?
The church is a shadowbox, ignore the man behind the curtain.
The organ grinder makes a sound, pulpits and pews are pound for pound.
The priest is a bag of rocks, his glasses stained, the myrrh is burnin’.
The lord calls the lost and found, is the Holy Grail in town?
Lyrics, Music & Arrangement By:
© 2006 Jeremy J. dePrisco ASCAP
Chaos Factory v1.0 (from the album and play Immaculate Misconceptions)
Oh, what the hell is going on, the flesh has turned to stone
The city starts to burn, and they’re wreckin’ it, wreckin’ it
Oh, what are we supposed to do, as they tighten every screw,
Hammer every nail and they’re wreckin’ it, wreckin’ it
Oh, while the carburetor smiles, it turns inches into miles
Now we’re on the road to the Chaos Factory
Now, the blueprints have been drawn, the old ways are now gone
No sense in making repairs, and they’re wreckin’ it, wreckin’ it
Oh where’s the voice of all the men, protesting to the end
Everyone’s replaced and they’re wreckin’ it, wreckin’ it
Oh, the robots have been built, upgraded without guilt
No humanity remains… in the Chaos Factory
Rusty wrenches, dirty gears, collected through the years
Acid starts to churn and they’re wreckin’ it, wreckin’ it
They’ve got us by the tail, if the infrastructure fails
Corroding our control… cause they’re wreckin it, wreckin it
Oh, they’re tightening the bolts, the electricity jolts
To spin the belts and wheels… in the Chaos Factory.
We live just to feed the machine, keep the motor running clean
Against the A-frame barricade, and they’re wreckin it, wreckin it.
Punch a clock for all the hours, while the rich men live in towers.
We can’t drink gasoline, and they’re wreckin it, wreckin it
Ore smelting over fires, big deals made under spires
Now we breathe acetylene in the Chaos Factory.
Oh, the past forever looms, released from all the tombs
The workers will uprise… against the Chaos Factory
Lyrics, Music & Arrangement By:
© 2005 Jeremy J. dePrisco ASCAP
Chindra’s Lament (from the album and play Immaculate Misconceptions)
Five hundred disciples
Lived in a monastery
In the Himalayas
Where we lay our scene
CHORUS
Chindra, don’t ya do me wrong
Won’t ya sing that guilty pleasure song?
One woman of mystery, with her twelve-stringed lute
Found the monastery, by the light of the moon
CHORUS
Chindra, with your sweet sounds
Won’t you wake us with your melodies?
BRIDGE
When they heard her sing they lost their devotion… became delirious
Exciting desires… such wickedness
Dhyana, Dhyana, Dhyana – Put the girl away
Dhyana, Dhyana, Dhyana – This isn’t her place
Dhyana, Dhyana, Dhyana – Put the girl away
Dhyana, Dhyana, Dhyana
CHORUS
Chindra, you’ve got to go
We can’t have you, the answer’s no
The evil acts that you led us to
It’s not our fault, we’ll blame it on you.
Lyrics, Music & Arrangement By:
© 2006 Jeremy J. dePrisco ASCAP
Questions That I Ask (from the album and play Immaculate Misconceptions)
Is there someone here today
who will help us find the way?
Will the heroes of the past
turn out to be the last?
CHORUS
These are the questions that I ask, since no one is brave enough to ask
Do we practice what we preach, do our teachers really teach?
Will the conflicts always rage, is history a cage?
Will there ever be a time when our wisdom will outshine,
Will our tendency to hate outweight what we create
CHORUS
As I watched the two towers crash,
I ask myself how long will all this last?
These are the questions that I ask,
since no one is brave enough to ask.
SOLO/BRIDGE
Do our leaders have the right, to go on leading blind?
Will we ever pass the test, subsiding our unrest?
Will there ever be a time when our kindness will outshine
Will our tendency to hate, continue or abate?
Will the Phoenix come to out of the ash? Or has it turned to myth forgotten past?
Is it such an impossible task, to remind ourselves our time is running fast?
Now we’ve had our kick in the ass, will we learn or will our cultures clash?
These are the questions that I ask, since no one is brave enough to ask.
Lyrics, Music & Arrangement By:
© 2005 Jeremy J. dePrisco ASCAP
“I Saw the Face of Jesus (In the Ice Cubes of My Drink)”
From the album Immaculate Misconceptions
Lyrics by Steve Schrum
Music by Jeremy dePrisco (ASCAP)
It happened on last Thursday,
At Al’s Neighborhood Café.
I was having a real bad week,
So I went there at midday.
I had a coupla whiskeys
And I stared into the glass.
My two eyes crossed and what I saw,
It knocked me on my-well!
It shocked and knocked me off my stool.
I did not know what to think.
I saw the face of Jesus
In the ice cubes of my drink.
I shouted to the barkeep,
“Halleluia! I see the Lord!”
He saun-tered over… to see what’s what-
Was a slow day and he was bored
But he saw it too when I pointed it out.
He shouted “Jesus Christ!”
He’d seen Him in black velvet,
But had never seen him iced.
Everyone else hurried up
And each one had a look,
And every man and woman saw it;
It could not be mistook.
Someone called the papers,
And someone called TV,
And shortly then a news team came
And we went live at three!
The news it spread like wildfire,
And folks like pilgrims came;
They came in major multitudes:
The well… the sick… the lame.
Out of nearby businesses
The suited people flocked,
Followed by the faithful
And even by some defrocked
Tons of people came to see
This heavenly apparition.
Some were moved to convert;
Others to superstition.
But suddenly things took a turn,
Something I didn’t expect-
The Pope called in to talk to me,
Though the call was……collect.
And at that moment, suddenly,
A crisis of belief
Went surging through the gathering crowd,
And turned the joy to grief
Maybe it was all the heat,
Regulars and day trippers,
The bouncers selling tickets,
The fiery hot nude strippers!
I looked once more into my glass;
My legs did teeter-totter.
There I saw, to my dismay,
The ice cubes turned to water!
SOLO
The sight was gone by the time
The Bishop had finally arrived.
Sat at the bar and we discussed
The phenomenon, so short lived.
Out of Christian charity
he bought us each a beer.
I confessed I didn’t believe;
He forgave me with a tear.
We talked of faith and demon rum…
And how the poor do suffer.
And then in the beer foam I clearly saw
The face of St. Christopher”
Or maybe it was Elvis,
they do kinda look alike you know.
© 2001 Stephen Schrum and Jeremy J. dePrisco ASCAP