the gifted children - cutlery

Release date: October, 1996

This EP never got beyond a few unlabeled copies circulating on cassette. It features more collaboration than its immediate predecessor, Bathtub Full of Dreams, in part due to the fact that these were the first songs the band recorded after Brett, Jeff and Bill moved in to a house together in late September, 1996. While a bit of a return to the acoustic folk of the earliest TGC recordings, it has new splashes of sound (organ, sax and drum machine on ‘usurpatory rhumba’; some slightly wild effects on ‘garmonbozia 1’). This EP also features the saxophone debut of the diligent Brett Dreyer, as well as an introduction to the mythological multi-instrumentalist, Bob R. Trumpet.

Lyrics and individual track credits:

01 usurpatory rhumba (suszczynski)

just to have you as my very own
to see and to hold, have and to own
it's all going to be mine
yeah, it's all going to be mine
and further i could
but i can't yet so hold still while i throw my knives
or shoot the apple from your head
even if i miss i guess i can't lose
even if i miss i didn't let you choose
your one and only

brett dreyer – tenor saxophone
jeff suszczynski – acoustic guitar, voice
bill trautman – bass, voice
bob r. trumpet – drum machine

written: 9 october 1996
recorded: october 1996
(southland drive, brighton, ny)
tenor saxophone re-recorded: july 2010
(bad wallpaper, rochester, ny)

02 cutlery (suszczynski)

you put the days around your waist
a sweater tied to hold your place
you make believe that all is well
you hide it under your cold shell
you let them know that you'll be gone
under armor, underground
you'll twist my arms behind my back
you'll never stop your slow attack
you'll make-believe that i am he
and dole it out just to see
if i can take what you can give
and still hold on

you twist my arms behind my back
you'll never stop your slow attack
your headhunters are out
for something to be proud of :
cutlery

jeff suszczynski – acoustic guitars, voices

written: october 1996
recorded: october 1996
(southland drive, brighton, ny)

03 tomato in a thundering sea. (suszczynski)

so you made all of those ghastly noises by yourself
i sat down and read the paper
to the soundtrack of your drowning
sitting by in the idle state of comfort
warming myself by the television fire.
now that i've missed it i just thought i'd ask:
how did it feel as you went under?
was it like dreaming of thousands of bubbles?
was it easier the further you got from the light of the lamps
or did you long for incandescence?
my supermarket tabloid visions and dreams are not far off
when i can't even hear the screams
of a tomato in a thundering sea.
in all of this young homogenous roar
i can't say that i saved you
i can't say that i missed you
i can't even say that i tried to reach you...

jeff suszczynski – acoustic guitar, voice
bill trautman – bass

written: september 1996
recorded: october 1996
(southland drive, brighton, ny)

04 the heyday kid (suszczynski/trautman)

unleashed, he came apart
too much wrestling in his head
the shades so tightly drawn
that nothing could get out and nothing could get in
inside he was a mess
he was a festival of all the little things she ever said

let's hear it for the heyday kid
he's off again without a word
let's hear it for the heyday kid
he's taking windmills to the fight

he's blanching the stains from another lover
he's waiting in vain for the girl to smother

inside he was a mess
he was a festival of all the little things she ever said
so down the road he went
jumping off a bridge and landing on his head
the sound came pouring out
the aerosol inside his head was finally spent

let's hear it for the heyday kid
he's bleeding words onto the rocks
let's hear it for the heyday kid
let's hear it for the heyday kid
the ambulance will come but he won't need it
the ambulance will come but he'll never need it

jeff suszczynski – acoustic guitar, voice
bill trautman – upright bass

written: october 1996
recorded: october 1996
(southland drive, brighton, ny)

05 garmonbozia 1 (suszczynski)

jeff suszczynski – acoustic guitars, effects

written: october 1996
recorded: october 1996
(southland drive, brighton, ny)