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When I brought a rough version of “Daylight” to a rehearsal. Raffi and Neil became convinced that it was autobiographical, and that I must have been involved in a murder of some sort.

DAYLIGHT

Words and Music – Brian Robbins
Album – ON

I wait here to pay for the things that were done, so her family can sleep well at night
they say all you feel is a pin-prink, you drift in a dream, but you never see daylight

it’s hard to remember what happened that day, you walked with her down to the mill
made love in the grass, you told me a secret, never to tell
and your daddy was home late from work, they found you face down in the river
no knock at my door, they came with the news

and your body was burning, like pure gasoline

and the water was freezing, like a Michigan boy’s dream

I remember the feel of the mud on my toes, I remember the water’s red stain
and you held on my wrist, you wanted to feel the blood rush through my veins
and I walked for miles and miles and miles, alone in the moonlight
and you waited for hours and hours just to catch the first glimpse of the daylight

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Supercomputer is my favorite track on the album “On.” The lyrics were inspired by a friend who confided in me that she used to steal her textbooks.

SUPERCOMPUTER
Words and Music – Brian Robbins
Album – ON

baby don’t let me down
now you’ve got your feet on the ground
and baby I know you won’t fail
just baby please, can you stay out of jail

well the first time was fraud

and the second time too
the third time was worse
what you got left to do

and my baby never saw a bank she couldn’t rob
or bought a single pair of shoes.
and the lady never saw a heart she couldn’t break
had eyes like diamonds and the mind of a supercomputer

she said, do one thing for me when I die
just don’t let nobody bury me, or harvest my eyes

freeze my brain like Walt Disney did
and thaw me out in a thousand years
i need a body of steel, ‘cause my mind is a supercomputer.

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Inspired, believe it or not, by “The Girl from Ipanema.” Of course, in my song of unrequited love, the object of attention is a department store mannequin. The ending is a bit of a joke on Lou Reed’s timeless “Take a Walk on the Wild Side”

PLASTIC GIRL
Words and Music – Brian Robbins

Album – ON

got airbrushed lip, and a manicured tongue
got velcro hip, and a beach ball sun
and everyday I pass you by, you never turn your head
and on the night I catch your eye, gonna sing you what I said

hey, my plastic girl, I wrote a little song for you
hey, my elastic girl, I wrote these words for you

gonna tell me ‘bout your family, and your life inside this giant shoe store
gonna tell me ‘bout the weekend, meet, freak, speak some more

you know half the world’s crazy, and you never know, today could be the day the whole world ends
so come on baby, let’s not just be friends

hey, my plastic girl, I wrote a little song for you
hey, my elastic girl, I wrote these words for you

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Ah, my 1975 Ford Grenada. I bought it off an old man for $500. Towards the end, it was so thrashed that you literally had to enter through the window on the passenger side. When I bought the car, the old man pointed to the “Elks Club” sticker on the bumper, and informed me that I could park for free in any Elks Club parking lot. However, he told me to keep it on the down low, because I “don’t look like an Elk.”

BRAND NEW DAY

Words and Music – Brian Robbins
Album – ON

I drive an old car, gotta enter through the window
and I’m a big star on homemade video
gotta crazy smile, like a po’-boy Romeo
let’s get down tonight, baby turn up the radio

hey, I got a brand new day
ain’t nothin’ in my way
i got a brand new day

got no shame, I’ll walk around naked
got no pain, at least I can fake it
got a lotta nerve, I’ll tell you right to your face
let’s get down tonight, forget about the human race

hey, I got a brand new day
ain’t nothin’ in my way
I got a brand new day

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7 YEAR ITCH

Words and Music – Brian Robbins
Album – ON

got a 7 year itch, gonna get real rich, gonna buy me a brand new life
get a big house, gonna paint it hot pink, gonna tell the neighbors to kiss my ass
gonna trade my Ford for my very own Concorde, tricked out with leather seats
gonna do the best drugs, gonna have the best drinks, gonna buy myself a brand new liver

