Backstage At The Resurrection

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Backstage At The Resurrection – As I was putting together a set list for a show last year, I realized that most of the songs were either political or sad; songs of loss, national betrayal, grief and I thought I should write a few songs that were happy, just to snap myself out of it. I was listening to Bruce Hornsby’s first CD and some of the songs on there are so full of joy that I have never heard them LOUD enough. I thought I wanted to do that, so I began conceiving a CD that would reflect joy and rhythm. I love to dance and hadn’t done it much after the 2000 election fraud. It just seemed like there were more important things to do. There were and there are, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take time for a little dancing, a little joy, and that’s where this recording of music came from. I still have my political point of view and my demons, but everything about this CD just seems happy to me. If it gives you only half the joy listening to it that I received creating it, we will all be doing all right. I hope you love it.

The Songs:


Backhand Man – Watching LMN with my wife one night, I realized that that is the “women in peril” channel. Every film is some woman being abused, misused, assaulted, and I thought I wanted to write a song about spousal abuse. About women staying in a situation that they don’t deserve; about women, moreover people in general, recognizing what they are worth and this song came out. Somehow it’s uptempo and joyous; I believe that’s because of the last line of the chorus… “you could have the world from where I stand.” That’s a very positive endorsement. I hope you receive it

Click for lyrics

Deep in the darkness
of the doorway where I stand
I see your window
and the shadow of another man

I see how he treats you badly
I hear how you cry
I think of you as I walk away sadly
And I ask myself, I ask myself why

You stay with a back hand man
When you could have the world
From where I stand

You might as well know
That I’ve loved you from the very start
I’d never hurt you
Or desert you, I’d never break your heart

I can see how he treats you badly
I hear how you cry
I think of you as I walk away sadly
And I ask myself, I ask myself why

You stay with a backhand man
When you could have the world
From where I stand

Words and Music by:
James Lee Stanley
©2009 The Real James Lee Stanley Music, SESAC

Credits:
James Lee Stanley / acoustic guitars, vocals, bass, additional percussion
Len Ruckel / electric guitar
Scott Breadman / percussion


I Can’t Cry Anymore – Driving back from vacationing in San Diego in December of 08. My wife and in laws were all asleep in the car and I sudden heard this line, “I can’t cry anymore.” I heard the entire chorus in my head and couldn’t wait to get to an instrument and see what those chords were. It’s a simple progression, but not one that I’ve heard before. That’s always alluring to me. I love writing songs you haven’t heard. Just as like I enjoy taking songs you have heard and rearranging them so that you hear them anew. (I invite you to see www.allwoodandstones.com for a glowing example). The verses came out of a relationship I had before I met my wife. This woman didn’t love me, but she wanted to keep me on the line, just in case it didn’t work out with her number one prospect. Ouch! “that’s as cold as you can get!”

Click for lyrics

I can’t cry anymore, I can’t cry anymore
I can’t cry anymore, I’m all out of tears

What people say and the people do
There’s a major difference
When you look between the two
Yes I trusted you, got hung out to dry
Because the truth to you
Is just an undisputed lie

I can’t cry anymore, I can’t cry anymore
I can’t cry anymore, I’m all out of tears

Yes the kindest thing that you could have done
Was to cut me loose before we had begun
But you used my heart like it was a safety net
Just a place in case,
Well that’s as cold as you can get

And I can’t cry anymore…

Words and Music by:
James Lee Stanley
©2008 The Real James Lee Stanley Music, SESAC

Credits:
James Lee Stanley / vocals, guitars, bass, additional percussion
Chad Watson / additional bass (the hot licks)
Scott Breadman / percussion


Coming Out Of Hiding – I wrote this song with my pal, Vince Melamed, for the band Kiss, but they never released it. This song was a Top 5 Record of the Year in 1984 for my sister, Pamala Stanley, and it was also up for song of the year, against, “What’s Love Got To Do With It” by Tina Turner. It was a hit around the world and gave my sister a career that she still enjoys. And I suddenly realized that I had never recorded the biggest hit I ever had, so I did this smoky acoustic slow funky version that I simply love to sing, and my sister Sandra and my friends Lisa, James and Jim, all came up with parts on their own. I love all the contrapuntal vocal work in this one.

