Entitled (2012)

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Credits:

Matt Fitzgibbons: Music, lyrics, arrangement, production, vocals, acoustic guitar, drums/percussion, keyboards, harmonica, and bass guitar (“Whiskey”, “I Still Believe in Her”, and “Once in a While”).

Rich Roger: Acoustic & electric guitar, arrangement, music (“My Old House” co-writing)

Vincent Bockius: Bass guitar

Special thanks to:
Rich Roger for his hard work, unparalleled guitaring, arrangement suggestions, professionalism, and passion. Without him, this CD would not have been possible; Vincent Bockius for his excellent bass work; A.J. Sorenson (owner of Sure Sound Studios) for his expertise in engineering, mixing, and mastering, for his attention to detail, and talent with all things sound-related.

To my closest friends and advisers:
Austin Luhman for reeling me in when I needed it and for his acute analytical abilities; aidan Nolan for his countless suggestions and calm advise; Jay Silverberg for his rock’n roll soul and willingness to let me vent; Chris Young for always be available with an honest opinion; Gary Fulton for many excellent suggestions; and to my wife, for her constant support, honesty, and shared love of music.


Lyrics:

Entitled ©2012, Matt Fitzgibbons (ASCAP)

The Rain’s Coming ©2012, Matt Fitzgibbons (ASCAP)

It seems like a thousand years, since we had real fears,
But the old ones won’t forget.
These broken levee walls, had a few close calls,
But they haven’t fallen yet.

But you know…The rain’s coming, the rains’ coming.
All your days and all your nights, it’ll bring a storm on you.

And when the sun beats down, and it bakes the ground,
and you watch the rich land die;
In such a vicious drought, even hope’s in doubt,
but there are no clouds in the sky.

And you know…The rain’s coming, the rains’ coming.
All your days and all your nights, it’ll bring a storm on you.
You know…The rain’s coming, the rains’ coming.
All your days and all your nights, it’ll bring a storm on you.

And when you feel the first drop fall,
when it kisses your skin, the storm will begin
to bring with it promise of change.
And when you hear the thunder roll,
the lightning’s begun, the flood will soon come
to wash out the things that remain.

Because…The rain’s coming, the rains’ coming
All your days and all your nights, it’ll bring a storm on you.
The rain’s coming, the rains’ coming
All your days and all your nights, it’ll bring a storm on you.

Credits:
Matt Fitzgibbons: Music, Lyrics, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, Drums, Recording
Rich Roger: Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar
Vincent Bockius: Bass Guitar
A.J. Sorenson (Sure Sound Studios): Mixing & Mastering


My Old House ©2012, Matt Fitzgibbons (ASCAP)

My old house is a friend of mine.
It’s never neat but it’s always kind.
I don’t think that it ever minds
when I spend some time away.

It keeps me safe and it keeps me warm
in all the days that bring a storm.
It doesn’t think I should conform
to what my neighbors say.

Oh what a pleasure,
a shell from the world that I treasure
When I’m away
I think of the day I’m home.

My old house has my family.
The only place that I’d want to be.
A sturdy nest in a wind-swept tree
that keeps us in the sun.

I’ve had years without a home
in the cold and all alone.
Of all the places I have known
I know this is the one.

Oh what a pleasure,
a shell from the world that I treasure
When I’m away
I think of the day I’m home.

The space in my cubicle,
the office I want for my own
are just like a prison to me
but I’m free when I’m in my home.

Oh what a pleasure,
a shell from the world that I treasure
When I’m away
I think of the day I’m home.

Credits:
Matt Fitzgibbons: Music, Lyrics, Vocals, Keyboards, Drums, Percussion, Recording
Rich Roger: Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar
Vincent Bockius: Bass Guitar
A.J. Sorenson (Sure Sound Studios): Mixing & Mastering


The Whole Damn World ©2012, Matt Fitzgibbons (ASCAP)

Nobody told me, nobody showed me what I should become.
Nobody gave me a way that would save me years of being dumb.
Some people I knew, they said they’d make due and I watched them slowly kill their dreams.
Nobody told them and nobody showed them the world’s not what it seems.

We never feel the whole damn world is sitting on our shoulders.
We only dream about the things we’ll get when we are older.

Nobody told you, nobody showed you what you should become
Nobody gave you a way that would save you years of being dumb.

We never feel the whole damn world is sitting on our shoulders.
We only dream about the things we’ll get when we are older.