gonna hire me a chef, name him, “Fabrice,” four in the morning get a double-cheese
gonna get a dumb girl, gonna get her fake breasts, tattoo my name all across her chest

gonna sell her naked picture to the tabloid press, then I’ll sue ‘em, screw ‘em for all they’ve got left
gonna be a big jerk on MTV, find myself a real good cause

got a seven year itch
and I’m down for a little decadence
the straight and narrow’s such a bitch
so won’t you fill my glass with some craziness

gonna break up the band, gonna move to Japan, get real fat, be a sumo god
hide from the camera, hide from the germs, gonna seal myself in a plastic pod
gonna smash hotels, shoot my TV, hire myself a real good lawyer

gonna pierce my lip, shave my head, change my name to “Big Tom Sawyer”

gonna find god, gonna lose him again, gonna get a little fish on the back of my car
lose my hair, gonna find it again, sell more shoes than a basketball star
get a bit part on a TV show, live my life as a talking head
gonna drink too much, wind up dead, they’ll analyze every fucking thing I said

got a seven year itch
and I’m down for a little decadence
the straight and narrow’s such a bitch
so won’t you fill my glass with some craziness

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First there was “California Girl,” then “Back in the USSR.” I figured that the next logical place to go lookin’ for some fine female tail would be outer space.

Nebba is a conjunction of Neil and Sebba.

EARTHBOY
Words and Music – Brian Robbins
Album – ON

got a Martian mama, knocks me out when I’m over there
I dig them girls from Venus and them funky styles they wear
had a girl from Saturn but she asked me for a ring
I said baby ain’t but one thing make this Earthboy sing
she was nineteen from Neptune and like nectar to the eye
but those girls down in Pluto are as cold as ice
met a little miss from Mercury but she was too hot to taste
said the only kind of love I need is comin’ from the human race
you got to gimme some

Earth booty
a real cutie
some gravitation
for my copulation
I got a melody
for miss Penelope

just ridin’ around on the mothership
on some intergalactic booty trip oh yeah
I feel like Captain Kirk

as I chase this Martian skirt across the milky way
well I hope she’s not a replicant
need some flesh ‘n blood – I don’t do no robot love
but I’m lonely for humanity
and my girl just bought a farm down in Tennessee
and she’s waitin for me

gimme some
Earth booty
a real cutie

some gravitation
for my copulation
I got a melody
for miss Penelope
nebba nebba nebba nebba

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A highlight of “X-Rated” is the chewing noises recorded by Todd Grossman after the line about eating cake

X-RATED
Words and Music – Brian Robbins
Album – ON

got to be a freak of nature, baby how I want to mate with you
and do some nasty things we read about in magazines
I got to, got to make you mine, so cash in all your overtime
I got to know if you can bend in ways your mom can’t comprehend

I said, “baby, baby can’t you see, we’ll be each other’s fantasy

I’ll do your thing, and you can do mine”
said “i got to, got to, got to know, if you can be my little girl
if you got the time, I got the crime”

so be my x-rated girl
in an x-rated world
be my x-rated girl

supercalifragilistic, baby’s just a bit sadistic
leads me through the lexicon of pain
she paints her lipstick ruby-red, runs her fingers through her head of

jet black hair, eyes burn like a cigarette flame

she said, “in the closet you will stay, waiting for our time to play
strip-tease scrabble, ain’t no time to haggle, take off all your cloths”
girl you make me wait, and just one thing can satiate
I need your love like a fat boy need a piece of cake

so be my x-rated girl
in an x-rated world
be my x-rated girl

baby can’t you see, we’ll be each other’s fantasy

I’ll do your thing, and you can do mine
‘cause i got to, got to, got to know, if you can be my little girl
if you got the time, I got the crime

so be my x-rated girl
in an x-rated world
be my x-rated girl