Click for lyrics

Standing in the shadows too long
Waiting on the sidelines too long
Yes I’ve been watching you
Now you’re gonna watch me too

I’m coming out of hiding
I’m coming out of hiding

It’s no mystery how you missed me for so long
But that’s history, you were so wrong for so long
Yes, I’ve been wanting you
And now you’re gonna want me too

I’m coming out of hiding
I’m coming out of hiding

Coming out of hiding
Looking for somebody like you
Coming out of hiding
Coming on the run
Coming for nobody but you

Coming Out of hiding
Yes I’m coming Out of hiding

I’m out of hiding, I’m out of hiding

Words and Music by:
James Lee Stanley and Vince Melamed
©1983 James Lee Stanley Music, BMI / Jasper Jeepers Music, BMI

Credits:
James Lee Stanley / lead vocal, guitars, additional bass and percussion
Ken Lyon / bass
Scott Breadman / percussion
Sandra Young, Lisa Turner, Jim Photoglo and James Hurley / background vocals


Let’s Get Out Of Here – After doing a tour of northern California with Corky Siegel, I realized that I simply didn’t know the guitar like I wanted to, so I went to my pal, Chuck Smith, at Woodlowe Music in Woodland Hills and started taking lessons. The first blues progession he showed me had two chords E7#9 and then Fmaj7 in it that, when I played them in reverse, that is playing the Fmaj7 and then the E7#9, resonated with me so much I went right home and wrote this song, which I CANNOT stop playing. Hope that you like it.

Click for lyrics

Let’s get out of here, you and me let’s disappear
It would be so fine to leave it all behind
Let’s just get out of here

Make our getaway, why should we wait another day
Yes the time is right, I say we go tonight,
Let’s just get out of here

Find some exotic location
Someplace with an ocean view
No one around for miles and miles
A world of me and you

Let’s take a break, yes, that’s the move we’ve got to make
Take a car, take a train, take a boat or take a plane,
Let’s just get out of here

Words and Music by:
James Lee Stanley
©2009 The Real James Lee Stanley Music, SESAC

Credits:
James Lee Stanley / Lead vocal, acoustic guitar, keyboards, additional percussion
Len Ruckel / lead electric guitar
Scott Breadman / percussion
Charles Brandick / bass
Chad Watson / trombone
Background vocals / Sandra Young, James Hurley and James Lee Stanley


Going Back To Memphis – This came out of playing that opening riff. The riff felt happy and funky and with the election of Obama, I felt my spirits lifting and my optimism returning after the political regime from 1997 forward. I had not realized how down I was until Obama was elected. So this became just a happy song that’s fun to sing and the protagonist wants to go back home, “where it all began” and “get it right this time.” I like the idea of a return to honor and personal responsibility and I like couching it in such a joyous pocket. Put on those dancing shoes.

Click for lyrics

Going back to Memphis, going back for good
Going back to Memphis, like I always knew I would

Woke up this evening, an aching in my bones
It’s rough enough in good times, living on your own
in New York or Frisco, yeah I’ve been around
But you can tell everybody I’m Memphis bound

Going back to Memphis, back where I belong
I miss the Mississippi, been away too long
Gonna see my momma, all of my kin,
And you can tell everybody I’m back again

Going back to Memphis, going back for good
Going back to Memphis, like I always knew I would
Going back to Memphis, going back for good
Going back to Memphis, like I always knew I would

Going back to Memphis, where it all began
Rendezvous for barbeque, I know you understand
Play guitar on Beale Street, gonna make my way
And you can tell everybody I’m here to stay

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
Going back where I belong
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
I’ve been away too long

Going back to Memphis, another brand new start
Left a girl in trouble, though she had my heart
Gonna find that woman that I left behind
Gonna find that woman and get it right this time

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
Going back where I belong
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
I’ve been away too long

Going back to Memphis, going back for good
Going back to Memphis, like I always knew I would
Going back to Memphis, going back for good
Going back to Memphis, like I always knew I would

Words and Music by:
James Lee Stanley
©2008 The Real James Lee Stanley Music, SESAC

Credits:
James Lee Stanley / vocals, acoustic guitars, keyboard, bass, additional percussion
Paul Barrere / slide guitar
Chad Watson / bass (hot licks)
Scott Breadman / percussion


Feather River Nocturne – This is a piece I wrote as a tribute to my old pal, Tom Dundee. He loved the Feather River Canyon and after he passed away, I made a pilgrimage up there with my wife. She and I built a huge cairn there by the river for him up near the headwaters, so it wouldn’t be washed away in the spring floods. Scott Breadman, who did all the percussion, tried to create the sounds of the place, the frogs, the crickets, the birds. I simply love the ambience that he brought to the recording.

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Instrumental

Music by:
James Lee Stanley
©2010 The Real James Lee Stanley Music, SESAC

Credits:
James Lee Stanley / Guitars, additional bass
Ken Lyon / Bass
Scott Breadman / Percussion


Don’t Wait Too Long – Listening to some Stephen Stills, I loved the way he used the 7th in the opening chord of something and I thought I would take a whack at it. The words came out of the passing of another friend who was going to go to Europe, Tuscany in particular, and though he could have afforded it, never took the time and then it was too late, coupled with the passing of my father for whom the last verse was written. Don’t wait too long! Do what you want to do while you can do it. This is not the new nihilism, this is just about embracing your life.