When you can’t deny the part of you that tells what you ought to do
You fool yourself to think that you don’t care.
But your time is flying by these days, hopes are choking in your haze
And all you do is curse that life’s not fair.

We never feel the whole damn world is sitting on our shoulders.
We only dream about the things we’ll get when we are older.

Credits:
Matt Fitzgibbons: Music, Lyrics, Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Keyboards, Drums, Recording
Rich Roger: Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar
Vincent Bockius: Bass Guitar
A.J. Sorenson (Sure Sound Studios): Mixing & Mastering


Once in a While ©2012, Matt Fitzgibbons (ASCAP)

Once in a while when we finally see our chains
a need for freedom starts to grow within our veins.
We look at our lives and the world our parents made
and a passion for a new life makes us unafraid.
While we’re all alone in complacency, the shame becomes too strong,
we reach a point when any price beats living wrong.

The thing about us is that the past is rarely clear,
and while the future isn’t written we can feel it’s near.
We know that one day, death will surely come,
and it forces some to build a life to keep them numb.
And while we like to point our fingers at the people in command,
it’s always us that puts the power in their hands.

Don’t dwell upon your yesterday; it’s gone.
Don’t worry about tomorrow if it’s wrong.
You can trust your heart to take you there if only you are true,
because there’s little more that anyone can do.

Don’t dwell upon your yesterday; it’s gone.
Don’t worry about tomorrow if it’s wrong.
You can trust your heart to take you there if only you are true,
because there’s little more that anyone can do.

Credits:
Matt Fitzgibbons: Music, Lyrics, Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Bass Guitar, Keyboards, Drums, Recording
Rich Roger: Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar
A.J. Sorenson (Sure Sound Studios): Mixing & Mastering


Whiskey ©2012, Matt Fitzgibbons (ASCAP)

Out in the woods west of Pittsburg is home,
since my Grand Daddy’s days they’d left us alone.
We lived on the river where we made panther’s breath
till the Marshall brought death.

We had fought for your freedom from here to the East.
We cleaned out the Tories till the land was at peace.
And we picked off the Redcoats with our frontiersman aim.
Then the taxman came.

The Federalists said that they’d pay for the War
with a tax on corn whiskey distilled from us poor:
That we needed some master to keep us in awe,
so they declared Martial Law.

The farmers decided that we’d stick together.
So we covered some taxmen with tar and with feathers.
General Washington headed the army again
with 13,000 men.

So I sit here in prison while the gallows are built
and it seems that my country is feeling some guilt.
They say we’ve been pardoned now their point has been made,
But you should be afraid.

Whiskey, whiskey. Smells like rebellion to me

Whiskey, Whiskey.

Credits:
Matt Fitzgibbons: Music, Lyrics, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Keyboards, Harmonica, Drums, Recording
Rich Roger: Acoustic Guitars
A.J. Sorenson (Sure Sound Studios): Mixing & Mastering

Inspiration:
“Whiskey” is about The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 when the whiskey producers in the western territories violently rebelled against Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton’s new tax under President George Washington and the Federalist party. Washington led a massive army in the field and squashed the rebellion, eventually pardoning its leaders rather than having them hanged. The tax was repealed by President Thomas Jefferson after his Democratic-Republican party (Republican party) came to power in 1800.


All The While ©2012, Matt Fitzgibbons (ASCAP)

You take from us what you want to give.
You tell us all how we’ll have to live.
You say the world is a lot more free
but you shut us up when we disagree. Yeah!

You cut us up into bight-size pieces.
You talk of shares till the hate increases.
You tell each group that you’ll get them more
but you’ll take the spoils from your jealous wars.

All the while you tell your sheep you’re hunting wolves behind the hill where they can’t go.
But you’re making deals. You’re selling skins and trading shears for hammers and they don’t know.

All the while you tell your sheep you’re hunting wolves behind the hill where they can’t go.
But you’re making deals. You’re selling skins and trading shears for hammers and they don’t know.

Credits:
Matt Fitzgibbons: Music, Lyrics, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, Drums, Recording
Rich Roger: Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar
Vincent Bockius: Bass Guitar
A.J. Sorenson (Sure Sound Studios): Mixing & Mastering


Winter Sky ©2012, Matt Fitzgibbons (ASCAP)

I saw the northern lights come shining in the winter sky
Over some sad times for this land

I walked into the winter night
All alone, the stars were bright
Sat beside my favorite tree, and watched the moon set

Twelve years old and quite in touch
Wish today I knew as much
Wish I’d known a way to not forget.

