Praise for Sum of Its Parts:
“A superb pop-rock album to show for a lifetime of efforts and love of music with strong melodies and clever wordplay. People who like The Beatles, Steely Dan, Elvis Costello, Squeeze, Crowded House and other pop maestros will gobble this up like a kid in a candy store”
“Weiss sounds fresh, vibrant and original and I know how difficult that can be when you have so many influences that are instantly recognizable”.
“Weiss bends, bleeds, and balances a bit of varying song styles…This mucho enjoyable display of “good taste acumen” is bold, beautiful, and very highly recommended”.
Words & Music by Gordon Weiss
Produced by Jeff Cannata & Gordon Weiss
Engineered & Mixed by Jeff Cannata for Oxford Circus
Mastered by Jonathan Wyner at MWorks
LYRICS
FOUNTAINS OF WEEZER
I know you’ve heard this all before
Ok so you can tell me what else is new
So no one’s breaking down my front door
She told you that I haven’t got a clue
If that’s true, well who clued you?
You cannot read between my lines
There’s only word of mouth to guide you
You only seem to mouth the words
You must have heard my biting wit will blind you
Your friend said just enjoy the view
And strike a pose your hand cocked to your hip
You gaze right through me missing every cue
And wonder why you cannot read my lips
My acid tongue and barbed wire quips
You cannot read between my lines
There’s only word of mouth to guide you
You only seem to mouth the words
You must have heard my biting wit will blind you
Don’t hang on every word
It will surely trip you up
You talk so big when making small talk
And never know when they’ve had enough
Gordon: Vocals, Guitars, Bass
Jeff Batter: Keyboards
Greg Trabandt: Drums
Pete Hodson & Bill Welch: Background Vocals
TOO MUCH
I bought you everything you ever asked for
When I came by saw them all piled up on the floor
You said it’s too much baby
Told me to call you when I got home from our date
Phones always busy though I know you’ve got call waiting
Oh it’s too much baby
Then you tell me you want to see me again
You tell me where and how, but you never say when
I come to see you and you’re out to lunch
It’s too much like waitin’ in line
The next one’s always moving faster
Some other guys beat me to the punch
I never see the harm in tryin’
Too much, too much baby
It’s too late I’m always asking for more
Ask you to show me your room, you show me the door
Oh it’s too much baby
I can’t wait to get loaded today
You’ll just shoot me down, blow me away
It’s too much baby
Try to quit you, but here I go again
I’m cryin’ uncle, but I never know when to say when
You got me looking through a yard of wool
You drive, I hold the wheel steady
While you’re puttin’ your makeup on
All the palms are greased their pockets are full
But the tables never ready
Think it’s a con, love you…
Too much, too much baby
Gordon: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Percussion
Jeff Batter: Piano, Organ
Greg Trabandt: Drums
IT’S EASY
You look in my direction
You see your own reflection
I can tell that you’re afraid
I know I’ve been there before
Please don’t tell me, that you don’t care
Please don’t ask me, why it’s not fair
It’s easy to say it’s so hard
It’s not easy to play the card
That you dealt
She calls in your direction
In her eyes shine your own reflection
She sees, sees right through you
You can’t pretend that it don’t matter to you anymore
Please don’t ask me, who’s to blame
Please don’t tell me, you feel the same
My world is very small
Just these four blocks and these four walls
But I can lose my way
And I find you here and you say
Gordon: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Percussion
Greg Trabandt: Drums
RED SHOES REVISITED
Heard about those red shoes, the ones that make you more of a man
When you walked out of the ballroom, told them you don’t give a damn
‘Cause your life is full of parties, celebrations and affairs
Did you say it was no loss now, when she kicked you in the stairs?
Don’t go looking for those shoes ‘cause they’re in the lost and found
And you can only dance when there’s no one else around
Talk about sincerity, well you gazed back with a puzzled look
So you dusted off the dictionary, then dropped it by your little black book
When she walked into the room your eyes ripped off her glittering gown
So you go down to the weight room and preponderate yourself with pounds
Feet grow cold and clammy when you hear that jungle sound
‘Cause you can only dance when there’s no one else around
When you’re alone, what do you think about the company?
When you’re slapping on the aftershave, which front do you see?
