Rick Bennett - vocals, bass
John Griffin - guitars
John Maier - drums

Mixed and produced by John Griffin and Rick Bennett
Mastered by Kyle Johnson and John Griffin
The songs were written by Rick Bennett and Frankenpony
CD art design by Tom Neal

We've included tracks to listen to here!

charlie chan was not chinese

i'm looking at you but you're much too close for me to see you
and you're looking at me cause my features seem deranged
as we look at the world is there something that we're just not seeing
and as i looked away now it seems everything has changed...again

things aren't always what they seem
and people do just what they please
and charlie chan was not chinese
charlie chan was not chinese charlie
chan was not chinese
charlie chan was not chinese, no

some people look like your friend
but they're only looking to exploit
you they can look like a saint as they bring you to your knees
so you call on the man that you think could be the one to help you
his name may be chan but you find that he's really not chinese

could it be that we are just seeing shadows of reality?
or maybe we're just actors playing someone else in a movie?

i'm looking at you but i think my senses do deceive me
i'm looking at me but now i've forgotten who i am

shame

business man
not without values
not without virtue
not without volition
taking in more than enough to get by
making much more than enough to survive
but the scam was not arduous
and the payoff was copious
but once you get started it's hard to retreat
and the lines start fade between truth and deceit
he keeps washing his hands but they never come clean
and he wakes up at nighttime from the sweat on his sheet

...and it's shame and self-destruction
shame and corruption

husband and father
not without conscience
not without caution
not without caring
but the tryst was effortless and the woman so sensual
but once you get started it's hard to retreat
and the lines start fade between truth and deceit
he can't look at them now cause there's guilt in his eyes
and he runs around lost in his jungle of lies

continental shelf

i was sailing in your ocean
i was swaying to your motion
i was drifting with your current
i was drowning in contentment

and you told me i could jump in dive just as deep as i want to
and you told me any treasure i find i can keep if i want to

but your waters were inviting
other vessels were arriving
and i'd like to know where they got the notion
to be sailing in your ocean
and you told me i should set sail and travel as far i need to
and you gave me such a back wind didn't know where it would lead to

but you put me on your continental shelf
and i'd just sink with someone else
you can't do that to my love
no don't do that my love

cause you told me i could drop my anchor wherever i want to
and now i'm just another fish in the ocean
but i really want you

but you put me on your continental shelf
and i'd just sink with someone else
you put me on your continental shelf
and i can't swim with no one else
you can't do that to my love
no don't do that my love

in another life

i was a king and you were queen
in a land far away we both ruled supreme
but my love you denied
so off with your head i cried
and you're just getting back at me now

in another life i must have caused you so much pain
and now you're treating me that way
i guess i must accept the blame for who i once was

hundreds of years ago
lost on a desert isle
starved from a lack of food
my only choice to resort to guile
so when you were not looking
i killed you and clean you for cooking
and you're just getting back at me now

in another life you must have been a saintly soul
now karmic vengeance switched our roles
and your vindictiveness it grows stronger everyday

now that i'm through confessing
and now that my soul has learned its lesson
could you show some kindness to me now?

the way i feel

i don't need some pollyanna
telling me the sun is gonna rise another day
and though i see your lips still moving
i won't hear another word you say
and you keep telling me you know the way i feel
but you don't know how i feel

the world keeps spinning round and round
and it won't stop to let my wounds heal
you think you've empathy
but you don't even know the way i feel

i don't need some trite advice
i don't need someone telling me i've got to be so strong
i know you think i need your wisdom
but let me say you couldn't be more wrong
cause you keep telling me you know the way i feel
but you don't know how i feel

satellites

i stayed in again today
not a case of happenstance
what with all those satellites
i just couldn't take the chance

pulled the shades again today
i don't want them peering in
staying here i'll be okay
can't have them see me again

i'm in quandary
i want to feel the sun's embrace
but satellites surround me
and i can't leave this place

all the places i could go
all the people i could see
all the satellites would know
they will never let me be

as i sit beneath this roof
and i breathe my grievous sigh
hurdling toward the earth
satellites fall from the sky

pull them down bury them deep
and my burden will be shed
but sure as hell if i leave here
one will crash down on my head

everything ellie

dresses with a passion but not a slave to fashion - elegant ellie
she's got her p.h.d marine biology - educated ellie

electrical and eclectical
elusive elevating
everything ellie
every man's dream

her body is first-class
could surely kick my ass - alluring ellie
sexual relations
great food preparations - edible ellie

ellie - illuminating
ellie - illustrious
i hope ellie likes alliteration
or will she think i am just way too verbose

epithets

you're just a child she said
and childish thoughts have squatter's rights inside your head
i said that may be true
but what you say bounces off me and sticks to you
and wouldn't that be absurd?
no one could see you beneath all the words you hurled at me

you're so depraved she said
i'd hate to think what's going on inside your head
i said that may be so
but still you'd like to know
and while you rant and rave
you know it's hard for me to behave
i was made that way

and you'd never hesitate
to tell me i'm a reprobate
epithets fired at close range
could it be you really do want me to change?

you thrash about
gnash your teeth
forge a snarl
but what would you think if i was here today
gone tomorrow?

you're such a fool she said
and foolish thoughts have won the war inside your head
i said your words ring true
and yes i love you too
and though you'd never say so
you'd feel no joy to see me go away from you

hey mister

hey mister can you help me?
cause i've tried and i've tried
but i can't seem to change my own ways
i know how i should be
but my habits run deep
and they're bound and determined to stay
and if my demons go away
i'm afraid my angels won't also stay
and who will i be then?

hey-hey mister
can you open the sky and make magic rain fall all around?
and as it hits us
all the anguish washed clean
all our problems will soon then resolve

hey mister can you help me?
cause i'm waist deep in quicksand
and just hanging on by a thread
i know where i should be
but diversions have mapped out the path i have followed instead
and if i travel to different ground
must i leave everything i found
and what would i have then?

pictures at an excavation

i went to the exhibition
with a little trepidation
but to break the repetition
and to seek some inspiration
freedom for a troubled mind
hoping i could find

something at the exhibition
to provide some motivation
i went on my little mission
in keeping with the situation
searching through the works within
soon i fell right in

pictures at an excavation
may not cause a big sensation
but they show the depths that we explore

i came from the exhibition
without any hesitation
in a mystical condition
from visual stimulation
all the ways they made me feel
it was all so real

pictures at an excavation
may not be a revelation
but they take us deep into the core

pictures at an excavation
won't need too much explanation
cause they're worth a thousand words or more

i had a dream

i had a dream cows were standing on their two hind legs
and they all wanted to be my good friends
and they reminded me how their meat is fat and red
and they asked me if i might prefer a tossed salad instead?

i had a dream i was talking with some chickens in a bar
and the conversation didn't get too far
before they complained how most chickens don't range free
and did i know that i could get my protein from rice and beans?

i'll just drink some water - eat some bread
cause i don't like vegetables
and how can i eat animals?
when they keep appearing in head?

i had a dream a super race of cows now ruled the roost
and filet of human gave them such a boost
and i begged them please don't eat me
i've a child and wife
and they explained the food chain
well hey it's just a way of life

c 1996, 1997