I saw the northern lights come shining in the winter sky
Over some sad times for this land

And near that town two hundred years before
Some soldiers saw it during the war.
A needed sign to help forget their pain.

A bloody trail behind them showed
The path to the freedom is off the road
And the most important things you can’t explain.

They saw the northern lights come shining in the winter sky
Over some sad times for this land
They saw the northern lights. It was a wondrous sight.
Reach down and touch us like a hand.

And I don’t seem to mind the cold
So beautiful it warms my soul
True for all both young and old.

I saw the northern lights come shining in the winter sky
Over some sad times for this land
I saw the northern lights. It was a wondrous sight
Reach down and touch us like a hand

Credits:
Matt Fitzgibbons: Music, Lyrics, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, Drums, Synth Programming, Recording
Rich Roger: Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar
Vincent Bockius: Bass Guitar
A.J. Sorenson (Sure Sound Studios): Mixing & Mastering

Inspiration:
“Winter Sky” is a memory of a time as a child, much like 2012, when the United States had serious problems, both domestically and internationally. I accidentally saw the Northern Lights much further south than they are typically seen. Years later, when reading one of two known autobiographies of Revolutionary Soldiers, the author mentions seeing them perhaps exactly 200 years to the day when I saw them as a child, and only a few miles away. The synchronicity was the inspiration for “Winter Sky”.


Along The Way ©2012, Matthew Fitzgibbons (ASCAP)

There are two special souls
Who started on two different roads
Hoping to leave this plane
A little better off than before they came.

He is proud Marine
And she was the girl of his dreams
And someday she’d be his wife
And they’d build themselves a much better life.

Both gave their best before
Together they’d do so much more
And all of the lives they’ve touched
know it wasn’t luck that’d earned so much

And what they still feel and what they can see
Is proof that their love was to be
And I pray, that some how, some day
They’ll know the good they’ve done along the way.

She is a soul that’s pure
And God knows that he needed her
She is the gentle touch
That the sergeant’s soul needed oh so much

And those who know where they came from
Know just how far they have come
Me, I’m a simple one
But I proudly say that I am their son.

And what they still feel and what they can see
Is proof that their love was to be
And I pray, that some how, some day
They’ll know the good they’ve done along the way.

Credits:
Matt Fitzgibbons: Music, Lyrics, Vocals, Keyboards, Drums, Recording
Rich Roger: Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar
Vincent Bockius: Bass Guitar
A.J. Sorenson (Sure Sound Studios): Mixing & Mastering

Inspiration:
I wrote “Along The Way” for my parents 50th wedding anniversay. It tells their story, from my perspective, of a man and a women from the wrong side of the tracks to work hard to achieve the American dream. The song was accompanied during the anniversary party with a slide show of photos of their lives to date.


Different in Your Eyes ©2012, Matt Fitzgibbons (ASCAP)

She was from a Blue State clan,
taught to praise the little man,
told that unions saved the working class.

He was raised a Red State son,
to love the flag and own a gun,
warned about the greed within the mass.

They met beneath a moonlit sky,
a college party drunk and high,
and when they had degrees they said their vows.

And he, he couldn’t say when, he couldn’t say how, he couldn’t say why.
She was different in his eyes.

They built careers and had a kid,
tried to live like their parents did,
but both their parties taxed them close to death.

They learned to hate the publik skools,
watched TV making fools,
while trial lawyers looted what was left.

And she, she couldn’t say when, she couldn’t say how, she couldn’t say why
He was different in her…

I saw them years ago, a happy little cabin in the West.
They home schooled on their farm, making so much more from so much less.

And now, they can say when, they can say how, and they can say why.
They’re different in your eyes.

Credits:
Matt Fitzgibbons: Music, Lyrics, Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Bass Guitar, Keyboards, Drums, Recording
Rich Roger: Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar
A.J. Sorenson (Sure Sound Studios): Mixing & Mastering

Inspiration:
“Different in Your Eyes” tells a fictional story of a modern day couple with the man having been a raised a Republican, and the woman, a Democrat. They meet, fall in love, get married, and discover that both political parties are responsible for making the American dream so hard to achieve. They choose to drop out of society and eventualy succeed in finding the happiness they sought.


Point of the Spear ©2012, Matt Fitzgibbons (ASCAP)

I can jump from two miles up right on you
Or I can come from leagues underneath the sea
I am under your leaves, your darkest shadow
I can slip through all your security.