It’s time to go home now, it’s the place where you hang your hat
Your head is swimming from cheap champagne, you’re afraid you
don’t know where it’s at
You make it to the doorway, stinking, cold, and pale
On the table is your phone book buried under unanswered mail
Out go the lights, you pump up the familiar sounds
And you can only dance when there’s no one else around
Gordon: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Percussion
Jeff Batter: Organ
Greg Trabandt: Drums
Pete Hodson & Bill Welch: Background Vocals
UNFORGIVABLE
Out in the yard is a constant reminder
Weeding from last year’s fall
Back of your mind, that is where you will find her
Voice you heard on that call
Try to remember all that you’ve given
What’s stuck in your craw is what you forgive him for
For sake of another day
Sun beating down cooking up the asphalt
House is so God damn cold
Voice in your head says that it’s just his fault
Trust that he bought and sold
When he comes home you just make yourself busy
Lost in the haze of another gin fizzy
For sake of another day
Goin’ through all the motions
Showing him no emotion
Silence is your vengeance
Time is all that you’ve got now
With the ticking of the clock
He won’t know what hit him
He won’t know where the end is
Sun fades at the end of another day
Night is your darkest hour
The love that has wilted and withered away
Serves up a bitter supper that you watch him devour
Try to remember all that you’ve given
What’s stuck in your craw is what you forgive him for
Forsaken another day
Gordon: Vocals, Piano, Guitars, Bass, Percussion
Jeff Batter: Organ
Greg Trabandt: Drums
Pete Hodson & Bill Welch: Background Vocals
WASTING TIME
Thought you’d be here forever
I was wasting time
I was sizing up king size walls
Far too high to climb
Climbing into shadows
Hiding in my prime
I was waiting far too long
For you to change your mind
Wasting time
See heavens above me
It never crossed by mind
Something could be brighter
Or greyer than my sky
Looking for my left foot
But it just ain’t right
Keep on walking backwards
Future still in sight
Wasting time
Losing all direction
Wasting precious time
Looked into the mirror
And found that I was blind
Gordon: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Percussion
Greg Trabandt: Drums
Pete Hodson & Bill Welch: Background Vocals
DATE IN THE MOONLIGHT
Never said goodbye
So long, so long never said
Couldn’t free the blame
From the cobwebs strung ‘round his head
Snake it winds, it leaves behind the sin it sheds
Feeling grows, like the changing tide, it flows, it ebbs
Slipped away, just out of his grasp
Moving so fast
How long can a memory last?
From a smile across the room
Date in the moonlight
To a picture on the dashboard
Curled and faded in the sunlight
Stereo speakers thump, driver sings
Her smile eclipsed by a halo ring
Images crawl across the glass
Moving so fast
How long can a memory last?
You can close your eyes
Imagine the turns
Hoping the trip will last
How many miles have passed?
How long can a memory last?
Gordon: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Percussion
Jeff Batter: Keyboards
Greg Trabandt: Drums
HALF OF HARRY
Half of Harry walked down the street
The other went the opposite way
Half of Harry talk you off your feet
But he didn’t have a lot to say
Harry always ate half of everything
Never finishing the other
Mom said don’t talk with your mouth full
And Harry always minded mother
So don’t go looking for Harry
He may be here, he may be there
Without a load to carry
He doesn’t need to care
No need to take a wife
Harry had a full life…. but he wasn’t
He’s the guy with his head in the sky
His feet tied firmly to the ground
All through the day he finds he’s losing his way
‘Cause his address book’s in the lost and found
He’s the man without a plan
Never worries about the weather
He passes time changing his mind
The reaper thinks he’s rather clever
Harry where did you go
Is he fast, is he slow, I don’t think so
He’s just a traveling one man show
Half of Harry went up to bed
The other got up to greet the day
Some people think he’d be better off dead
Than to lead a double life this way
Gordon: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Percussion
Jeff Batter: Keyboards
Greg Trabandt: Drums
Pete Hodson & Bill Welch: Vocals
HOOK, LINE, AND SINGER
He’s got the hair like Samson and a three octave range
I watched her swaying side to side, hypnotic so strange
He’s got a guilty secret, he likes home on the range
But he won’t settle down, he likes the ball and change
He’s an angler and she is sinking
A real head banger, he’s always winking
He’s much too tightly wound to let her slip through his fingers
And she fell for him..