Click for lyrics

Summer is never ending
When you’re a child pretending
Now days and years are blending
Don’t wait too long

Widows in black and grieving
Priests with their beads believing
Time can be so deceiving
Don’t wait too long

Don’t wait too long
Let the journey begin
Time is a train that won’t pass by again
Live while you can
Love while you can
But remember…
Don’t wait too long

Old soldier, campaign ending
Dreaming of his beginnings
“Closer” he whispers, clinging
“Don’t wait too long!”

Don’t wait too long Don’t wait too long
Don’t wait too long…

Words and Music by:
James Lee Stanley
©2009 The Real James Lee Stanley Music, SESAC

Credits:
James Lee Stanley / vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboard
Ken Lyon / bass, classical guitar
Scott Breadman / percussion


Do As You’re Told – This began because of a song by my pal, Buddy Mondlock. He has a song that starts out about someone running away with the circus, and I realized that I never knew anyone who had actually done that. Most of us are the ones “who never ran away with the circus.” And that was the start of the song. The chorus simply acknowledges one of my pet peeves. People who know what’s best for you. Their arrogance appalls me. The last verse happened as I went into the kitchen from the studio to make a cappuccino. My wife had a little dish of wishbones on the window sill and I looked at it and said to myself, wow, wishes that we never used. I had to put that into the song.

Click for lyrics

I was just another boy who never ran away with the circus
Stayed in school, I did as I was told
Lived the model life everyone expected of me
Let me tell you, the “model life” gets old

And I remember the days hearing over and over
Do as you’re told, I know what’s best for you
Do as you’re told, heard it over and over
I know what’s best for you, do as you’re told

Went to college, business major, got a corporate position
Not what I had hoped, but safe and secure
I got all the benefits and a very good retirement
Never rocked a single boat for sure.

Do as you’re told… heard it over and over…

Today upon the window sill, I found a couple of wishbones
Wishes that somehow I never used
I don’t know if wishes keep, but they don’t fade away either
I think they’re like a time bomb with a slow burning fuse.

Do as you’re told…

Words and Music by:
James Lee Stanley
©2009 The Real James Lee Stanley Music, SESAC

Credits:
James Lee Stanley / lead vocal, acoustic guitars, keyboards, additional percussion
Len Ruckel / electric guitar
Ken Lyon / bass
Scott Breadman / percussion
Lisa Turner, Don Dunn, Jim Photoglo / background vocals


All About Love – Continuing the ruminations on my life and living in general, this song kicked around in my head since the late ’90s, but I could never come up with the words I wanted in the chorus. I tried working with several other writers but nothing ever came of it. Then this past winter after my father passed away, I realized that this really is what being here is about. It’s an idea that has been offered for years. It never has enough takers and so I offer it once again.

Click for lyrics

Each and every morning, as I make my way
I hear the people talking, this is what they say,
“What will happen to us? Must we live in fear?
Is there purpose to our lives, what are we doing here?”

You don’t have to wonder what it’s all about
There’s answers to your questions once you figure out

If you do for each other,
then you’re gonna set each other free
If you do for each other,
Then you’re gonna find eventually
It’s all about love, it’s all about love

If it’s still a mystery, if you’re still in doubt
If you don’t know where to turn,
Maybe this will help you out
Take a good look in the good book
It’ll tell you what to do
The answer’s there for everyone
The choice is up to you

You don’t have to wonder what it’s all about
There’s answers to your questions once you figure out

If you do for each other,
then you’re gonna set each other free
If you do for each other,
Then you’re gonna find eventually
It’s all about love, it’s all about love

Words and Music by:
James Lee Stanley
©1998 The Real James Lee Stanley Music, SESAC

Credits:
James Lee Stanley / lead vocal, acoustic guitar, additional percussion
John Batdorf / lead acoustic guitar
Bill Kohle / banjo
Ken Lyon / bass
Scott Breadman / percussion
Dan Navarro, Severin Browne, James Lee Stanley / background vocals


What Would You Do? – I came to the realization that protest songs can have no real impact on the issues if you only sing them to the choir… to the people who agree with you. So how do you get the people who don’t agree with you to at least listen to the song? I mean, do you think Rush Limbaugh is playing my music between pizzas? I thought, I’ve got to write something that people who don’t agree with me would be able to hear. And then I thought about what I would do if I were in Bush’s shoes when 911 happened, and the song wrote itself. There was a moment there after 911 when a perspicacious and honorable leader could have literally brought the world together. A remarkable opportunity, in the midst of gross tragedy for world unity only to be squandered by a would be cowboy. Sorry, I guess I am still upset with where the world is now, thanks to greed, ineptness and a total disregard for history or the Constitution by that appointed bozo and his cronies.