You’ll see your sins in my vengeful eyes.
I’m the point of the spear for the good guys.

I can take from you anything I want to
I can cut your throat while you sleep and dream
I can pick from hundreds of ways to end you,
watch it on the news in my submarine.

You’ll see your sins in my vengeful eyes
I’m the point of the spear for the good guys.

There you are.
I’m not far.
There you go.
Where the devil knows!

Credits:
Matt Fitzgibbons: Music, Lyrics, Vocals, Keyboards, Drums, Recording
Rich Roger: Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar
Vincent Bockius: Bass Guitar
A.J. Sorenson (Sure Sound Studios): Mixing & Mastering

Inspiration:
“Point of the Spear” celebrates the United States’ Special Operation Forces.


Like I Ought To Feel ©2012, Matt Fitzgibbons (ASCAP)

I’m waiting in a desert for my ship to come in
Standing on the back of a whale, fishing for minnows again
Hoping to win my fortune, but I never play
I guess they were right, it doesn’t work that way.

Trying to paint landscapes without using green
Planning to add some impulse to my routine
Hoping I’ll learn to live with what I cannot say
I guess they were right, it doesn’t work that way.

And I feel like I ought to feel
And I don’t think I deserve an appeal.

I tried to change my feelings and the way I think
I tried to cheat the river Styx, but I’d always sink
I finally found the secret force under Charon’s boat
I just breathe real deep and let my conscience float.

And I feel like I ought to feel
And I don’t think I deserve an appeal.

I won’t wait till my worry’s behind
I won’t wait for the stars to align
I won’t till the feeling is right
And I won’t be home tonight.

And I feel like I ought to feel
And I don’t think I deserve an appeal.

Credits:
Matt Fitzgibbons: Music, Lyrics, Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Keyboards, Drums, Recording

Rich Roger: Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar

Vincent Bockius: Bass Guitar

A.J. Sorenson (Sure Sound Studios): Mixing & Mastering


I Still Believe in Her ©2012, Matt Fitzgibbons (ASCAP)

Some are asking what to do
Others say that we are through
And I don’t think it’s really true
but I know we’ve lost our way.

Some believe it’s just a flaw,
a simple error that no one saw
Others like to blame the law
that keeps the truth at bay.

(J.F.K. 1957 Reading of the Declaration of Independence: Permission granted by WQXR)

Some are simply overcome.
Some are busy keeping numb.
Some are wondering where to run.
But me, I’m going to stay.

You know, I still believe in her
The future lies in what we were.
You know she’s not naïve or pure,
I’m going to fight till she’s secure.

You know I still I believe in her.
You know the Founders knew our cure.

I still I believe in her, Oh yeah!

Credits:
Matt Fitzgibbons: Music, Lyrics, Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Bass Guitar, Keyboards, Drums, Recording

Rich Roger: Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar

A.J. Sorenson (Sure Sound Studios): Mixing & Mastering

Recording of Senator J.F.K. reading the Declaration of Independence July 4th, 1957 : Permission granted by WQXR/WNYC Radio

Ronald Reagan Quotation: Public Domain. Permission granted by the Ronald Reagan Library

Inspiration:
“I Still Believe in Her” features a 1958 recording of then Senator JFK reading part of the Declaration of Independence on Independence Day.


They Can’t Take That Away From You ©2012, Matt Fitzgibbons (ASCAP)

It comes with every walk of life
from the homeless to a prince.
They say it’s been a long, long time:
That we haven’t earned it since.

It guides the heart, and fills the soul.
It teaches to be true.

And they can’t take that away from you. No, no, no, no.

You know your rights are not like laws
they can change or just ignore.
They’re there to claim by every soul
like so many did before.

And I can see it in your eyes
but we depend on what you do.

And they can’t take that away from you. No, no, no, no.

And anytime we cower, we grant them one more power to take more
Remember all the souls who fought for you before. Now it’s your war.

They can’t take that away from you. No, no, no, no.

They can’t take that away from you. No.

Credits:
Matt Fitzgibbons: Music, Lyrics, Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Keyboards, Drums, Recording
Rich Roger: Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar
Vincent Bockius: Bass Guitar
A.J. Sorenson (Sure Sound Studios): Mixing & Mastering

Inspiration:
“They Can’t Take That Away From You” celebrates individual liberty and inalienable rights, particularly the right to Free Speech and the Right to Protest. This was the pre-release video and song to the CD “Entitled” and is available on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Q3qmRXjIY&feature=plcp