Hook, line, and singer
The critics gave their feedback he’s a real humdinger
No encore after the show, he’ll never linger
It’s my mistake, why the hell did I bring her
‘Cause she took the bait again,
Hook, line, and singer
And she melted when he said I wrote this song for you
Did you catch her lips sink when he mouthed that in the video too?
Gordon: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Percussion
Greg Trabandt: Drums
MATCH POINT
What’s going on behind my green eye?
What’s going on inside all my trials?
Once I approached you alone
You turned away and answered the phone with phony smiles
Unsettling calm in the eye of the storm
Gave us shelter from the spinning hands
A moment of silence, unspoken violence
You while way, a cache of sound
Trickles through, spirals down
Tensions grew, without a sound
In a rush of shout and screams
The cat clawed through the bag
Dashing all of your hopes and dreams
The cat taught the dog to wag
The tale you tell, power and wealth
You know it so well, it sells itself
Another story rife with deceiving
Each time you leave your one step closer to leaving me on the shelf
Smallest bits of dirt always circle round the drain
You try to wash the ring but can’t erase the stain
My hand slid up your skirt, your fingers stroke my brain
An ounce of jealousy, a measure of pain
Tempers arising, the flames have all been fanned
You while away, a cache of sand
A grain a day, counting the hours
You while away, pulling petals from flowers
She loves me, she loves me not…
Gordon: Vocals, Piano, Guitars, Bass, Percussion
Greg Trabandt: Drums
Jeff Batter: Orchestration
SUSPIRIA
Never been so delirious, got a date with Suspiria
Never felt any better to have braved such bad weather
Out of league, well I may be, with a two headed lady
But I said let’s go get her, although I’m no go-getter
Her car was platinum grey, like her eyes and the roots of her hair
If I had my way, we’d just drive going nowhere
She wrote me in a letter, let’s meet at the operetta
To see her favorite diva howl like an old retriever
I followed her back home and couldn’t find a phone
Just yards of naked wire, got me tangled with desire
We lay down in her lair until the sun went down
She awoke, combed her hair, and went out to paint the town
It went on for six weeks, my mind full with bliss
Then she gave me one cheek, and said we can’t go on like this
She said I’ve grown quite tired, your appeal has long expired
She packed my bags up hurried, I watched her puzzled, worried
I stood and blocked the doorway, she said, “well have it your way”
And threw them out the window, I never felt quite so low
Now she sits with Miss Regina in a Lazyboy recliner
Sipping coffee laced with whiskey, she thinks it’s rather risky
I sit at home and cower, a fist full of wilted flowers
I’ve pulled out all my phone lines to authenticate my love shrine
Gordon: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Glockenspiel, Percussion
Jeff Batter: Keyboards
Greg Trabandt: Drums
Pete Hodson & Bill Welch: Vocals
LISTENING
It’s the eve of the season of our betrayal
Your carpets clean, your seats all wrapped up in vinyl
I don’t ask what you’re covering up, the checks in the mail
They’ve lined all the bleachers just to watch it fail
Don’t look at me like I’m absurd
‘Cause your look says so much more than your words
You didn’t want to talk about it and I wasn’t listening
You wanted just to shout it, sometimes, and I wasn’t listening
It’s been days and days since we found the space to connect
There are things we want undone, things to correct
You call me up again, say how long you tried to reach me
But I’ve lost and learned things your kindness couldn’t teach me
You wanted to know where I had gone
I said nowhere and asked you to hold on
You didn’t want to talk about it and I wasn’t listening
You wanted just to shout it, sometimes, and I wasn’t listening
And you said maybe we should just split
I sent out a silent prayer that you would change your mind
You thought if we just reversed it
What was so strong united, would soon just be untied
It’s the dawn of the season of our renewal
In your glance a new found pearl, a perfect jewel
Tomorrow we will laugh and say, do you remember when…?
And if a shadow of a memory seeps back in again
Anytime you want to talk about it
I’ll be listening
You don’t have to scream or shout it
I’ll be listening
Just whisper to me and look at me that way again
Gordon: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Percussion
Jeff Batter: Keyboards
Greg Trabandt: Drums, Djembe
Pete Hodson & Bill Welch: Background Vocals