Click for lyrics

What would you do, were it’s all up to you,
Say the whole world’s in your hands?
Would there be change or would things be the same
Have we already done all we can?

Would your world be about power and greed?
Would the choices you make lose our souls?
Or would you stand for the freedom of man
And see every heart broken made whole?

All of our lives we’ve been told paradise
Resides in the heavens above.
What would you do if you suddenly knew
It was here with the people you love?

Would you wage war? Would you breed hate more?
Would you use terror to rule?
Or would the water run sweet and the land at our feet
Be peaceful and green, clean and pure?

Words and Music by:
James Lee Stanley
©2007 The Real James Lee Stanley Music, SESAC

Credits:
James Lee Stanley / lead vocal, acoustic guitar, additional percussion
Len Ruckel / electric guitar
Dennis Holseybrook / organ
Ken Lyon / bass
Scott Breadman / percussion
The Calvert Street Choir / Courtney Gable, Lisa Turner, Ralph Archenhold, John Batdorf, Severin Browne, Dirk Hamilton, Dan Navarro, Jim Photoglo, Joe Rathburn


Backstage At The Resurrection – I have always loved the surreal Bob Dylan period. Songs like Highway 61, Desolation Row, It’s All Right Ma, I’m Only Bleeding. And the way he wove Biblical mythology into the songs always amused me. One night the muse was upon me and this lyric just fell out. Once it was out, it only took moments to turn it into this raucous criticism of the Bush years. Remember? It was like being at the post office. Each year just seemed to take longer than it should. During that time, I felt embarrassed to be an American, embarrassed that we allowed that man to be president and allowed that regime to remain in power for so very long. This song came out of that embarrassment and the helpless rage that they inspired in me and so very many other people who love what this country allegedly stands for. I used that same shuffle strum that I used on “Let’s Spend the Night Together” on the All Wood and Stones CD that I did with John Batdorf. And the title of the song could easily apply to me, or anyone who is trying once again to make a difference. That’s the resurrection that I am really talking about.

Click for lyrics

Backstage at the resurrection, things were going just as planned
Judas Priest was laying low, his head was buried in the sand
N’ Simon Pete had brand new kicks he was showing off too much
While the water boy stayed where he was, he had to, he was Dutch
His finger in that fabled dam, his heart there on his sleeve
Demonstrating all he knew of how you should believe

Back stage at the resurrection, you could not hear the crowd
Mary changed her dress three times; Barrabas laughed too loud,
And what of John the Baptist? Was he good at staying dead?
Or would he try to steal the show? That’s what everybody said
Then Judas popped his head up, “Did someone call my name?”
He asked above a whimper, he was still a bit ashamed

Back stage at the resurrection, St George was on the lamb
He didn’t have all access, but he didn’t give a damn
He borrowed what he could not steal, “I’ll pay you back,” he lied
“You’ll thank me in the end,” he said. And Judas? He just cried
“It takes a dog to know a dog,” declared Ruth in a fit
“They’re peas in a pod, birds of a feather, bastards from the pit”

Backstage at the resurrection, St George was running blind
No one bought his patriot act and paid him back in kind
Pray tell, who let him in here, asked Luke from down the line
His daddy paid his way I said, it happens all the time
I spoke beneath a whisper, but everybody heard…
They just pointed at the pearly gates and no one said a word.

Backstage at the resurrection, a partisan dis – play
As usual, no one had a clue, I guess its always been that way
St George, the lemming leader, the precipice in sight
Was running pell mell yelling, “everything will be all right”
His minions passed out easter eggs for all of us to suck
“The kool aid’s in the canisters,” Judas smiled and said “good luck.”

Words and Music by:
James Lee Stanley
©2008 The Real James Lee Stanley Music, SESAC

Credits:
James Lee Stanley / vocals and acoustic guitars, additional percussion
Len Ruckel / electric guitar
Paul Barrere / slide guitar
Ken Lyon / bass
Scott Breadman / percussion


Let’s Get Out Of Here Redux – After I had written and recorded this song, I started playing this slower acoustic version. I love the guitar part and I love singing this song, so I thought as a bonus track I would do it this way. Also my friend, Rich Warren, suggested that I do a double CD recording of the songs with a band and then again with just a guitar. This is a nod to that suggestion. That’s the remarkable Chad Watson on bass. He does have some chops.

Credits:
James Lee Stanley / vocal and guitar
Chad Watson / bass

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